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diff --git a/old/60227-0.txt b/old/60227-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index e54c705..0000000 --- a/old/60227-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4929 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Three Sailor Boys or Adrift in the Pacific, by -Verney Lovett Cameron - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Three Sailor Boys or Adrift in the Pacific - -Author: Verney Lovett Cameron - -Release Date: September 2, 2019 [EBook #60227] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE SAILOR BOYS OR ADRIFT *** - - - - -Produced by Mardi Desjardins & the online Distributed -Proofreaders Canada team at https://www.pgdpcanada.net - - - - - - THREE SAILOR BOYS - - OR - - _Adrift in the Pacific_ - - - - BY - VERNEY LOVETT CAMERON, C.B., D.C.L. - COMMANDER ROYAL NAVY - - _Author of “Jack Hooper,” “Among the Turks,”_ - _“In Savage Africa,”_ - _&c., &c._ - - - [Illustration] - - - THOMAS NELSON AND SONS - _London, Edinburgh, and New York_ - - 1902 - - - - - Contents - - I. THE RUNAWAYS, 9 - II. IN HIDING, 18 - III. ADRIFT, 26 - IV. ON A CORAL ISLAND, 36 - V. FISH-CURING, 46 - VI. A VOYAGE OF EXPLORATION, 54 - VII. BILL MAKES A DISCOVERY, 64 - VIII. A NARROW ESCAPE, 75 - IX. PURSUED BY CANNIBALS, 87 - X. A DESPERATE STRUGGLE, 98 - XI. BRISTOL BOB, 109 - XII. A SAD EVENT, 120 - XIII. IN CAPTIVITY, 131 - XIV. A DIVE FOR LIBERTY, 142 - - - - -[Illustration: “_We bent to our oars with all our strength._” Page -10.] - - - - - ADRIFT IN THE PACIFIC. - - - - - CHAPTER I. - THE RUNAWAYS. - - -“Look out, boys, or we shall never fetch the ship again!” - -“Why, what’s the matter?” - -“Matter enough; we’re ever so far from her, and there’s a storm brewing. -Just look to the westward and see what a bank the sun is setting in.” - -Sure enough, a lurid, red sun was setting in a bank of heavy, black -clouds, which had already obscured his lower half, and the surface of -which was flecked with little, white, fleecy dots, moving rapidly, which -looked as if the port-holes of some giant craft had been opened and her -guns fired. - -In an open boat were I, Sam Hawse, and the two speakers, my companions, -Tom Arbor and Bill Seaman, and a mile and a half or two miles away lay a -ship with her upper sails furled, courses hauled up, and topsails -lowered on the cap, while the surface of the sea was like glass, though -a long, heavy swell was rolling up from the westward, heralding the -approach of the storm of which the clouds pointed out by Tom Arbor were -the visible harbingers. - -The ship was the _Golden Fleece_, a clipper barque; and we were three -boys belonging to her, and had on this the third day of continuous and -stark calms been sent away to try our hands at turning a turtle, of -which some had been seen floating on the surface, and had already been -successful in securing two; and going on in search of others, we had got -farther from the _Golden Fleece_ than either we wished or intended. - -“See there,” continued Tom; “it’s all hands aboard the barky. The -skipper he sees what’s coming, and ain’t a-goin’ to be caught napping. -Come, we must give way and get aboard as soon as we may; he’ll be in no -pleasant temper, and the mate or bos’n will give us a rope’s-ending for -supper.” - -Besides the fear of the reception which awaited us, we saw the truth of -what Tom said, and bent to our oars with all our strength. - -Before, however, we had covered half the distance which lay between us -and the _Golden Fleece_, the clouds had risen and obscured the heavens, -and we could feel faint, chill puffs of air fanning our cheeks. - -“Give way, lads,” cried Tom, who was pulling stroke, “or we shall never -reach her; and in a cockle-shell like this we can never live out a storm -such as is coming on.” - -Bill and I needed no urging, and if possible pulled harder than before; -but suddenly Tom’s oar broke in half, and he fell on his back in the -bottom of the boat. - -Bill, astonished at this, let go his oar, and it fell overboard and -drifted astern. - -As soon as Tom regained his seat, we looked round for the ship, and saw -that she was paying off before the wind with a fore-staysail set, and -that, even if we had our oars, there would be small hope of our reaching -her, while to windward we could see the rain coming down on us like a -wall. - -“Well, lads, we’re in a fix now,” said Tom; “give me your oar, Sam, and -I’ll see if I can scull back to pick up Bill’s oar.” - -“Not much use in that; the rain will be on us in five minutes, and we -shall be able to see nothing,” I said; and almost as I spoke, a flash of -lightning seemed to strike the water in our immediate vicinity, and was -instantly followed by a crash of thunder, which sounded as if heaven and -earth were coming to an end. - -“Out with your knives, quick, and cut the sails loose, and get the lug -over the bows fast to the painter; we may ride to it, while I keep her -bows on with the oar,” (our only remaining one), cried Tom. - -Indeed, this was our only chance, for the rain was upon us and the -lightning was flashing all around us; and in less time than it takes to -tell of it, Tom and I had the sail over the bows, and bent on to the -painter with the tack, and weighted by the leads of some fishing-lines, -which were fortunately in the boat. - -By the time this was finished, the ship was hidden from our sight by the -storm; and soon the freshness of the rain turned to salt from the spray -driven by the wind, and the full force and fury of the storm fell on us. - -Fortunately the sea did not get up rapidly, being kept down by the -strength of the wind, and Tom managed to keep us bows on, and our -hastily-extemporized sea-anchor prevented it from breaking over us; but -Bill and I had all our work cut out to bail out the water, which we did -with a bailer and bucket that were by good-luck in the boat. - -After about two hours, as it must have been, though to us it seemed much -longer, the storm abated, leaving a nasty, confused sea; but we were -able to keep the boat afloat and fairly dry, though the long, dark night -was most dreary. - -At last the day began to dawn, and when the sun rose the clouds -dispersed and the sea got calmer by degrees. Our first anxiety was to -look for the _Golden Fleece_, and we eagerly scanned the horizon for -some signs of her; but not a sail was to be seen, and we three lads were -alone in an open boat on the wide ocean. - -Before going any farther I may as well describe the three occupants of -the boat, and say who we were. Tom Arbor, as the eldest, should stand -first. He was about seventeen years of age, and was strong built and -active. Like Seaman and myself, he was an orphan and the son of a sailor -drowned at sea. His mother had brought him up to the best of her -ability, and would have kept him with her, and opposed his following in -his father’s footsteps and going to sea with her utmost power; but she -could no more prevail with him than a hen who has sat upon ducks’ eggs -can stop her brood from taking to the nearest water by clucking. -Accordingly, when but twelve years of age, he had stowed himself away on -board a ship bound round the Horn to California; and, not being found -till long after the pilot had left, had made the voyage, and, the -skipper being a kindly man, had been well treated. When he came home he -had found his mother married again to a small shopkeeper, and she no -longer said a word against his being a sailor; and he had made a voyage -to China and back before shipping on board the _Golden Fleece_, about -six months before. He was a cheerful, good-natured lad, with dark-brown -hair and eyes, and was certainly for his years a good sailor, and could -hand, reef, and steer, splice a rope, and pull an oar as well as many -who were longer at sea and older in years. - -Bill Seaman had been picked up on the sea-shore when about two years -old, and was supposed to be the only survivor from the wreck of a large -ship, in which it was thought his father had been lost; but no means had -come to hand to establish who his father was, and he had, by the -interest of some of the gentry living near where he was found, been -brought up in an establishment for the orphans of sailors till it was -closed, and he was sent to a workhouse. He was a clever, bright boy, but -small for his age. - -My mother had died when I was born, and when the ship in which my father -was an A.B. came home, the news was given to an aunt of my mother’s who -had taken charge of me that he had fallen off the fore-topsail yard off -Cape Horn in a winter gale and been drowned; so my old relative, the -only one I ever knew, had obtained admission for me into the same asylum -as Seaman; and as she died soon after, I was as destitute of friends or -relations as he was. In this asylum we continued till about the age of -seven, when from one cause or another it was closed, and Seaman and -myself were sent to a workhouse. - -Here our life was by no means a happy one, and two or three times we ran -away and tried to get taken as boys on board ships sailing from the -sea-port near which the workhouse was; but no one would take us, as we -were too small and young, and we were always caught and taken back to -the workhouse, where we were flogged and severely punished for our -attempts to escape. - -As may be imagined, our repeated attempts to escape did not cause our -treatment to be any better; so, after the last time we were brought -back, when we had undergone our punishment, Bill and I consulted -together and agreed—we were only twelve at the time—that we should -wait until we were two years older, when we hoped to be big and strong -enough to be accepted by some captain, and then to make another try for -freedom. - -During these two years we did all in our power to be considered good -boys, and with some success, and applied ourselves to learning the -trades which were taught us, Bill being taught shoemaking, while I was -instructed in carpentering; and at the end of these two years we had -both made some progress. - -Our intention of going to sea, however, never left us, though our good -conduct caused us to be treated more kindly than had hitherto been the -case; but I must say that our instructors punished us for any mistakes -or carelessness most severely, though of this we did not take much -notice, for we saw equal measure served out to all our companions, and -never for a moment doubted that it was part and parcel of the necessary -teaching. - -When we were about fourteen we were both called before the guardians, -who spoke to us kindly, and said that it was their intention to -apprentice us to our respective trades, for which we had shown great -aptitude, and that in about a week or so we should be bound over to the -masters who had been chosen for us. - -When we left the board-room I said to Seaman that the time had come for -us to try to run away to sea again, for if we were bound apprentice, -which, I know not why, among us and our comrades was looked upon as a -dreadful thing, we should never be able to get away, and in any case we -should be separated. - -He quite agreed with me, and we made up our minds to get away the next -night. Our dormitory was on the first floor, and had a long range of -windows, guarded by iron bars, which overlooked a narrow lane leading -down into a part of the town composed of sailors’ lodging-houses, and -along which scarcely any one passed after dark. - -The bars of the windows had only lately been put in order by the boys in -the carpenter’s shop, and with a screw-driver one could be easily -removed, so that we could get through and cut away the lead of the -windows. - -Bill promised me that he would manage to get a shoemaker’s knife to cut -the lead, while I had to procure a screw-driver, which I did without -being noticed. - -Next night, when the occupants of the dormitory were all sound asleep, -we set about our work, and while Bill got the cord which stretched the -sacking of our beds to lower ourselves into the lane, I unscrewed the -bars and cut the lead framing away. - -Some of the other boys were disturbed by the noise; but we were amongst -the biggest and strongest, and by threats and persuasion managed to -prevent them giving the alarm until the last moment, when, leaving -behind us the knife and screw-driver and all our clothes but our shirts -and trousers, for we did not wish to be considered thieves as well as -runaways, we slid down the rope, and on reaching the bottom scudded away -as fast as we could towards the nearest seamen’s haunt. - - - - - CHAPTER II. - IN HIDING. - - -We soon heard people in pursuit of us, and their shouts roused the -people in the houses near, and sailors and boarding-house keepers came -out into the streets and alleys to see what the commotion was all about. - -We ran on blindly, dodging some who would have stopped us, and not -knowing where to look for safety and shelter, when a great, burly fellow -in a crimson waistcoat and fur cap seized us by the collars and stayed -our progress. - -“Whither bound, you rascals?” he said. - -“Oh, please, sir, we’ve left the workhouse, and want to go to sea,” we -panted out. - -“Come along,” he said, and shoved us before him into a gloomy court, and -then into a door, and after that through passages, some dark and some -dimly lighted, and up and down broken and slippery stairs, until at last -we came into a small room, which was lighted by a couple of tallow -candles stuck into bottles. On one side was a bunk like a ship’s, and in -the middle a deal table, on which were a bottle and glasses. - -“There,” said our guide; “I don’t think the beadles’ll catch you now. -’Twould puzzle them to find their way here. Now, let’s have a look at -you, and see whether you’re worth keeping, or ’twould pay best to get a -reward for taking you back.” - -“Oh, don’t take us back,” we cried, for though the appearance of our -companion was not calculated to inspire confidence, we knew that we -should be severely punished if we were taken back to the workhouse, and -that the chance of getting to sea would be farther off from us than -ever. - -“Stow that,” he said. “First and foremost, how old are ye, and what can -ye do?” - -“Please, sir, our names are Bill Seaman and Sam Hawse, and we can do -shoemaking and carpentering, and we’re fourteen.” - -“A snab and a chips. Which is which? Now, one at a time. Seaman, what -are you?” - -“I’ve learned shoemaking, sir.” - -“And you, Hawse, are a carpenter?” - -“Yes, sir.” - -“Well, you seems likely, and I’ll keep you a day or two. Come along with -me,” and opening a door he went into a long room, at one end of which -was a sort of stage, where a man was roaring out a song to the -accompaniment of an old fiddler, and which was full of sailors drinking -and smoking and eating. - -In one corner of this room was a narrow staircase, up which our -conductor took us, and after passing through rooms full of beds, up -other flights of stairs, and along passages, we came at last to a small -den or cupboard, whose sloping ceiling told us it was close under the -roof. Here the man with the red waistcoat told us we could sleep, and -giving us a blanket to wrap ourselves in, shut and locked the door, -leaving us in the dark. - -Bill and I were too frightened to say much, so we rolled ourselves up in -the blanket as best we might, and tried to sleep. - -Next day we feared we had been forgotten, for we heard all sorts of -noises below us, but no one came near us, and we began to think we had -done a very foolish thing in running away, as in the workhouse, though -the food was not always to our taste, still there was enough, and it -came at regular hours. - -We tried to attract attention by hammering at the door and shouting, and -when that was of no avail we tried to find some means of getting out; -but we could not find any, for the whole of the place was carefully -boarded. - -At last we heard voices and footsteps outside, and the man with the red -waistcoat opened the door and said to some one who accompanied him: -“There, you can lie hid there till she’s sailed; it’s the snuggest stow -in the place. Why,” said he in astonishment, “there’s them two kids. -Blow my eyes, I’d forgotten them. D’ye think your old man would give -anything for them?” - -The newcomer, who was a sailor of a somewhat forbidding aspect, said, “I -shouldn’t wonder; boys is useful. He might give a sov. or two for the -pair, and what with kit and advances, as he calls it, make ’em work the -v’yge for nought.” - -“That’ll do; when d’ye say the _Golden Fleece_ sails?” - -“Why, she’s hauled out of dock, and sails next tide.” - -“But won’t he wait for hands? How many of you have run?” - -“Some half-dozen.” - -“So that’s it; I can give him the men and these boys too.” - -“Don’t give me up.” - -“No, you dunderhead; you’re worth more ashore than afloat. How many -advance notes have you cashed in a month?” - -“Five.” - -“Well, that does me well enough.” - -The newcomer took our place in the cupboard, but he was supplied with -food and drink and a light, which had not been granted to us; and the -man with the red waistcoat told us to follow him. - -I said, “Please, sir, give us something to eat.” - -“Bless me, you must be hungry,” he said. “I’d clean forgotten you. Now -come along, and you shall have a blow-out.” - -We followed the man down to a sort of kitchen in a cellar, where three -or four women were at work, and he told them to give us something to -eat. - -A tin dish full of broken victuals was given to us, and we were told to -sit in a corner and eat it. - -Whilst we were doing so, the women occasionally came and laughed at us -for the way we devoured our food; but seeing how hungry we were, when -the first dishful was finished they gave us more. - -At last our hunger was appeased; and then we were made to help as best -we could these women, who told us they were the cooks of the place, -which was one of the largest seamen’s lodging-houses in the place, and -was kept by the man in the red waistcoat, whose name was Crump. - -In the kitchen we passed the day, but about dusk we were sent for to Mr. -Crump’s sanctum, where we found him and a decently-dressed, sailor-like -man whom he called Captain Haxell, but whose face looked like some bird -of prey, his eyes were so sharp and dark and his nose so hooked and -pointed. - -“There are the lads now, captain,” said Mr. Crump, as the kitchen -wenches had told us to call him, “and I think you’ll find them smart and -handy.” - -“Stand up, and let’s see you,” said the captain. “So you wish to go to -sea? Where are your friends? Got none, d’ye say? Stow that. Now, your -names.” - -We told him our names, and he answered, “Pursers’ names both, you young -rascals; but, come now, I admire spirit in lads, and though there’s some -risk, I’ll take you as ’prentices.—Got any ’prentice forms, Crump?” - -“Yes, captain,” answered that worthy, and produced two sheets of paper -on which was some writing, which Captain Haxell told us to sign, and -which he put in his pocket. - -After this Crump took us to another room, where were sailors’ slops of -all kinds, and gave us each a blue shirt and trousers, cap, and jacket. - -We put them on, and asked for the shirts and trousers we took off to be -sent back to the workhouse, as it would not be honest to keep them. - -Mr. Crump gave a grin, and said our wishes should be attended, which -made us very happy, for the idea of stealing even the shirts and -trousers had been weighing heavy on our mind; but I am now afraid that -the workhouse authorities never saw those trousers or shirts again. - -Captain Haxell, when we returned, said, “Ah! that’s the style, my young -sailors.—Now, Mr. Crump, how about the men?” - -“All right, captain; I’ve them handy, and a wagon to take them and their -chests down, and the lads too.” - -Mr. Crump went out, and soon a certain amount of noise was heard in the -passage outside the little den where we were, as if heavy things were -being carried along, and then when it was quiet again Mr. Crump came in -and said, “All ready, captain. Now, pay me.” - -“Oh, I’ll pay you on board; come along of me.” - -“No, I’m too old a bird for that; I’m not going to be paid with the -fore-topsail. Pay down here, or not a soul leaves.” - -Captain Haxell tried persuasion, and said he had left all his money -aboard, and to go to the ship and come back would cause him to lose a -tide. - -“Can’t help that,” said Crump. “Pay or leave; them’s my words.” - -At last, seeing that Mr. Crump was obdurate, Captain Haxell took a -pocket-book out of his breast-pocket, and handed over some banknotes. - -“There, that’s right—honest seaman and no fraud,” said Crump. “Now have -a glass before you start,” and, suiting the action to the word, he -filled a couple of tumblers from a bottle that stood on the table. - -The two worthies drank together, and then Captain Haxell, telling us to -follow him, left the room and went to a sort of yard, where a covered -wagon with a horse ready harnessed to it was waiting. - -“Tumble in,” said our captain, for so we now must call him, and -accordingly we clambered up into the hind part, and found it lumbered -with sea-chests and drunken or drugged men; while Captain Haxell, -mounting the box, told the driver to go to the water-side. - -Here we found a boat waiting, into which we had to get, and to assist in -placing the men and other contents of the wagon in her. - -The boat pulled off to a ship lying some little distance out with her -topsails loosed, and when we arrived alongside men and chests were -hoisted in, and we scrambled up as well as we could. - -Captain Haxell, as soon as the boat was clear, called to the mate to -hoist the topsails, brace the yards abox, and weigh. - -The orders and the noise seemed confusing enough to both Bill and me, -and we were shoved and hustled about, and blamed for being useless, and -also for being in the way; but at last the ship was under way, and we -were standing off the land with all sails set. - - - - - CHAPTER III. - ADRIFT. - - -The night was cold and chill, and a drizzling rain was falling, which -speedily wet us through, as Bill and I stood on the deck, not knowing -where to go or what to do. - -The drunken men and their chests were all taken down into the -forecastle; but when we attempted to follow, we were told to stay on -deck and do our work, though what that work was proved a mystery to us. - -Seeing men coiling up ropes and hanging them on to belaying pins, we -tried to do the same, but only got cuffs and blows for doing it wrong; -so we sheltered ourselves under the long-boat, thinking that if this was -going to sea, it would have been much better to have remained in the -workhouse to become a carpenter and a shoemaker. - -Here we cowered away during the long and dreary night, and to add to our -discomfort, the ship being close to the wind, bobbing into a choppy -head-sea, we became dreadfully seasick. - -At last daylight came, and we were found and routed out of our refuge, -and brought before the mate who had the morning watch. - -“Hallo! Who are you, and where did you come from?” he shouted. - -We stood sillily before him, and answered, “Please, sir, we’re the two -apprentices Captain Haxell brought off last night.” - -“Apprentices! I never heard of our old man having apprentices before; -but where’s your kit, and the rest?” - -“Kit, sir—what’s that?” - -“Your chests, beds, clothes, you greenhorns.” - -“Please, sir, we’ve only what we’ve got on.” - -“Well, I don’t know what to do. I’ll see the captain when he comes on -deck. Here, what are your names?” - -When we told him, the mate said: “Well, Hawse, you are starboard watch; -and, Seaman, you are port watch. Hawse, your watch below; Seaman, on -deck.” - -All this was Greek to us, but one of the men, in obedience to the mate, -put a swab into Bill’s hand, and told him to dry the deck, while I was -left alone. I was standing amidships, wondering at what was going on and -what would become of us, when I felt a hand laid on my shoulder, and a -voice, the first with a tone of kindness in it that I had heard on -board, saying, “What cheer, shipmate?” - -Looking round, I saw a boy with a good-humoured smile on his face. - -“Oh,” I said, “what am I to do, and where can I go?” - -“Why, you must do what you’re told. Did you stowaway on board in dock?” - -“Not I. I and Bill there,” pointing to him, “are apprentices, and came -on board last night with the captain.” - -“Apprentices are you? Where are your chests and hammocks? Got nothing -but what you stand up in? You’re funny ’prentices, and I don’t think the -old man is likely to have ’prentices bound to him, from what I can see -since I’ve been aboard of the hooker.” - -When I explained to the speaker, who told me his name was Tom Arbor, and -that he had shipped two days before the ship sailed, how we had come -aboard, he laughed heartily, and said, “You’re no ’prentices. The old -man maybe wanted boys for something or other, and he took you. Never -mind, I’ll do what I can for you both.” - -Our conversation was interrupted by the captain coming on deck, and -calling for us. “Now, my brave sailor-boys, how d’ye like the sea?” - -Captain Haxell, as he spoke, looked even more like a bird of prey than -he had the day before, and though his words were cheery, there was -something in the way he said them which chilled us with fear. - -I, however, plucked up courage, and asked where we were to live, and for -some dry clothes. - -“Clothes, you workhouse brats; let them dry on you. Now you’ve got to -work before you eat. Here,” catching hold of me by the ear, “you go to -the steward, and