The School Friends Part 9

"That's strange! What, isn't there a young lad somewhere about the island?"

"No," said Humphry. "I have been here three years and have seen no human being."

The man gazed into his countenance with a look of astonishment.

"What is your name, then?" he asked.

Humphry mentioned it.

"You Mr Gurton!" he cried, pressing his hand. "I suppose it must be; and don't you know me?"

Humphry looked into the man's face. It was covered with a thick beard, and his tangled hair hung over his shoulders.

"You must be Ned Hadow; yet I should not have known you more than you know me. I am indeed thankful that you have been saved. But where have you been all the time?"

"Greater part of it living on sh.o.r.e," answered Ned. "After we landed you, we took three or four prizes; but not being able to navigate the s.h.i.+p, we put into a convenient harbour in an island inhabited by savages. There we remained, living among them much as they did.

Several of our men were killed; and at last, finding that the savages intended to cut us all off, we put to sea again. We had been knocking about for some time, and used up all our provisions, when we fell in with the gale which drove the s.h.i.+p on yonder rocks."

Ned insisted that he could walk across the island, and with Humphry's help he was able to accomplish the journey, though nearly exhausted at the end of it. Humphry then made him lie down in his bed, while he prepared some soup and other food.

Next day Ned somewhat recovered; and in the course of a week, owing to Humphry's constant attention, he looked more like his former self.

"It's very dreadful to think that all the others have perished, but I am truly thankful that you have been sent to be my companion," said Humphry. "You little thought when you acted so kindly towards me by saving my life, and getting me put on sh.o.r.e here, that I should ever in any way be able to repay you."

"I did not, Mr Gurton; but I feel that I am such a worthless fellow that my life was not worth preserving."

"We are all worthless, Ned: that's what the book I read every day tells me, and I am convinced of it when I look into my own heart, and know how people in the world are generally acting."

"What! have you got that book still, Mr Gurton?" asked Ned.

"Yes, indeed I have, and I shall be glad to read it to you, Ned," said Humphry.

"I shall like to hear it, sir, for I have not heard anything like a good word since you used to read it to me when I was sick. I had almost forgotten there is a G.o.d in heaven. I remembered that, however, when I was clinging to the wreck, and expecting every moment to be in His presence."

"It's the best thing to read G.o.d's Word, and to be guided by it, when we expect to live. I hope you may be spared many years, even though we never get away from this island, and that book will serve us better than any other companion who could join us."

Humphry, instead now of reading his Testament to himself, read it daily to Ned, and even while they were at work he used to repeat portions he had learned by heart.

Though Ned could not read, he gained in time a good knowledge of the book, and his dark soul by degrees becoming enlightened, he understood clearly at length G.o.d's plan of salvation, and cheerfully accepted it.

"You see, Ned, all things are ordered for the best," said Humphry one day, "and you must be convinced that G.o.d loves us, however little we may have loved Him. If I had remained on board the privateer, I should have become, as I was fast doing, like the rest of the unhappy crew. Though I thought it very dreadful to be left all alone on the island, I now feel that it has been the greatest blessing to me. G.o.d in His mercy also saved you, though you would have preferred remaining among the savages. Now you are happy in knowing the glorious truth that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin; and though we may both of us wish to be once more among our fellow-men, we can live contentedly here till He thinks fit to call us out of this life."

"I hope He may take me before any s.h.i.+p comes to the island, for if I once fell among the sort of men I have lived with all my life, I should soon again be as bad as they are," said Ned with a sigh.

"Not if you sought help and protection from G.o.d's Holy Spirit," answered Humphry, "and prayed that He would keep you out of temptation."

Ned was surprised to find how much Humphry had done during the time he had been alone on the island. He a.s.sisted him in all his undertakings, and they together caught enough seals to fill another large storehouse.

At last, after two years had thus pa.s.sed away, Ned, who had been fis.h.i.+ng down the harbour, came hurrying back. His countenance was grave, and he looked much agitated.

