John Corwell, Sailor And Miner; and, Poisonous Fish Read online

  Produced by David Widger

  JOHN CORWELL, SAILOR AND MINER; and POISONOUS FISH

  By Louis Becke

  T. Fisher Unwin, 1901

  JOHN CORWELL, SAILOR AND MINER

  I

  "Am I to have no privacy at all?" demanded the Governor irritably asthe orderly again tapped at the open door and announced another visitor."Who is he and what does he want?"

  "Mr. John Corwell, your Excellency, master of the cutter _Ceres_, fromthe South Seas."

  The Governor's brows relaxed somewhat. "Let him come in in ten minutes,Cleary, but tell him at the same time that I am very tired--too tired tolisten unless he has something of importance to say."

  The day had indeed been a most tiring one to the worthy Governor of thecolony of New South Wales, just then struggling weakly in its infancy,and only emerging from the horrors of actual starvation, caused by theutter neglect of the Home authorities to send out further supplies ofprovisions. Prisoners of both sexes came in plenty, but brought nothingto eat with them; the military officers who should have helped him inhis arduous labours were secretly plotting against him, and theirspare time--and they had plenty--was devoted to writing letters hometo highly-placed personages imploring them to induce the Governmentto break up the settlement and not "waste the health and lives of eventhese abandoned convicts in trying to found a colony in the most awfuland hideous desert the eye of man had ever seen, a place which can neverbe useful to man and is accursed by God." But the Governor took no heed.Mutiny and discontent he had fought in his silent, determined way ashe fought grim famine, sparing himself nothing, toiling from dawn tilldark, listening to complaints, remedying abuses, punishing with swiftseverity those who deserved it, and yet always preserving the same cold,unbending dignity of manner which covered a highly-sensitive and deeplysympathetic nature.

  But on this particular day, fatigue, the intense heat, which hadprevailed, a violent quarrel between the intriguing major commandingthe marines, and many other lesser worries, had been almost more thanhe could bear, so it may well be imagined that he was more inclined forrest than talk.

  Ten, twenty minutes, and then the thin, spare figure raised itselfwearily from the rude sofa. He must see his visitor. He had promised todo so, and the sooner it was over the better. He called to the orderly.

  "Tell Mr.--Corwell you said?--to come in."

  A heavy step sounded on the bare floor, and one ot the finest specimensof manhood Governor Arthur Phillip had ever seen in all his long navalcareer stood before him and saluted. There was something so pleasant andyet so manly in the handsome, cleanshaven and deeply-bronzed face, thatthe Governor was at once attracted to him.

  "Be seated, Mr. Corwell," he said in his low, yet clear tones. "I amvery tired, so you must not keep me long."

  "Certainly not, your Excellency. But I thought, sir, that you wouldprefer to hear the report of my voyage personally. I have discovered amagnificent harbour north of the Solomon Islands, and----"

  "Ha! And so you came to me. Very sensible, very sensible of you. I amobliged to you, sir. Tell me all about it."

  "Certainly, your Excellency; but I regret I have intruded on you thisevening. Perhaps, sir, you will permit me to call again to-morrow?"

  "No, no, not at all," was the energetic reply. I am always ready to hearanything of this nature.

  "I knew that, sir, for the masters of the _Breckenbridge_ and anothertransport told me that you were most anxious to learn of any discoveriesin the Pacific Islands."

  "Very true, sir. I am looking forward to hear from them and from themasters of other transports which I am inducing to follow the whalefishery on their return voyage to England _via_ Batavia. But so far Ihave heard nothing from any one of them."

  Encouraged and pleased at the Governor's manner, the master of the_Ceres_ at once produced a roughly executed plan and a detailed writtendescription of the harbour, which, he asserted with confidence, was oneof the finest in that part of the Pacific. A broad, deep stream of waterran from the lofty range of mountains which traversed the island northand south and fell into a spacious bay, on the shores of which was alarge and populous native village, whose inhabitants had treated Cornelland the few men of his ship's company with considerable kindness,furnishing them not only with wood and water, but an ample supply offresh provisions as well.

  During the two weeks that the _Ceres_ lay at anchor, Corwell and two orthree of his hands unhesitatingly trusted themselves among the natives,who escorted them inland and around the coast. Everywhere was evidenceof the extraordinary fertility of the island, which, in the vicinityof the seashore, was highly cultivated, each family's plantation beingenclosed by stone fences, while their houses were strongly built andneatly constructed. The broad belt of the slopes of the mountains werecovered with magnificent timber, which Corwell believed to be teak,equal in quality to any he had seen in the East Indies, and which hesaid could be easily brought down to the seashore for shipment owing tothere being several other large streams beside the one on whose banksthe principal village was built.

  The Governor was much interested, and complimented the young seaman onthe manner in which he had written out his description of the place andhis observations on the character and customs of the inhabitants.

  "Such information as you have given me, Mr. Corwell, is always valuable,and I give you my best thanks. I wish I could do more; and had I themeans, men, and money to spare I should send a vessel there and to otherislands in the vicinity to make further examination, for I believethat from those islands to the northward we can obtain invaluable foodsupplies in the future. The winds are more favourable for making a quickvoyage there and back than they are to those groups to the eastward;but," and here he sighed, "our condition is such that I fear it will bemany years ere His Majesty will consent to such an undertaking. But muchmay be done at private cost--perhaps in the near future."