say he said he wanted a boy, and I’ve got him one; and -you”—to Bill—“go to the cook for his mate.” - -We were told off thus roughly to our duties, and forewarned that those -under whom we had to work were worse tyrants than any we had had to do -with in the workhouse, but that they were kindness itself when compared -with the captain and mate. - -Indeed from no one on board did we receive any kindness, except from Tom -Arbor, and he himself had to undergo much ill-treatment. We often longed -to be back at the workhouse again, for there we were sure of our night’s -rest, and of sufficient food, while if we were treated severely, we had -not to suffer from actual cruelty. - -After leaving England we were at sea four or five months, and had during -the latter part to suffer from thirst; for our supply of water was but -scanty, and Bill and I were always the last served, and sometimes had to -go without. - -Notwithstanding rough treatment and thirst, we were fortunate enough to -keep our health; and when we first anchored, which was at one of the -coral islands in the Pacific, we were so delighted with all that we saw -of scenery and people—all was so strange, new, and wonderful—that we -thought little of the pains and hardships we had undergone. - -Soon, however, we found that even delightful scenery and climate do not -make up all that is necessary for enjoyment, and that sailing among -lovely islands, especially when one never has a chance of putting a foot -ashore, is but a poor compensation for blows and ill-treatment. - -We soon found that Captain Haxell traded with the people of the islands -on very peculiar principles. Indeed, often many of his acts were sheer -robbery and piracy, and though often Tom Arbor consulted with Bill -Seaman and myself as to the possibility of running away, we were afraid -to trust ourselves among the natives, lest they should avenge upon us -the wrongs they received at the hands of our shipmates. - -So matters went on, until the day when this story commences. Certainly -we had learned some amount of seamanship, and were better able to look -after ourselves than when we had left England; but I hope and trust that -it may never again fall to the lot of English boys to undergo such -ill-treatment as we constantly received. One comfort we had, and one -alone, and that was that Tom Arbor had been religiously brought up, and -taught where to look for consolation, and showed us how the Christianity -we had heard of in the workhouse was a real and beautiful thing, instead -of, as we had regarded it, simply one of the subjects of the workhouse -school. - -As soon as we found that there was no ship in sight, Tom proposed that -we should pray for help and guidance, and if our prayers were offered up -in rough and untutored language, they were as true and fervent as most -that are made in church. - -When our prayers were finished, we began to overhaul the boat, to find -what we had aboard of her. Fortunately she had constantly been employed -in trading, and her trade-box, arms, and all other gear belonging to her -were on board, except the oars, which had unfortunately been taken out, -just before we were sent in chase of the turtle, to be overhauled, and -only the three spoken of above had been passed into her before the boat -was lowered, and of these three, as will now be remembered, only one -remained. - -We found we had the mainmast and a dipping lug, as well as a small -triangular mizzen, and we at once shipped the masts, and made sail to a -light breeze from the westward; and then, with Bill Seaman steering, Tom -Arbor and I opened the trade-box. On the lid we found a sheet of paper, -on which was written the contents, which mainly consisted of gaudy -beads, brass wire, flints and steels, small hatchets and knives, and -also a book, in which had been entered what had been expended, and how -much had been replaced, and in which there were many blank sheets. There -was also a bottle of ink and a pen, so Tom said we could keep a log of -our proceedings. - -When we found that the list and trade-book agreed with the contents of -the chest, we looked to see what were in the lockers, which were fitted -under the stern sheets; and in them we found about four pounds of -pigtail tobacco—which, as none of us had ever taken to smoking, we -determined to keep for trade, knowing how fond the natives were of -it—six and a half ship biscuits, a piece of boiled salt pork weighing -about a pound, a bottle of rum, two cooked yams, two pistols, a large -packet of ammunition, some gun flints, a flask of priming powder, a bag -with needles and thread, and some tin plates, pannikins, and spoons. - -Lashed under the thwarts were four muskets in tarpaulin covers, and -there were three small beakers or casks, one of which was half full of -fresh water, a couple of balls of spun yarn, two fishing-lines and -hooks, and a lead and line. - -When we had completed our search, Tom said, “Well, my boys, we may be -thankful to have so much. Many a poor fellow has been adrift in a boat -without bite or sup, while what we have here, with these two turtles, -may last us some days; and before it is all finished, we may fall in -with an island or a ship.” - -Bill and I said we were both hungry and thirsty, and proposed to make a -meal off the pork and biscuits; but Tom said that they would keep, and -that we had better kill one of the turtles and live on its flesh. - -One was accordingly killed and cut up by Tom, and he gave us each a -piece of flesh to eat; but hungry as we were we could not stomach the -idea of eating it raw, and so we all began to cast about for some means -of cooking our ration. - -We had means of making fire, and the bottom boards would supply us with -fuel, but what were we to use as a stove or fireplace? This puzzled us -for some time, but at last a bright idea entered into my head. “Why -couldn’t we fill the shell of the turtle with water, and out of the -hoops of the bucket make a grating on which we could light a fire?” - -“That may be,” said Tom; “but suppose we want the bucket for bailing -again? That won’t do.” - -“But let us look again in the trade-box. Perhaps there may be something -there,” I answered. - -“I have it,” said Bill. “I quite forgot; but I remember a day or two ago -I was told to put some old cask hoops in the boat, and they are under -the head sheets.” - -Looking where he said, we found the hoops he mentioned, and before long -we made a sort of fireplace, which we stood in the turtle shell, and -splitting up one of the bottom boards with our knives we made a fire, -over which we after a fashion cooked our turtle meat, which we washed -down with a pannikin of water. - -When we had finished our meal, Tom said, “Now we had best try to make -some sort of paddles. There’s the loom of the broken oar and the -boathook. If we fix some of the bottom boards across them, they will -answer until we can arrange something better.” - -No sooner said than done; and I, as carpenter, managed by dint of hard -work before the night fell to fashion a couple of paddles, which if -somewhat clumsy were at all events better than nothing. Whilst I was -employed about this, Tom and Bill had taken turns in steering, and in -cutting up the turtle, the second of which was also killed and cut into -thin strips, which they hung on a piece of spun yarn stretched between -the two masts; and when that was finished, they had cleaned the muskets -and seen that they were fit for use. - -At sunset, Tom, who without any talk or election had been made our -captain, said we had better lower our sail, as otherwise we might run by -or upon land in the darkness, as many of the coral islands were but a -few feet above the surface of the water, and only visible from the -cocoanut palms growing on them. - -We accordingly lowered the lug, leaving the mizzen set to keep us head -to wind and sea, and arranging that we should watch in turns. The two -who were watch below rolled themselves up in the sail, Bill remarking -that it was better than the _Golden Fleece_, where at the best it was -watch and watch, and often watch and watch on, whereas now we were in -three watches. - -The morning watch fell to my lot, and just before the sun rose I saw -away on the eastern horizon a line of spots which looked like the sails -of ships, but which by this time I had learned were cocoanut palms on a -coral island. - -I instantly called my companions, and it being a dead calm, after we had -made a breakfast, at which, as land was in sight, Tom allowed us half a -biscuit apiece, we got out our paddles and commenced to pull in the -direction in which I had seen the tops of the trees. - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - ON A CORAL ISLAND. - - -“Fortunately for us it is calm,” said Tom, when, after two or three -hours’ paddling, Seaman and myself began to complain that the land -seemed to remain as far away as ever. “Never mind; pull on my boys,” -said Tom. - -“Why so, Tom?” I asked. - -“Can’t you see how as we’ve been having the south-east trades regular -till about a week ago; and they may set in again at any time, and then -instead of creeping toward land, we should be blown away to leeward?” - -Certainly Tom Arbor was right, and that we might soon expect the trades -to be blowing from their accustomed quarter was evident by the long -swell which was rolling up from the south-east; and the idea of being -blown away from the land, which was already in sight, was quite enough -to make us toil away at our paddles without flagging or complaining. - -When the sun was high over our heads at mid-day, we were obliged to stop -for a short spell, and begged for water; and though Tom at first -refused, as he said we were not yet on shore, after much begging he -relented and gave us a half-pint pannikin full each. - -Refreshed by this, we took to our paddling with renewed vigour, though -we were somewhat dismayed to find that during our short rest we had -drifted back a part of our hard-won distance. - -“Never mind, my boys,” said ever-cheery Tom; “pull away, and as we get -closer we shall be protected by the island from the current.” And, as -the event proved, his words were true, for after paddling for another -hour and a half we came to a bit of broken water where the current, -which was divided by the coral island, met again, after passing through -which we found we made good progress, and at about half-past four we -found ourselves close to the shore. - -On the side we approached there was no surf, and we were able to beach -the boat in safety, and carrying the anchor up we buried it in the -ground, and securing the cable to it we were able to leave the boat -safe. - -We were glad indeed to find ourselves ashore, and went up to the -cocoanut palms which we had seen to look for some fallen nuts, but our -attention was soon drawn to the peculiarities of the place. The island -was in the form of a circle, enclosing a lagoon about a mile and a half -in diameter, while the width of the encircling reef, for it was little -more, was not over a hundred and fifty yards. On the outside the edges -went sheer down, but inside they sloped away gradually, and on the -weather or south-eastern side a heavy surf was breaking. - -We soon found some cocoanuts, and hacking off the outside covering with -a hatchet, we cut through the shell, and enjoyed a refreshing draught of -the sweet, cool milk, and then splitting them open we ate the kernels. - -Bill and I now proposed to take our belongings out of the boat, and make -a tent out of the sail. - -“Not so quick,” answered Tom. “I know all these reefs have an opening -somewhere on the lee-side, through which the lagoon can be entered. Now -I will take a musket and go one way, and you two take another and go the -other way, and whichever finds an entrance will fire; and then we shall -all come back to the boat, and bring her in.” - -This was soon settled, and seeing that the boat was properly secured, we -started off, Bill and I going towards the south, and Tom towards the -north. Every step seemed to give new life to Bill and me; for we both -agreed that to be on an uninhabited island was one of the most -delightful things that could possibly happen, and that it was indeed a -happy change after the cruel treatment to which we had been subjected on -board the _Golden Fleece_. Along the sand ran multitudes of crabs, -which, as we approached, dodged into their burrows, emerging again as -soon as we had passed. Seaweeds of strange form and colour were -scattered about, and among the cocoanut palms were grasses and plants -the like of which we had never seen before, while besides seabirds of -many kinds we were delighted to see pigeons flying about, larger than -those we are accustomed to in England, and of brighter plumage. - -“I say, Sam Hawse,” said Bill to me after we had been walking about a -quarter of an hour, “this is a jolly place. See, there’s a pigeon on -that trunk. Give me the gun, and let’s have a shot.” - -“No, no, Bill,” I answered; “wait, for that would bring Tom running back -to us, and I know he would be angry. Let’s find the entrance if we can.” - -Scarcely were the words out of my mouth when we heard Tom Arbor’s -musket, and turning back we hurried towards the boat, which we reached -just after he did. - -“Bear a hand, my hearties,” he cried, as soon as he saw us. “Look there -to the westward; there’s another of the same squalls as the one we lost -the _Golden Fleece_ in coming up; that’s why the trades aren’t blowing. -We must get the boat inside before it comes, or she’ll be knocked to -pieces here.” - -No words on his part were necessary to make us hurry, for the whole -western horizon was banked up with heavy clouds; and lifting the anchor -we put it in the boat, and then launched her off the narrow beach. - -We gave way with a will along the shore, and soon came to the entrance -which Tom had found, which was some thirty feet wide and ten deep. - -“There are others farther on,” said Tom, “so we must pull back some -little way to get good shelter;” and finding, after pulling along on the -inside for five minutes or so that the reef seemed higher there than -elsewhere, we determined on landing. - -Accordingly we put the boat ashore, and hauling her up as high as we -could, we ran out the cable and made it fast round the stem of a -cocoanut tree, and then began to make our preparations for the night. - -“To-night,” said Tom, “as there’s no time to build a hut, we can use the -sail for a tent; so, Bill, you bring it ashore, while Sam and I lash the -mast to those two palms for a ridge pole.” - -The rising of the clouds warned us that we had no time to lose, so as -quickly as we could we rigged up our tent and tied the sail down to -small palm trees to prevent its being blown away; and then we brought -our muskets, ammunition, and all other belongings, including the -trade-box, up, and arranged them under its shelter, and Bill and I were -soon quite delighted at the appearance of our little tent. - -However, we had not much time for looking about, for the rain came down -heavily on us, and was soon followed by a squall of wind, which levelled -our tent with the ground, burying us under the folds of the wet canvas. - -We scrambled out as quickly as we could, but such was the fury of the -blast that we could scarcely keep our feet, and we could hear the crash -of falling palms all around us, while the feathery heads of those that -stood could be seen waving wildly by the lurid light of the flashes of -lightning, which were accompanied by peals of deafening thunder. - -We did all we knew to prevent the sail being blown away, as once or -twice seemed more than probable; for the wind, getting under a corner, -lifted it up and almost tore it from our grasp. Indeed, we were dragged -along by it for some little distance, when it came against a palm that -stayed it, and soon the palm with the canvas wrapped around it fell, and -effectually secured it. - -Ere long a new terror was added to our situation, for by the glimpses -given us of our island refuge by the lightning, we saw that the reef -both to the right and left of us was entirely under water, and that the -spot we had chosen for our camp seemed as if it might be submerged at -any moment. - -“The boat!” cried I; “let’s get into her sooner than stay here to be -drowned.” - -But that hope of refuge was cut off from us, for as we started towards -her we saw her driven from her moorings and blown away towards the other -side of the lagoon. - -I know I lost heart, and began to wring my hands and to cry out that we -should die, and Bill Seaman told me since that he was quite as -frightened as I was. Tom Arbor, however, kept his presence of mind, and -said, “Don’t be frightened, lads; the Lord, who preserved us in the boat -and brought us here, will not desert us ashore. Let us pray to Him now.” - -Suiting his action to his words, Tom knelt down, and amid the driving -rain and spray offered up a prayer, and Bill and I followed his example. -The words may not have been according to formula, but I am sure they -were meant reverently; and as if in answer to our prayer, the wind fell, -and the rain ceased, and the stars shone brightly, while the water -subsided from the surface of the reef. - -We instantly set to work to look after our belongings, and found that -the mast had been snapped in two and the sail torn, but that no real -harm had happened to anything else. - -We felt very cold and shivery, and Bill’s teeth rattled like a pair of -castanets, and he said, “I wish we could make a fire; but there’s -nothing to burn. Everything is soaking wet with the rain.” - -“Rain can’t soak all the way through the husk of a cocoanut,” said Tom, -“and there are plenty of old ones about. Now set to work to look for -them, while I find a hatchet to split them up.” - -We soon found not only a lot of nuts which were withered, and on being -split open gave us lots of dry fibre, but also we found that many of the -fronds which lay about had been so protected from the rain and spray by -others that lay upon them that they were fit for fuel; and from the -net-like shield or spathe of the base of the fruit-stalk we easily made -kindling; and not more than half an hour after the end of the storm we -had a fire blazing brightly, and were broiling turtle steaks over it and -drying our clothes, laughing and talking as if we had not just escaped -from death by the fact of our having chosen a bit of reef a few feet -higher than the rest for our camping-place. - -After a time I said, “I wonder if this island has a name. I think we may -as well give it one. What do you say to Ring Island? It is just in the -form of one, and where we came in is like where the stone is set.” - -The other two laughed at me, and Tom said, “We want something more -practical than a name; though, if you like, we will call it Ring Island. -We have to think how we are to live, and how we are to get away; for I -for one do not wish to stop for ever here.” - -“Certainly not,” chimed in Bill and myself; “but what are your ideas?” - -“I’ve had no time to think yet; but I have one, and that is that we had -better go to sleep now, and then to-morrow we must explore the island, -and see if we can find our boat or what remains of her.” - -Bill said he did not feel sleepy; but Tom argued that if we did not -sleep now, we should want to sleep in the daytime, when we should be -working, and that sleep we must in order to live. - -We all laughed at this, and piling fuel on the fire we made ourselves a -nest of dry leaves near it, and were soon all sound asleep. - -I was awaked the next morning by Tom shaking me by the shoulder, and -opening my eyes found it was broad daylight. Bill Seaman was sitting up -yawning, and saying he did not think he had been to sleep at all. - -“Nonsense,” said Tom; “I’ve been up half an hour and got some breakfast -ready. See here,” and he pointed to a tin plate full of turtle steaks, -which he had cooked. “Now make haste, both of you, and eat your -breakfasts, and then we’ll start off.” - -We needed no bidding to make us fall to; but when we came to drinking, I -said, “It’s all very well drinking cocoanut milk; but I think we may get -tired of that, and the island does not seem big enough for a river.” - -“I’ve been looking about,” said Tom, “before I woke you, and close by I -found some pools of rain-water; so we can fill our beakers and the -trade-chest, for that’s water-tight; and lest the water should dry up or -leak away, we had better do so at once.” - -This was soon done, and then, having covered up all our belongings with -leaves, we each took a musket and some cartridges, a cocoanut shell full -of water to drink, and some turtle to eat, and set out on our journey of -discovery. - -As we left our camp we found that the cocoanut palms had been levelled -all along the reef, except where we had been, and on the side of the -lagoon opposite; and we soon found that to get round the island by -toiling through and across the prostrate trunks, which lay strewn in -inextricable confusion, would be more than we could do in one or even -two days. - -How were we to manage to get round to the other side, was now a question -to be solved; and after some consultation we determined to return to our -camp and set to work to build some sort of raft or catamaran, in which -we might navigate the lagoon enclosed by the reef, a proposition on -Bill’s part that we should wade and swim along the shore being decidedly -negatived by the appearance of a huge, hungry-looking shark, that looked -as if it would have been only too glad to make a meal off us. - - - - - CHAPTER V. - FISH-CURING. - - -On leaving the camp we had kept along the centre of the reef, and, -before deciding to return, we had examined both sides to see if by any -means we might manage to continue our road along the narrow beach; and -in doing so we came upon pools of salt water which were literally alive -with fish, and as we could see that the water was draining away through -the sands, there could be little doubt that they would soon be left high -and dry. - -As soon as Tom Arbor saw them, he clapped his hands and said that here -was a chance of laying in a good stock of provisions, and that it would -be better to secure them before they went bad, and even before we -thought of our catamaran. - -We were puzzled as to how he meant us to proceed; but he said he had -been shipmates with a Yarmouth lad on a previous voyage, and he had told -him how herrings were prepared by salt and smoking, and that, even if we -had no salt, we could smoke a good many, and so provide ourselves with a -stock which would last us some time, and which would be a pleasant -variety to the cocoanuts, which, so far as he saw, were the only -vegetable products fit for food to be found. - -We at once set to work at one pool and picked out a lot of fish, which -we strung on our ramrods and carried back to camp with us. And after Tom -had shown me and Bill how to clean and split them open, he set to work -to prepare a number of thin, light rods out of the midribs of the leaves -of the palms which had been blown down. On these he slipped the fish as -soon as we had completed cleaning them, putting his rods in at one of -the gills and out at the mouth of each of the fish; and when a rod was -strung with fish about four inches apart, he put it on a couple of -uprights planted in the ground, under which he lighted a fire, which he -banked down with green leaves and damped cocoanut husks, so as to cause -a dense smoke. - -“There,” he said—“that will do after a fashion; but at Yarmouth, I’m -told, they have houses to keep the smoke in. And now you, Bill, had -better make a basket out of some of these leaves, and go and get some -more fish, while Sam and I set to work to rig up some sort of a hut for -us.” - -I said, “Why should we have our hut here? Isn’t the other side of the -reef bigger? It looks so.” - -“Yes,” he said; “but don’t you see the palms over there waving in the -breeze? It’ll soon be down on us. And that must be the trades setting in -again; and they’ll blow for months and months without taking off. It’s -only when there are storms for a time that they cease.” - -“Why’s that, Tom?” I asked. - -“I can’t rightly tell the reason, but so it is; and while they’re -a-blowing there’ll always be a big surf tumbling on that side. And if -ever it happen that we see a ship, and have to get off to her, it’ll be -from this side that we shall have to make a start.” - -Tom now chose four palm trees which had not been blown down, and telling -me to get a couple of axes from among our stores, he and I set to work -to cut them off as high up as we could manage by standing on the top of -our beakers and the trade-chest. - -The four trees stood at the corners of a space about twelve feet long by -eight wide, and would, he said, make the main posts of the hut we were -to build; and before Bill came back with his load of fish two of them -had been cut at a height of six feet from the ground. - -When Bill came back, he said,— - -“Didn’t you say the Yarmouth folk used salt for their herrings?” - -“Yes,” answered Tom. “Why do you ask?” - -“Why, because I’ve found some. There’s a bit of rock stands up above the -ground about a hundred yards away, and the top of it is fashioned like a -basin, and in that there’s a lot of salt, though it’s wet now from last -night’s rain.” - -“That’s good news, anyway. Do you just go and get some.” - -“All right!” answered Bill; and he soon returned with a couple of -handkerchiefs filled with coarse, wet salt. - -“Now, how do they put the salt into the fish and smoke ’em at the same -time?” I asked. “We