“Do then,” replied I; “and now I think of it, I will bring up the chest and all the things which were in it, and you shall tell me what they are.”

  I went down and returned with the clothes and linen. There were eight pair of trousers, nine shirts, besides the one I had torn up to bandage his wounds with, two pair of blue trousers, and two jackets, four white duck frocks, some shoes, and stockings. Jackson felt them one by one with his hands, and told me what they were, and how worn.

  “Why don’t you wear some of them?” inquired I.

  “If you will give me leave, I will,” replied he. “Let me have a duck frock and a pair of trousers.”

  I handed the articles to him, and then went back for the rest, which I had left on the rocks.

  When I returned, with my arms full, I found that he had put them on, and his other clothes were beside him. “I feel more like a Christian now,” said he.

  “A Christian,” said I, “what is that?”

  “I will tell you by-and-bye. It is what I have not been for a long, long while,” replied he. “Now, what have you brought this time?”

  “Here,” said I, “what is this?”

  “This is a roll of duck, to make into frocks and trousers,” replied he. “That is bees’-wax.” He then explained to me all the tools, sailing-needles, fish-hooks, and fishing-lines, some sheets of writing-paper, and two pens, I had brought up with me. “All these are very valuable,” said he, after a pause, “and would have added much to our comfort, if I had not been blind.”

  “There are more things yet,” said I; “I will go and fetch them.”

  This time I replaced the remaining articles, and brought up the chest. It was a heavy load to carry up the rocks, and I was out of breath when I arrived and set it down on the cabin floor.

  “Now I have the whole of them,” said I. “Now, what is this?”

  “That is a spy-glass — but, alas! I am blind — but I will show you how to use it, at all events.”

  “Here are two books,” said I.

  “Give them to me,” said he, “and let me feel them. This one is a Bible, I am quite sure by its shape, and the other is, I think, a Prayer-book.”

  “What is a Bible, and what is a Prayer-book?” replied I.

  “The Bible is the word of God, and the Prayer-book teaches us how to pray to him.”

  “But who is God? I have often heard you say, ‘O God!’ and ‘God damn’ — but who is he?”

  “I will tell you to-night, before we go to sleep,” replied Jackson, gravely.

  “Very well, I shall remind you. I have found a little box inside the chest, and it is full of all manner of little things — strings and sinews.”

  “Let me feel them.”

  I put a bundle into his hand.

  “These are needles and thread for making and mending clothes — they will be useful by-and-bye.”

  At last the whole contents of the chest were overhauled and explained. I could not well comprehend the glass bottles, or how they were made, but I put them, with the pannikins, and everything else, very carefully into the chest again, and hauled the chest to the further end of the cabin, out of the way. Before we went to bed that night, Jackson had to explain to me who God was, but as it was only the commencement of several conversations on the subject, I shall not at present trouble the reader with what passed between us. Jackson appeared to be very melancholy after the conversation we had had on religious matters, and was frequently agitated and muttering to himself.

  Chapter Seven.

  I did not on the following day ask him to resume his narrative relative to my father and mother, as I perceived that he avoided it, and I already had so far changed, as to have consideration for his feelings. Another point had now taken possession of my mind, which was, whether it were possible to learn to read those books which I had found in the chest, and this was the first question that I put to Jackson when we arose on that morning.

  “How is it possible?” replied he. “Am I not blind — how can I teach you?”

  “Is there no way?” replied I, mournfully.

  “Let me think. — Yes, perhaps there is a way — at all events we will try. You know which book I told you was the Prayer-book?”

  “Oh yes! The small, thin one.”

  “Yes — fetch it here. Now,” said he, when I put it into his hand, “tell me; is there a straight line down the middle of the page of the book, so that the words and letters are on both sides of it?”

  “Yes, there is,” replied I; “in every page, as you call it, there is a black line down the middle, and words and letters (I suppose they are) on both sides.”

  “And among the letters there are some larger than others, especially at the side nearest to the margin.”

  “I don’t know what margin is.”

  “I mean here,” replied he, pointing to the margin of the page.

  “Yes, there are.”

  “Well then, I will open the book as near as I can guess at the Morning Service, and you tell me if you can find any part of the writing which appears to begin with a large round letter, like — what shall I say? — the bottom of a pannikin.”

  “There is one on this leaf, quite round.”

  “Very well — now get me a small piece of stick, and make a point to it.”

  I did so, and Jackson swept away a small place on the floor of the cabin.

  “Now,” said he, “there are many other prayers which begin with a round O, as the letter is called; so I must first ascertain if this one is the one I require. If it is, I know it by heart, and by that shall be able to teach you all the letters of the alphabet.”

  “What’s an alphabet?”

