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+Project Gutenberg's Mother Carey's Chicken, by George Manville Fenn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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
+
+
+Title: Mother Carey's Chicken
+       Her Voyage to the Unknown Isle
+
+Author: George Manville Fenn
+
+Illustrator: A. Forestier
+
+Release Date: May 4, 2007 [EBook #21296]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKEN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+
+Mother Carey's Chicken, by George Manville Fenn.
+
+_______________________________________________________________________
+
+Yet once more George Manville Fenn's talent for writing books so packed
+with tensions, so full of dreadful situations, is presented to us.
+
+Mark is the son of a sea-captain, who has always longed to follow his
+father to sea.  The old captain tells him that life at sea is pretty
+boring, but eventually agrees to take both Mark and his mother on his
+next voyage.  Of course this turns out to be full of perils and
+adventures.
+
+Set in the Java Seas, we meet with pirates, sharks, serpents,
+volcanoes, unfriendly natives, adverse weather, geysers, fire at sea,
+and many other dire situations.
+
+A very good read. NN
+
+_______________________________________________________________________
+
+MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKEN, BY GEORGE MANVILLE FENN.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+HOW MARK STRONG WANTED TO GO.
+
+"Go with me, Mark?  What for?  To live hard, work hard, and run the risk
+every day of having to die hard.  Get out!  You're as bad as your
+mother."
+
+"Not very bad, is it, James, to wish to share my husband's life and
+cares?"
+
+Captain Strong put down his pipe, got up from his easy-chair, crossed to
+the other side of the fire, and laid his hand upon Mrs Strong's
+shoulder, while she turned her pleasant sweet womanly face upward and
+smiled in that of the fine, manly, handsome merchant captain, tanned and
+reddened by many a fight with the sea.
+
+"No, my dear," he said softly; "but it's a man's duty to face danger, a
+woman's to keep the nest snug for him and the bairns.  Why, Mary, you
+don't know what the perils of the sea are."
+
+Mrs Strong shook her head slowly, and that shake, as interpreted by her
+eyes, meant a great deal.
+
+"Ah! you may look," the captain said, "but you do not; and as for this
+cub--come here, you great, strong, impudent young ruffian!" he added;
+and as his son rose from his chair he took him by the shoulders, gave
+him a hearty shake, followed it up with a back-handed blow in the chest,
+and ended by gripping his right hand in a firm, manly clasp, his voice
+turning slightly husky as he continued:
+
+"Mark, my lad, Heaven knows how often, when I'm far away at sea, I feel
+as if I'd give anything for a sight of your mother's face, ay, and a
+good look at yours, you ugly young imitation!  How dare you try and grow
+up like me!"
+
+Mrs Strong smiled.
+
+"But it won't do, my lad.  I'm earning the pennies in my ship, and you
+must go on with your studies, take care of your mother, and when I come
+back after my next voyage we'll have a talk about what you're to be.
+Let's see; how old are you?"
+
+"Sixteen, father."
+
+"Sixteen, and discontented!  Why, Mark, do you know that you possess
+what hundreds of thousands of men most envy?"
+
+"I do, father?"
+
+"To be sure, sir; health, strength, all your faculties, and all the
+world before you."
+
+"But I never see any of the world like you do," said Mark dolefully.
+
+"Ha--ha--ha--ha!"
+
+It was a broad, honest, hearty laugh, such as a sturdy Englishman who is
+in the habit of using his lungs indulges in; and as Mark Strong's brow
+wrinkled, and he felt irritated at being laughed at, his father thrust
+him back into his chair.
+
+"I'm not laughing at you, my boy," he said; "but at your notion--the
+common one, that a sailor who goes all round the world is always seeing
+wonderful sights."
+
+"Well, my dear," said Mrs Strong, taking her son's part, "you know you
+have seen strange things."
+
+As she spoke her eyes ran over the decorations of their
+handsomely-furnished room in the old-fashioned house in old-fashioned
+Hackney, where there were traces of the captain's wanderings in the
+shape of stuffed birds of gorgeous plumage, shells of iridescent tints,
+masses of well-bleached corals, spears and carven clubs from New
+Zealand, feather ornaments from Polynesia, boomerangs and nulla-nullas
+from Australia, ostrich eggs from the Cape, ivory carvings from China, a
+hideous suit of black iron armour from Japan, and carpets and rugs from
+India and Persia to make snug the floor.
+
+"Strange things, wife!  Well, of course I have a few.  A man can't be at
+sea thirty years without seeing something; but, generally speaking, a
+sailor's life is one of terrible monotony.  He is a seaman, and he sees
+the sea day after day--day after day; rough seas and smooth seas, stormy
+seas and sunny seas; and enough to do to keep his ship afloat and away
+from rocks and lee shores.  Here, what are you opening your eyes and
+mouth for in that way, Mark?  Do you expect I'm going to tell you about
+the sea-serpent?"