haven’t a harness-tub to put ’em in.” - -“I don’t rightly know,” said Tom; “but I suppose if, when we’ve cleaned -a fish out, we put some salt inside, and tie it up again with a strip of -palm leaf before hanging it up to smoke, it’ll answer pretty well.” - -We all now set to work cleaning the fish Bill had brought, and filled -their insides with salt, and then hung them up as we had done the -others; and when we had finished we found we had about forty unsalted -and sixty salted, averaging over a pound weight each, most of them being -a sort of rock cod. - -With this Tom said we might be satisfied for the time, and that we -should now get on with our hut as fast as we could. - -The two remaining trees were soon cut, and just as I was going to jump -down off the trade-chest, on which I had been standing (the trade winds -had now reached our side of the reef), I saw something black floating in -the middle of the lagoon, and looking steadily at it, I soon saw that it -was our boat, but that from the way she was floating she must be half -full of water. - -“Hurrah!” I cried, “hurrah!” - -“What’s up, mate?” said both of my companions in a breath. - -“Why, there’s our boat a-coming back to us of her own accord,” I -answered, pointing her out. - -“That’s a providence,” said Tom. “We must keep an eye on her, that she -don’t get drifted out through one of the entrances. Now, then, one must -keep a watch on her; and as ’twas you, Sam, as first saw her, you do so. -But you can keep your hands employed in making sinnet for lashings for -the house out of the palm leaves.” - -I was soon busy making sinnet, and keeping an eye on the boat, while -from the sound of the axes I could hear that Tom and Bill were busy. - -The boat drifted pretty rapidly across the lagoon, and seemed to be -coming straight towards us until she came to within about two hundred -yards of the shore, when she altered her direction and began to move -quickly towards the entrance by which we had got into the lagoon. - -I had been desirous of securing her without saying a word to my -companions, but now I feared that I should be unable to do so, and -called to them to come to my assistance. Seaman at once proposed to swim -off to her, but Tom Arbor would not allow him, for fear of sharks, and -said we had best go to the opening by which we had entered the lagoon, -for she would be sure to drift there. - -He was not mistaken, for she grounded just at the inner end, and we were -able to secure her without any risk, and tow her back to where our camp -was. - -“Now, lads,” said Tom, “we had better bail her out and haul her up on -shore.” - -We set to work to bail her out, but soon found that she leaked so much -that it was hopeless to attempt it. - -“She’s no use as she is,” I said. “We must get her up ashore and see -what we can do to her.” - -“That’s all very well, but how can we haul her up full of water?” -answered both Bill and Tom in a breath. - -“Why, where water comes in, it must be able to go out; and every bit we -raise her out of the water, she will empty herself.” - -“True; but we’re not strong enough to haul her up the weight she is -now.” - -“I have it!” I cried, after thinking a minute or two. “Let’s put a palm -trunk against two of the uprights of the house, and bringing the cable -to it, rig a Spanish windlass. And some of those small palms I see -you’ve been cutting for ridge-poles and rafters will do for handspikes -and rollers.” - -My proposal was hailed with delight, and from the small palms, which -were not more than three or four inches in diameter, we soon cut some -levers and rollers, and essayed to heave the boat up. We found, however, -that our utmost efforts would not move the boat when she was once -solidly aground, and that, heave as we might, we only buried her bows in -the sand. - -After wasting our strength for about a quarter of an hour, we stopped to -regain our breath, and walking down to the boat, Tom said he would pass -the cable round her outside, so as not to bury her; and this being done -we gave another heave, but with no better results than before. - -“Seems to me,” I said, “these handspikes are too short.” - -“That may be,” answered Tom, “but how are we to reach the tops of longer -ones?” - -“Why not bend the leadline or boat’s sheet on?” said Bill. - -“Better still,” I answered. “We have the blocks of the sheet and -halyards. We can reeve a jigger, and make it fast to the top of our -lever, and the other end we’ll bring down to that palm there.” - -This at last answered, and with each shift of our tackle we were able to -haul the boat up about six inches, and in little more than an hour we -had got her half out of the water, and altogether on rollers, and found -that the water that remained in her no longer ran out. So we set to work -and bailed her out, and then she was so much lighter that we were able -to dispense with our purchase and long levers and use our short ones -again, and before another hour was past we had her high and dry on the -beach. - -We now left her and set to work about our hut again, and lashing small -palm trunks to the four corner-posts, we had the frame of our shanty -pretty well up before the sinking of the sun warned us that it was time -to prepare for the night. - -We spread the torn sail over the weather side to protect us from the -wind, and Bill went to the nearest pool to get some fresh fish for our -supper, for we would not touch those we had put to smoke; and they were -soon grilling on the embers, and furnished us with a capital meal, which -we washed down with cocoanut milk. - -Supper finished, we made our beds of leaves, and laid us down to sleep, -thoroughly tired with our day’s work; but first of all Tom proposed that -we should have prayers, and return thanks to God for the mercies shown -to us; and this good custom once established, we never departed from it. - -When we woke in the morning, Tom and Bill said they would thatch our -hut, and that I, as the carpenter of the party, should examine the boat -and see what I could do to repair her. - -At first sight my task seemed nearly hopeless, for many of her planks -were split, and her seams were open and gaping over all the fore part of -her, and I had neither nails nor planks with which to mend her. - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - A VOYAGE OF EXPLORATION. - - -Tom and Bill went on with the hut, and rapidly thatched the roof and -weather side, while I was trying, with the fibre of the husks of -cocoanuts, to calk the seams and splits in the boat; but I found that -instead of doing good I only did harm, for as I forced my extemporized -oakum into the openings they gaped wider and wider, and I had to come to -the conclusion that to repair a clincher-built boat by calking was -beyond my power. - -I came up to where my companions were at work, and told them of my -failure, and said,— - -“I’m afraid I can do nothing to the boat. I only make the leaks worse by -calking.” - -“Don’t be down-hearted, mate. We’ll have a look at her, and see if we -can’t figure out a way to make her sea-worthy, for I don’t intend to -live on this island all my days,” said Tom. “Now it’s about time to -knock off work for an hour or so, and after we’ve had some food, we’ll -all set to work to thatch the hut and have it finished before night.” - -Accordingly we knocked off work, and while Bill went to get some fresh -fish from a pool, Tom and I went to make up the fire by which we were -smoking those we had prepared the day before. - -In doing this we found that some coral and shells, which had been mixed -up with the fuel, had been burnt, and when we touched it, it fell to -pieces. - -“Why, it’s lime,” said Tom. “Now that gives me an idea. In India and -China I’ve seen lime and oil used for calking instead of pitch, and -we’ll plaster the boat inside with the mixture, so as to keep out the -water.” - -“That’s very well,” I said, “but where’s the oil to come from?” - -“Why, out of the cocoanuts. You know all the copra, as they call it, -which we shipped in the _Golden Fleece_ is only dried cocoanut kernels, -and all they use it for is to make oil.” - -“Well, then, but we can’t get the oakum to hold in the boat, and all -your oily mortar will crack out.” - -“No doubt we’ll find a way. But come now, Bill has dinner ready, and -after dinner we’ll finish the hut, and I daresay before long we’ll think -of a way to patch the boat.” - -That evening saw our hut, as far as the outside was concerned, pretty -well finished, and we were able to sleep in it comfortably and warmly. -Next morning, when Bill went to fetch our fish for breakfast, he brought -back the unpleasant news that several of the pools were dry, and the -fish dead and beginning to smell most unpleasantly. - -“Well,” said Tom, “we must clear them out, or we shall be killed by the -smell. We shall have a regular pestilence. After breakfast we must set -about that before anything else.” - -We set out accordingly as soon as we could, and found that what Bill had -said was only too true, and a most unpleasant day’s work we had throwing -the dead fish into the sea; and we found that even in the pools where -some water remained it was sinking so rapidly that the fish in them -would soon die also. - -As we sat round our fire that night, we were speaking of the necessity -of going on with this disagreeable work, when Bill said, “Anyway, we -might make a pond here of coral rocks, which would keep a good many in.” - -“That’s right, Bill,” I answered. “Don’t you think so, Tom?” - -“Surely; and we can’t do better than go on with it in the morning.” - -Next morning, as soon as it was light, we set about looking for a spot -where we could keep our fish, and before long we lighted on a small -creek about twenty feet long by ten wide at the entrance, and in which -the water was about six feet deep. - -To close up the entrance with a pile of coral blocks thrown together -loosely was not a difficult matter, and during the whole of the next -week we were busy doing this and filling the pond or stew with live -fish, salting and smoking others, and finishing our house, to which we -contrived a door and windows, closed with frames made of the midribs of -the palm leaves, on which were worked a matting of the fronds. - -Our beds we made of the husks of dry cocoanuts, which we pounded with -stones to loosen the fibre; and from the shells of the nuts we fashioned -a number of utensils which we added to our scanty stock. - -When this work was all finished, I asked Tom Arbor if he had thought of -any means of repairing our boat, and he said “Yes,” and that now we -could set about it as soon as we liked. - -His plan, when he described it, was to make a coating all over the -inside of the boat below the thwarts of cocoanut fibre mixed with lime -and oil, and to keep it in its place by an inner lining of planks -fashioned out of the trunks of the palms. - -This idea seemed capital, and we had now to provide means for carrying -it out. - -During the whole time we had been drying our fish, of which we now had -some two hundred pounds well cured and salted, and which, we found, made -a pleasant change from those we took out of our stew, we had mixed coral -and shells with the fuel, and had now a good stock of lime. The oakum -from the husks of the cocoanuts we could easily make—indeed, by this -time we had become so expert in preparing it that ambitious ideas of -rope-making had entered our heads; but to secure the inner lining, and -to provide the necessary oil for our cement, was a more difficult -business. - -We tried boiling bits of the copra, or dried kernel, in our pannikins, -and soaking pieces in the shells of the turtles, which we had carefully -preserved, but with but little success. Next we made a rude mortar by -chopping a square hole in the side of a prostrate palm and pounding the -copra in it; but the fibrous wood soaked up the oil as quickly as we -pounded it out. - -“Come, now, let’s put our considering-caps on again, and see what we can -do,” said Tom. - -At last I said,— - -“I have it! Let’s make a square box, and plaster it inside with lime, -and then fill it with the copra chopped as fine as we can in bags of -palm leaves, and then squeeze it with a lever and purchase in the same -way as we got the boat up, and let the oil run into the turtle shell and -any empty cocoanuts we can muster.” - -After several attempts, which were more or less unsuccessful, we managed -to rig up a sort of press; and at the end of a fortnight we had enough -oil for our purpose, and then set to work to split our planks for the -lining. This was easy enough, as the trunks of the trees were easily -divided; but when we had all our material ready, the question of -securing the lining had to be faced. - -From the bottom boards and stern and head sheets, which we had to take -up to do our work thoroughly, we managed to get a good many nails, and -out of the wood we made strips to run athwart ships over our planks of -cocoanut; and these strips we shaved and nailed down in their places, -and so at last managed to get the boat water-tight, and, as Tom said, -much stronger, in case she ran on a rock, than she had ever been before. - -“Now,” he said, “we will go for a voyage to the other side of the -island; but first we will paint her over outside with lime and oil, so -that the weeds won’t grow on her.” - -This did not take us long, and when we had finished we launched her, and -found to our delight that she was perfectly stanch; but when she was in -the water, we found that we had put so much extra weight in her that she -floated dangerously low. - -“Oh,” said Tom, “that won’t do; if she shipped a sea now she would go -down like a stone.” - -“But, anyway, we can go to the other side of the lagoon, for there must -be some pigeons there. We saw some the first day, and none have come -near our hut, and I’m tired of fish and cocoanuts,” said Bill. - -“No, I won’t run any risk,” said Tom. “I’ll deck her right in, except a -well for our stores, and we can raise on her gunwale with a couple of -good strakes of palm.” - -“More work!” I answered. “And where are the nails to come from?” - -“No nails wanted. We’ll lace ’em on India fashion,” said Tom, “and put a -couple of half trunks round her as fenders.” - -“That’s work enough, Tom. However, as you say it, done it must be; but I -hope you’ll remember the carpenter.” - -Tom laughed, and said it was but to be on the safe side, and that he -intended to have the boat sea-worthy. - -We got the boat moored in a little creek like that we had made into our -fish pond, and for the next three days we were very busy with her, and -got a strake of cocoanut plank about eight inches wide round her fore -and aft. - -When this was done, Bill and I at last prevailed on Tom to make the -voyage to the weather side of the lagoon to see what might be found -there. - -Bill and I flew for our paddles as soon as Tom assented to our wish, and -taking with us some smoked fish and a dozen of green cocoanuts to drink -on our way, we started off, Bill and I paddling, while Tom was busy in -the stern hammering and chopping at something which, as to paddle we -faced forward, we could not see. - -“What are you making all that row about, Tom, old man?” asked Bill. - -“Never you mind. You’ll see in good time,” he answered. - -“Oh!” I cried; “Tom has an old head on young shoulders. I wonder his -hair ain’t grey. He’s doing something good, you may be sure.” - -When we left off paddling once or twice to open a cocoanut and drink its -juice, Tom hid what he had been doing from us, and it was not until we -landed on the weather part of the reef that we found what he had been -doing, when he proudly loaded a musket he had brought with him with -slugs, and firing, knocked over a couple of green pigeons. - -Bill was so delighted with this that he begged to be allowed to pluck -and cook them at once, saying he cared more for a roast pigeon than for -all the discoveries we were going to make. - -Leaving him intent on his culinary labours, Tom and I pushed on through -the cocoanut trees, and after walking some fifty yards we came to a -small mound or protuberance of a different sort of rock from the coral -of which the rest of the island was composed, and from this gushed -forth, more precious in our eyes than a gold mine or all the diamonds of -Golconda, a tiny rill of crystal-bright water. - -We both saw it at the same moment, and, rushing forward, drank, and -bathed our hands and faces, and set up a great shout to call Bill to -come to us. - -So absorbed were we in the delight of finding this spring—for we had -not the slightest hope of finding one on this reef—that it was not till -after Bill, attracted by our shouts, had come up to us that we noticed -the signs of man’s handiwork close to the spring. - -On the ground we saw lying some troughs made of hollowed palm trunks, -which had evidently once conveyed the waters of the spring to some place -where they were required. - -“Let us follow up these,” I said. “We may find something of use.” - -“Not much likelihood,” said Tom. “Some poor shipwrecked man made these, -and they have evidently not been used for years. He has either died or -else got away.” - -“Anyway, we can but look to see how he lived, and we may find something -that will be of use,” I answered. - -“Of course,” replied Tom; “we’ve come over to see the whole place, and -we will look carefully about for anything that may be of use, only don’t -raise your hopes.” - -Hardly had he spoken when we heard the crowing of a cock. - -“Hark!” cried Bill; “there’s fowls. There may be some one alive yet. -Come along.” - -We all pushed forward in the direction of the sound, and soon came upon -a space which had once been cleared, but was now all covered with -undergrowth, and in the midst of which stood a hut, the walls of which, -being built of logs cut from the palms, still remained, but the thatched -roof had fallen in. - -Towards this we pushed our way, disturbing, as we did, several fowls, -and noticing that among the tangled undergrowth there grew a good -quantity of maize, and that evidently at one time this space had been -cultivated. - -Up the walls of the hut grew creepers, and the holes which had served as -door and windows were thickly matted with them, so that we had to cut -them away in order to effect an entrance. - - - - - CHAPTER VII. - BILL MAKES A DISCOVERY. - - -When we got inside we could at first see but little, for the thatched -roof, which had fallen in, had buried everything with a dusty brown -covering; so we set to work to clear this out, and see if it hid -anything that might be of value to us. - -In one corner there was apparently a mound of these half-decayed leaves, -and we decided on commencing our work there; but judge of our horror -when, after removing a few armfuls, we came upon the skull of a man, and -then proceeding more carefully and reverently, we uncovered a skeleton -lying on a sort of bed-place, wrapped in blankets, which crumbled to -dust as we touched them. - -“Poor fellow,” said Tom; “he must have died here alone, with none to -bury him. Let us do it now.” - -Both Bill and I agreed with this, for we were too frightened by these -poor remains of mortality to go on with our search, and we gladly set to -work to clear away a space where with our knives and hatchets we could -dig a grave. - -While we were thus occupied, Tom made a sort of mat of plaited palm -leaves, in which he carefully put the skeleton, and lashed it all up -with sinnet. - -“I wonder who or what he was,” he said, as he came bearing his sad -burden to where Bill and I were at work, and had by this time dug the -grave to a depth of about three feet. - -“That will do,” said Tom; “now get some palm leaves, and line the -whole.” - -As soon as we had done this, we reverently laid the bundle containing -the skeleton in the grave, and covered it in, and then at Tom’s -suggestion we knelt down and said the Lord’s Prayer. - -By this time it was getting on toward sunset, and it was necessary to -prepare for our night’s lodging. While Tom went to see the boat properly -secured, I made a fire, and Bill acted as cook; and as in looking about -for fuel I had come upon a nest of eggs, we promised ourselves a feast, -and glad indeed were we to wash down the eggs with sweet, fresh water, -and to add to our meal some heads of Indian corn roasted in the ashes. - -Next morning before daylight Tom woke Bill and me, and said, “Now be -quiet and come with me. I have marked where the fowls roost, and if we -come on them softly, we may secure some before they wake.” - -Softly and stealthily we stole to the place Tom showed us, and there we -found the remains of a shed, under which there were a series of perches -on which some thirty or forty fowls were roosting. - -As quietly as we could we seized on them, and tied their legs together; -but before we had secured more than a dozen, the rest were alarmed and -made their escape. - -“Never mind, lads,” said Tom; “we’ll get the others another night. And -now, when we have had breakfast, we will go on with the examination of -the hut.” - -It did not take us long to clear out the remainder of the thatch, and we -soon found that the hut had been built with great care and ingenuity. - -The bed-place on which we had found the skeleton occupied one corner, -and under it was a seaman’s chest, in which we found some -carefully-patched clothes, and the tattered remains of a Bible, and the -fragments of a chart. - -No name or anything to give a clue to their owner was to be found, -except that on the horn handle of a clasp-knife were cut “Jack” and a -couple of crosses. We also found a sailor’s ditty-bag, containing -needles and thread, palm for sewing, beeswax, and buttons. - -Tom said he was glad indeed to find the Bible, for now he said we should -be able to read a chapter every night when we said our prayers; and the -chart he carefully examined to see if it might give a clue to our -whereabouts, and tell us if any inhabited islands existed within a -distance which we might reach in safety in our boat. - -On the chart there was a cross made with a bit of charcoal, and from it -were drawn a series of lines in various directions, as if the unhappy -man whose remains we had buried had pored over it for many a weary hour, -and attempted to calculate some means of escape from his solitary island -home. - -“Curious!” I said. “He must have tried to make a boat or something. But -see, there are a lot of islands away to the westward of that cross, -which I suppose means this island; I should think he might have tried -for them.” - -“Wait a bit, mates,” said Tom; “we’ll find out more soon.” - -And proceeding with our search in the middle of the room, we found a -table, which had fallen to the ground, made of some pieces of wood which -had evidently belonged to the companion of a ship, and stools of the -same material. - -On the table we found written in charcoal letters, which could scarcely -be deciphered:— - -“......cowar-s......left alone......no hope......ill -......heart-broken......money.” - -What this meant we soon understood, all except the last. The man we had -buried had been deserted by his companions; but what was meant by money -we could not understand. Perhaps they had had money on the island, and -quarrelled about its division. - -This we put carefully on one side, and then, proceeding with our search, -we found a fireplace made of wood, plastered with lime, and full of -wood-ashes, and on it were an iron pot and a frying-pan. - -Scattered about we found cups made out of cocoanut shells, and a couple -of plates, which had been broken and cleverly cemented with lime on to -bits of wood. - -“Evidently he did not die of starvation,” said Tom, “for he had fowls, -cocoanuts, and Indian corn; but now let us see what else there is on the -island, for I think we have pretty well seen everything in the hut.” - -Leaving the hut, we passed through the clearing, and then through some -more palm trees, and soon emerged on the weather side of the island, on -which the surf was beating with relentless fury. - -Here, half buried in sand or hidden by vegetation, we found scattered -about the wreckage of a schooner of about two hundred tons, which must -have been run plump on to the island. - -Close to the beach we found another small hut, inside which were stowed -canvas, carpenter’s tools, and cordage; and close by we could see -several pieces of wood from the wreck, which had evidently been -fashioned into parts of a boat, and a pile of planks from the deck of -the ship, as well as several others of her belongings, all covered over -with the remnants of palm-thatching. - -Whoever he was, the man had been trying to build a boat. - -“I wonder what prevented him,” said Bill. - -“What’s that sticking up there?” I asked, pointing to a piece of wood -among the undergrowth. - -“Why, the handle of an adze,” answered Tom. - -Looking at this, we soon found the reason why the unfortunate man had -desisted from his work, and probably the cause of his death. - -The rusty iron of the adze had stuck deep in a plank, and lying by it -were some small bones, which it did not need any knowledge of anatomy to -see belonged to a human foot. - -Evidently the unfortunate creature had chopped off a part of his foot -while engaged in fashioning a piece of wood, and had managed to get back -to his hut to die. - -“Poor fellow,” said Bill and I in a breath; “he never could have built a -craft here, and launched her through that surf.” - -“No,” answered thoughtful Tom Arbor, “but he may have intended to build -her on the other side, and only shaped the parts here, so as to have -less