Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 1128 — page 5: what you’re looking at

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

; . : : : a == So ee ~" | i. heh = - +. + —— ee ae ' te The captain and himself were alone on the burn- | ing ship. Their position was every moment growing more and more critical, What could they do? The boy asked himself this question, and looked at the captain, by whose side he was standing; but he was saved the trouble of a reply. ‘There came a burst of thunder sound.” Deck and vessel trembled beneath them for an in- stant. There was a rushing, rising sensation—a hissing, hur@ling sound, and the boy felt himself torn violent- ly from the captain and driven forward, breathless and powerless, and falling with a great shock. His senses left him. When he awoke it was broad daylight, and the sun was shining down upon his upturned face. He attempted to rise, but at the first movement, {ttseemed asif his limbs were dislocated; he felt stiff and bruised, and incapable of exertion. By repeated efforts, however, his limbs and mus- cles resumed their duty, and he succeeded in getting upon his feet. e had fallen upon a bed of wet sand which ap- peared to be just above high-water mark, Julian looked around him. Seen in the sunlight, it still appeared, as it had from the vessel’s deck, a long stretch of barren coast, evidently an island, His first thought was of Captain James, He looked eagerly about him, and called his name. There was no response. He called again and again. There was no living thing stirring on land or sea! A portion of the wreck, blackened and bare, was visible a short distance out, marking the spot where the vessel had struck, and vee the shore were many fragments, more or less blackened, of the abip and cargo, but no sign of Ogptain James. *niian’s heart sunk within him, Had he alone of all that crew survived the triple disaster of hurricane, fire and wreck? Could it be? The sun was shining gloriously over all, in marked contrast with the previous terrible night, as if in compensation for the suffering of the past—a glori- ous Inorning! ‘¢ Yet that same fnorn looked on ruim and wreck, And soothed a sea that lifeless prebe y the deck Of some proud ship, and glorified the wave That aniward heaved the mariner’s glassy grave; Playfully rippling, shoaling goldenly o’ar Dead seamen dimly drifting to the shore! Terrible innocent morning laughs on high, While Ocean rocks them witb its hulaby.”’ Forgetting all the pains of his owr bruises in his rief and anxiety for the captain, Julian ran along he shore looking. among the fragments of broken spars and cargo which had come ashore, for the body he hoped yet dreaded to find. The fact that he himself had been hurled on shore by the explosion—se far upon the sand, to the high- est level marked by the storm—cave him renewed courage to look, ard he continued his search. Suddenly his keart gave a great boundwas it imagination, or did he hear a voice calling him? he paused and listened. Was he mistaken? No—he heard it again, faintly but clearly, and ran in the direction of the sound, which brought him close to the surf. A little further along, a cable’s length back from the sea, as if it marked its utmost boundary, was a jagged ledge of rock, /my arm that has weakened me. it rose high and precipitous, perhaps fifty to | seventy feet, with here and there onenings in its front, where the fierce storms of this latitude had made breaches in its wall. Julian ran to the foot of this ledge. Here as elsewhere was visible the amplest evi- dence of the fury of the storm, The Sea Serpent. the opening, and taking a man-rope, which he found among the cordage, he shinned up the spar, and but for a timely warning from the captain would have | leaped inside the fissure, which it appones sloped The ledge itself had been lashed midway to its | very top by the crest of the tremendous waves that had thundered at its base. Here, tao, as all along the shore, were charre} fragments, and blackened bales and casks that had been driven on the beach and left high out of the water, He called the captain with all the power of his ungs. Again came a faint voice in reply. Looking along the face of the ledge, whence the sound seemed to proceed, Julian saw a wide fissure or 3 a in its front, almost above him, like the mouth of a cave; a breach made by the sea. It seemed impossible that the captain could be within that recess, but another and still fainter cry assured him of the fact. It was indeed Captain James imprisoned bard and fast within the fissure of the rock, where he had been strangely carried, with great force, on the top of a heavy wave, which had borne him inward from the wreck. Ore of his arms had been broken, he informed Jwian, and was hanging helplessly at his side, and he found himself unable to escape from the strange place which had been both his means of safety and of his imprisonment, Otherwise, the captain told Julian, he was unin- ured. The sea abating with wind and tide had left im literally high and dry. Julian retlected for a moment, The fissure in the rock was entirely too high to be reached either from below or above, without me- chanical appliances. He looked about him for the means. There were plenty of spars and some cordage _ Scattered about, Securing one of the former, Julian succeeded in placing it sloping