The Coral Island quotes

The beginning—My early life and character—I thirst for adventure in foreign lands and go to sea.

Roving has always been, and still is, my ruling passion, the joy of my heart, the very sunshine of my existence.

In childhood, in boyhood, and in man’s estate, I have been a rover; not a mere rambler among the woody glens and upon the hilltops of my own native land, but an enthusiastic rover throughout the length and breadth of the wide wide world.

In childhood, in boyhood, and in man’s estate, I have been a rover; not a mere rambler among the woody glens and upon the hilltops of my own native land, but an enthusiastic rover throughout the length and breadth of the wide wide world.

It was a wild, black night of howling storm, the night in which I was born on the foaming bosom of the broad Atlantic Ocean.

My father was a sea-captain; my grandfather was a sea-captain; my great-grandfather had been a marine. Nobody could tell positively what occupation his father had followed;

“Do you know what conclusion I have come to?” said Peterkin. “I have made up my mind that it’s capital—first rate—the best thing that ever happened to us, and the most splendid prospect that ever lay before three jolly young tars.

We’ve got an island all to ourselves.

We’ll take possession in the name of the king; we’ll go and enter the service of its black inhabitants. Of course we’ll rise, naturally, to the top of affairs. White men always do in savage countries. You shall be king, Jack;

… hour we were drinking our lemonade and eating coconuts round a fire that would have roasted an entire sheep, while the smoke, flames, and sparks, flew up among the broad leaves of the overhanging palm trees, and cast a warm glow upon our leafy bower.

That night the starry sky looked down through the gently rustling trees upon our slumbers, and the distant roaring of the surf upon the coral reef was our lullaby.

having which, we were amply supplied, as Peterkin said, with meat and drink and pocket-handkerchiefs! I took the precaution, however, to put the burning-glass into my pocket, lest we should want fire.

The morning was exceeding lovely. It was one of that very still and peaceful sort which made the few noises that we heard seem to be quiet noises.

I know no other way of expressing this idea. Noises which so far from interrupting the universal tranquillity of earth, sea, and sky—rather tended to reveal to us how quiet the world around us really was.

And the nature as well as the period of this rest varies, according to the different temperaments of individuals, and the peculiar circumstances in which they may chance to be placed.

To those who work with their minds, bodily labour is rest. To those who labour with the body, deep sleep is rest.

To the downcast, the weary, and the sorrowful, joy and peace are rest.

Jack and I were surprised that we had not noticed this the first few days of our residence here, and could only account for it by our being so much taken up with the more obvious wonders of our novel situation.

I have since learned, however, that this want of observation is a sad and very common infirmity of human nature, there being hundreds of persons before whose eyes the most wonderful things are passing every day, who nevertheless are totally ignorant of them.

I therefore have to record my sympathy with such persons, and to recommend to them a course of conduct which I have now for a long time myself adopted—namely, the habit of forcing my attention upon all things that go on around me, and of …

as, for example, we three on this our island, although most unlike in many things, when united, made a trio so harmonious that I question if there ever met before such an agreeable triumvirate.

There was, indeed, no note of discord whatever in the symphony we played together on that sweet Coral Island; and I am now persuaded that this was owing to our having been all tuned to the same key, namely, that of love!

Yes, we loved one another with much fervency while we lived on that island; and, for the matter of that, we love each other still.

But Jack did it. He was of, that disposition which will not be conquered. When he believed himself to be acting rightly, he overcame all obstacles.

I have seen Jack, when doubtful whether what he was about to do were right or wrong, as timid and vacillating as a little girl⁠—and I honour him for it!

As this boat was a curiosity in its way, a few words here relative to the manner of its construction may not be amiss.

The sun was just rising from the Pacific’s ample bosom and tipping the mountain tops with a red glow.

The sea was shining like a sheet of glass, yet heaving with the long deep swell that, all the world round, indicates the life of ocean; and the bright seaweeds and the brilliant corals shone in the depths of that pellucid water, as we rowed over it, like rare and precious gems.

Oh! it was a sight fitted to stir the soul of man to its profoundest depths, and, if he owned a heart at all, to lift that heart in adoration and gratitude to the great Creator of this magnificent and glorious universe.

Slowly and majestically it came on, acquiring greater volume and velocity as it advanced, until it assumed the form of a clear watery arch, which sparkled in the bright sun.

On it came with resistless and solemn majesty⁠—the upper edge lipped gently over, and it fell with a roar that seemed as though the heart of Ocean were broken in the crash of tumultuous water, while the foam-clad coral reef appeared to tremble beneath the mighty shock!