  The young man remained silent for a moment or two; then with somehesitation he said, as he took a small paper packet from his coat pocketand handed it to the Governor, "Will your Excellency look at this andtell me what it is. I--I imagine it is pure gold, sir."

  "Gold, gold!" and something like a frown contracted the Governor's palebrows; "ever since the settlement was formed I've been pestered withtales of gold, and a pretty expense it has run me into sending partiesout to search for it. Why, only six months ago a rascally prisonergulled one of my officers into letting him lead an expedition into thebush--the fellow had filed down a brass bolt--" he looked up and caughtsight of the dark flush which had suddenly suffused his visitor'sface--"but I do not for a moment imagine you are playing upon mycredulity, Mr. Corwell."

  He untied the string and opened the packet, and in an instant anexclamation of astonishment and pleasure escaped as he saw that thefolds of paper held quite three ounces of bright and flaky water-worngold.

  "This certainly _is_ gold, sir. May I ask where you obtained it?"

  "I made the voyage to Sydney Cove to tell your Excellency of twodiscoveries--one was of the fine harbour, the other was of this gold,which my wife (who is a native of Ternate) and myself ourselves washedout of the bed of a small stream; the natives helped us, but attachednot the slightest value to our discovery. In fact, sir, they assured usas well as they could that much more was to be had in every river on theisland."

  "Your wife was it, then, or yourself, who first recognised what it was?"

  "She did, sir. She has seen much of it in the hands of the Bugis andArab traders in her native country."

  The Governor moved his slender forefinger to and fro amid the shining,heavy particles, then he pondered deepl
y for some minutes.

  "Tell me frankly, Mr. Corwell--why did you make a long voyage to thissettlement to tell _me_ of your discovery?"

  "In the hope, sir, that you would advise and perhaps assist me. My creware Malays and Chinese and would have murdered me if they knew what Iknew. Will your Excellency tell me the proper course to pursue so that Imay be protected in my discovery? I am a poor man, though my ship is myown, but she is old and leaky and must undergo heavy repairs before sheleaves Sydney Cove again; my present crew I wish to replace by half adozen respectable Englishmen, and----"

  The Governor shook his head. "I will do all I can to help you, but Icannot provide you with men. The island which you have visited mayhave been discovered and taken possession of by France, two of whoseexploring ships were in these seas a few years ago, and even if that isnot the case I could not take possession of them for His Majesty, as Ihave no commissioned officer to spare to undertake such a duty. Yet, ifsuch an officer were available, Mr. Corwell, I would be strongly temptedto send him with you, hoist the British flag, and then urge the HomeGovernment to confirm my action and secure to you the right, subjectto the King's royalties, to work these gold deposits. But I ampowerless--much as I wish to aid you."

  A look of disappointment clouded the young captain's handsome features.

  "Would your Excellency permit me to endeavour to find three or fourseamen myself? There is a transport ready to sail for England, and I maybe able to get some men from her."

  "I doubt it. Unless you revealed the object of your voyage--which wouldbe exceedingly foolish of you--you could not induce them to make avoyage in such a small vessel as yours to islands inhabited mostlyby ferocious savages. But this much I can and will do for you. I willdirect Captain Hunter of the _Sirius_, the only King's ship I have here,to set his carpenters to work on your vessel as soon as ever you careenher; I will supply you at my own private cost with arms and ammunitionand a new suit of sails. Provisions I cannot give you--God knows wewant them badly enough ourselves, although we are not now in such a badplight as we were ten months ago. Yet for all that I may be able to getyou a cask or two of beef."

  "That is most generous of you, sir. I will not, however, take the beef,your Excellency. But for the sails and the repairs to my poor littlevessel I thank you, sir, most heartily and sincerely. And I pledge youmy word of honour, as well as giving you my written bond, that I willredeem my obligations to you."

  "And if you fail I shall be content, for I well know that it will be nofault of yours. But stay, Mr. Corwell; I must have one condition."

  "Name it, sir."

  "You too must pledge me your honour that you will not reveal the secretof your discovery of gold to any one in the settlement. This I do notdemand--I ask it as a favour."

  Then the Governor took him, guardedly enough, into his confidence. Witha thousand convicts, most of them utter ruffians, guarded by a scantyforce or marines, the news of gold having been found would, he wassure, have a disastrous effect, and lead to open revolt. The few smallmerchant ships which were in port were partly manned by convictseamen, and there was every likelihood of them being seized by gangs ofdesperate criminals, fired with the idea of reaching the golden island.Already a party of convicts had escaped with the mad idea of walking toChina, which they believed was only separated from Australia by alarge river which existed a few hundred miles to the northward of thesettlement. Some of them died of thirst, others were slaughtered by theblacks, and the wounded and exhausted survivors were glad to make theirway back again to their gaolers.

  Cornell listened intently, and gave his promise readily. Then he rose togo, and the Governor held out his hand.

  "Good evening, Mr. Cornell. I must see you again before you sail."