The Argosy, Vol. XXIV No. 2 — page 164: what you’re looking at

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

356 THE MUTINY ON THE FLYING CLOUD. being not so much to look out seaward—for they knew that if the raft had missed the island it would by that time be far enough away—but rather to examine the shore for any sign of wreckage or the poor skipper’s dead body. Henderson and Nicholls constituted one party, while Grant and Manners formed the other. ‘They had not only a long, but also a most toilsome journey before them, the difficulty arising chiefly from the nature of the ground they had to traverse, and it occupied them until well on in the afternoon of the following day, both parties camping in the woods for one night—and finding it anything but a pleasant experience. -Neither party found anything to | throw the least light upon the fate either of the raft or of the unfortunate man who had gone to sea in her; and when at length they met they had at least the negative satisfaction of being able to say that, after a thorough search of the entire seaboard of the island, they had discovered no actual proof that the captain had lost his life. Very fortunately for them no damage had been done either to the mill or in the shipyard ; there was therefore no time lost in making good deficiencies of that kind, and they were consequently enabled to resume and carry on their shipwrights’ work forthwith. Not until a full fortnight after the gale did they finally give up the skipper as lost, young Manners being despatched every morning to the top of the mountain with instructions to remain there all day and maintain a constant lookout, the party still hoping, against their better reason, that after all the raft might have held together, and that Blake might, in such a case, strive to regain the island. But at the expiration of that time they felt that it was use- less to hope further, and the watching was discontinued. Dr. Henderson was the hero of the next adventure which befell the party ; aud a pretty state of consternation he managed to throw everybody into for the time being, his poor wife and little Lucille especially. It happened thus. It had been the custom of the party ever since their landing upon the island to observe Sunday as a day of rest, prayers being read both morning and evening, whilst the rest of the day was devoted to such recreation as they thought might legitimately be indulged in. Manners and Nicholls, after the manner of seamen, usually devoted a great deal of time on this particular day to the patching up of their clothes ; whilst the two married men took their wives and the youngsters for tol- erably long walks when the weather permitted. When the weather was unfavorable for these walks Grant was in the habit of routing out some inter- esting book from his large stock and reading from it aloud, whilst Henderson, who was an enthusiastic botanist and chemist, in the privacy of a little labora- tory he had managed to fit up, prosecuted his researches into the nature of the various plants and herbs he had collected in former rambles. They were all thus engaged on the afternoon of a rainy Sunday, about a month after the mysterious disappearance of poor Captain Blake, when the rest of the party was suddenly startled bya loud cry for help from Hender- son, the call being instantly repeated twice or thrice in a much weaker tone of voice. (E(0) mI eboo ES (E(0)