weight to carry or drag across; but, anyway, his death is our good -fortune, for we can deck and rig our boat for sea-going from what is -here. If I mistake not we need it, for there’s never an island on that -chart within three hundred miles of us; and if there are any nearer, -they’re likely but places like this, with ne’er a living soul aboard of -them.” - -“Well, what do you intend to do?” I asked. - -“Why, rig up this hut again, and then get all our belongings over to -this side; and then deck our boat, and rig her with something easier to -handle than a dipping lug.” - -“All right; but now we must look after the fowls we caught; they’ll be -hungry and thirsty.” - -We soon made our way back to the hut; and as many of its rafters were -still sound, it did not take us very long to put a roof on that would -keep out the sun and all ordinary rain. Bill was off to make a coop for -the fowls that we had caught. - -This done, we set steadily to work, and after getting all the things -that we had left at our first camp to this place, where we were blessed -with water, we again hove our boat up on shore; and now, having wood and -materials, Tom and I laboured to make a real trustworthy craft, while -Bill was told off to look after the fowls, and remove the undergrowth -from the clearing, being careful not to injure the maize, which we -trusted would furnish us with a supply of food for our intended voyage. - -First of all, Tom and I made a deep false keel to our craft, which we -named the _Escape_; and as we could not through bolt it to the keel, we -put planks on either side of keel and false keel, and overlapping both, -and nailed all solidly together. - -This being done, we fixed a head knee in a similar manner; and then -having given the _Escape_ a thorough good coating of lime and oil, we -launched her again, lest she should get too heavy for us to manage. - -This naturally had taken us some days, and Tom and I had laboured from -morning to night at her, only coming to the hut for meals, which Bill -had always ready for us. - -Bill, the evening that we had got the _Escape_ afloat, said, “You two -fellows must think me a precious lazy hound not to come and help you -more than I have. Now the boat’s afloat, I want you to come with me -to-morrow to see what I have been doing.” - -“Why, catching fowls, clearing out the water-troughs, making up the pool -they lead into afresh, and all manner of things,” I said. - -“That’s not all. I have had time to hunt about, and if you’ll come with -me to-morrow, I’ll show you something.” - -“Shall we, Tom?” I asked. “I want to think about our ship before we go -on with her.” - -“Perhaps one day won’t matter. What is it you’ve found, Bill?” - -“Never you mind until I show it you.” - -It was accordingly agreed that we should the next morning go and see -what Bill had to show, and not to ask him to say what it was beforehand. - -Early in the morning Bill woke us, and gave us a good breakfast of eggs, -roast maize, and a grilled fowl; and when we had finished he said, “Come -along, and see what I have to show you.” - -First he took us to the spring, and showed us how he had patched up the -troughs, cleared out a basin, and lined it with turtle shells, into -which the water fell, and which was large enough to take a bath in. Here -we all enjoyed a thorough good wash, and sat in turn under the end of -the trough from which the water fell into the basin. - -Bill soon got tired of being here, and said, “If I’d thought that you -would have been so long here, I’d have brought you here last night; now -bear a hand, and come on.” - -Getting out of the water, we dried ourselves with cocoanut fibre, and -putting on our clothes we went on with Bill a short way, until he -brought us to a shed he had made for the fowls, which he had enclosed -with leaf mats; and here he said he had all the fowls on the island -except two or three, and that some hens were laying regularly, while -others were sitting on their eggs. - -“Certain you’re a regular farmer,” said Tom. - -“Wait a bit; I’ll show you if I’m a farmer. Come along here a bit -farther.” And following him along, he brought us to a clearing about -twice as large as that where our hut stood, and which, like it, had been -at one time planted with maize; but here the maize had been stronger -than the weeds, and Bill having torn up all the latter, there was to be -seen enough Indian corn, nearly ripe, to have loaded the _Escape_ twice -over. - -“Well, you are a farmer, surely!” exclaimed both Tom and myself. - -“You may say that, but you haven’t seen all yet.” - -“What! Not yet?” - -“Not by a long chalk. I think the fellow whose hut we have lived up -there by himself, and the others down here. Come along, and I’ll show -you some more good-luck.” - -“You see here,” he said, when we had gone other three hundred yards; -“the reef’s cut nearly in two by the sea, and they’ve made a stiff fence -right across. And, look; you see they’ve brought the water right down -here too. Now over this fence there’s three or four huts, or what was -huts; and what d’ye think there is there?” - -“Sure we can’t tell. Anything to say what the wreck was, or anything?” - -“Not a word or a line, not a scrap of paper; but there’s five graves, -and there’s been somewhere about eight or so got away.” - -“How do you know?” I asked. - -“Why, by counting the bunks in the huts, to be sure. But, there; you -won’t guess what else there is. There’s a turtle-pond, some half-dozen -big turtles in it, and there’s pigs.” - -“Pigs! Are you sure?” said Tom. - -“Sure as eggs is eggs,” answered Bill. - -“Can we catch any?” I asked. - -“I don’t know,” said Bill. “I daresay we can if we likes; but I seed -some as fat as butter, and an old sow with a lot of young uns. But that -ain’t all; there’s something else.” - -“What is it? Tell us at once.” - -“Do you remember the writing on the table, and that we couldn’t find out -what ‘money’ meant?” - -“Certainly; but what’s that got to do with what you found?” - -“Why, I’ve found the money, and a mighty lot there be, I can tell you. -Gold guineas—thousands of them!” - - - - - CHAPTER VIII. - A NARROW ESCAPE. - - -“Nonsense, lad,” said Tom. “No craft that sailed these waters ever had -thousands of guineas aboard of her, seeing as how there isn’t no use for -money in these here parts. All the trade is with beads and iron and such -like.” - -“Maybe so; but the money’s here, and I found it. It seems as if the man -who lived up in our hut, he were separated from his mates, and that he -had the money one time.” - -“How do you know that?” I asked. - -“Why, it seems as if he had hidden it under the fireplace, for there’s a -hole under it which would hold the box I’ve found down here; and that -they who took it went off in a hurry—maybe saw a sail, and left him and -the money behind.” - -“Well, where is this money? Come along and let us see it.” - -“Why, down in the biggest of them huts there, in a box tied up with -cord; but it’s rotted, and the money tumbled out at the sides.” - - - - -[Illustration: “_There was the box, tied together with string._” - Page 76.] - - - - -We at once got over the fence, which we could easily see had been built -to keep the pigs within bounds, and followed Bill to where there were -standing the remains of some huts, which, as he said, had been cleared -of what would give any clue as to who the occupants had been; but there, -under one of the bed-places, was the box, as Seaman had described it, -wrapped up in a piece of sail-cloth, tied together with island-made -string, and the coverings being more than half rotten, the contents had -burst out, and partly rolled, on the ground. - -Curious, though the money was safe, and I am sure a roast sucking pig -would have been of much more use to us than all the gold that ever was -coined, it was to this money we first turned our attention, and agreed -that nothing should be done until it was safely stowed away—money that -had lain for years untouched and uncared for. - -We pulled out the box, and emptied the coins still remaining in it into -a heap on the ground, and added to them those which had fallen out, and -to our eyes the pile of gold and silver seemed a mound of inexhaustible -wealth. - -However, we had divided the gold from the silver, and counted it out as -nearly as we were able, for there were coins of various nations mixed up -with the guineas of which Bill had spoken. We found that there was about -twelve hundred pounds—a sum far larger than could have been expected to -be found on board a trader in the South Seas. - -As soon as we had counted out our money, we began to talk of how we -could stow it away; and after much discussion we decided on carrying it -to the hut where we were living, and putting it in the dead seaman’s -chest. - -As we were on our way back with it, just before we came to the fence, we -saw some of the pigs of which Bill had told us, and I managed to catch a -little squeaker to carry it back for our dinner; but its cries alarmed -the mother, who came after us in hot haste, and if we had not been on -the fence when she came up she would doubtless have made us pay for -kidnapping her offspring. As it was, she caught hold of my trousers in -her mouth, and would have hauled me back on top of her if, luckily, they -had not been rather rotten and given way, Mrs. Pig falling back with a -piece of tarry trousers in her mouth, while I tumbled over on the other -side of the fence, by no means sorry to get off so cheaply. - -The pigling I had caught I had chucked over before, so all the efforts -of the old sow to rescue her darling child from its fate were fruitless, -and we soon had him stewing in the iron pot. - -Whilst he was cooking, we spoke of the money we had found, and what we -should do with it, and puzzled our heads to know where the schooner had -come from, and what nation she belonged to. - -We thought she was English by the Bible and chart, but the money puzzled -us more than enough; so at last we agreed not to bother ourselves about -where it came from any more, and began to build castles in the air of -buying or building a ship, of which Tom Arbor should be captain, and -Bill Seaman and myself the two mates. - -Whilst we were yarning away, Bill suddenly said, “I forgot something I -found by the box the money was in. Look here!” and he pulled out of the -breast of his shirt a small leather bag tied up carefully. “See,” he -said, as he undid it and poured out the contents; “there’s a lot of -pretty beads; pity they haven’t holes in ’em, or we might string ’em.” - -“Well, they are pretty,” said both Tom and myself, as we eagerly bent -over the little heap of shining balls; “but ’tis a pity they’re not of a -size and true shaped. I suppose they’re some of the beads the natives -wouldn’t have to do with. Never mind, we can keep them; there were none -like them among the trade aboard of the _Golden Fleece_.” - -The little bag had its contents restored to it, and was stowed away in -the chest with our money, and we then all concluded it was time for bed. - -By dint of hard work and manœuvring Tom and I, at the end of ten days -more, had got our boat raised and decked forward and aft, leaving only -an open space amidships in which we could lie down; and in this we also -built a cemented fireplace similar to the one we had found in the dead -man’s hut. Outside the boat we had also fastened a great, bolster-like -fender of cocoanut fibre, which we served over with string made of the -same material, the whole being thoroughly soaked in a mixture of -cocoanut oil and hog fat; for Bill, while we were acting as shipwrights, -had been farming and hunting to make provision for our voyage, and as we -said we wanted grease, he had boiled down the remains of two porkers, of -which he had salted part to furnish us with meat. - -The only question now remaining was to rig our little ship, and this -gave rise to endless discussion. At first we decided on keeping her -mizzen as it was, and altering the torn dipping lug into a jib and -standing lug; but we soon saw that she was now so much deeper and -heavier that this would scarcely move her except in very heavy weather. - -After much trouble we managed, by fitting her with a bowsprit and using -up all that was not rotten of the canvas we had found on the island, to -give her a suit of sails for going on a wind, and made a huge mat of -palm leaves for a square-sail to be set in running. - -All being completed, we packed on board under her fore and aft decks a -stock of provisions, consisting of dried and salted pig, turtle flesh, -smoked fish, and maize; while, besides our beakers, we had hundreds of -cocoanut shells full of water, and on deck we had a coop of a dozen -fowls. - -All being prepared, our stock, according to our calculations, being -enough to last us for at least a couple of months, we paddled the -_Escape_ out of the lagoon, and, making sail to a fresh trade wind which -blew on our beam, we steered in the direction of the nearest island -marked on the chart. - -Though we had been now a long time on the island, and had found a refuge -there from starvation or a still more dreadful death by thirst, we -quitted it without regret, and launched forth on our voyage into the -unknown. - -As to setting our course, at first we had an idea by the sun by day, and -we had learned aboard of the _Golden Fleece_ that when the Southern -Cross was vertical it was always due south; but I do not suppose we were -ever accurate within two or three points either way of south-west, which -we aimed at, and mostly by keeping the wind abeam. - -The _Escape_ made very good weather and steered easily, but, -notwithstanding the size of her patchwork sails, she did not go fast -through the water. “Never mind, lads,” said Tom, when Bill and I -complained of this; “it’s better than a leaky corner of the forecastle -of the _Fleece_ to sleep in.” - -“Yes,” I said, “and there ain’t no mate to boot us or bos’n to -rope’s-end us here either.” - -“Ay, and more than that,” cried Bill, who was superintending the boiling -of our pot, in which was a piece of beautiful pork and some maize, “our -tucker here ain’t mouldy, weevilly biscuit and salt junk that’s more fit -for sole leather than food for humans.” - -“Well done, cobbler,” was our answer, and we put up patiently with the -slowness of our progress when we considered how much better off we were -than we had ever been aboard of the _Golden Fleece_. - -The first day and night and all the next day passed away without our -seeing anything save porpoises, which gambolled around, looking, as they -always do to my mind, the happiest of created beings, flying-fish, and -silver-winged gulls. But about the middle of the second night Bill, who -had the watch, called out, “Rouse up, mates; whatever is that?” - -Tom and I were awake in a second, and looking ahead as he told us, we -saw a sight which all the fireworks ever made by the ingenuity of man -could not have equalled. High up in the heavens, blotting out the stars, -was a dense, black cloud, which seemed to be supported on a pillar or -fountain of fire, and from the cloud were raining down masses of matter -white-hot, red-hot. While we were looking, indeed before we had properly -cleared our eyes of sleep, we heard a tremendous noise, louder than a -thousand claps of thunder, and the breeze which had been carrying us -steadily along suddenly ceased. - -“Whatever can that be?” I cried. “A ship blown up?” - -“A ship!” answered Tom. “No ship that ever floated could give a sight -like that, nor a clap neither. That’s a burning mountain. I’ve heard as -there be some in these parts.” - -Clap succeeded clap, but though all wonderful, none of them equalled in -intensity of the sound the first one, while the fountain of fire leaped -up and down in the most marvellous manner. - -“Look out, boys; be smart and shorten sail,” said Tom. “I’ve heard as -how there be great waves after one of these blows-up, and we must keep -our craft bows on if so be as we are not to be swamped.” - -Sail was shortened as quickly as we could, and our well covered over -with the canvas to prevent us being swamped; and then Tom told us to -lash ourselves to the deck, and get our paddles out, while he got the -oar over the stern, so as to be ready to twist the boat in any -direction. - -Scarcely were we ready when we heard a low, moaning sound, and soon saw -a wall of water of appalling height sweeping rapidly towards us. We -worked frantically at oar and paddles, and fortunately it met us bows -on; but so steep was the wave that we could not rise properly to it, and -for what seemed an appalling time we were buried in the water. Would our -boat free herself and rise again, or would she sink under the weight, -and drag us down with her to the depths of the ocean? - -Such were the thoughts which passed through my mind, and, I doubt not, -through the minds of my companions; but they were answered by our -emerging from the wave with our gunwale broken, but otherwise uninjured. -Our decks proved stanch, and though the weight of water had beaten the -sails down into the well, which was full, the boat still floated. - -“Quick! you two unlash yourselves, and bail for your lives, for there’ll -be some more of these waves, and if she meets them half water-logged as -she is, down to Davy Jones’s locker we go,” cried Tom. - -Bill and I did not need any second bidding to obey Tom’s order, while he -straightened the boat in the direction the wave had struck, and we -bailed away for dear life. - -Before we were half clear we heard the same sort of sound as had -heralded the first wave, and again we were struck and half buried by the -water; but the wave was not so high as the first, and we came through at -the cost only of having to bail out more water. - -Each successive wave, for there were a dozen, was smaller and smaller, -and at last the sea became smooth again, and the trade winds blew once -more; while from the burning mountain, instead of a fountain of fire and -sparks, we could only see the rosy reflection of flames on rolling -masses of white smoke. - -We soon repaired our damage, and made sail with, as far as we could see, -no real harm done save that the coop with our fowls in it had been -washed away, and the wood we had for our fire was so damp that it would -not light, and we had to make our breakfast of raw pork and uncooked -Indian corn. - -When the sun rose, we hung up our clothes to dry, and found that we -could still see the column of smoke, though not the reflection of the -flames. - -Tom steered steadily for this smoke, and when we asked if we were not -running into danger by steering for the volcano, he comforted us by -saying that after such a blow-up as we’d seen there could be no other -for some time; and, as he understood, these burning mountains were -always in the centre of a group of islands, and we should be sure to -find inhabitants, and maybe a schooner or ship trading for sandalwood, -bêche de mer, and copra, in which we could get a passage to China, -Australia, or New Zealand. - -Though the trade winds blew fresh and the sun was shining, the whole air -seemed to be full of a sort of brown haze; and we found that our decks, -sails, clothes, hair, in fact everything, were covered with a fine, -brown dust, which settled down on us, and in such quantities that we had -to keep on shovelling it overboard or we should have sunk under its -weight. - -All day we sailed on in the direction of the smoke, and at night we -again saw it lighted up by the reflection of the fire beneath. We were -tired and weary, and though we took it in turns to steer and look out, -the helmsman often found his head bobbing down on his chest. But in the -middle of the night we were all frightened out of our sleepiness by the -boat striking some hard substance. - -“What’s up?” cried Tom, as he came out of the well, where he and I had -been sleeping. “What have you run into, Bill?” - -Bill was as much startled as we were, and as the bumps were repeated, we -concluded it would be best to shorten sail and wait for daylight, though -we at once sounded, in case we might be near any land, but found no -bottom, though we bent every available bit of rope on to our leadline. - -When the sun rose we saw a strange sight indeed, for the whole surface -of the sea was covered with floating masses of stone, through which we -had to make our way, two of us standing in the bow to fend off the lumps -as we got close to them. - -“Well, in all my born days I never sailed a boat among a lot of -paving-stones ’afore,” said Tom. “I suppose they was blowed up out of -the mountain.” - -This made us laugh, but the work of shoving off the floating pumice -stone from the boat was very severe, and we had several times to shorten -sail while we rested from the labour; but by the middle of the afternoon -the pieces began to get fewer and fewer, and before sunset the surface -of the sea was clear of them, and we could steer our course without let -or hindrance. - -In the middle watch, under the smoke, I saw (it was my watch) what -looked like a black mass streaked with threads of fiery gold. And when I -was relieved by Tom, he told me that that must be the side of the fiery -mountain; and sure enough when I awoke after daylight, there, right -ahead of us, towered a great mountain out of the sea, crowned by a mass -of smoke. - -Near the top the mountain was black and bare, but lower down its sides -were clothed with forests, through which the liquid fire poured out of -the crater had cut broad gashes. - -Tom, who was steering, was heading away so as to pass to the north of -the island, which we were rapidly doing; and Bill was lacing some -palm-leaf mats together to set as a square-sail, a task in which I at -once joined him. - - - - - CHAPTER IX. - PURSUED BY CANNIBALS. - - -We rapidly “rose” the lower part of the island, and here and there among -the trees we could see wreaths of silvery smoke, the brown thatch of -native huts, groves of bananas, and clearings, where the people grew -yams and other vegetables. As soon as we saw this, Bill Seaman and -myself were for landing at once; but a heavy surf which was beating on -the shore prevented this, and Tom said he would not consent to landing -at any place until it was absolutely necessary to get food or water, -unless he saw white men, for many of the inhabitants of the South Sea -Islands were cannibals, and, if we fell into their hands, would think -nothing of killing and eating us. - -We skirted along the northern shore, and soon saw that Tom had been -right in saying that the burning mountain was probably in the middle of -a group of islands, for by mid-day we could see the tops of other -islands away to the northward and westward. - -We now debated what we should do, and after much argument decided we -should coast along the shore of the large island of which the fiery -mountain formed the centre, and look for some signs of the house of a -trader or missionary; and if we saw one, to land there at once and make -known our story. - -Along the lee-side of the island we found there was no surf, but the -shore sloped down into the sea, fringed by a belt of sand of silvery -whiteness, the outline being here and there broken by small creeks -running up inland; but the fair beauty of the scene was marred by broad -scars where the liquid fire from the mountain was pouring into the sea, -and by patches where tree, shrub, and hut had been involved in one -common ruin and buried in ashes and cinders. - -One of the streams of molten lava pouring into the sea caused clouds of -white steam to rise, and made the water so hot for a considerable -distance that the fish had all been killed, and were floating on the -surface half cooked. - -To the meeting of fire and water we gave a wide berth, skirting round -the line of steam and heat, though we managed to pick up some of the -half-cooked fishes. - -Soon after passing this we lost the wind, being cut off from the trades -by the bulk of the mountain, and having to resort to our paddles to get -the _Escape_ along, which was slow and tedious work; and though we saw -among the trees several villages composed of huts which consisted only -of roofs without any walls, we saw nowhere any signs of the habitations -of either missionary or trader. - -Late in the afternoon we saw an entrance to a creek between two -overhanging rocks, and after much thought we decided that we would run -the risk of putting in there for the night. - -Before paddling in we loaded our muskets and looked to their priming, in -case we should be attacked; but as we got inside the entrance, we saw -there were no signs of any inhabitants. So, tying our boat up to the -trunk of a tree close to the right-hand rock, we landed, and gave our -legs a stretch along the beach, for we had found ourselves much cramped -by the close quarters aboard of our little craft. - -As soon as we had, as Bill said, got the kinks out of our legs, Tom set -us to work to clear out and restow our stores, which had been pretty -well tossed about while we were passing through the waves caused by the -explosions of the volcano and the consequent earthquakes. - -We found, indeed, that it was fortunate we had come in, for the greater -portion of our stock of fresh water had been spoiled or capsized, and we -took some time in replenishing it from a spring, and it was quite dark -before we had got all things to rights and restowed. - -I and Bill were about to light a fire on the beach to cook our supper, -when Tom said,— - -“For goodness’ sake, don’t be such fools; we don’t know nothing of what -sort of folks there be in the island, and if they see fire we may have a -lot of murdering cannibals down atop of us afore ever we know where we -are.” - -“But it’s cold, mate, and I want to roast some corn. It’s bad eating dry -corn, like a horse,” said Bill. - -“Very true,” said Tom; “but I fancy there’s a sort of cave just here, -and we can make a fire inside and sleep there warm and comfortable.” - -“Where away, Tom?” I asked. - -“Not thirty fathoms away. Now, come on, as I marked it;” and following -Tom we came to a hole in the rock which was almost hidden by a mass of -creepers, and drawing them aside he told one of us to go in with an -armful of dry leaves and set them on fire to see what it was like. - -Both Bill and I were too much afraid to go into the cave in the dark, -for fear we might come across some wild beast; so Tom, laughing at our -fears, stooped down and went in alone. He soon had a fire of dry leaves -burning, and called us to come, for there was no danger; and now that -there was a light we did not hesitate, and found ourselves in a cave -about twenty feet long by twelve wide and seven high, the floor of which -was covered with fine, dry, white sand, while the roof and walls were of -a dark, rough rock. - -“There, mates,” said Tom; “there’s a bedroom fit for a king. Now, as -we’re near men, we can’t all sleep at once; so as soon as we’ve had our -supper we’ll settle about watches.” - -Bill said that as he was cook he would have the morning, and Tom agreed -that he should keep the first and I the middle watch. - -Bill and I were soon asleep, for we were thoroughly tired; and I believe -that Tom took pity on us both, for when he roused me out I am sure that -the greater part of the night had passed away. - -He had been walking up and down between the cave and the boat, carrying -a musket, and told me to do the same, and to be careful to notice the -smallest sounds. I said I would, and he then pointed out the position of -the Southern Cross, and where it should reach before I called Bill, and -went to his well-earned rest. - -I walked up and down as I was told, though I must confess that I felt a -most undeniable longing to sit down; but as, when I once leaned up -against a palm tree, I found that I began to nod and dropped my musket, -I refrained, and walked up and down steadily until the Southern Cross -told me it was time to rouse Bill out. - -He protested that he had only just lain down, and would not believe that -the time for his watch had come; and it was not until I threatened to -douse him with cold water that he would turn out and relieve me. I gave -him the same orders as Tom had given me, and warned him to be specially -careful when he made up the fire, so that no smoke should escape out of -our cave, lest it might be seen by the natives. - -I lay down again as soon as he was on watch, and was asleep in a moment. -From my sleep I was awaked by Tom shouting out, “What’s up? There’s a -musket-shot!” and we both rushed out of the cave, and found that Bill -was nowhere to be seen. - -Tom and I at once seized our muskets, saw that the boat was ready to -shove off at a moment’s notice, and called out to Bill to know where he -was. - -Almost directly afterwards we saw a man running towards us, who fell -down at our feet and caught hold of our knees; and then, before we could -make out what it meant, we heard another shot, and saw Bill burst from -some trees near, his musket in his hands still smoking, and crying, -“Jump into the boat and shove off; there are a whole heap of people -after me.” - -We all jumped into the boat, followed by the stranger, who had nothing -on him but a necklace of sharks’ teeth and shells, who said, “Plenty bad -mans want kiki[1] me.” - -We seized our paddles, and began to pull out of the creek, and were only -just in time; for some twenty men, armed with spears and arrows, came -rushing on the beach and let fly at us. - -Our new companion seized a musket and fired at them in return, knocking -over a great big fellow who seemed to be the leader. This stopped them -for a moment, but evidently they did not mean to let us off easily, for -half a dozen or more plunged into the water and began to swim after us. - -We paddled away for dear life, but the swimmers swam so fast that we saw -they would soon catch us up unless something stopped them. “Pull, lads, -pull for your lives!” cried Tom. - -“Ay,” said Bill, “pull all you know. They’re murdering cannibals, and -had killed one man, and were going to kill this fellow, when I shot one -who was going to knock him over the head with a big club.” - -We pulled with all our might, and got out from between the two rocks, -with the swimmers only two or three fathoms astern of us, and straining -every nerve to catch us up. It was fortunate for us in one way that they -were so close, for their friends ashore were afraid to shoot their -arrows at us, for fear of hitting their comrades in the water. - -The man Bill had rescued wanted to fire another shot, saying, “Plenty -bad mans. Kill white man. Kiki them. Kiki white Mary[2] three moons.” - -Tom, however, said he would not fire again unless it was necessary, and -told the stranger to take my paddle, while I reloaded the muskets that -had been fired, and came aft to be ready to resist any man that might -catch hold of the boat. - -The old boat went through the water as fast as my companions could urge -her; but still the swimmers gained, and presently the leading man took a -tomahawk from his belt and hurled it at me. - -If I had not seen it I should not have believed that a swimmer could -have thrown a weapon with such force. It came flying straight at me, and -if I had not dodged, it would have struck me dead; but it buried itself -in our deck without doing harm to any of us. - -“Shall I fire, Tom?” I called out. “There’s another going to throw at -us.” - -“Yes,” he said; “but take a careful aim.” - -I raised the musket to my shoulder, and aimed at a man who had raised -himself up to throw his tomahawk, but I could scarcely bring myself to -press the trigger to take away a man’s life. - -Before I did, the man hurled his tomahawk at me, which struck the musket -out of my hands, and it fell overboard, going off as it did so without -harm to any one. - -“Come, Sam, that’ll never do,” said Tom; “take hold of my oar,” and he -picked up another musket, and taking steady aim fired, and wounded the -man who was now in front of the other swimmers, and not more than nine -feet away from us. - -His companions took no notice of the wounded man, and still pressed on -in chase; so Tom fired again, and wounded another. Even this did not -stop them; and although he wounded one more, the others managed to get -up and catch hold of the boat. - - - - -[Illustration: “_The leading man took a tomahawk from his belt and -hurled it at me._” Page 94.] - - - - -We all boated our paddles and seized upon the muskets, which we clubbed, -and beat our assailants off; but one managed to get a footing on board, -and seized upon the man whom we had rescued, and endeavoured to stab him -with a knife made of hoop-iron. We were still busy beating off the -others, and had neither time nor opportunity to help our new friend; but -just as we had finished repulsing our other assailants, and were turning -to come to his assistance, we saw that he had managed to wrest the knife -from his opponent, and giving him two savage stabs he thrust him -overboard. - -We again bent to our paddles, our guest telling us in broken English to -pull away from the island and steer for one which he pointed out down to -leeward. We soon got out from under the lee of the island, and made all -sail in the given direction, and then began to ask Bill how all the -trouble began. - -“Well, mates, you know how as I had the morning watch; and when Sam -roused me out, I took the musket and marched up and down like a sojer on -sentry-go, and heard never a sound, till just about when it began to get -light I thought I would go up above the creek for a bit and look about. -Well, so I went up through some trees, and then I came to a sort of a -path, and went along for a matter of two or maybe three hundred yards, -and then I thought I heard some men a-talking. I drops down at once on -all fours, and begins to creep along towards them through the bushes; -and I comes after a bit to the edge of an open space in the midst of -which there was a big tree, and under the tree was an open hut in which -there were an idol a-standing, with necklaces and all manner of things -on it. - -“In front of the hut there were a fire burning and a matter of thirty or -forty men around it, and some one were cutting up a dead man, and two -other bodies was a-lying on the ground, and this chap here were tied up -to a post. I didn’t feel over comfortable, and thought as how I’d better -be making tracks for the boat, when I sees one of the cannibals cut this -fellow adrift and bring him out in the middle, and was just a-going to -knock him on the head, when I fires and he falls. Our chum here he runs -to me, and we both runs as hard as we could with all the other chaps -after us hot-foot, and I a-ramming a cartridge into my gun, and so down -we comes. And when I’d loaded I turned round, and then I sees a big chap -close after me with a spear; so I up and let fly at him so close as I -almost touched him. And then as he falls I run again and finds you and -the boat all ready, and Johnny here aboard of her. And the rest—why, -mates, you knows it as well as I do.” - -“Thank ye, Bill,” said Tom. “It’s lucky it’s all figured out as it has, -and we’ve saved Johnny’s life, as you call him; but mind, you had no -business to go cruising about when you were on the lookout, and next -time as it happens Sam here and I will have to reckon with you for it.” - -While Bill had been telling his story, the man he had rescued was -sitting down looking alternately at the island we had left and the one -we were steering for, and gnawing away at a piece of pork we had given -him in a manner that showed that at all events his appetite had not been -impaired by the narrow shave he had had of being killed and eaten. - -“Here, Johnny,” said Tom; “you savey English. You spin us your yarn, and -tell us who you are, and where you hail from, and what brought you into -the fix you were in.” - ------ - -[1] Eat. - -[2] Woman. - - - - - CHAPTER X. - A DESPERATE STRUGGLE. - - -“Certain, sir, me speak Englis’; me live along a white man two yam time; -me talky all proper.” And then, as if to prove his intimate acquaintance -with our language, he gave a volley of oaths, which for piquancy and -nautical flavour it would be hard to surpass. - -“Here, stow that, mate; we want no swearing in this craft.” - -“Hi! what? You be missionally man—no speak ’trong? Englis’ man, -’Mellican man, he speak people so.” - -“Never mind; just talk without any Englis’ man or ’Mellican man palaver, -as you call it. Who are you?” - -“Me? Why, me be one big man, son one chief. Fader he name Wanga; me him -name Calla. Fader he lib along of there,” pointing to the island we were -steering for. “Aneitou him name. One white he stay there comprar[3] -copra, bechmer, shell—all kind. Now one moon and one bit, me come to -here for find copra, slug, sandalwood, and make plenty trade what time -mountain he blow. Dem island nigger say he be me, and catch me” (and on -his fingers he counted carefully). “Two ten and two men live along of -me. Plenty kiki. Kiki one and two ten, and then come where him boy come. -Kill one man, two man, and make right kill me, when white boy he shoot, -and nigger he tumble so.” - -“Well, now, in your island—Aneitou, you call it—you say there’s a -white man.” - -“One man live there many yam time, and what time ship come plenty square -gin. My! den he drink.” - -“When does a ship come?” - -“Sometime one yam time, sometime two, sometime three yam time.” - -“You see, mates, there’s a chance. A ship looks in once in one, two, or -three years; and I suppose this white man is some drunken old -beach-comber. Anyway, we won’t be eaten there,” said Tom. - -“What are you looking at, Johnny,” interrupted Bill, for he noticed that -Calla was evidently anxiously looking at the island we had left. - -“Be still, white man. Man flog war-drum for fight. Me look see where -war-canoe come.” - -“What?” we cried all together; “a war-canoe in chase of us! Do you see -one?” - -“No, me no see; but me sabey what time man flog war-drum, all same that. -Plenty soon all man go for war-canoe.” - -We had not noticed any sound; but now, listening intently, we could -catch a few weird notes drifting down the wind towards us. - -“Him plenty bad,” said Calla. “Him call five plenty big canoe. One canoe -him have men four ten, five ten; come along plenty quick.” - -“I hope the wind’ll hold, lads,” said Tom; “these big canoes go as fast -as a ship with stuns’ls both sides.” - -Though we were tired, we got out our paddles and oar, and rigged up -another mat or two as studding-sails, so as to make as much headway as -possible, and get within sight of Aneitou, whose people Calla told us -would send out their canoes to meet those from the volcanic island, if -they saw them coming. - -We paddled and pulled, taking turns to steer, Calla doing yeoman service -at a paddle; but after an hour or so, during which we had made some ten -or twelve miles, and were about half-way across, we could hear the -sounds of the war-drums astern of us. Calla laid in his paddle, and -wanted to climb up our mast; but Tom pulled him down, for fear of -capsizing the boat. - -“Me want see how many canoe come. Plenty big chief live along of they. -Big drum, big god, they bring in canoe.” - -“Never mind now, Johnny; wait a bit. We’ll be able to see them from the -deck soon. Paddle away.” - -We kept on, straining every nerve, and the breeze fortunately freshening -we made good way towards Aneitou; but the sound of the war-drums of our -pursuers became louder and louder, and soon Calla, jumping up again, -declared he could see them coming, and made us understand that before -ever we could reach Aneitou they would be up with us. - -“But, I say, Johnny,” I asked, “where are your canoes from your island? -They must hear the drums now.” - -Calla answered, “That live for true; but s’pose hear drum—man run one -side, where canoe he be, and men make get bow and spear, make long -time.” - -“Give way, lads,” said Tom. “It’s no use wasting our breath talking. The -nearer we get to this fellow’s island, the better chance we have. It’s a -bad business, Sam, that you let that musket fall overboard. We have none -now for Calla, who could use one well.” - -Tom, when he had said this, paddled away some time in silence, Bill -pulling the oar, and I steering; but the sound of the drums of our -pursuers came nearer, and at last Tom said, “I can stand this no -longer,” and laying in his paddle looked to the loading of our muskets, -and cutting up some bullets into quarters he put them in on the top of -the ordinary charge, and saw that the flints were properly fixed and -touch-holes clear. - -When he had done this he stood up and said, “I can see the canoes now. -There are five, as Calla said—great big double ones; and besides the -men paddling, there are a lot of chaps up on a great platform -amidships.” - -“How long before they’ll be up with us?” I asked. “Can we fetch Aneitou -before they catch us?” - -Tom looked round and said, “I scarcely dare say that. There’s a point as -runs out, where maybe we might do it; but there’s such a surf a-tumbling -on it as would smash up us and the _Escape_, and all belonging to us.” - -“Have a good look, mate, and see if there mayn’t be a break in the -surf,” I said. - -Calla, who had been listening to what we were saying, now got up and -stood alongside Tom, and pointed out what to him had been -undistinguishable—half a dozen black spots falling and rising on the -surface of the sea near the point. - -“There, them be Aneitou canoe. White man he come along of them.” - -“How can you tell?” said Tom. - -“Me sabey him canoe.” And then looking to windward at our pursuers, -Calla said, “Now plenty soon big corroboree. Aneitou men and Paraka men” -(Paraka was the name of the volcanic island) “come all one time to we.” - -“Pull away lads, pull away,” cried Tom; “as Calla says, we shall be -saved yet, though I must own I thought at one time we should be caught. -I own it ain’t so much the being killed I don’t like, as the being eaten -after.” - -“Why, what difference can that make?” said Bill and I together. - -“Why, I don’t know as it makes any difference, but I owns as I should -like to be buried shipshape and Bristol fashion, sewed up in a hammock -with a twenty-four pound shot at my feet and a stitch through my nose.” - -As we pulled along after this discussion, the drums of our pursuers -sounded closer and closer; and presently, mingled with their deep boom, -we could hear the war-song of the men who occupied their fighting-decks. - -I looked round and saw astern of us, not more than five hundred yards -away, the five great double canoes, with their lofty prows ornamented -with human hair, skulls, and mother-of-pearl, while high up on their -platforms, surrounded by warriors armed with spears and bows, were the -sacred drums, on which fellows fantastically painted in white, red, and -yellow were vigorously beating a kind of tune, to which the paddles kept -time, making their strange craft fly through the water. - -As far as I could make out, there were about thirty paddles in each of -the canoes, and some twenty warriors on the platform; so that fifty men, -as Calla had said, were about the complement of each canoe. - -“O Tom,” I said, “do shoot at them; they’re so close.” - -“Not yet, mate; wait a bit. We shouldn’t do them no harm now, and every -inch brings us nearer to Calla’s friends. Hark! don’t you hear their -drums and war-song now?” - -Certainly the sound came up to us against the wind, and looking in that -direction I saw the six canoes Calla had said were coming to our relief -paddling up against wind and sea in a smother of foam, while from a pole -on board one of them there floated a tiny flag, which I could not -distinguish. - -Calla, when he heard the sound of the drums and songs of his -fellow-islanders, laid in his paddle, and seizing on an axe and knife -commenced a dance in which he defied his late captors, accompanying it -with screeches and howls of which I should have thought no human throat -could be capable. - -Closer and closer drew the canoes from Paraka, but still faster did we -run down on those from Aneitou; and before Tom thought it well to open -fire on our pursuers, we were passing through the fleet of our friends. -And on the deck of the one on which we had seen the pole and flag, which -we now made out to be an English red ensign, we could see mounted a -small cannon, and standing by its breech a white man with a lighted -match in his hand. - -He hailed us as we passed to shorten sail and round to, and, if we had -muskets, to open fire on the men of Paraka; and almost immediately his -cannon rang out, pouring death and destruction amid the crew of the -biggest of his opponents’ canoes. - -We doused the mats we had as studding-sails, and took in our other -sails; but by the time we had done so, we were at least a quarter of a -mile from the two fleets of canoes, which had now met and grappled, and -all whose occupants were by this time engaged in deadly conflict. - -“Well, mates,” said Tom, “I suppose we must go and lend a hand. There’s -hot work going on there, and it’s only fair that we should help those -who came out to help us.” - -No urging on his part was necessary, and we buckled to to pull back to -where the fight was going on; but before we could reach the scene of -conflict the fortune of the day had declared pretty decisively in favour -of our friends. - -The canoe which carried the white man had riddled one of the hulls of -the double canoe carrying the leader of the men of Paraka, and in -sinking it had so dragged down its twin that the whole fabric had -capsized, and her crew, or such of them as were still alive, were -struggling in the water. - -Calla was mad with desire for fight, and it was not long before we got -up near to the canoes. At first Tom thought it would be best to lay off -and use our muskets, but we could not distinguish friend from foe; so, -arming ourselves with trade hatchets stuck in our belts, we laid our -boat alongside the canoe on board which the Englishman was, and -springing on board, made our painter fast round one of her stern heads, -and then forced our way to where our countryman was fighting at the head -of his followers. But by the time we had reached him the men of Paraka -had had enough, and two of their canoes, which were able to do so, -sought safety in flight. - -The others remained in the hands of the men of Aneitou, who secured such -of the occupants as were still alive with lashings of sinnet, and then -looked after their own dead and wounded. - -Some of the Paraka men seemed to prefer to trust themselves to the waves -to remaining in the hands of their enemies; but they gained little by -doing so, for volleys of arrows were fired at them as they swam, and -some of the more eager of the warriors of Aneitou plunged into the water -in pursuit, and the conflict which had ended in the canoes began afresh -in the sea. - -Calla, with cries of joy, rushed to an old man, who was in full -war-paint, and whose necklaces and bracelets of shells and beads and -lofty head-dress of feathers seemed to denote a chief, and who held in -his hand a rugged club, clotted with brains and gore, and kneeling down -before him began a long and voluble speech, pointing the while to the -two fugitive canoes. - -The old chief was none other than Calla’s father, Wanga, and he raised -up his son, and calling to some of his men gave orders which we could -not understand, but of which the purport was soon evident, for the two -least damaged of the canoes of Aneitou were hastily manned with -unwounded crews, and their fighting-decks filled with warriors, among -whom Calla took a prominent position, being easily distinguished, he -alone being unadorned with war-paint; and soon these two were darting -over the waves in pursuit of the beaten and flying men of Paraka. - -While this was going on, we were speaking to the white man, who, when we -came to where he was standing, said, “Why, where on earth did ye drop -from? A shipwreck, I s’pose. How long ago? Ye’ve rigged that craft of -yours up on some island.” - -Tom told him our story in as few words as he could, and said how -thankful we were to have met him, and be rescued from being killed, -cooked, and eaten, which would doubtless have been our fate if we had -fallen into the hands of the Paraka cannibals. - -“That ’ud be about your lot anywheres here, for all of ’em eat men; only -as how as you’ve brought off Calla, and his father’s a big man in his -island, you may be safe for a time.” - -“Well, but how do you live among them? Why haven’t they eaten you?” - -“Oh, I’ve been too useful to ’em for ’em to want to eat me; and, -besides, an old shellback such as I am would be too tough to make -anything but soup of. But now, mates, let’s be getting home again; and -when we come to my shanty, which is just behind the point where the -canoes came from, we can have a palaver, and overhaul all our logs. I’ll -come along of you in your craft and pilot you in. Can you stow a couple -or four black fellows and their paddles? They’ll help you along.” - -We eagerly agreed to the help of the natives, who with their great -carved paddles certainly added much to our speed. - ------ - -[3] Buy. - - - - - CHAPTER XI. - BRISTOL BOB. - - -“Well, this here be a queer craft, and no mistake,” said our new friend, -who told us his name was “Bristol Bob,” or “Bob” for short, when he had -squatted down on the after-deck alongside of Tom, who was steering. - -“Now, mates, fighting’s thirsty work; haven’t you ever a drop to drink,” -asked Bristol Bob, “and a bit of bacca?” - -I at once got him a drink of water, and said I’d hunt up some tobacco -and a pipe for him. - -“Water, lad? Well, I’ll have a drink; but haven’t you got anything -better—no rum nor square gin?” - -“There is a bottle of spirits, which we have kept; but it’s stowed away, -and I can’t get it out unless we unstow the whole boat,” I answered. - -“Never mind,” replied Bristol Bob, “I can do without it till we land. -Fancy, lads, it’s three months since I’ve had a tot of grog, and till -another trader comes round I shall have to go thirsty.” - -All three of us—Tom, Bill, and myself—did not much care about this, -for on board the _Golden Fleece_ we had seen quite enough of the evils -of drunkenness, and looked at each other rather gloomily. But all of a -sudden I noticed that Bristol Bob’s shirt was stained with blood, and -said to him,— - -“Why, you’re wounded.” - -“Why, yes, lad,” he said, “I believe I am; but you won’t think much of -such a scratch as that when you’ve been knocking about as many years as -I have.” - -Tom and I, however, insisted on examining his wound while Bill steered, -and pulling off his shirt we found under his left arm a small, punctured -wound from which the blood was oozing slowly. - -“Ah,” said Tom, “it don’t seem much; it ain’t more than a prick.” - -One of the natives, however, who was watching what we were about, when -he saw the wound, looked grave, and laying his paddle in, came and -looked at it. - -He said something to Bristol Bob which we did not understand, but as -soon as he heard it the latter said,— - -“Well, it don’t look much, but it may give me my walking ticket. Here, -take my knife—it’s sharp enough; and if you can feel