We gazed long and wonderingly at this great sight, and it was with difficulty we could tear ourselves away from it.

“That beats everything,” said Peterkin, rubbing his nose, and screwing up his face with an expression of exasperated amazement. “

I’ve heard of a thing being neither fish, flesh, nor fowl, but I never did expect to live to see a brute that was all three together⁠—at once⁠—in one!

But look there!” he continued, pointing with a look of resignation to the shore, “look there! there’s no end to it. What has that brute got under its tail?”

On seeing this, Peterkin turned with a grave face to us and said, “

It’s my opinion that these birds are all stark, staring mad, and that this is an enchanted island. I therefore propose that we should either put about ship and fly in terror from the spot, or land valorously on the island, and sell our lives as dearly as we can.

”

“You see what we may expect,” said Jack bitterly. “

The man who will wantonly kill a poor brute for sport will think little of murdering a fellow-creature.

Now, boys, we have but one chance left—the Diamond Cave.”

… of those still, hot, sweltering days, so common in the Pacific, when Nature seems to have gone to sleep, and the only thing in water or in air that proves her still alive, is her long, deep breathing, in the swell of the mighty sea.

No cloud floated in the deep blue above; no ripple broke the reflected blue below.

The sun shone fiercely in the sky, and a ball of fire blazed, with almost equal power, from out the bosom of the water.

No cloud floated in the deep blue above; no ripple broke the reflected blue below.

The sun shone fiercely in the sky, and a ball of fire blazed, with almost equal power, from out the bosom of the water.

So intensely still was it, and so perfectly transparent was the surface of the deep, that had it not been for the long swell already alluded to, we might have believed the surrounding universe to be a huge blue liquid ball, and our little ship …

They never seemed to tire of this sport, and, from the great heat of the water in the South Seas, they could remain in it nearly all day without feeling chilled.

Many of these children were almost infants, scarce able to walk; yet they staggered down the beach, flung their round fat little black bodies fearlessly into deep water, and struck out to sea with as much confidence as ducklings.

The other game to which I have referred was swimming in the surf.

This question silenced me, while I considered what I should do in such a case. At length I laid my hand an his arm, and said, “

Bill, when a man has done all that he can do, he ought to leave the rest to God.

”

“Only believe!” cried Bill, starting up on his elbow; “I’ve heard men talk o’ believing as if it was easy.

Ha! ’tis easy enough for a man to point to a rope and say, ‘I believe that would bear my weight;’ but ’tis another thing for a man to catch hold o’ that rope, and swing himself by it over the edge of a precipice!

”

The shore grew rapidly more indistinct as the shades of evening fell, while our clipper bark bounded lightly over the waves. Slowly the mountain top sank on the horizon, until it became a mere speck.

In another moment the sun and the Coral Island sank together into the broad bosom of the Pacific.

“Nay, Peterkin,” replied Jack, gravely, “I won’t be jested out of it.

I grant you, that, when we’ve once resolved to act, and have made up our minds what to do, we should think no more of danger. But, before we have so resolved, it behoves us to look at it straight in the face, and examine into it, and walk round it; for if we flinch at a distant view, we’re sure to run away when the danger is near.

Now, I understand from you, Ralph, that the island is inhabited by thoroughgoing, out-and-out cannibals, whose principal law is—‘Might is right, and the weakest goes to the wall?’ ”

The young man’s life is mine.” Then, turning to Jack, he said, “You have forfeited your liberty and life to me. Submit yourself, for we are more numerous than the sand upon the shore.

You are but one; why should you die?

”

Hastily throwing a few blankets into our little boat, we stepped into it, and, whispering farewell to the natives in the schooner, rowed gently over the lagoon, taking care to keep as near to the beach as possible.

We rowed in the utmost silence and with muffled oars, so that had anyone observed us at the distance of a few yards, he might have almost taken us for a phantom-boat or a shadow on the dark water.

Not a breath of air was stirring;

“and I must again express my regret that unavoidable circumstances have thrust your society upon me, and that necessity has compelled me to cultivate your acquaintance.

Were it not that you are incapable of walking upon the water, I would order you, sir, out of the canoe.

”

Without knowing very well what I intended to do, I also arose and grasped my paddle with both hands.

On came the large canoe like a warhorse of the deep, with the foam curling from its sharp bow, and the spearheads of the savages glancing the beams of the rising sun.

Perfect silence was maintained on both sides, and we could hear the hissing water, and see the frowning eyes of the warriors, as they came rushing on.