Part Five: My Sea Adventure - Chapter 24: The Cruise of the Coracle

by Robert Louis Stevenson

　　It was broad day when I awoke and found myself tossingat the south-west end of Treasure Island. The sun wasup but was still hid from me behind the great bulk ofthe Spy-glass, which on this side descended almost tothe sea in formidable cliffs.

　　Haulbowline Head and Mizzen-mast Hill were at my elbow,the hill bare and dark, the head bound with cliffs fortyor fifty feet high and fringed with great masses of fallenrock. I was scarce a quarter of a mile to seaward, and itwas my first thought to paddle in and land.

　　That notion was soon given over. Among the fallenrocks the breakers spouted and bellowed; loudreverberations, heavy sprays flying and falling,succeeded one another from second to second; and I sawmyself, if I ventured nearer, dashed to death upon therough shore or spending my strength in vain to scalethe beetling crags.

　　Nor was that all, for crawling together on flat tables ofrock or letting themselves drop into the sea with loudreports I beheld huge slimy monsters--soft snails, as itwere, of incredible bigness--two or three score of themtogether, making the rocks to echo with their barkings.

　　I have understood since that they were sea lions, andentirely harmless. But the look of them, added to thedifficulty of the shore and the high running of thesurf, was more than enough to disgust me of thatlanding-place. I felt willing rather to starve at seathan to confront such perils.

　　In the meantime I had a better chance, as I supposed,before me. North of Haulbowline Head, the land runs ina long way, leaving at low tide a long stretch ofyellow sand. To the north of that, again, there comesanother cape--Cape of the Woods, as it was marked uponthe chart--buried in tall green pines, which descendedto the margin of the sea.

　　I remembered what Silver had said about the current thatsets northward along the whole west coast of TreasureIsland, and seeing from my position that I was alreadyunder its influence, I preferred to leave HaulbowlineHead behind me and reserve my strength for an attempt toland upon the kindlier-looking Cape of the Woods.

　　There was a great, smooth swell upon the sea. The windblowing steady and gentle from the south, there was nocontrariety between that and the current, and thebillows rose and fell unbroken.

　　Had it been otherwise, I must long ago have perished;but as it was, it is surprising how easily and securelymy little and light boat could ride. Often, as I stilllay at the bottom and kept no more than an eye abovethe gunwale, I would see a big blue summit heavingclose above me; yet the coracle would but bounce alittle, dance as if on springs, and subside on theother side into the trough as lightly as a bird.

　　I began after a little to grow very bold and sat up totry my skill at paddling. But even a small change inthe disposition of the weight will produce violent changesin the behaviour of a coracle. And I had hardly movedbefore the boat, giving up at once her gentle dancingmovement, ran straight down a slope of water so steepthat it made me giddy, and struck her nose, with a spoutof spray, deep into the side of the next wave.

　　I was drenched and terrified, and fell instantly backinto my old position, whereupon the coracle seemed tofind her head again and led me as softly as beforeamong the billows. It was plain she was not to beinterfered with, and at that rate, since I could in noway influence her course, what hope had I left ofreaching land?

　　I began to be horribly frightened, but I kept my head, forall that. First, moving with all care, I gradually baledout the coracle with my sea-cap; then, getting my eye oncemore above the gunwale, I set myself to study how it wasshe managed to slip so quietly through the rollers.

　　I found each wave, instead of the big, smooth glossymountain it looks from shore or from a vessel's deck,was for all the world like any range of hills on dryland, full of peaks and smooth places and valleys. Thecoracle, left to herself, turning from side to side,threaded, so to speak, her way through these lowerparts and avoided the steep slopes and higher, topplingsummits of the wave.

　　"Well, now," thought I to myself, "it is plain I mustlie where I am and not disturb the balance; but it isplain also that I can put the paddle over the side andfrom time to time, in smooth places, give her a shoveor two towards land." No sooner thought upon thandone. There I lay on my elbows in the most tryingattitude, and every now and again gave a weak stroke ortwo to turn her head to shore.

　　It was very tiring and slow work, yet I did visiblygain ground; and as we drew near the Cape of the Woods,though I saw I must infallibly miss that point, I hadstill made some hundred yards of easting. I was,indeed, close in. I could see the cool green tree-topsswaying together in the breeze, and I felt sure Ishould make the next promontory without fail.