anything inside, -cut it out.” - -Tom felt carefully round the wound, and after some little time said,— - -“I feel something like a splinter here, about an inch and a half from -the hole.” - -“Cut it out, then,” said Bristol Bob. “Don’t be afeared, but cut well -in.” - -Tom said he hardly liked to do so, but the wounded man insisted; so Tom -cut in carefully, and found imbedded in the flesh a splinter of bone as -sharp as a needle and two inches long, which he drew out and gave to his -patient. - -“Ah,” he said, “’tis as I thought. It’s one of they bone-pointed arrows -has struck me, and they’s woundy poisonous things.” - -I had now taken off my own shirt, which was but a ragged garment, and -begun to tear it into strips to bind the wound up, but Bristol Bob -said,— - -“No, lad; don’t bind it up yet. We’ll burn it a bit first to get the -poison out. Have you a cartridge handy?” - -“Why, yes,” I said. “What do you want done?” - -“Just empty the powder into the cut, and set it alight, and you may give -me the bullet to chew the while.” - -I and Tom looked aghast at this proposal; but Bristol Bob insisted, and -laid himself down so that the powder could be put in the wound, and -taking the bullet in his mouth he told us to fire it. - -He rolled about and groaned while the powder was fizzing and sputtering, -but less than we had expected; and when it was burned out he gave a long -breath, and said,— - -“You can lash it up now, and put some oil or grease on it, if you have -any.” - -Fortunately, we had brought a little cocoanut oil from Ring Island with -us, and soaking some rag in this we put it over the burnt wound, and -lashed it in place as well as we were able. - -By the time this was done we were past the point from which the canoes -had put out, and saw behind it a large bay, in one corner of which was a -little island some three hundred yards long and a hundred wide, on which -was a hut with whitewashed walls standing in the middle of a grove of -bananas. - -“There’s my shanty, lads,” said Bristol Bob, who was smoking his pipe as -if nothing was the matter with him. “I finds it best to be away from the -mainland, for none of these people is to be trusted over much; though -for the matter of that water don’t make much matter to them, for they -swims like fishes. Up there,” he said, pointing to the other side of the -bay, “is Wanga’s village—there where you see the cocoanuts growing in a -cluster.” - -We steered for Bristol Bob’s island, and found behind it a perfectly -secure anchorage for the _Escape_, and moored her carefully, and cleared -out all her cargo. - -Bristol Bob told us we were welcome to quarters in his house, which -consisted of two rooms, one of which was locked up, being a store, and -the other, twelve feet by twenty, was the living-room and bedroom all in -one. - -Close by were half a dozen native huts, which were only like thatched -roofs resting on the ground, without walls, and open at both ends, in -which lived some of the natives who were in his employment. - -The men, except those who had come back in the _Escape_ with us, were -away in the war-canoes; but a dozen women and a lot of children were -about, and soon carried up our traps to the house, where we found -Bristol Bob lying down on his bed groaning. - -“Are you very bad?” said Tom. “What can we do for you?” - -“Nought,” he replied. “It’s only the pain of the burn. But where’s that -bottle of grog you spoke about? I’ll have a tot, and that maybe will -send me to sleep.” - -We tried to dissuade him from drinking while he was suffering from his -wound, but it was of no avail. He possessed himself of our bottle, and -drank more than half of it, with the addition of very little water; and -then he put the bottle under his head, saying that it would be handy if -he was thirsty, and soon after fell asleep. - -The room was a queer place. In each corner was a sort of bed-place -furnished with blankets and rugs, on one of which Bristol Bob was -sleeping. In the middle was a rude table, not over clean, which, with -some stools and chests, completed the furniture. - -We stowed away our belongings, and then, being somewhat hungry, we -thought of getting something to eat, and went outside to find a place -where we could cook; but one of the women, when she saw us making a -fire, made signs that she had something ready for us, and brought in a -large tin dish, in which was a sort of stew of fowls and salt pork, and -two great yams which had been roasted in the ashes, and put them on the -table, with some salt and capsicums. - -As she left us when she had placed the food on the table, we supposed we -should have to eat, as we had hitherto been doing, with our knives, and -from the common dish; but Bill, who was always looking into holes and -corners, found a sort of cupboard in one corner of the room in which -were some coarse delft plates, steel forks, and pewter spoons, and also -some drinking-vessels. - -“Here we are. We can eat more respectably now,” said Bill. “But, hark! -what’s that noise?” - -Boom, boom, boom, came the sound of the huge drums of the natives, and -mingling with their notes were shouts of revelry and shrieks of horror. - -Bristol Bob, who had been sleeping, breathing hard and uneasily, began -to move and toss on his bed, and presently sat up and stared around. - -“What’s that?” he said. “The death-drums they’re beating for me?” - -Tom at once went up to him and asked him how he was, and if he could do -anything for him. - -“Who are you?” said the sick man, whose eyes were now lighted up with -the glare of fever. “Where do you come from?” And then, putting his hand -under the pillow, he seized upon the bottle, and putting it to his lips -took a long draught which almost emptied it. - -“Ha!” he said, “I have it. Calla and Wanga are having a feast, and -they’ll murder and eat me. Come; there’s not a moment to be lost.” - -As he said this, Bristol Bob sprang from his couch; and seizing an axe -which hung on the wall above it, he rushed out of his hut. - -We followed him, wondering what he intended to do, and quickly as he -went we were close on his heels, as he made his way to a small mound -some thirty yards away. Here he stopped, and said,— - -“Ha! ha! they shan’t eat me yet,” and then stooping down he began to -clear away some leaves and wood, and disclosed a small door set in the -ground and framed with stout posts. This he opened, and disclosed a -passage dug in the ground, down which he went, followed by Bill and me; -while Tom, who feared that Bristol Bob’s ravings might have some -meaning, stopped behind to close and bar the door. - -At the end of the passage we came into a chamber about twelve feet -square every way, and here the wounded man struck a light with a flint -and steel, and lighted a rude cocoanut-oil lamp. - -By its feeble rays we could see that here were stowed away four or five -kegs and a couple of small boxes. On one of the latter the madman, for -Bristol Bob, from the combined effects of spirits and fever, was now no -better than a maniac, placed the lamp, and then, with his axe, stove in -the head of one of the kegs, which to our horror we saw was full of -gun-powder. - -The powder he poured on the floor near the other kegs, and then loosened -their staves by a blow from his axe, so that the powder they contained -would mix with that he had poured on the ground; and then he stood up -and laughed as he rubbed his hands. - -“They think they’ll eat Bristol Bob? Not if I knows it. I’ll blow myself -up first.” - -Bill and I stood aghast at his proceedings, and even watched Bristol Bob -reach for his lamp to light the powder without interfering or moving, -when Tom, who had secured the door, came down the passage, and saw at a -glance what was going on. - -Without any pause or hesitation he dashed at the madman, and snatched -the lamp away and blew it out. Bristol Bob, with a roar like a wild -beast, seized the smouldering wick, and threw it on the powder, where it -lay smoking. - -Tom, who was struggling with Bristol Bob, shouted to us to take the wick -off the powder, or we should be all blown up. I was so unmanned by -terror that I covered my eyes and waited for the explosion, paralyzed -with fear, and Bill has since owned to me that he was as frightened as I -was. - -The time passed, and no explosion took place, though we could hear the -sound of the struggles of Tom and Bristol Bob as they rolled on the -ground, and the cries of the former to take the wick off the powder. - -Finding that we were not blown up, I uncovered my eyes, and saw the wick -still lying on the powder, a dull red spot covered with grey ash at the -end of it; and mustering up all my resolution I stooped down, caught it -away, and extinguished it. - -“That’s right,” I heard Tom say. “Here, one of you, help me with this -fellow—he’s most too much for me; and the other go up and unbar the -door, and let’s get out of this.” - -I went to Tom’s help, and together we managed to get Bristol Bob down, -while Bill went up and unbarred and opened the door; and then, coming -down to our assistance, he helped to drag the poor fellow back to his -hut, where we placed him on his bed, and tied his hands and feet to -prevent his doing any more mischief. But now he seemed in a sort of -stupor. - -This done, Tom replaced the dressing on his wound, and told Bill and me -to go back and close and cover up the door of the place where the powder -was. When this was done we came back to the hut. We found Tom sitting -down with his elbows on his knees, and holding his head between his -hands, while Bristol Bob moaned wearily on his couch; and always we -heard the weird sound of the native drums. - -We spoke to Tom two or three times before he looked up, and when he did -he said,— - -“I can’t make it out why the powder did not fire. It must have been damp -or something; but anyway, ’tis only by the mercy of God we have been -saved. Let us kneel down and thank Him for preserving us from great -peril, and implore Him to guard us in the future as He has done in the -past.” - -When we had finished, I said to him,— - -“How is it that you are so different from all other sailors? On board -the _Fleece_, from the captain downwards, every one but you swore and -used bad language.” - -“Not from all other sailors, Sam. I learned it aboard of my first ship. -Her captain was really a good man; but there’s no time to talk of these -matters now. I doubt not that Bristol Bob’s madness had some reason in -it, and that over at the chief’s village there’s murder and all sorts of -horrors going on. The sound of them drums goes right through me. Now, if -the idea gets in the savages’ heads to come after us, I don’t believe -Calla nor Wanga nor any of their chiefs could hinder them, so we must -keep a good lookout. I wish they had brought back the little cannon that -was in the canoe.” - -“What do you suppose they’d do?” asked Bill. - -“Why, they might kill and eat us.” - -“Not really. Why can’t we get down to the _Escape_ and get away while -it’s dark?” I said. - -“What! with all our provisions and water ashore, and leave this poor -fellow here?” said Tom. “No, we must keep a good lookout until they’re -all quiet, and then to-morrow we can make our plans for going away.” - -Even as we were speaking, the drums were beaten with less fury, and the -shouts of the natives were less noisy and frequent; and after about -another half-hour they ceased altogether. - -“Now,” said Tom, “you two fellows go to sleep. I’ll look after the sick -man to see if he wants anything. He seems pretty quiet now, so I’ll -unlash his hands and feet.” - - - - - CHAPTER XII. - A SAD EVENT. - - -I was so thoroughly tired that I fell asleep at once, and slept soundly; -and when I woke it was already broad daylight, and as I opened my eyes I -saw a tall form bending over me with a face painted red and white in -broad, horizontal stripes, and thought that cannibals were coming to -kill and eat me. - -I sprang up with a yell, and called to Tom and Bill that our hour was -come, and that I was being killed. However, I was relieved by the -painted face which had so frightened me relaxing into a broad grin, and -hearing Calla say, for it was he,— - -“What for you make big bobbery all same man die? Me Calla.” - -I sat up, rubbed my eyes, and looked round. Tom was sitting by Bristol -Bob’s side, who was tossing restlessly on his bed and groaning, and Bill -was at the door of the hut washing himself. - -Calla had come over from the mainland of Aneitou to inquire after us, -and to say that his father, Wanga, wished us to come over to his village -in the course of the day. - -I got up and went over to where Bristol Bob was lying, followed by -Calla, who, looking at him, said,— - -“What make him sick? Plenty time him drink no be like this.” - -Tom explained as well as he was able how we had found that the patient -was wounded, and the subsequent treatment, and how he had drunk a whole -bottle of spirits. - -“Make see what thing make hole,” said Calla. - -Tom, after some little hunting about, found the splinter of bone which -he had cut out in the corner of one of his pockets, and gave it to -Calla, who examined it eagerly. - -After some minutes he said, pointing to the wounded man,— - -“Him lib for die. Piece along of him inside.” - -“What!” said Tom; “is there a bit inside him yet?” - -“You watch,” said Calla; and giving a whistle, a man who had come over -to the little islet with him came into the hut. - -To him Calla said something, and he went away, but presently returned, -bringing with him a quiver made of basket-work ornamented with shells -and sharks’ teeth, which he gave to Calla, who opened it and carefully -drew an arrow tipped with a splinter of bone, and putting the piece that -had been cut out of Bristol Bob by it, said,— - -“You see make same here,” pointing to the middle of the head of the -arrow. - -Looking carefully, we saw that the bone tip in its entirety was about -four inches long, and beautifully worked up, so that the end of it, for -more than an inch, was scarcely thicker than a pin, and that then it was -cut nearly through. - -“You see him piece?” pointing to this long thin part. “Live along Bob. -Him die for sure. Plenty bad.” - -“Can’t we cut it out as we did the other?” asked Bill. - -“No pican white man,” said Calla. “Him along a bone. No can see or -catch.” - -This sentence of death passed upon the poor fellow affected us very -much, and we were intensely disgusted when Calla quite coolly proposed -to knock him on the head at once, as he would suffer great pain, and -would not again recover consciousness, or, as Calla put it, “Peak along -man sabey it.” - -To this, of course, we would not consent, and also told Calla that we -could not leave the wounded man to go and see his father. - -Calla seemed very much displeased about this, and said,— - -“Make plenty bobbery along man no lib. He no fit for kiki. What you -want?” But seeing that we were determined to remain, he went away and -left us to ourselves. - -“Not much civilization about that fellow,” I said. “Although he makes -out he ‘live along of white man plenty time,’ I believe he’s just as big -a cannibal as the rest of them.” - -“Yes,” said Tom. “And though he may think for a time of our having saved -his life, if it runs with his interests to kill us after a time, he will -do so.” - -In this we afterwards found we wronged poor Calla. - -“Well, mate,” I said, “what are we to do?” - -“Why, first and foremost, we must look after this poor fellow, and when -he’s dead, bury him decent like; and after that we must see about -getting away. I daresay somewhere down these islands we may find a -missionary settlement or a decent trader; anyways, we mustn’t let these -people think we’re going, or they’ll find means to stop us. Now, one of -you go and find the old woman that gave us supper last night, and make -her understand we should like some breakfast.” - -I went out to look for the woman, and found that now several men had -come to the island, who were the husbands of the women we had seen the -day before; and one of them, who possessed a very scanty stock of -English, informed me he was “Massa’s bos’n,” and that the others were -his “sailor men.” - -Bos’n, as he was always called, when I said we wanted “kiki,” called to -some women, and I soon had the satisfaction of seeing the cooking -operations in full progress, and then followed Bos’n to a place where he -was evidently very anxious that I should come. - -Judge of my surprise, on reaching the spot, which was on the shore of -the islet, to find, under a thatched roof which covered her, and in a -dock cut out of the coral rock, a cutter of about seven tons, with a -mast fitted to lower and raise like that of a Thames barge, and with all -her sails, spars, and rigging carefully stowed and in good order. - -In such a craft I knew that one could easily make a voyage of almost any -distance; and lifting up a hatch that covered a sort of well, I found -that her below-deck arrangements were as good as those above, and that -she had a couple of eighteen-gallon casks for storing water, while on -her deck were ring-bolts and fittings for a small gun—doubtless the one -which Bristol Bob had taken with him in the war-canoe in the fight -against the people of Paraka. - -Full of this discovery, I hastened back to the hut, and told my -companions of it. They were both delighted, and said that we should, if -necessary, be able to make our escape in her more comfortably and easily -than in our old craft, which was but a clumsy contrivance after all. - -While we were talking, Bristol Bob raised himself up in his bed, and -said,— - -“Hallo! Who are you, and what d’ye want? What ship d’ye come from?” - -Tom at once asked him if he did not remember the fight of the day -before, and his being wounded. After some time he said he did, and then -Tom told him of what Calla said about his wound. - -“Well, just have a look, will you? But I expects I has my walking ticket -anyways.” - -Tom took the dressings off the wound; but it was now so painful that -Bristol Bob refused to allow him to probe it properly or handle it, so -he put fresh dressings on. - -Bristol Bob now said,— - -“I don’t suppose I have long to live, and I had best spin my yarn to you -afore I go. You have come from an island away to windward, where you -landed after being left adrift in your boat. Isn’t that so?” - -“Yes,” said Tom; “and people had been there before, and one man’s -skeleton we buried. Some of the others had been buried, and the rest had -evidently gone away long before.” - -“Well,” said Bristol Bob, “I’ve been here at Aneitou now a matter of -seven year, and have traded a bit. But those people who were on that -island ran their boat ashore on Paraka before ever I came here, and all -of them were eaten up; and only because I have been useful to these -people by making trade for them have I escaped being eaten. Now, listen. -There’s a tidy boat of mine on the island here, and aboard of her you -may go ’most anywheres; and if you leaves here and steers WSW. by -compass—there’s a compass in my sea-chest—you will, after about ten -days, get to an island called Leviji, where there are missionaries. You -must mind and not land anywhere before, unless you make out white men -ashore; and even then it’s best not, for many a beach-comber is as bad -as any savage among them. You will know the missionaries’ island by its -having a mountain with two separate peaks rising up to the same height -in the middle.” - -“Well, well,” said Tom, “don’t you trouble about that now. We shall -manage for ourselves. But what can we do for you now?” - -“Nothing, lad, except give me a drink of water. My mouth and throat is -that parched I can scarce speak.” - -Tom held a gourd to the sick man’s lips, who drank eagerly, and then -said,— - -“Thanks, lad. I was even once like you; but my life has been a sad and -bitter one, and now it’s ending, there’s no hope for me.” - -“Don’t say that,” answered Tom. “I ain’t learned to say much, but one -thing I’m certain of, that in the Bible forgiveness is promised to all.” - -“How, now? Forgiveness for me? No, lad, I’m too bad for that.” - -“Listen,” said Tom, and getting the tattered Bible we had found in the -dead man’s hut on Ring Island, he read to Bristol Bob the glorious -promises of the Christian religion, and also prayed with him, Bill and I -kneeling down with him and joining in the prayers. - -After we had finished, Bristol Bob said he felt happier, and trusted -that he indeed had found mercy, and asked again for water to drink. But -when Tom held a pannikin to his mouth, he was seized with a convulsive -shuddering, and dashed it away. - -We tried to pour some into his mouth, but all our efforts were -fruitless, and we had, after some time, to give up the attempt. - -“I know what it is, boys,” said poor Bob. “I’ve seen a many die from -these arrow wounds. I don’t know what it is, whether it’s the poison of -the bone arrow or what, but it’s an awful death. I may have a short time -during which I can speak, and I will tell you all I can how to get -away.” - -The poor fellow now told us of his magazine, of his visit to which -during the night he had neither remembrance nor idea, and said that, -besides the powder in the two boxes, we should find some beads and -corals of considerable value, a small bag of pearls, and about seventy -pounds in money. This, he told us, we could keep for ourselves; and -then, as soon as he was dead, he begged us to bury him out at sea, so -that he could not be dug up and eaten; and that done, he advised us to -get away to Leviji as quick as we could. He also said that we were to -trust none of the natives, not even Calla, with our plans; but if we had -to employ any one, that it should be Bos’n, who he said he thought was -the best man on the islands. - -While he was speaking, he was often interrupted by convulsive attacks, -which at last became so continuous and so bad that he could no longer -talk. Of the scene of horror that ensued while he was wrestling with the -frightful disease of tetanus, or lockjaw, I will say nothing—the -remembrance of it is even now too dreadful to me; but when, an hour -before sunset, he died, we all felt that it was a happy release. - -In his storeroom we found some canvas and needles, and as soon as his -body was cold, Tom set to work and sewed him up in a seaman’s shroud, -and lashed some heavy rocks to his feet to sink his body to the bottom -of the sea. - -Before all was ready, the night had nearly passed, and we lay down to -rest for a while, intending, as soon as we woke, to carry the dead body -down to the _Escape_, and, paddling her out into the bay, commit it to -the deep, in accordance with the wishes Bristol Bob had expressed while -still able to speak. - -We had not slept long before we were awaked by Calla, who, as soon as -the sun had risen, had come over to the little island with a party of -armed men to insist upon our going over to the mainland to see his -father, Wanga. - -We all said that we would go as soon as we had buried the dead man, but -not before; but Calla said that we were to come at once, and that the -dead body should be brought along with us. - -To this we strongly objected, and when Calla told some men to take up -the body and carry it away, Tom knocked the foremost of them down. The -others, seeing how their comrade had been treated, were about to strike -at Tom with their tomahawks; but Bill and I, seizing our muskets, -presented them at Calla, and said that if a single blow were struck we -would shoot him. - -Tom, too, got his musket, and said that what the dead man had wished -should be carried out, and that he would die before he was prevented. - -Calla, who seemed to have not overmuch heart in the business, and was, -as was afterwards proved, less of a savage than his countrymen, said -something to them in his own language, on which they sulkily withdrew, -while he tried to prevent our being angry at what had occurred. He -said,— - -“You sabe Bristol Bob him live along o’ we plenty long time—seven yam -time. Him be all one same chief, same my fader Wanga. Make plenty one -big bobbery for him die. No kiki he.” - -“Never mind, Calla,” Bob said. “We have to do as he told us, and we are -going to bury him in the sea.” - -“Plenty much queer white man. No care for man kiki he. Fish kiki he say -plenty good.” - -“Never mind, Calla. We shall do what he said; and afterwards, if your -father wants to see us, we will come over to him.” - -Calla left us and went away with his men, and we could see that he had -plenty of trouble in controlling them; and indeed, if he had not been -the son of the great chief of the island, I doubt not that he would have -been unable to do so. - - - - - CHAPTER XIII. - IN CAPTIVITY. - - -As soon as we were left alone we called Bos’n, who alone of all the men -that had lived on the island was to be seen, the rest, with their wives -and families, having left as soon as they heard of Bristol Bob’s death; -and with his help we carried the dead man carefully and reverently down -to the boat, and putting off into deep water, launched him overboard, -there to remain till that day when the sea shall render up her secrets. - -Tom said a short prayer, and then we paddled back again to the shore. As -soon as we landed we set about preparing the new boat for our voyage, -filling her casks with water, as well as the beakers from the _Escape_, -and stowing away all we could think of as provisions. Fortunately on the -islet there were several bread-fruit trees and a plantation of yams, and -Bos’n, who said he would throw in his lot with us, collected a quantity -of these, and piled them up alongside the boat. - -As soon as the casks were filled, Tom said he would go to the magazine -to get the boxes we had seen there, and that in the meantime Bill and I -had better overhaul the storeroom, and see what was worth taking away -with us. - -In the store we found all manner of trade goods—calico, beads, -hatchets, pipes, brass wire, nails, and other oddments—which might -either be useful to or attract the fancy of the savages, and also a -couple of harpoons and two coils of whale line. - -We at once took the harpoons and lines down with us, as well as some -fishing-lines and hooks which were in the dead man’s chest, and the -compass, and then returned for the box with the money and pearls. When -we had stowed these away, Tom came down with one of the boxes from the -magazine, and said he wanted Bos’n to help him with the other, and told -us to go back and look about the hut for blankets, knives, cooking-gear, -and anything else that might be useful. - -We set about this with a good will, and trotted backwards and forwards, -carrying down all we fancied would be useful. After a time, when I was -in the hut overhauling the sea-chest, I heard a scream from Bill, and -rushing out, found that he had been seized by a party of natives, some -of whom, when they saw me, rushed up, and before I had any chance to -resist, threw me on the ground, and lashed my feet together and my arms -by my side, so that it was impossible to move, and carried me and Bill, -who had been served in a like manner, to a canoe, in which they had come -over from the mainland. - -We were laid on a platform, and some half-dozen fellows, painted in most -hideous patterns, squatted round, and the canoe was rapidly paddled to -the nearest village on the big island of Aneitou. The canoe soon reached -the shore, and we were carried up by our captors into the middle of a -cleared space surrounded by some half-dozen native huts, which were -simply long roofs of thatch, open at both ends, and here we were tied -upright to posts planted in the ground. - -As soon as we had been placed in this position, a man came from one of -the huts and called out some orders, and presently from each hut came -two men, bearing a huge wooden drum, the ends of which were -fantastically carved. These drums were placed in a circle, round the -posts to which we were tied, and then the same man who had given the -order for them to be brought again shouted out commands; then six men, -painted white and red, but stark naked, came out, each carrying two -mallets, with long, elastic handles, with which they commenced to -belabour the drums in a regular rhythmic cadence. - -Presently we heard the sound of distant drums answering those around us, -and soon shouts in the neighbouring woods added to the noise. How long -this may have gone on I cannot say, for I was in such pain from the -lashings which confined me cutting into my flesh like red-hot irons, was -so tormented by the rays of the sun beating on my unprotected head, and -in such an agony of parching thirst that moments seemed like hours; but -suddenly the drummers gave a grand flourish and ceased. After a moment -of intense stillness three beats were given on each drum, and instantly -from the huts and the woods around armed warriors rushed forth, -brandishing spears and tomahawks. - -At first they came crowding round me and my companion in misfortune, -poor Bill, who cried out, “I say, Sam, d’ye think they’ll eat us alive -or kill us first?”