Mary of Marion Isle
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MARY OF MARION ISLE
a foaming Race caused, apparently, by the tide rushing between the two islands.
Looking at this prospect Andrew suddenly became aware of a strange thing, namely that a little line of smoke was mounting upwards from this flat land bordered by the rocky beach. The curl of smoke floating on still air is so common a sight that at first it excited no wonder in him, who had come from a land of smoke. Then suddenly he remembered and started so violently that the cat, Josky, mewed in protest in his pocket.
How could there be smoke upon this island? Seals and sealions do not make fires; only men make fires, therefore where there are fires there must be men. In short, the place must be inhabited by other human beings besides himself. He felt like Robinson Crusoe when he discovered the footprints upon the sand; indeed, the idea occurred to him, also that the circumstances were not dissimilar, except that Crusoe had been wrecked upon a warm island and he upon one that was cold.
So after all he was not alone; down there by the smoke there would be company. His heart beat with joy at the thought – for a few moments. But then he began to wonder what company, and it stilled again. Probably some rude and brutalized sailors were dwelling there, horrible, coarse-mouthed men. It would be better to continue to live alone than to mix with such as they must be, since once they met he would scarcely be able to escape their society. Retreat was the wisest policy, and he turned to go before he was discovered. And yet he hesitated. After all, he was human, and those who had made that fire must be human, too, and in his circumstances he said with the ancients that nothing human was far from him. At any
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rate, he would creep down and look since, because of the overhanging nature of the cliff, he could not see the fire itself; only the smoke was visible.
Andrew found a path down the steep declivity in front of him. It was a difficult path, for in places the weather-worn rocks were almost sheer and there were several hundred feet to go. At length he reached their base in safety and found himself standing amidst bushes which grew high in the rich soil washed down from above, as a result of the decomposition of the lava rocks. To his right was a great projecting elbow of boulders seventy feet long or more, which cut him off from the place whence the smoke rose. He crept to the end of these boulders and peeped round them.
The first thing that he saw was what appeared to be a field of springing corn roughly fenced about with stones. Advancing himself a little, he perceived upon the land side of the corn several goats wandering, one of which seemed to have a stone clog tied to its leg, also a number of penguins sitting solemnly and quite at their ease, and lastly a great black-winged albatross supporting itself awkwardly upon its webbed feet and engaged in preening its feathers with its fierce-looking, hooked beak. It reminded him forcibly of that very sea-fowl which had guided him to the island, especially when it stretched out its wings and he saw that certain of its feathers were missing, although now these seemed to be growing again.
Again he advanced a few steps so as to get a better view, and came to a sudden halt. For there, in front of what seemed to be the mouth of a cave, was the fire, made, he guessed, of dried seaweed which burned brightly with a bluish flame. Nor was
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this all. By the fire, which here in the gathering gloom of night, for now the sun was setting, shone strongly upon her, knelt a woman clad in skins and apparently engaged in prayer. At any rate, she was speaking in a rich, low voice and her large eyes were lifted towards heaven, like those of one who prayed. Keeping in the shadow of the boulders, he crept nearer with a beating heart, and listened. She was praying, for he caught the words, «Our Father» and «temptation» and «deliver us from evil» spoken in curious, broken English, mixed with certain elementary sounds, as though the speaker were using a language half-forgotten, or with which she was imperfectly acquainted.
The thing was amazing, so much so that he forgot himself and advanced out of the shadow. Soft as were his footsteps upon the damp soil, the woman heard them more quickly than any civilized person would have done, and looked towards him. Now he saw her every feature, and indeed, all the rest of her in the strong light of the seaweed fire, and became aware that she was beautiful exceedingly, quite young also, perhaps one or two-and-twenty years of age. She was a fair woman, although the weather had tanned her face to a rich and healthy brown, through which shone the colour on her cheeks, much as it does on a russet apple. Also her lips were intensely red. The face itself was rather oval but most feminine, and all about it hung long locks of chestnut-coloured hair. Her eyes were large and very blue and her skin was white as milk, for this he could see between the edges of her fur garment, which was fastened with a thong that had come untied. Her head was small but shapely and the chestnut hair, parted in the middle, grew low
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down upon her forehead. For the rest she was a tall and finely made woman, though somewhat slender, and straight as an arrow, while about her was an unmistakable air of breeding; for instance, her hands and feet which were bare were delicate and long, though rough from hard use.