"I have been watching a vessel standing in for the island. She has hove to, and is sending a boat on sh.o.r.e. The time has come, Mr Gurton, when we must part. I dare not go back into the world, and have made up my mind to remain here. You are young, and have many years before you, and I would advise you to go, and all I ask is that you will think of me and pray for me."

This announcement made Humphry even more agitated than Ned. He hurried to the spot where the boat could be seen.

She made her way up the harbour. Humphry and his companion went down to meet her. An officer-like looking man stepped on sh.o.r.e, accompanied by another in dark clothes. They seemed much surprised at seeing Humphry and Ned.

"What! are you Englishmen?" asked one of the strangers. "We only discovered the island this morning, and had no expectation of finding it inhabited."

Humphry explained that they were the only inhabitants; that he had been left there some years before, and, pointing to Ned, said, "This man was afterwards wrecked on the coast, and he alone was saved from his s.h.i.+p."

"I am Captain Summers of the _Hope_, now lying in the offing. This gentleman is the Reverend Mr Evans, a missionary, whom I am conveying to an island where he is about to settle. What is your name?" asked the officer.

Humphry told him.

"And my name is Tom Martin," said Ned coming forward, greatly to Humphry's surprise.

"Well, my friends, it seems but a barren island. I wonder how you have managed to live here so long."

Humphry briefly explained the various means by which he had procured food, and leading the way to the garden, showed them the perfect cultivation into which it had been brought. He then invited Captain Summers and Mr Evans into his hut. His Testament lay open on the table.

The latter took it up, observing--

"I am glad to see, my young friend, that you have not been deprived of G.o.d's Word during your long stay here."

"It has indeed been my great solace and delight," answered Humphry.

"Without it I should have been miserable."

"Well, my friends, I shall be most happy to receive you both on board my s.h.i.+p; and as I hope to sail for England in the course of a few months, you will then be able to return home."

Humphry thanked the captain for his offer, which he gladly accepted.

Ned looked very grave.

"I am much obliged to you, sir," he said, "and though I shall be sorry to part from Mr Gurton, I am very sure that I had better stay where I am till G.o.d thinks fit to call me from this world. I have lived too long among savages, and worse than savages, to go back again and live with civilised people. If Mr Gurton will leave me his Testament, which he has taught me to read, and his gun and harpoons, it's all I ask."

"No, my friend," observed Mr Evans, "man is not made to live alone. If, as I hope from what you say, you have learned to love Jesus Christ, you should try to serve Him, and endeavour to do good among your fellow-creatures. Now, as I am going to settle in an island inhabited by savages, I shall be very glad of your a.s.sistance, and if you already understand their language, which I have to learn, you may speak to them, and tell them of Him who died for them, that they may be reconciled to Him. You will thus be showing your love for Him far more than by living a life of solitude, even although you spend your days in reading His Word. Remember it is not only those who hear the Word of G.o.d, but those who hear and do it, who are His disciples."

"You are right, sir," exclaimed Ned, brightening up. "My only fear if I left this was to find myself among those who would lead me back into bad ways, but I will gladly go with you--that I will, sir."

As the captain was anxious to see the island, Humphry undertook to guide him and Mr Evans to the top of the hill, whence they could obtain a view over the whole of it. Before setting out, Humphry showed them the store of seal-skins.

"I shall be sorry to leave these behind," he observed, "and if you can receive them on board, they will a.s.sist to pay my pa.s.sage."

"As to that, my friend," answered the captain, "I will very gladly send my boats to take them off, and you shall pay freight for them; but you, I am very sure, will be able to work your pa.s.sage, and I hope you will find they will sell for some hundred pounds in England."

"Part of them belong to my companion," observed Humphry.

"No, no, Mr Gurton," said Ned. "They are all yours. Not a s.h.i.+lling of their value will I touch, except enough to give me a new rig-out, as I am not fit to accompany Mr Evans in these tattered old clothes of mine."

"Set your mind at rest about that," said the captain. "You shall be welcome to a thorough fit out, suitable for the task you are about to undertake, and your friend Mr Gurton will require the money more than you will."