The Argosy, Vol. XXIV, No. 3 — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

404 A SECRET OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC. left the old Pixley she was blazing clean to her mastheads! The raft worked apart a good deal that night and nex’ day, patch'it as we might, it only just kep’ together till dark. We lost two men that afternoon, and before the next morning they were all gone but poor Bob McCann an’ me. ‘“ We lashed ourselves to what was left of the raft an’ held on. — I didn’t expect ever to see land again; no more did he. He didn’t; but somehow, my part of the wreck hung together an’ the current an’ gale carried me ashore on this island I speak of. There warn’t much to it but cliffs up which a fly could sca’cely crawl, an’ a bit of sandy beach. ‘These cliffs went clear round the island and the beach waren’t more’n a cable’s length wide anywhere. But in two or three places there was clumps o’ young pahns an’ cocoanut trees. ‘“I managed to get something to eat. And I found water too—sweet, clear water that was the greatest blessin’ I’d ever had. Then in this cove I told Cap'n Latimer of, I found the hnlk of a ship—the Juan Fernandez, of San Francisco o ‘‘ The very one !’’ cried Thorne, remembering Mr. Undercliff’s story. ‘“'The craft your father sailed on, Mr. Thorne? ’’ demanded Latimer. ‘Yes, sir.”’ ‘Then you’re on the right scent.’’ ‘That warn’t all,’’ said Jessop, waking up to the significance of the mat- ter when he observed his listeners’ excitement. ‘‘ The boat I sailed in from that island to Aukland was the Juan Fernandez’ long boat !’’ “ How do you know ?’’ cried Thorne. Saw it on her bow. ‘The name had been painted over, but not enough to hide it entirely.’’ | “ Good!” ‘“ But tell us about the man who rescued you,’’ said Latimer. ‘‘ Well, sir, I was there three weeks, an’ built myself a shanty of drift an’ stuff. I declare to you, gentlemen, that was the peculiarest place J ever heard of. There warn’t another streak of land in sight, so where that gent gent could ha’ come from, I dunno. But there he was, one morning, boat and all, waiting at my shanty for me to get up. You can b’lieve I was surprised. And glad—well, glad don’t begin to express my feelin’s. But he was the queerest codger ever I come across. He never talked, didn’t ask me arrything about myself, nor wouldn’t answer no questions about Azmself, nor how he got there. He just told me he’d take me to a place where I could find a ship going home. We was weeks on the v’yage, but the weather was good most of the time, an’ he had stacks of provisions. | | ‘‘ When we got to Aukland he sold some pearls he had—I went with him to the broker fellows. ‘Then he gi’ me a fi’ pun note, an’ lit out. They told me on the wharves that he stayed only a day or two in Aukland and then left in his boat, steering into the northeast again—the very way we come.’’ ‘“ And that’s all?’’ asked Thorne. ‘“'That’s the whole yarn’ sir,’’ replied Jessop, rising. oO (E(@) iboo SHS =) (e(0)