In that first glance two other things about her caught his attention. The first of these was that on her rounded neck lay
astring of medium-sized but somewhat discoloured pearls, while attached to her robe was a little bunch of flowers, apparently of the geranium tribe. Even then it struck Andrew as strange and touching that in her desolate circumstances this castaway, for such she must be, should still adorn herself with flowers.
Now she saw him clearly and searched him all over with
aquick glance of her large eyes, which wore a look like to that of a frightened animal. Then she gave a little scream, as though something about him had alarmed her, and turning swiftly, fled into a cave of which the mouth was behind her, and there vanished.
Andrew stood for a while, not knowing what to do.
«I seem to have intruded here», he said aloud, having contracted the habit of speaking to himself during his long weeks of solitude, «but heavens! what an adventure. I wonder if Lady Crusoe lives alone, or if Robinson will presently appear and attack me. I don’t see any sign of him yet, or of the family either».
Then he grew silent and again reflected for a while, till at length he became aware that he was hungry, also growing cold, and that the seaweed fire was very attractive.
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«Perhaps she won’t mind if I warm myself and eat something», he thought, and in a gingerly and deprecating manner drew near the fire and seated himself upon a flat stone with his back to the cave.
This place he chose with deliberation because he did not want to seem to spy upon its occupant, although it had occurred to him that if Robinson were in that cave, he might have him at a disadvantage. Then he took some food from his bag and began to eat without noticing the taste of it, since his mind was occupied otherwise than with his creature wants. The cat, Josky, in his pocket, being more self-centred, woke up and, smelling the meat, began to mew, whereon he abstracted it and gave it its portion. Also several of the solemn-looking birds that were seated about, regarding him with an idle but piercing curiosity, drew near as though they too expected to be fed.
«Lady Crusoe seems to keep a menagerie», murmured Andrew to himself.
Just at that moment he heard a sound behind him, a rushing sound of swift feet.
«Robinson, I expect!» he ejaculated.
Before he could do anything, however, he saw a hand thrust past him a round, polished, flat platter of stone on which lay a large baked fish wrapped in rushes. Also two boiled penguin’s eggs rolled to his feet. He rose to make his acknowledgments of this delicate and timely attention, but before he could turn round, with another rush the giver had vanished into the blackness of the cave. So he sat down again and, helped by Josky, ate some of the fish, also one of the eggs.
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By now the darkness had begun to gather; so that there might be more light, Andrew took the liberty of throwing seaweed on to the fire from a pile which was at hand. Then he filled and lit his pipe, sat down again and waited, his nerves all tingling with excitement.
Would Lady Crusoe come out again, he wondered, or had she perhaps packed herself up for the night, with or without Robinson. If she did not come, upon one point he was clear, he would not go. J’y suis j’y resteshould be his motto. There he would stop till the morning – till any number of following mornings if need were – since surely she must emerge at last, unless, indeed, that cave had a back door.
In fact, it was necessary for him to find out about this beauteous young creature clad in skins. Hitherto he had never been a curious man. People and things bored him too much, but now, perhaps for the first time in his life, he felt himself devoured by an insatiable desire for information. Nothing in the world had ever excited him so much, except perhaps to know what happened to us when we went out of the world. Even the problem of the fate of his fellow-passengers on the Neptune, which had haunted him day and night, paled in his mind before this new and attractive riddle.
Yes, whatever chanced, however bad the weather might be, there he would remain, or at least in the immediate neighbourhood, until an answer to it was forthcoming.
CHAPTER XVIII
MARY
As it chanced no great strain was put upon a patience which Andrew had determined should be infinite, since about ten minutes later he became aware that he was no longer alone – although he heard nothing. For this time there was no rushing, from which he concluded that the approach of Lady Crusoe (if it were she and not Robinson) must have been very stealthy, a fact which suggested that it might be Robinson upon evil purposes intent.