against the reek, with one end in backward and downward to a considerable extent, tull lost in darkness, Wind and weather had evidently hardened the outside surface of the rock, but inside the soft sand- stone formation had been worn away and had be- come so slippery that no foothold was attainable or tenable for an instant, Yollowing the instructions of the captain, he made a clove-hitch, or loop, which the captain drew close under his arm, and Julian, by taking a turn of the rope around the spar, little by little, succeeded in bringing him up and out to the light of day. He was very pale and much exhausted, but mak- ing a strong effort together, both reached the sand beneath. But once fully in the sunlight, the captain suc- cumbed, and fell faint and powerless, A ghastly expression swept over his fextures, and Julian felt with alarm and anguish that he was dy- ing! CHAPTER VIL. JULIAN’S DISCOVERY, DYING on a desert island in an unknown sea for want of nourishment! As Julian thought this he glanced about him de- spairingly. His eyes fell upon boxes and bales, more or less charred and blackened, which with other merchandise strewed the shelving sand. Might there not be found nourishment—stimulants here? With the thought he ran to the nearest unbroken package, which proved to be a case of liquors. He forced it open, and seizing a bottle marked “brandy,” he returned to the captain's side, and knocking cff the neck as the quickest way of remov- ing the cork, he poured some of it down the cap- tain’s throat. The effect was almost instantaneous. The captain gasped once or twice, drew a breath, and sat up. ‘*Thank Heaven!” cried Julian, pressing his hand, ‘What! you thought me gone, then?’ said the captain, smiling. ‘It is only the exhaustion that is upon me, my boy,”’ he continued, ‘and the pain of I see you have found some of the stores,’ he added, looking at the brandy-bottle and taking another dram. “That is indeed fortunate. If you can now find some of the provisions, we shall be still more fortu- nate, and can soon strengthen ourselves tojflook about us. Help me up, my boy, and let us get to higher ground where we can have an outlook.” | “Tf you will kindly wait, sir, where you are tijl I can look into the barrels and boxes yonder, I have } rising, as they followed along the coast, it brought | them out at last on a level with the top of the ledge, | back of which the ground rose still higher. They made their way to- the highest point, from which they could see nearly the whole island. It appeared to be about two miles in length, by one or more in breadth, and shaped, Julian thought, something like a fish. From its appearance, the captain thought it had been once a mere ledge of rock, but the sands had been gradually heaped against and over it. But, its exact location he could not determine without insteu- ments or a more careful study. That it was in the tropics was evideut—for the signs of vegetation, especially at the east. end (oppo- site to that where they had been driven ashore), were strongly marked, The captain had never heard of this island, and was quite sure it was not laid down in the charts. That it was out of the ordinary track of vessels, he knew, and, of course, uninhabited, unless perhaps by birds and turtles, How long it would be necessary to remain there the captain could not conjecture, but it behoved them, he told Julian, to make the most of ali the re- sources at their command, Everything that had come ashore must be secured and safely stored, the heavy articles where they were, by means of ropes and planking, and those easily carried brought to the hitiar grounds. ‘*‘ At this point, where we now are, if we can secure a sail, Julian, to make us a tent, it would be a good beginning to pitch ourcamp. The canvas could also do double duty by catching our drinking-water when it rains, I can do very little with my broken arm and I find myself very shaky otherwise,”’ concluded the captain, ** but I shall improve in a day or two by keeping quiet. The walk up here, even with your assistance, I find has tried me very much,” “If you could sleep, sir,’ said Julian, “I think it would refresh you. Let me place my coat under you, and you try to rest while t go down and make a beginnin x by finding the material for our tent.’ With the words, Julian stripped off his coat, which had already, as he averred, become a burden to him, and insisted upon the captain using it in the manner | Suggested, paying no attention to his faint remon- | Strance. | Julian was leaving him. ‘** Be very careful of yourself,” said the captain, as | ** We are but two,”’ he Gon- tinued, ‘‘and must take no risk. We must do but | little to-day—with something to cover us, and with what provision we need, we can wait till to-morrow. The tremendous storm through which we have . passed is a surety that there will be a calm of some | duration. no doubt I can find some provision, which will give | us both more strength for the exertion.”’ “Very well, then,” replied the captain, and Julian hurried to put his suggestion into instant execu- tion, Yortunately there was no necessity for going far. With a large stone he burst in the head of a stout cask standing near, and found it filled with hams Do not stay long,’ he added, as Julian was moving away. Julian said ** Ay, ay, sir,’ response, and departed. In descending to the beach. he took a different "and waved his hand in | course from the one he had come, one more circuit- | ous, taking bim round to the back, or southerly side | of the ledge, by which he was able to see more of its peculiar formation. As he advanced he saw that the wali of rock wags | honeycombed, so to speak, in a number of places. and dried beef, wrapped in paper and canvas bags | and in prime condition, Near by waS another and smaller cask and a box, which, when opened, proved to be pilot-hbread, but little damaged, and the inner layers perfectly dry and good. Julian's eyes sparkled at the sight of all this pro- vision, for he saw several more similar casks further along the beach. He seized one of the pasiaaes of beef, and a hand- ful of the biscuit, and hurried back to the captain, who was also pleasantly relieved by the sight. If they were to starve the time was not yet. They rejoiced together, and whipping out knife, Julian proceeded to slice the beef, made a substantial meal. In the absence of water, at the captain’s sugges- is clasp- nd they . tion, Julian returned to the case of liquors,to iook a ee ee eee | | | | for wine. He found a bottle of port and brought it; and this agreeable substitute served admirably to wash down their dinner. Both were very much improved and benefited by their meal, as we may suppose. ‘The question of water will soon have to be en- tertained, Julian,’’ said the copte®, ‘but no doubt we will be able to find plenty in the hollows of the rocks above, for in this low latitude it rains—as our experience last night shows—with great violence. Meanwhile help me with my broken arm. I must be my own physician, with your help, and bandage it as best I can. Fortunately I have had some experi- ence, for I was wounded in that same arm in an en- gagement with the Malay pirates, of whom I have told you.”’ With the aid of Julian he arose to his feet and by slow degrees succeeded in removing his coat. The arm was badly swollen and powerle: Julian, under his instructions, made another fly- ing search and unearthed from the ruin a sailor’s chest, which, on being opened, yielded the linen for which he was looking, as well as many other useful things; for a sailor’s chest usually embraces the en- tire domestic economy of a small household, and by its aid the arm was soon dressed. Resuming his coat, with the exception of the one sleeve, the captain declared himself, though stiff and bruised, as good as new, and able and anxious to be- gin an exploration of their possessions at once. Accordingly they set out, and following the ledge of rock along the route Julian had traversed, and which ran nearly parallel to the sea line, they soon reached higher ground, For the shore gradually The fissures he had seen on its face extended clear through—some of them—and they were enlarged | from the cavernous openings in front into excava: ment tions higher up, resembljing immense caldrons. One of these last, he. especially noticed, and with some surprise, for it was the highest np, and on a level with the top of the ledge at its greatest alti- tude, It contained water, but whether fresh or salt, Julian did not determine, though most probably, he thought, rain-water, for it must have been fully sev- enty feet higher than the sea. His attention was first attracted to this natural basin by seeing a large flock of birds rise from its margin at his approath end fly affrighted away. As he stood for a moment looking down at this im- mense pool, wondering what its depth might be, he noticed, with surprise and amazement, what looked like a stone staircase leading down to the water from the opposite side. At the distance he was from it, it appeared like the work of human hands, but he gave it no thought, for | this was of course an impossibility; he was greatly interested, however, and pleased with his discovery of the basin, but remembering the work he had to do, he did not linger, but passed on. e found the way more difficult when he began to descend by a winding path to the beach; for the ledge here extended nearly to. the sea, and at high water was evidentiy covered at its lower extremity. He succeeded, however, in climbing over the jag- ed rock, rounding the point of the ledge and getting own on the other side, he found himself not far from the spot where the captain had been so strange- ly imprisoned and saved. Some portion of the sails were easily found, for they were lashed to the spars, or furled to the yards that had been broken, and gone overboard when the ship first struck. Fortunately, one of these lay high up—near where Julian had been washed, or thrown just as it had been clewed up and furled. _ Julian unfurled it, and stretched it out to dry, for it was still wet, and he found himself unable te tarry it. While the sail was drying, he busied himself br ing up articles still within reach of the surf, and looking for the two men, who had disappeared ve wy perhaps their bodies might have washed ashore, but he saw nothing of them. The sun was hot and the sail soon dried; but even then in his present weakened condition, J ulian found it too heavy to carry, but by easy stages he sucgeed- ed in ing it up the slope to the high point ox ground, where he had left the captain. 7 a * rn | $ be 1 a - . -* j d . Ne SS uf 2h yk' 8 SS eel comicbooks.com _ > wer | " * Di filme . " é, , a * a d oc. ‘ x