The Argosy, Vol. XXIV No. 2 — page 163: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE MUTINY ON THE FLYING CLOUD. 355 a fire, in the hope that its blaze, reflected in the sky, may serve as a beacon to their unfortunate friend in the improbable event of his still being alive and within sight of the island; but this attempt also is frustrated by the wind, which not only renders it impossible for them to kindle a flame, but also sweeps away all their materials as fast as they are gathered. There is nothing left for them, then, but to wend their way back home- ward as best they can and await the dawn of day. CHAPTER XXVIII.—TuHE SEARCH FOR THE CAPTAIN. THE dawn that morning was long in coming, and when at length the gray, murky light slowly forced its way through the overhanging canopy of rent and tattered cloud which obscured the heavens, wreck and destruction every- where became visible. Grant Island, it is true, had escaped almost unscathed, doubtless owing to its sheltered situation ; but on the main island, thousands of trees were lying prostrate, many of them uprooted, and the rest snapped off close to the ground. As soon as it was light enough to see anything, Grant, with Henderson this time as a companion, once more made his way down to the creek, but there was nothing to be seen from there. Even the buoy attached to the raft’s moorings was invisible ; but just where it ought to be there was a strong ripple on the roughened surface of the water, which seemed to suggest that the buoy, and possibly the swamped punt as well, still remained there, dragged under water by the strength of the current. It continued to blow very heavily—though not with the same awfully de- structive violence which marked the first burst of the hurricane—all that day and part of the ensuing night, when the gale broke, and by sunrise the wind had dropped to a strong breeze. Then once more did the four men set out from the fort in the almost hopeless effort to obtain some clue to the fate of poor Captain Blake. Descending the outer ladder—which had been discovered on the previous day at some distance from the fort—the search party first made for the creek, from the shore of which—the stream having by this time subsided and its current sunk to its normal speed—they descried not only the buoy marking the moorings of the raft, but also, as they had quite expected, the swamped punt hanging to it. : The latter was promptly secured, Manners swimming out to it with the end of a line from the shore, by means of which the craft was drawn in and ' grounded upon the beach and bailed out. The oars having been washed out of her and swept away, the next thing to be done was to work up a new pair—a task which was soon accomplished, since they now had an abundance of suitable material close at hand in the shipyard. This done, the searchers made their way down stream and crossed to the main island, there separating into two parties, one of which was to skirt the shore to the northward and westward, while the other was to proceed in the opposite direction until the two parties reunited; their object Oo COMMIELOOOKS.CO©