  “The alphabet is the number of letters invented to enable us to read and write. There are twenty-six of them. Now look, Frank; is the next letter to O the shape of this?” and he drew with the pointed stick the letter U on the ground.

  “Yes, it is,” replied I.

  “And the next is like this,” continued he, drawing the letter R, after he had smoothed the ground and effaced the U.

  “Yes,” replied I.

  “Well then, to make sure, I had better go on, OUR is one word, and then there is a little space between; and next you come to an F.”

  “Yes,” replied I, looking at what he had drawn, and comparing it with the letter in the book.

  “Then I believe that we are all right, but to make sure, we will go on for a little longer.”

  Jackson then completed the word “Father,” and “which art,” that followed it, and then he was satisfied.

  “Now,” said he, “out of that prayer I can teach you all the letters, and if you pay attention, you will learn to read.”

  The whole morning was passed in my telling him the different letters, and I very soon knew them all. During the day, the Lord’s Prayer was gone through, and as I learnt the words as well as the letters, I could repeat it before night; I read it over to him twenty or thirty times, spelling every word, letter by letter, until I was perfect. This was my first lesson.

  “Why is it called the Lord’s Prayer?” said I.

  “Because, when our Lord Jesus Christ was asked by his followers in what way they ought to address God, he gave them this prayer to repeat, as being the most proper that they could use.”

  “But who was Jesus Christ?”

  “He was the Son of God, as I told you yesterday, and at the same time equal with God.”

  “How could he be equal with God, if, as you said yesterday, God sent him down to be killed?”

  “It was with his own consent that he suffered death: but all this is a mystery which you cannot understand at present.”

  “What’s a mystery?”

  “That which you cannot understand.”

  “Do you understand it yourself?”

  “No, I do not; I only know that such is the fact; but it is above not only mine, but all men’s comprehension. But I tell you honestly, that on these points, I am but a bad teacher; I have paid little attention to them during my life, and as far as religion is concerned, I can only give you the outlines, for I know no more.”

  “But I thought you said that people were to be punished or rewarded when they died, according as they had lived a bad or good life; and that to live a good life, people must be religious, and obey God’s commands.”

  “I did tell you so, and I told you the truth; but I did not tell you that I had led a bad life, as I have done, and that I have neglected to pay obedience to God’s word and command.”

  “Then you will be punished when you die, will you not?”

  “Alas! I fear so, child,” replied Jackson, putting his hands up to his forehead and hiding his face. “But there is still time,” continued he, after a pause; and “O God of mercy!” exclaimed he, “how shall I escape?”

  I was about to continue the conversation, but Jackson requested that I would leave him alone for a time. I went out and sat on the rock, watching the stars.

  “And those,” he says, “were all made by God.”

  “And God made everything,” thought I, “and God lives up beyond those stars.” I thought for a long while, and was much perplexed. I had never heard anything of God till the night before, and what Jackson had told me was just enough to make me more anxious and curious; but he evidently did not like to talk on the subject. I tried, after a time, if I could repeat the Lord’s Prayer, and I found that I could, so I knelt down on the rock, and looking up to a bright star, as if I would imagine it was God, I repeated the Lord’s Prayer to it, and then I rose up and went to bed.

  This was the first time that I had ever prayed.

  I had learnt so much from Jackson, latterly, that I could hardly retain what I had learnt; at all events, I had a very confused recollection in my brain, and my thoughts turned from one subject to another, till there was, for a time, a perfect chaos; by degrees things unravelled themselves, and my ideas became more clear; but still I laboured under that half-comprehension of things which, in my position, was unavoidable.

  But now my mind was occupied with one leading object and wish, which was to learn to read. I thought no more of Jackson’s history and the account he might give me of my father and mother, and was as willing as he was that it should be deferred for a time. What I required now was to be able to read the books, and to this object my whole mind and attention were given. Three or four hours in the earlier portion of the day, and the same time in the latter, were dedicated to this pursuit, and my attention never tired or flagged. In the course of, I think, about six weeks, I could read, without hesitation, almost any portion of the Bible or Prayer-book. I required no more teaching from Jackson, who now became an attentive hearer, as I read to him every morning and evening a portion of the Gospel or Liturgy. But I cannot say that I understood many portions which I read, and the questions which I put to Jackson puzzled him not a little, and very often he acknowledged that he could not answer them. As I afterwards discovered, this arose from his own imperfect knowledge of the nature of the Christian religion, which, according to his statement to me, might be considered to have been comprised in the following sentence: “If you do good on earth, you will go to heaven and be happy; if you do ill, you will go to hell and be tormented. Christ came down from heaven to teach us what to do, and how to follow his example; and all that we read in the Bible we must believe.” This may be considered as the creed imparted to me at that time. I believe that Jackson, like many others, knew no better, and candidly told me what he himself had been taught to believe.