—a question to which I could not give any answer, for -a big fellow was brandishing a tomahawk close to my eyes, and I was in -momentary expectation of having my brains dashed out. - -After some minutes the man who had given the orders to the drummers -called out a few words, and instantly the noise and confusion ceased, -and all the people drew themselves up in small groups around the open -space, and in front of each group stood a warrior, who seemed to be a -sort of officer. - -Again the man who gave orders, and who, we found, was Calla’s father, -Wanga, spoke, and the men in the groups squatted on the ground, while -the officers came and collected round the posts where we were lashed. - -Wanga now called out for Calla, who came out of one of the huts without -arms and guarded by six men. Wanga now made a long harangue to the -people; and then, turning to Calla, he told him to speak. - -We, of course, could not understand a word, but afterwards we learned -that Wanga had said that we had done wrong in not giving up the body of -Bristol Bob to Calla, and that he was to blame for not having insisted -on it. - -Calla defended himself by saying that we had saved his life from the -people of Paraka, and that it was _tabu_ to touch a white man who had -died. - -This was objected to, and Calla was told that he should, at all events, -have brought us over to the village; and he was then sent back into the -hut. - -The posts to which we were lashed were now taken out of the ground, and -with us laid down, while three fellows, who wore necklaces of finger and -toe bones, and had whistles made out of thigh-bones, came and danced -round us, all the rest of the people remaining perfectly quiet. - -While this was going on we heard a dull, smothered roar as of an -explosion, and the dancers, who we afterwards found were priests or -sorcerers, as well as all the people who were looking on, rushed down to -the beach. - -I was lying close to Bill, and said, “I wonder what that is; it sounds -like the magazine on Bristol Bob’s island blown up.” - -“So it is,” said Bill. “I hope Tom ain’t damaged, and that these beggars -won’t make him prisoner. As long as he’s free there’s hope for us.” - -“Yes,” I answered, “we can trust Tom not to desert us; but I’m afraid he -must be a prisoner, and we shall soon see him here alongside of us.” - -We had no time to speak any more, for a party of men came back from the -beach, and, under the direction of the three priests, took us up on -their shoulders, and carried us away at a trot along a narrow path -through the woods. - -Occasionally our carriers halted to rest or gave way to others, and -sometimes we stopped in the middle of villages like the one we had been -first taken to, and were exposed to the curiosity of the women and -children (for all the men that were able had gone down to the muster of -the warriors of the island), and I am bound to say we received no mercy -at their hands. They pinched us, and scratched us, and tore off our -clothes to see if we were white all over, not caring how they hurt us in -doing so, and pulled out our hair; in fact, they showed themselves -experts in all the petty arts of torture, and if it had not been that -the priests seemed to be somewhat in a hurry, and never allowed a halt -in a village for more than ten minutes or so, I verily believe we should -have been pinched and scratched to death. - -At last we arrived at a sort of temple, consisting of a thatched roof -supported on posts which were rudely fashioned into human figures. In -the middle of this building were two idols, a male and a female, on -which all the art and industry of the people had been lavished, with a -result that combined the grotesque and the horrible in an extraordinary -degree. - - - - -[Illustration: “_In front of these monstrous figures were piles of bones -and skulls._” Page 137.] - - - - -Their eyes were formed of huge oyster shells pierced in the middle, and -in their grinning mouths were double lines of boars’ tusks, so that the -faces seemed all eyes and teeth. Large wigs of cocoanut fibre covered -their heads, and round necks, arms, and legs were strings of beads, -shells, and human bones. In their right hand they held a monster fork, -like that used by their worshippers in their cannibal feasts, and on -these forks and in their left hands were great pieces of bleeding flesh. - -In front of these monstrous and disgusting figures were piles of bones -and skulls, some of which had hair and flesh still adhering to them. -Lamps fed with cocoanut oil were hanging from the rafters, and these -lamps were made of human skulls; and as if nothing should be wanting to -complete the horror of the scene, huge pigs were rooting about among the -remains of humanity with which the ground was strewn. - -When we arrived, the lumps of bleeding flesh were removed from the left -hands of the idols, and we were hung up in their place. - -The men who had carried us here were now sent away, and having become -_tabu_ by entering into this holy place, as it was considered by the -people of Aneitou, they were while there not allowed to mix with their -fellows, but sent to an enclosure reserved for such purposes. - -I and Bill were, it is not too much to say, in a state of dismal fright -and terror, and the lashings by which we were bound cut into our flesh -like bars of red-hot iron, while our lips were cracked and bleeding, and -we were the victims of a raging thirst. - -After we had hung here for some time, some of the priests of the temple -came and cut us down, and we expected that we should at once be done to -death; but, after cutting us adrift, they took us a short distance away -into a cave, the entrance to which was closed with thick balks of timber -in which there was a small gateway. - -Here we were thrust, and water was given us to drink, and the gate being -securely barred on the outside, we were left alone. - -We instantly relieved our parching thirst, and then set to work to rub -each other to ease the pain caused by the lashings which had bound us. - -After a time we felt more at ease, and began to consider what would -become of us. - -“I expect they will kill and eat us,” said Bill; “but surely we can find -some way to escape. I would Tom were here; he’d know what to do.” - -“I’m afraid Tom must be a prisoner or dead; but, anyway, let us search -round this place, and find if there is any way out. If we could get out, -and get to the beach, and steal a canoe, we might have a chance.” - -We set to work to examine the entrance to the cave; but the gate and the -balks of timber in which it was set were too strong to give us any hope -of being able to break through them, so we soon gave up and began to -explore the cave itself. - -We went in several directions, and found dark holes and passages, into -which we crept; but one and all came to an end before we had proceeded -far, until we reached the very last, which was only about three feet -high at the entrance, but which we found after a time grew lighter and -higher, and at last became a large cave, lighted by a small hole near -the top. - -To this hole we tried to climb; but the rock had been cut away all -around it, so that it was perfectly inaccessible, although by the -natural roughness of the sides of the cave it was easy to climb up to -the roof everywhere else. Opposite the hole, but some fifteen feet from -it, was a sort of shelf; and to this we scrambled, so as to look out, -and we saw right opposite us the bay in which was Bristol Bob’s island. - -The island itself we could also see, and the hillock and trees under -which the magazine was were blown up, and several of the huts were -destroyed, but the dock where the cutter was laid up we could not see, -so that we could not make out whether she were safe or not. Our old -_Escape_ we saw with some men in her, evidently taking her to Wanga’s -village, but on the island there was not a soul to be seen. - -We sat some time on the shelf trying to get some idea into our heads as -to how the hole could be reached, and at last we got down and determined -to return to the part of the cave where we had been left by our jailers; -but first we looked round where we were, and in one corner we found a -pool of fresh water, which was a source of gladness to both of us, for -at all events we could make sure of not dying of thirst, and also have a -good wash whenever the fancy took us; and take us it did then and there, -for we were very dirty and sore, and a bathe did us all the good -imaginable. - -When we got back to the front cave we found that it had not been visited -since we left; but before we had been there ten minutes the gate was -unbarred, and a plentiful supply of food—fish, pork, yams, bread-fruit, -and bananas—was brought to us, and it was signed to us that we should -eat. - -We were both hungry, and fell to on the good things provided for us with -a hearty appetite, till, suddenly, Bill stopped eating, and said, “I -say, mate, they wants to fatten us up to eat us. I don’t fancy being -stuffed like a turkey in a coop.” - -The idea took away my appetite at once, and not another mouthful could I -swallow; but, nevertheless, we determined to hide the food away, with -the idea that, if the priests found us apparently eating enormously, and -yet getting thinner and thinner, they would come to the conclusion that -we were worthless for fattening purposes, and would give up the -intention, and perchance let us go free. - -Accordingly the remnants of our repast were stowed away in one of the -small side caves, and it now being night, Bill and I, huddling together -for warmth, lay down to sleep. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV. - A DIVE FOR LIBERTY. - - -Our sleep was broken and disturbed by the noise of drums in the temple, -and again and again we woke with a start, and thought that some one had -come to call us out to be offered up before the hideous idols, and as -often found that our alarm was only caused by a dream. - -By the middle of the night the noise outside ceased, and we both being -thoroughly wearied out, slept soundly. All at once I was awaked by -feeling cold, wet hands on my throat and mouth, and struggled to free -myself and shout out; while Bill, roused by my struggles, grunted out, -“What’s up?” - -A voice said, “No make bobbery. Be plenty quiet. Me be Calla come make -good for you.” - -Evidently some one was watching, for we heard people outside speaking, -and the noise of the gate being unbarred. While this was doing, Calla -stole noiselessly away; and when one of the priests of the temple came -in, bearing a great, flaming torch of palm leaves, and searched about -the cave, he could only find me and Bill; so, giving us a couple of -kicks apiece, he went back and fastened the gate again, evidently -displeased at being disturbed. - -As soon as he had gone and all was again quiet, Bill and I whispered -together, wondering where Calla had come from, and where he had gone. - -“I have it,” I said, almost forgetting the necessity for speaking low, -but remembering myself in time. “Calla was wet; he must have come by the -water.” - -“How could he?” answered Bill. “There’s no passage there.” - -“Never mind,” I said; “that’s where he came from. Let’s get down there, -and see what we can.” - -To get to the pool in the dark was easier said than done; but at last we -found our way to the part of the cave where it was, which was dimly -lighted by the hole in the side through which we had seen Bristol Bob’s -island, and we groped about to try to find some way by which Calla could -have got in. - -Whilst we were thus engaged, we heard a long-drawn breath, and then a -rippling in the pool, and then we distinguished a dark form coming to -its shore. - -“Hist! hist! me Calla,” he said as he emerged; and we hurried to him and -asked what he wanted, and what was the news of Tom. - -“Oh! Tom he live plenty good. But now one time make go. Dem other men no -catch. Know eberyting. Me sabe dis hole no shut below—one time easy go -and come—make people tink plenty ting.” - -Evidently Calla had dived in from the outside, and if we could manage to -dive as well, we might make our way out of our prison. - -Calla proposed that we should dive down, and gave us the direction we -were to swim in; and Bill, who was a capital swimmer and diver, -according to European standards, slipped fearlessly into the pool, and -taking a long breath sank below its surface. - -The dive, however, was beyond his capabilities, for he soon reappeared -puffing and blowing, and declared that he could not possibly manage it; -and when he had rested a bit, he told me he had gone down and down into -a sort of passage, where he could feel the rock on either side of him, -when he felt as if he would burst, and could endure it no longer, so he -had given himself a shove backwards, and returned to the surface. - -“No be far,” said Calla; “see me go and come back one time;” and suiting -the action to the word he glided down through the water, and in about -four minutes returned with a handful of grass which he said he had -plucked on the outside. - -Bill, encouraged by this, made another attempt, but like ill success -attended it; and as for me, I knew that if Bill could not dive out, it -was hopeless to think of my being able to do it. - -Calla at first seemed very much annoyed; but after a bit he said, “Me -sabey,” and dived out of the cave, and soon returned bringing with him a -line of cocoanut fibre, and made us understand that he would haul us -through the passage. - -To be dragged through an underground drain at the end of a rope was a -nervous piece of work, but to remain where we were meant danger and -captivity; whilst on the other side of the passage was freedom and -comparative safety, if Calla was to be trusted, and we did not take long -to make up our minds to consent to his proposal. - -After a little discussion, Bill and I settled that he should be the -first to go; and he promised, if he got through safe, to tie a peculiar -knot in the end of the line to show me that he was all right. - -We did not take long in securing the line to Bill, and then Calla took -the other end in his teeth, and the two together disappeared below the -surface. I waited and waited for Calla to come back, and the time seemed -intensely long before he again was with me with the piece of line. - -I anxiously examined the end for Bill’s knot, and when I felt it and -learned that he was safely out of the cave, my joy was great, though I -was still in a great fright as to what would happen to me. Calla secured -the line round, me, so that I could not struggle, and telling me to keep -my mouth shut, put me in the pool. I felt myself sinking, and then being -dragged along, touching rock sometimes above, sometimes below, and -sometimes on either side of me; and I felt as if the drums of my ears -would be broken in, and a sense of oppression on my chest which was -almost intolerable. I thought that I would be constrained to open my -mouth and shout, and I know that if my limbs had been at liberty I -should have struck out, and would have added much to the difficulty of -the task Calla had set himself; but just when I could have endured no -longer, I felt myself emerge from the water, and was dragged to the bank -by Bill and Calla. - -I blew like a porpoise while my lashing was being undone; and when I had -got some breath in my body again, Calla told Bill and me to follow him, -and that he would lead us to where Tom was. - -We hurried along narrow paths, through tangled woods, and in a very -short time arrived at the shores of the bay in which Bristol Bob’s -island was. Here we found a canoe, into which we got, and paddled off -stealthily to the island, where we found Tom safe and sound, and Bristol -Bob’s little craft prepared for sea, and Bos’n with him. - -I longed to ask him what had happened since we were parted; but Calla -was urgent that we should get to sea at once, and run down to some -islands where he said “missionary men” lived. And as we had to keep a -good lookout for fear of being pursued, and then all of us were so -tired, we agreed to sleep in turns, and when we were all rested to -communicate our different adventures. - -When we were all rested and awake, the island where we had been -prisoners had almost faded out of view, and we were safe from pursuit, -and running before a steady trade wind. - -“Now, mates,” said Tom, “I think we have all to thank Calla for saving -us, as without him we could have done nothing, and I vote he tells us -first how he came to help us.” - -Calla very shortly told us that we had saved his life, and that he -thought it therefore belonged to us; and when his father came to where -he was kept prisoner, and provided him with means of escaping, lest he -should be killed, he first of all went to Bristol Bob’s island, which, -after the explosion we had heard (which was indeed the magazine, and -which had killed four men), had been _tabu_, where he found Tom and -Bos’n, and told them to get the boat ready, while he went himself and -got Bill and me out of our prison. - -When his story was told, Tom insisted on hearing what had happened to -Bill and myself; and having been satisfied, he narrated his own -adventures. - -“You see, mates, I was away in the magazine when you was carried off, -and knowing as I could do nothing, I kept low for a bit, and hid behind -some bushes, so as to keep a lookout on what happened. After some time I -saw some fellows, who had been hunting all over the island, and several -times came nigh on finding me, had made out the whereabouts of the -magazine, and got some torches to go down into it, and almost directly I -heard the place blow up. - -“Their mates seemed to be pretty well frightened, and didn’t wait many -minutes nor look for their chums, but bolted to their canoes, and -paddled away to the big island for dear life. - -“After a bit two big canoes came and paddled round with drums, and a man -in one of them shouted out something, and among what he said I could -make out ‘tabu, tabu,’ being repeated several times, and then they went -away again. - -“When night came, I set to work to get the boat ready if possible; and -presently Bos’n, who had been hiding, came to me and helped. Calla came -after a while, and told us he would fetch you; and that’s the end of it, -till you came along of him, and we started.” - -Our adventures were now almost over, for the next day we fell in with -the missionary schooner _Dayspring_, and the missionaries took care of -us, and took us to their headquarters. - -When we came to overhaul the things we had brought away with us in -Bristol Bob’s boat, we found that the money and pearls were worth over -four thousand pounds, which we divided into four lots, one for each of -us, and one for Calla. - -Calla said he would now become a “missionary man;” and he, after careful -instruction, became a Christian, and lived for many years happy and -respected. - -Tom Arbor also became a “missionary man,” shipping in the _Dayspring_, -as did the faithful Bos’n, and had risen to be her mate when he met with -his death at the hands of savages, to whom he was trying to take the -message of peace, and added his name to the list of those martyrs who -have sacrificed their lives in the cause of Christianity in the Pacific. - -Bill and I, by the advice of the missionaries, went home, and were bound -apprentices on board a fine Indiaman, and we both made rapid progress. -We always sailed together till Bill’s death. He lost his life in -attempting to save a shipwrecked crew. - -Of the _Golden Fleece_ and her crew we never heard, and her fate is one -of the mysteries of the sea. - -For myself, I have been fortunate and prosperous; and now, after having -for some years commanded my own ship, I have settled down to pass the -evening of my days in peace and quietness, full of thankfulness for the -mercies which have been vouchsafed to me. - - THE END. - - - * * * * * - - Kingston’s (W. H. G.) Books for Boys. - - _Crown 8vo Volumes. Gilt edges. Price 5s. each._ - _Cloth extra, Uniform Binding, 4s. each._ - - In the Wilds of Africa. With upwards of Seventy Illustrations. - - _An interesting account of adventures by a shipwrecked - party who are landed on the west coast of Africa, and - make their way to the south through many dangers. Gives - a great deal of valuable information respecting the - animals, scenery, people, and products of Africa._ - - In the Eastern Seas; or, The Regions of the Bird of Paradise. - A Tale for Boys. With One Hundred and Eleven Illustrations. - - _A tale of voyage and adventure among the islands of the - Malay Archipelago, with descriptions of scenery and - objects of natural history._ - - Old Jack. A Sea Tale. With Sixty-six Engravings. - - _An old sailor’s account of his own adventures, during - times of peace and of war, in many parts of the world; - privateering, whale-fishing, etc._ - - The South Sea Whaler. A Story of the Loss of the _Champion_, - and the Adventures of her Crew. With upwards of Thirty - Engravings. - - _A tale of mutiny and shipwreck in the South Seas, the - captain having his son and daughter on board with him._ - - A Voyage Round the World. With Forty-two Engravings. - - _A young sailor’s account of his own adventures by sea - and land, the scenes being laid chiefly in South - America, the South Sea Islands, and Japan._ - - The Young Rajah. A Story of Indian Life and Adventure. With - upwards of Forty Full-page Engravings. - - _A story of the Indian Mutiny; the hero a young Indian - prince, who had received an English education and become - a Christian._ - - * * * * * - - On the Banks of the Amazon; or, A Boy’s Journal of his - Adventures in the Tropical Wilds of South America. Profusely - Illustrated. - - _In the course of the narrative some of the numberless - animals, as well as a few of the most interesting of the - vegetable productions, of the Amazonian Valley are - described._ - - In the Wilds of Florida. With Thirty-seven Engravings. - - _A tale of warfare and hunting._ - - My First Voyage to Southern Seas. With Fifty-two Engravings. - - _A young sailor’s story, describing Cape Colony, Ceylon, - Aden, etc._ - - Saved from the Sea; or, The Loss of the _Viper_, and the - Adventures of her Crew in the Great Sahara. With Thirty - Full-page Engravings. - - _A young sailor’s account of his adventures, along with - three shipwrecked comrades._ - - Twice Lost. With Thirty-six Engravings. - - _A young sailor’s story of shipwreck, and perilous - adventures in the wilds of Australia; which is the more - interesting from the fact that he was accompanied by his - father, mother, and sister._ - - The Wanderers; or, Adventures in the Wilds of Trinidad and up - the Orinoco. With Thirty Full-page Engravings. - - The Young Llanero. A Story of War and Wild Life in Venezuela. - With Forty-four Engravings. - - _A thrilling and fascinating narrative of adventures in - South America during the struggle for independence - between the State of Colombia and the Spaniards._ - - The above seven Volumes are done in a new uniform binding, with - coloured Frontispiece and Vignette by W. S. STACEY. Cloth extra. - Price 3s. 6d. each. - - * * * * * - - ENTIRELY NEW AND CHEAPER EDITION OF - R. M. Ballantyne’s Books for Boys. -_Post 8vo, cloth extra. Each with finely coloured Frontispiece and Title - Page. Price 2s. 6d. each._ - - Mr. J. M. BARRIE says of “The Coral Island”:—“_For the - authorship of that book I would joyously swop all mine. If there - is a parent who has not given it to his son (or does not do so - within eight days from now), he should at the least be turned - out of his club. Many men, no doubt, become parents in order to - give ‘The Coral Island’ to their son. Jack, Ralph, and Peterkin, - I salute you, and hope you are all a fond memory recalls. Not - since my schooldays have I met you, but I know what was in the - pockets of the three of you the day you landed on that island - better than I know the contents of my own to-day, and your - wondrous cave is more to me than the Strand._” - - The Coral Island. A Tale of the Pacific. - - “_No boy could be expected to respect another boy who - had not read Ballantyne’s bewitching book ‘The Coral - Island.’