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materials as he could collect, the young man fancied would enable him to
obtain a sufficiency of earthy substances to sustain the growth of
plants. While on the summit of the crater-wall, he had seen two or three
places where it had struck him sweet-potatoes and beans might be made to
grow, and he determined to ascend to those spots, and make his essay
there, as being the most removed from the inroads of the pigs. Could he
only succeed in obtaining two or three hundred melons, he felt that a
great deal would be done in providing the means of checking any
disposition to scurvy that might appear in Bob or himself. In this
thoughtful manner did one so young look ahead, and make provision for
the future.
Chapter VI.
"----that done, partake
The season, prime for sweetest scents and airs;
Then commune how that day they best may ply
Their growing work; for much their work outgrew
The hands dispatch of two gard'ning so wide."
Milton.
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Our two mariners had come ashore well provided with the means of
carrying out their plans. The Rancocus was far better provided with
tools suited to the uses of the land, than was common for ships, her
voyage contemplating a long stay among the islands she was to visit.
Thus, axes and picks were not wanting, Captain Crutchely having had an
eye to the possible necessity of fortifying himself against savages.
Mark now ascended the crater-wall with a pick on his shoulder, and a
part of a coil of ratlin-stuff around his neck. As he went up, he used
the pick to make steps, and did so much in that way, in the course of
ten minutes, as greatly to facilitate the ascent and descent at the
particular place he had selected. Once on the summit, he found a part of
the rock that overhung its base, and dropped one end of his line into
the crater. To this Bob attached the bucket, which Mark hauled up and
emptied. In this manner everything was transferred to the top of the
crater-wall that was needed there, when Bob went down to the dingui to
roll up the half-barrel of sweepings that had been brought from the
ship.
Mark next looked about for the places which had seemed to him, on his
previous visit, to have most of the character of soil. He found a plenty
of these spots, mostly in detached cavities of no great extent, where
the crust had not yet formed; or, having once formed, had been disturbed
by the action of the elements. These places he first picked to pieces
with his pick; then he stirred them well up with a hoe, scattering a
little guano in the heaps, according to the directions of Betts. When
this was done, he sent down the bucket, and hauled up the sweepings of
the deck, which Bob had ready for him, below. Nor was this all Bob had
done, during the hour Mark was at work, in the sun, on the summit of the
crater. He had found a large deposit of sea-weed, on a rock near the
island, and had made two or three trips with the dingui, back and forth,
to transfer some of it to the crater. After all his toil and trouble,
the worthy fellow did not get more than a hogshead full of this new
material, but Mark thought it well worth while to haul it up, and to
endeavour to mix it with his compost. This was done by making it up in
bundles, as one would roll up hay, of a size that the young man could
manage.
Bob now joined his friend on the crater-wall, and assisted in carrying
the sea-weed to the places prepared to receive it, when both of the
mariners next set about mixing it up with the other ingredients of the
intended soil. After working for another hour in this manner, they were
of opinion that they might make the experiment of putting in the seed.
Melons, of both sorts, and of the very best quality, were now put into
the ground, as were also beans peas, and Indian-corn, or maize. A few
cucumber-seeds, and some onions were also tried, Captain Crutchely
having brought with him a considerable quantity of the common garden
seeds, as a benefit conferred on the natives of the islands he intended
to visit, and through them on future navigators. This care proceeded
from his owners, who were what is called 'Friends,' and who somewhat
oddly blended benevolence with the practices of worldly gain.
Mark certainly knew very little of gardening, but Bob could turn his
hand to almost anything. Several mistakes were made, notwithstanding,
more particularly in the use of the seed, with which they were not
particularly acquainted. Mark's Reef lay just within the tropics, it is
true (in 21 deg. south latitude), but the constant sea-breeze rendered its
climate much cooler than would otherwise have been the case. Thus the
peas, and beans, and even the onions, did better, perhaps, on the top of
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the crater, than they would have done in it; but the ochre, egg-plants,
melons, and two or three other seeds that they used, would probably
have succeeded better had they been placed in the warmest spots which
could be found. In one respect Mark made a good gardener. He knew that
moisture was indispensable to the growth of most plants, and had taken
care to put all his seeds into cavities, where the rain that fell (and
he had no reason to suppose that the dry season had yet set in) would
not run off and be wasted. On this point he manifested a good deal of
judgment, using his hoe in a way to avoid equally the danger of having
too much or too little water.
It was dinner-time before Mark and Betts were ready to quit the
'Summit,' as they now began to term the only height in their solitary
domains. Bob had foreseen the necessity of a shade, and had thrown an
old royal into the boat. With this, and two or three light spars, he
contrived to make a sort of canopy, down in the crater, beneath which he
and Mark dined, and took their siestas. While resting on a spare
studding-sail that had also been brought along, the mariners talked over
what they had done, and what it might be best to undertake next.
Thus far Mark had been working under a species of excitement, that was
probably natural enough to his situation, but which wanted the coolness
and discretion that are necessary to render our efforts the most
profitable to ourselves, or to others. Now, that the feverish feeling
which set him at work so early to make a provision against wants which,
at the worst, were merely problematical, had subsided, Mark began to see
that there remained many things to do, which were of even more pressing
necessity than anything yet done. Among the first of these there was the
perfect security of the ship. So long as she rode at a single anchor,
she could not be considered as absolutely safe; for a shift of wind
would cause her to swing against the 'sea-wall,' as he called the
natural breakwater outside of her, where, if not absolutely wrecked, she
might receive material damage. Prudence required, therefore, that the
ship should be moored, as well as anchored. Nevertheless, there was a
good deal of truth in what Mark had said touching the plants growing
while he and Bob were busy at other matters; and this thought, of
itself, formed a sufficient justification for what he had just done,
much as it had been done under present excitement. As they under the
shade of the royal, our mariners discussed these matters, and matured
some plans for the future.
At two o'clock Mark and Bob resumed their work. The latter suggested the
necessity of getting food and water ashore for the pigs, as an act that
humanity imperiously demanded of them; not humanity in the sense of
feeling for our kind, but in the sense in which we all ought to feel for
animal suffering, whether endured by man or beast. Mark assented as to
the food, but was of opinion a thunder shower was about to pass over the
reef. The weather certainly did wear this aspect, and Bob was content to
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