To settle this point he wheeled round swiftly upon his stone, to discover to his relief that his visitor was not of the male sex. For there between him and the cave mouth, standing in the full light of the fire, was the mysterious lady – somehow he never thought of her for a moment as otherwise than a lady – a little changed indeed, since she now wore a more tightlyfitting and closer buttoned, or rather tied, fur coat made from the whitish pelts of young seals. Also her thick chestnut hair had been combed and hung almost to her knees, in great tresses fastened at the ends of with little bows of grass fibre.
«Lady Crusoe in her Sunday best!» thought Andrew, who in his lighter moments had a flippant mind, then sat still admiring the general effect which, in that blue firelight with a back-
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ground of black rocks, was in its way superb. Finally he rose, took off his hat, always an Englishman’s first and last resource when embarrassed by the sudden appearance of a lady, and not knowing what to say, stood still. Indeed, it was she who began the conversation by pointing to Josky sleeping luxuriously before the fire and saying, with a triumphant nod of the head:
«Pussy-cat. Oh! yes, ’member ship, pussy-cat!»
Then she paused as though exhausted by the effort. Andrew assented to the accuracy of this statement, then
feeling that he must say something, added: «What is your name?»
«What ees your name?» she repeated after him with a curious accent on each word and especially on «name», which she said with a very broad «a». Then, after profound thought, a kind of inspiration seemed to seize her, and flinging up her rounded arms, she exclaimed with a rapturous smile:
«Ma-ary».
Looking at her as she did these things, Andrew was thrilled all through his being and thought to himself that he had never seen so beautiful a creature. Of what did she put him in mind? He could not say, but wild roses and the first light of dawn and the last dying trill of a thrush’s song at eve came into his thoughts as instances of things which were supremely pure and sweet and natural.
So overpowered was he that beyond repeating the word «Mary» after her to show that he understood, he said nothing. She, however, delighted with her success, made a further effort.
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«You», she said, pointing an accusing finger at him, «name – what?»
«Andrew», he replied.
«Andrew, Andrew», she murmured several times. Then as though to make sure, began to spell – A n – An, d r u – dru».
«d r e w», he corrected.
«e w», she said, shaking her head. «No ’member ‘w.’» Then added, «Old man, he name Tom».
«Indeed», answered Andrew, overcome by this piece of information, «I thought it must be Robinson». Then rising to the occasion and adapting himself to her limited vocabulary, he asked:
«Old man Tom, no see. Where he?» and he looked about him vaguely, then pointed to the cave.
Again she repeated his words to herself and again became filled with angelic inspiration, at least on her beautiful face it looked angelic, as she replied:
«Old man Tom, he» Here words failed her, and she had recourse to pantomime, «he», and she pointed to the ground, then by an afterthought, up towards the sky.
«Dead», suggested Andrew.
«D e d», she spelt out, «ded! Yes, yes, he ded», and she clapped her hands delightedly. Then, as though realizing that this action might be misinterpreted, she sighed from her deep bosom, shook her head sadly and made a movement with her hand as though wiping tears from her eyes.
«I am jolly well glad of it», commented the unfeeling Andrew with a sympathetic sadness of countenance, for some-
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how he did not seem to wish for the society of «Old man Tom» whoever he might be, or have been.
Here their conversation came to a full stop, hers because language seemed to have exhausted its possibilities, his because he had so much to say and did not know how much she would understand.
As though some instinct told her that the situation was awkward, she proceeded to relieve it by action. First she collected the remains of the fish which he had been eating, holding them delicately in the rushes, and threw them away towards where the great birds still sat ghost-like in the gloom. Then she picked up the uneaten egg and, as though to show that it must not be wasted, with a movement of extraordinary grace flitted to the mouth of the cave and laid it down. Atalanta could not have lifted the golden apples with more charm, thought Andrew.
Returning, she stooped and stroked Josky, listening with pleasure to its purring and saying:
«An-drew, pussy-cat! Pussy-cat, Andrew!» Then suddenly she became solemn, almost mysteriously solemn.
«Night», she said, «night», pointing with raised hands to the darkness above them in which bright stars appeared. «Night. God in night, say prayer», and down she went upon her knees, motioning to Andrew to do likewise.
«Our Father», she began, and stopped, looking at him. «Which art in Heaven», he added.
She nodded in her childish delight. Evidently she had forgotten these words which she repeated after him, and wanted him to help her out. So they went through the Lord’s Prayer,
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