　　It was high time, for I now began to be tortured withthirst. The glow of the sun from above, itsthousandfold reflection from the waves, the sea-waterthat fell and dried upon me, caking my very lips withsalt, combined to make my throat burn and my brainache. The sight of the trees so near at hand hadalmost made me sick with longing, but the current hadsoon carried me past the point, and as the next reachof sea opened out, I beheld a sight that changed thenature of my thoughts.

　　Right in front of me, not half a mile away, I beheldthe Hispaniola under sail. I made sure, of course,that I should be taken; but I was so distressed forwant of water that I scarce knew whether to be glad orsorry at the thought, and long before I had come to aconclusion, surprise had taken entire possession of mymind and I could do nothing but stare and wonder.

　　The Hispaniola was under her main-sail and twojibs, and the beautiful white canvas shone in the sunlike snow or silver. When I first sighted her, all hersails were drawing; she was lying a course about north-west, and I presumed the men on board were going roundthe island on their way back to the anchorage.Presently she began to fetch more and more to thewestward, so that I thought they had sighted me andwere going about in chase. At last, however, she fellright into the wind's eye, was taken dead aback, andstood there awhile helpless, with her sails shivering.

　　"Clumsy fellows," said I; "they must still be drunk asowls." And I thought how Captain Smollett would haveset them skipping.

　　Meanwhile the schooner gradually fell off and filledagain upon another tack, sailed swiftly for a minute orso, and brought up once more dead in the wind's eye.Again and again was this repeated. To and fro, up anddown, north, south, east, and west, the Hispaniolasailed by swoops and dashes, and at each repetitionended as she had begun, with idly flapping canvas. Itbecame plain to me that nobody was steering. And ifso, where were the men? Either they were dead drunk orhad deserted her, I thought, and perhaps if I could geton board I might return the vessel to her captain.

　　The current was bearing coracle and schooner southwardat an equal rate. As for the latter's sailing, it wasso wild and intermittent, and she hung each time solong in irons, that she certainly gained nothing, ifshe did not even lose. If only I dared to sit up andpaddle, I made sure that I could overhaul her. Thescheme had an air of adventure that inspired me, andthe thought of the water breaker beside the forecompanion doubled my growing courage.

　　Up I got, was welcomed almost instantly by anothercloud of spray, but this time stuck to my purpose andset myself, with all my strength and caution, to paddleafter the unsteered Hispaniola. Once I shipped asea so heavy that I had to stop and bail, with my heartfluttering like a bird, but gradually I got into theway of the thing and guided my coracle among the waves,with only now and then a blow upon her bows and a dashof foam in my face.

　　I was now gaining rapidly on the schooner; I could seethe brass glisten on the tiller as it banged about, andstill no soul appeared upon her decks. I could notchoose but suppose she was deserted. If not, the menwere lying drunk below, where I might batten them down,perhaps, and do what I chose with the ship.

　　For some time she had been doing the worse thingpossible for me--standing still. She headed nearly duesouth, yawing, of course, all the time. Each time shefell off, her sails partly filled, and these broughther in a moment right to the wind again. I have saidthis was the worst thing possible for me, for helplessas she looked in this situation, with the canvas crackinglike cannon and the blocks trundling and banging on thedeck, she still continued to run away from me, not onlywith the speed of the current, but by the whole amountof her leeway, which was naturally great.

　　But now, at last, I had my chance. The breeze fell forsome seconds, very low, and the current graduallyturning her, the Hispaniola revolved slowly roundher centre and at last presented me her stern, with thecabin window still gaping open and the lamp over thetable still burning on into the day. The main-sailhung drooped like a banner. She was stock-still butfor the current.

　　For the last little while I had even lost, but nowredoubling my efforts, I began once more to overhaulthe chase.

　　I was not a hundred yards from her when the wind cameagain in a clap; she filled on the port tack and wasoff again, stooping and skimming like a swallow.

　　My first impulse was one of despair, but my second wastowards joy. Round she came, till she was broadside onto me--round still till she had covered a half and thentwo thirds and then three quarters of the distance thatseparated us. I could see the waves boiling whiteunder her forefoot. Immensely tall she looked to mefrom my low station in the coracle.

　　And then, of a sudden, I began to comprehend. I hadscarce time to think--scarce time to act and savemyself. I was on the summit of one swell when theschooner came stooping over the next. The bowsprit wasover my head. I sprang to my feet and leaped, stampingthe coracle under water. With one hand I caught thejib-boom, while my foot was lodged between the stay andthe brace; and as I still clung there panting, a dullblow told me that the schooner had charged down uponand struck the coracle and that I was left withoutretreat on the Hispaniola.