_”—GAVIN OGILVY, in THE BRITISH WEEKLY. - - The Young Fur-Traders; or, Snowflakes and Sunbeams from the - Far North. - - The World of Ice. Adventures in the Polar Regions. - - The Gorilla Hunters. A Tale of the Wilds of Africa. - - _A sequel to “The Coral Island,” and of as entrancing - interest._ - - Martin Rattler. A Boy’s Adventures in the Forests of Brazil. - - _“One of the best of this delightful and popular - author’s books.”_—SCOTSMAN. - - Ungava. A Tale of Esquimau Land. - - “_Any one who wants boys to believe that there is a - better writer of boys’ books than Mr. R. M. Ballantyne - must shout very loud. ‘Ungava’ takes us to Esquimau - land, and illustrates the phases of the fur-trader’s - life in the wild regions which surround Hudson - Bay._”—SHEFFIELD TELEGRAPH. - - The Dog Crusoe and His Master. A Story of Adventure on the - Western Prairies. - - “_All the tales bear the stamp of the master hand. Here - we rove amid the wilds of the west, hunt the buffalo and - the grizzly bear, are chased and captured by Indians, - and make a clever escape._”—PERTHSHIRE COURIER. - - Hudson Bay; or, Everyday Life in the Wilds of North America, - during a Six Years’ Residence in the Territories of the Hon. - Hudson Bay Company. With Memoir of the Author and Portrait. Also - Twenty-nine Illustrations drawn by BAYARD and other Artists, - from Sketches by the Author. - - “_The death of Mr. R. M. Ballantyne is the close of a - long and busy and distinguished literary career. The - news will have been received with regret by the many - readers whom Mr. Ballantyne’s books have stirred and - stimulated and charmed. They were written avowedly for - boys, but they have been caught up eagerly by readers of - every age, old and young alike, and when once taken in - hand have seldom been laid down again until the last - page had been reached._”—The Times. - - * * * * * - - The Boys’ Library of Travel and Adventure. - - An Emperor’s Doom; or, The Patriots of Mexico. By - Herbert Hayens, author of “Clevely Sahib,” “Under - the Lone Star,” etc. Crown 8vo, bevelled boards, cloth extra. - With Eight Illustrations by A. J. B. SALMON. Price 5s. - - Kilgorman. A Story of Ireland in 1798. By TALBOT BAINES REED, - author of “The Fifth Form at St. Dominic’s,” “The Willoughby - Captains,” “Follow My Leader,” etc. Illustrated by John - Williamson. With Portrait, and an “In Memoriam” Sketch of - the Author by JOHN SIME. Crown 8vo, cloth extra. Price 5s. - - “_The book is full of interest from beginning to end, - and written with a singular charm and grace of - style._”—LEEDS MERCURY. - - Under the Lone Star. By HERBERT HAYENS. With Eight - Illustrations by W. S. STACEY. Crown 8vo, bevelled boards, cloth - extra, gilt top. Price 5s. - - “_Mr. Hayens for the plot of his ‘Under the Lone Star,’ - a story of Revolution in Nicaragua, turns to a - fascinating page of history that has been rather - neglected—the exploits of Colonel Walker, the - filibuster, in the Central American Republics. The - narrative is profoundly novel and interesting, and may - be cordially recommended._”—Manchester - Guardian. - - Clevely Sahib: A Tale of the Khyber Pass. By HERBERT HAYENS, - author of “Under the Lone Star,” etc. With Eight Illustrations - by J. WILLIAMSON. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt top. Price 5s. - - “_This is a capital story._”—STANDARD. - - “_A lovely tale set in the picturesque environment of - India and Afghanistan._”—Black and White. - - “_Full of excitement and romance, which will be read - with breathless eagerness.... Written with a most - scrupulous adherence to the historical - narrative_”—Christian World. - - Every Inch a Sailor. By GORDON STABLES, M.D., R.N., author of - “As We Sweep through the Deep,” “How Jack Mackenzie Won his - Epaulettes,” etc. Cloth extra, gilt top. Price 5s. - - “_Between the reader, ourselves, and the binnacle, there - isn’t a living writer—unless it be Clark Russell, and - he appeals more to the adult—who can hold a candle, or - shall we say a starboard light, to Gordon Stables as a - narrator of sea stories for boys. This one is worthy of - the high traditions of the author._”—LITERARY WORLD. - - In the Wilds of the West Coast. By J. MACDONALD OXLEY, author - of “Up Among the Ice-Floes,” “Diamond Rock,” etc. Illustrated by - W. THOMAS SMITH. Crown 8vo, cloth extra. Price 5s. - - Early English Voyagers; or, The Adventures and Discoveries of - Drake, Cavendish, and Dampier. Numerous Illustrations. Crown - 8vo, cloth extra, gilt edges. Price 5s. - - “_A wonderful story of English courage, endurance, and - love of adventure. Not a few of the daring exploits - associated with these historic names have an air of - romance and strangeness which appeals strongly to the - imagination._”—Leeds Mercury. - - In Savage Africa; or, The Adventures of Frank Baldwin from the - Gold Coast to Zanzibar. By VERNEY LOVETT CAMERON, C.B., D.C.L., - Commander Royal Navy; author of “Jack Hooper,” “Across Africa,” - etc. With Thirty-two Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt - edges. Price 5s. - - “_The author is the first European who ever crossed the - breadth of the African continent in its central - latitudes, and he is therefore quite at home in - describing native manners, warfare, and superstitions. - The adventures of the tale have the impress of vivid - truth and actual reality._”—DUNDEE ADVERTISER. - - Jack Hooper. His Adventures at Sea and in South Africa. By - VERNEY LOVETT CAMERON, C.B., D.C.L., Commander Royal Navy; - author of “Across Africa,” etc. With Twenty-three Full-page - Illustrations, Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt edges. Price 5s. - - “_Our author has the immense advantage over many writers - that he describes what he has seen, and does not merely - draw on his imagination and on books. He writes, too, in - a brisk, manly style, and weaves what he has to say - about the once dark continent into a very good story, of - which the hero is Jack Hooper._”—SCOTSMAN. - - With Pack and Rifle in the Far South-West. Adventures in New - Mexico, Arizona, and Central America. By ACHILLES DAUNT, author - of “Frank Redcliffe,” “The Three Trappers,” etc. With Thirty - Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt edges. Price 5s. - - “_There is thrilling narrative in the book, but also a - good deal of solid matter. No little profit will remain - to the reader after the pleasure of - perusal._”—SCOTSMAN. - - “_The sensational incidents carry the reader along at a - fine pace._”—Glasgow Herald. - - This series can also be had in uniform binding, cloth - extra, plain edges, 4s. per vol. - - * * * * * - - The “Forest and Fire” Series of Boys’ Books. - -In attractive Binding, and fully Illustrated. Post 8vo, cloth extra. Price - 2s. 6d. - - Through Forest and Fire. By EDWARD S. ELLIS. - - “_A story of life in a lonely settlement in the United - States, with many adventures in hunting, and from bears - and forest fires._”—STANDARD. - - On the Trail of the Moose. By EDWARD S. ELLIS. - - “_A stirring story of adventure in the wilds of North - America. The author breaks new ground, and his bright, - racy English adds much to the charm of what is certainly - one of the best gift books of the season._”—BRITISH - WEEKLY. - - Across Texas. By EDWARD S. ELLIS. - - “_There is a healthy high-toned character about Mr. - Ellis’s stories that render them peculiarly suitable for - boys._”—DUNDEE ADVERTISER. - - The Cabin in the Clearing. A Tale of the Far West. By - Edward S. Ellis. - - * * * * * - - Tales of Adventure and Enterprise. - - _Post 8vo, cloth extra. Price 2s. 6d. each._ - - The Vanished Yacht. By E. HARCOURT BURBAGE. - - “_Does not disappoint the expectation held out by the - title, for it is full of interest and adventure._”—PALL - MALL GAZETTE. - - Crag, Glacier, and Avalanche. Narratives of Daring and - Disaster. By ACHILLES DAUNT, Author of “With Pack and Rifle in - the Far South-west,” etc. With Illustrations. - - The Drifting Island; or, The Slave-Hunters of the Congo. By - Walter Wentworth, Author of “Kibboo Ganey,” etc. - - The Flamingo Feather. By KIRK MUNROE. With Twenty - Illustrations. - - Hans Brinker; or, The Silver Skates. A Story of Life in - Holland. By MARY MAPES DODGE. With Illustrations. - - _An interesting and instructive tale of life in Holland; - sure to prove acceptable to boys._ - - Kibboo Ganey; or, The Lost Chief of the Copper Mountain. A - Tale of Travel and Adventure in the Heart of Africa. By - Walter Wentworth. - - _A well-told tale of adventure undergone in the course - of a journey to the neighbourhood of Lake Tchad. To boys - it cannot fail to prove fascinating._ - - Our Sea-Coast Heroes; or, Tales of Wreck and of Rescue by the - Lifeboat and Rocket. By ACHILLES DAUNT, Author of “Frank - Redcliffe,” “With Pack and Rifle in the Far South-west,” etc. - With numerous Illustrations. - - “_The narratives of wreck and rescue are admirably - penned, and the illustrations throughout are - effective._”—GLASGOW HERALD. - - Robinson Crusoe. The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of - Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner. Written by Himself. - Illustrated. - - Sandford and Merton. A Book for the Young. By THOMAS DAY. - Illustrated. - - The Swiss Family Robinson; or, Adventures of a Father and his - Four Sons on a Desolate Island. Illustrated. - - * * * * * - - The Boys’ Own Library. - - _Post 8vo, cloth extra. Price 2s. each._ - - Soldiers of the Queen; or, Jack Fenleigh’s Luck. A Story of - the Dash to Khartoum. By HAROLD AVERY, Author of “Frank’s First - Term,” etc., etc. - - “_Rehearses in a thrilling manner the stirring story of - the Egyptian War and the advance to Khartoum._”—DUNDEE - ADVERTISER. - - Vandrad the Viking; or, The Feud and the Spell. A Tale of the - Norsemen. By J. STORER CLOUSTON. With Six Illustrations by - HUBERT PATON. - - _How the valiant Vandrad comes under the “spell” of a - certain beautiful “witch,” and how the glamour causes - him to forego his revengeful purpose, is told by Mr. - Storer Clouston in language so full of power and poetic - feeling that once read the story will not soon be - forgotten._ - - Breaking the Record. The Story of Three Arctic Expeditions. By - M. DOUGLAS, Author of “Across Greenland’s Ice-Fields.” - - “_Just the kind of book that will stir a boy’s heart to - its uttermost depths, and make him give up his most - cherished dreams of being a great Indian fighter in - favour of an Arctic explorer._”—NORTH BRITISH DAILY - MAIL. - - Across Greenland’s Ice-Fields. The Adventures of Nansen and - Peary on the Great Ice-Cap. By M. DOUGLAS, Author of “For Duty’s - Sake,” etc. - - _Sir Clements R. Markham, President of the Royal - Geographical Society, says: “Miss Douglas conducts her - readers over those trackless wastes of snow and ice in - the footsteps of Nordenskiöld, of Nansen, and of Peary; - and certainly those who begin the journey with her will, - in continuing to the end, derive no small amount of - pleasure and instruction.”_ - - As We Sweep Through the Deep. A Story of the Stirring Times of - Old. By GORDON STABLES, M.D., R.N. With Illustrations. - - _A story for boys, giving glimpses of naval life during - the times of Napoleon._ - - The Battle of the Rafts. And Other Stories of Boyhood in - Norway. By H. H. BOYESEN. - - “_The stories are so different from the ordinary run of - boys’ tales, and yet so exciting, that they cannot fail - to be appreciated._”—DUNDEE ADVERTISER. - - After Years. A Story of Trials and Triumphs. By J. W. BRADLEY. - Author of “Culm Rock.” With Illustrations. - - Among the Turks. By VERNEY LOVETT CAMERON, C.B., D.C.L., - Commander Royal Navy, Author of “Jack Hooper,” etc. With - Illustrations. - - “_‘Among the Turks’ is racy with adventure and spirited - descriptions of Eastern life and character. Boys will - read the book with great delight._”—SCOTSMAN. - - Archie Digby; or, An Eton Boy’s Holidays. By G. E. WYATT, - Author of “Harry Bertram and his Eighth Birthday.” - - _An interesting tale for boys. Archie, a thoughtless - young Etonian, learns during a Christmas holiday, by - humbling experience, lessons of value for all after - life._ - - * * * * * - - Our Boys’ Select Library. - - STORIES OF ADVENTURE, TRAVEL, AND DISCOVERY. - - _Post 8vo, cloth extra. Price 2s. 6d. each._ - - The Forest, the Jungle, and the Prairie; or, Tales of - Adventure and Enterprise in Pursuit of Wild Animals. With - numerous Engravings. - - Scenes with the Hunter and the Trapper. Stories of Adventures - with Wild Animals. With Engravings. - - Beyond the Himalayas. By JOHN GEDDIE, F.R.G.S., Author of “The - Lake Regions of Central Africa,” etc. With Nine Engravings. - - “_A tale of adventure and travel over regions on the - borders of China and Thibet. The author has taken great - pains to make his descriptions of the scenery, natural - history, and botany, and of the manners and habits of - the frontier people accurate and instructive. There are - plenty of exciting adventures and encounters with wild - beasts and no less wild men._”—STANDARD. - - The Castaways. A Story of Adventure in the Wilds of Borneo. By - Captain MAYNE REID. - - The Meadows Family; or, Fireside Stories of Adventure and - Enterprise. By M. A. PAULL, Author of “Tim’s Troubles,” etc. - With Illustrations. - - The Story of the Niger. A Record of Travel and Adventure from - the Days of Mungo Park to the Present Time. By ROBERT - RICHARDSON. Author of “Adventurous Boat Voyages,” “Ralph’s Year - in Russia,” etc. With Thirty-one Illustrations. - - * * * * * - - The Norseland Library. - - _Post 8vo, cloth extra. Price 2s. 6d. each._ - - The Hermit Princes. A Tale of Adventure in Japan. By - Eleanor Stredder, Author of “Doing and Daring,” - etc. - - “_Conspicuous for novelty of subject and treatment. It - is a Japanese story perfectly conceived and realized. - The landscape-painting throughout is terse and full of - interest._”—MANCHESTER GUARDIAN. - - Norseland Tales. By H. H. BOYESEN, Author of “The Battle of - the Rafts, and Other Stories of Boyhood in Norway.” With Seven - Illustrations. - - “_They are tales of modern life, not of the Vikings, but - of and about the sea, and of Norwegian boys who crossed - the Atlantic. All are well written and - interesting._”—Glasgow Herald. - - Leaves from a Middy’s Log. By ARTHUR LEE KNIGHT, Author of - “Adventures of a Midshipmite,” “The Rajah of Monkey Island,” - etc. Illustrated by A. PEARCE. - - “_A decidedly fresh and stirring story. There is plenty - of incident and plenty of spirit in the story; the - dialogue is amusing and natural, and the descriptions - are vigorous and vivid._”—SPECTATOR. - - Sons of the Vikings. An Orkney Story. By JOHN GUNN, M.A., - D.Sc. With Illustrations by JOHN WILLIAMSON. - - Sons of Freedom; or, The Fugitives from Siberia. By FRED. - WHISHAW. Author of “Harold the Norseman,” “A Lost Army,” “Boris - the Bear-Hunter,” etc. With numerous Illustrations. - - * * * * * - - Our Boys’ Select Library. - - _Post 8vo, cloth extra. Price 2s. 6d. each._ - - THREE BOOKS BY W. H. G. KINGSTON. - - Afar in the Forest. With Forty-one Full-page Engravings. - - _A tale of settler life in North America, full of stirring - adventure._ - - In the Rocky Mountains. A Tale of Adventure. With Forty-one - Engravings. - - _A narrative specially adapted to the taste and delectation of - youth, with numerous incidents of travel and amusing stories, - told in a fresh and invigorating style._ - - In New Granada; or, Heroes and Patriots. With Thirty-six - Full-page Engravings. - - “_This book will delight boys of all ages. The subject is - unusually interesting, and opens a wide field for romantic - adventure._”—PALL MALL GAZETTE. - - * * * * * - - STORIES OF ADVENTURE, TRAVEL, AND DISCOVERY. - - Adventurous Boat Voyages. By ROBERT RICHARDSON, Author of - “Ralph’s Year in Russia,” etc. With Fifteen Illustrations. - - Frank Redcliffe. A Story of Travel and Adventure in the - Forests of Venezuela. By ACHILLES DAUNT, Author of “The Three - Trappers.” With numerous Illustrations. - - In the Land of the Moose. Adventures in the Forests of the - Athabasca. By ACHILLES DAUNT, Author of “The Three Trappers.” - With Illustrations. - - In the Bush and on the Trail. Adventures in the Forests of - North America. By M. BENEDICT REVOIL. With Seventy - Illustrations. - - The Island Home; or, The Young Castaways. A Story of Adventure - in the Southern Seas. With Illustrations. - - The Lake Regions of Central Africa. A Record of Modern - Discovery. By JOHN GEDDIE, F.R.G.S. With Thirty-two - Illustrations. - - “_Here we have excellent writing, full of accurate - geographical information, and fascinating in style; - first class illustration and plenty of it._”—SWORD AND - TROWEL. - - Lost in the Backwoods. A Tale of the Canadian Forest. By Mrs. - TRAILL, Author of “In the Forest,” etc. With 32 Engravings. - - The Three Trappers. By ACHILLES DAUNT, Author of “In the Land - of the Moose, the Bear, and the Beaver.” With Eleven Engravings. - - “_It is one of those books which have been favourites - with healthy-minded lads since books became common. We - do not remember to have seen one that sustained more of - vigour and liveliness in its narrative than - this._”—SCOTSMAN. - - Wrecked on a Reef; or, Twenty Months in the Auckland Isles. A - True Story of Shipwreck, Adventure, and Suffering. With Forty - Illustrations. - - Ralph’s Year in Russia. A Story of Travel and Adventure in - Eastern Europe. By ROBERT RICHARDSON, Author of “Almost a Hero,” - etc. With Eight Engravings. - - “_A capital story of travel and adventure. Mr. - Richardson has written with great force and vivacity. He - has produced a story healthy in all - respects._”—SCOTSMAN. - - * * * * * - - Choice Illustrated Books for the Young. - - _Price 3s. 6d. each._ - - The Stories of the Trees. Talks with the Children. By Mrs. - W. H. Dyson, Author of “Children’s Flowers,” - “Apples and Oranges,” etc. With Illustrations. Post 8vo, cloth - extra, gilt edges. - - _An extremely well written and interesting book. The - descriptions of all the more familiar trees of the - forest are written with brevity, simplicity, and - spirit._ - - “_Well suited, by its pleasant, chatty style, to - interest young people._”—Saturday Review. - - Natural History for Young Folks. By Mrs. C. C. CAMPBELL. With - Fifty-six Illustrations by GIACOMELLI. In elegant binding. Post - 8vo, cloth extra, gold and colours. - - “_Evidently the result of years of research on the part - of the author, Mrs. C. C. Campbell. Her object has been - to simplify the more scientific side of the subject, and - ‘to explain how the different orders of animals, from - man, the highest, down to the duck-billed platypus, - resemble one another.’ The book is thoroughly - entertaining._”—Saturday Review. - - Pets and Playfellows; or, Stories about Cats and Dogs. By Mrs. - SURR. With Twenty-four Illustrations. Small 4to, cloth extra. - - _A rich store of interest and amusement for young - people, who will find their knowledge and love of - animals increased by its perusal._ - - Wonderland; or, Curiosities of Nature and Art. By WOOD SMITH. - Author of “Oakville Manor,” “Prince Rolo,” etc. With numerous - Illustrations. In illustrated fancy boards, cloth back. - - _Describes in a simple and popular style many of the - wonders of nature, and also some of the great - achievements of art._ - - The World at Home. Pictures and Scenes from Far-off Lands. By - M. and E. KIRBY. With One Hundred Engravings. Small 4to. In - illustrated fancy boards, cloth back. - - _A book for the young, containing, in a number of short - conversational sections, a great variety of geographical - information, facts of natural history, and personal - adventure; intended to bring the world, so full of - wonders, to our own firesides._ - - The Sea and its Wonders. By M. and E. KIRBY. With 174 - Illustrations. Small 4to. In illustrated fancy boards, cloth - back. - - _A book for the young, not strictly scientific, but - giving in a conversational style much varied - information, with all sorts of illustrative engravings._ - - Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. With Sixty Illustrations by - David Scott, R.S.A., and W. B. SCOTT; and - Introduction descriptive of the plates by the Rev. A. L. - SIMPSON, D.D., Derby. _New and Cheaper Edition._ Large crown - 8vo. - - * * * * * - - Royal Portrait Gallery. With numerous Illustrations. Small - 4to, cl. ex. - - _In this volume our kings and queens are described with - pen and pencil in a way that is sure to delight and - instruct young readers._ - - Pictures and Stories from English History. With numerous - Illustrations. Small 4to, cloth extra. - - _The stories are told in a lively and attractive style, - and cannot fail to create in the young a liking for the - study of history._ - - * * * * * - - Charming Gift Books for the Young. - - Wonderland; or, Curiosities of Nature and Art. By WOOD SMITH, - author of “Oakville Manor,” “Prince Rolo,” etc. With numerous - Illustrations. Small 4to, cloth extra, gilt edges, 5s.; fancy - boards, cloth back, 3s. 6d. - - “_A capitally illustrated volume, with the most - miscellaneous contents. Forest trees, the Great Wall of - China, strange varieties of boats, foreign costumes, - pearl diving, and many other ‘wonders’ are briefly - described._”—MANCHESTER GUARDIAN. - - The Sea and Its Wonders. By MARY and ELIZABETH KIRBY. With One - Hundred and Seventy-four Illustrations. Small 4to, cloth extra, - gilt edges, 5s.; fancy boards, cloth back, 3s. 6d. - - _A book for the young, not strictly scientific, but - giving in a conversational style much varied information - regarding the sea, its plants and living inhabitants, - with all sorts of illustrative engravings._ - - The World at Home. Pictures and Scenes from Far-off Lands. By - M. and E. KIRBY. With One Hundred Engravings. Small 4to, cloth - extra, gilt edges, 5s.; fancy boards, cloth back, 3s. 6d. - - _A book for the young, containing, in a number of short - conversational sections, a great variety of geographical - information, facts of natural history, and personal - adventure; intended to bring the world, so full of - wonders, to our own firesides. The whole is profusely - illustrated._ - - The Children’s Tour; or, Everyday Sights in a Sunny Land. By - M. A. PAULL, author of “Tim’s Troubles,” “The Meadows Family.” - With numerous Illustrations. Small 4to, cloth extra, gilt edges. - Price 5s. - - Bible Stories Simply Told. By M. E. CLEMENTS, author of “The - Story of the Beacon Fire,” etc. With numerous Illustrations. - Small 4to, cloth extra, gilt edges, 5s.; plain edges, 3s. 6d. - - Pets and Playfellows; or, Stories about Cats and Dogs. By Mrs. - SURR. With Twenty-four Illustrations. Small 4to, cloth extra. - Price 3s. 6d. - - _A rich store of interest and amusement for young - people, who will find their knowledge and love of - animals increased by its perusal._ - - Royal Portrait Gallery. With numerous Illustrations. Small - 4to, cloth extra. Price 3s. 6d. - - _In this volume our kings and queens are described with - pen and pencil in a way that is sure to delight and - instruct young readers._ - - Pictures and Stories from English History. With numerous - Illustrations. Small 4to, cloth extra. Price 3s. 6d. - - _The stories are told in a lively and attractive style, - and cannot fail to create in the young a liking for the - study of history._ - - * * * * * - - T. NELSON AND SONS, London, Edinburgh, and New York. - - * * * * * - -Transcriber’s Notes: - -Archaic spellings and hyphenation have been retained. 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