  But the season for the return of the birds arrived, and our stock of provender was getting low. I was therefore soon obliged to leave my books, and work hard for Jackson and myself. As soon as the young birds were old enough, I set to my task. And now I found how valuable were the knives which I had obtained from the seaman’s chest; indeed, in many points I could work much faster. By tying the neck and sleeves of a duck frock, I made a bag, which enabled me to carry the birds more conveniently, and in greater quantities at a time; and with the knives I could skin and prepare a bird in one quarter of the time. With my fishing-lines also, I could hang up more to dry at one time, so that, though without assistance, I had more birds cured in the same time than when Jackson and I were both employed in the labour. The whole affair, however, occupied me from morning to evening for more than three weeks, by which time the major portion of my provender was piled up at the back of the cabin. I did not, however, lose what I had gained in reading, as Jackson would not let me go away in the morning, or retire to my bed in the evening, without my reading to him a portion of the Bible: indeed he appeared to be quite uncomfortable if I did not do so.

  At last, the work was ended, and then I felt a strong desire return to hear that portion of Jackson’s history connected with my father and mother, and I told him so. He did not appear to be, pleased with my communication, or at all willing to proceed; but as I pressed him hard and showed some symptoms of resolution and rebellion, he reluctantly resumed his narrative.

  Chapter Eight.

  “I wish you to understand,” said he, “that my unwillingness to go on with my history proceeds from my being obliged to make known to you the hatred that subsisted between your father and me; but if you will recollect, that we both had, in our early days, been striving to gain the same object — I mean your mother — and also that he had taken, as it were, what I considered to have been my place, in other points — that he had been successful in life, and I had been unfortunate, you must not then be surprised at my hating him as I did.”

  “I understand nothing about your feelings,” replied I; “and why he injured you by marrying my mother, I cannot see.”

  “Why, I loved her.”

  “Well, suppose you did, I don’t know what love is, and therefore cannot understand it, so tell me the story.”

  “Well then, when I left off, I told you that we had ventured to land upon this island, by running the boat into the bathing-pond; but in so doing, the boat was beaten to pieces, and was of no use afterwards. We landed, eight persons in all; that is, the captain, your father, the carpenter, mate, and three seamen, besides your mother. We had literally nothing in the boat except three axes, two kids, and the two pannikins, which we have indeed now; but as for provisions, or even water, we had none of either. Our first object, therefore, was to search the island to obtain water, and this we soon found at the rill which now runs down by the side of the cabin. It was very fortunate for us that we arrived exactly at the time that the birds had come on the island and had just laid their eggs; if not, we must have perished with hunger, for we had not a fish hook with us, or even a fathom of line.

  “We collected a quantity of eggs, and made a good meal, although we devoured them raw. While we were running about, or rather climbing about, over the rocks; to find out what chance of subsistence we might have on the island, the captain and your father remained with your mother, who sat down in a sheltered spot near to the bathing-pool. On our return in the evening, the captain called us all together, that he might speak to us; and he said, that if we would do well, we must all act in concert; that it also would be necessary that one should have the command and control of the others; that without such was the case, nothing would go on well; — and he asked us if we did not consider that what he said was true. We all agreed, although I, for one, felt little inclination to do so; but as all the rest said so, I raised no objections. The captain then told us that, as we were all of one opinion, the next point was to decide as to who should have the command; he said, that if it had been on ship-board, he of course would have taken it himself, but now we were on shore, he thought that Mr Henniker was a much more competent person than he was, and he therefore proposed that the command should be given to him, and he, for one, would willingly be under his orders. To this proposal, the carpenter and mate immediately agreed, and at last two of the seamen. I was left alone, but I resisted, saying, that I was not going to be ordered about by a landsman, and that if I were to obey orders, it must be from a thorough-bred seaman. The other two sailors were of my way of thinking, I was sure, although they had given their consent, and I hoped that they would join me, which they appeared very much inclined to do. Your father spoke very coolly, modestly, and prudently. He pointed out that he had no wish to take the command, and that he would cheerfully serve under the captain of the vessel, if it would be more satisfactory to all parties that such should be the case. But the captain and the others were positive, saying that they would not have their choice disputed by such a drunken vagabond as I was, and that if I did not like to remain with them, I might go to any part of the island that I chose. This conference ended by my getting in a passion, and saying that I would not be under your father’s orders; and I was seizing one of the axes to go off with it, when the captain caught my arm and wrested it from me, stating that the axe was his property, and then telling me that I was welcome to go where I pleased.