+
+"No, father," said the lad laughing.  "It was because what you said was
+so interesting."
+
+"Interesting!  Nonsense!  A sailor's is a wearisome life, full of
+dangers."
+
+"But you see strange countries, father, and all their wonders."
+
+"No, I do not, boy," said the captain half angrily, "A sailor sees
+nothing but his ship, and she's all anxiety to him from the time he goes
+aboard till he comes back.  We see strange ports, and precious little in
+them.  Why, Mark, if you were in some places on the other side of the
+world, you'd find everything so English that you would hardly believe
+you had left home.  No, no, my lad.  You be content to get on well with
+your studies, and some day we'll make a doctor or a lawyer of you.
+Soldier, if you like, but not a sailor."
+
+"It's my turn to speak now," said Mrs Strong, smiling lovingly at her
+frank, manly-looking son.  "No soldiering."
+
+"I don't want to be a soldier, mother," said Mark gloomily.  "I want to
+travel; and as I have kept to my books as father wished during his last
+two voyages, and won my certificates, he might give me the prize I
+worked for."
+
+"Why, you ungrateful young dog," cried the captain, "haven't I given you
+a first-class watch?"
+
+"Yes, father; but that isn't the prize I want.  I say: do take me with
+you."
+
+"Take you with me!" cried the captain with an impatient snort such as a
+sea-horse might give.  "Here, mother, what have you been doing with this
+boy?"
+
+"Doing everything I could to set him against the sea, my dear," said
+Mrs Strong sadly.
+
+"And a nice mess you have made of it," growled the captain.  "Pass my
+tobacco.  Well, Mark, my lad; I want my spell ashore to be happy and
+restful, and when there's a rock ahead I must steer clear of it at once;
+so here goes, my lad, I may as well say it and have done with it.  I
+know so much of the sea that I shall never consent to your being a
+sailor.  Your mother is with me there.  Eh, my dear?"
+
+"Yes, James, thoroughly," said Mrs Strong.
+
+"Now, my lad, you've got to make the best of it."
+
+"But if you would take me for one voyage only, father, I wouldn't ask
+you to take me again."
+
+"Won't trust you," said the captain.  "Hallo, Bruff!" he continued,
+patting the rough head of a great retriever dog which had just come
+slouching into the room, carrying the said rough head hanging down as if
+it were too heavy for its body, an idea endorsed by its act of laying it
+upon the captain's knee.  "Is it you who teaches your young master to be
+so obstinate?"
+
+The dog uttered a low growl as if of protest.
+
+"Perhaps you'd like me to take you for a voyage, old chap," continued
+the captain, pausing in his smoking to wipe the corners of the dog's
+eyes with its ears.  "You'd look well sea-sick in a corner of the deck,
+or swung in a hammock."
+
+Bruff showed the whites of his expressive eyes and uttered a dismal
+howl.
+
+"Don't be afraid, old fellow," said the captain.  "I sha'n't take you,
+nor your master neither, so you may both make the best of it."
+
+"Don't say that, father," said Mark earnestly.  "Take me this once.  I
+do so want to see China!"
+
+"Here, mother," said the captain laughing; "take Mark up stairs and show
+him your best tea-service, the one I brought home last year.  Like to
+see Japan, too, my lad?"
+
+Mark frowned and bent his head over his book, while Mrs Strong shook
+her head at her husband.
+
+The captain rose once more, and laid his hand upon his son's shoulder.
+
+"Come, come, my lad, don't fret over it," he said; "you have done well,
+and I should like to give you a treat, but I can't take you to Hong-Kong
+for many reasons.  Your mother would not like it, I shouldn't like it,
+and it would do you no good."
+
+"But, father--" began Mark.
+
+"Hear me out, my lad," said the captain gravely.  "I say I want to give
+you a treat, so I tell you what I will do.  You and your mother shall
+come aboard as we're warping out of the dock, or at Gravesend if you
+like, and I'll take you down Channel with me.  I've got to put in at
+Plymouth, and I'll drop you there, or at Penzance, whichever you like,
+and then you can come back to London by rail.  Hallo, who's that?"
+
+There was a ring at the old iron gate, and Mark rose and walked to the
+window.
+
+"A sailor, father."
+
+"Sailor!" said the captain, rising.  "Oh, it's Billy Widgeon!  Tell the
+girl to show him in."
+
+Mark went out to speak to the servant, and the next minute the big front
+door-mat was having a hard time as the sailor stood rubbing away at his
+perfectly clean boots, and breathing hard with the exertion, staring
+furtively at Mark Strong the while.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+HOW BILLY WIDGEON BROUGHT A LETTER.
+
+The man who was working so hard at the mat was a sailor of apparently
+about five-and-thirty, carefully dressed in his shore-going suit of navy
+blue, and carrying a very tightly-done-up dandified umbrella, which
+looked as out of place in his hands as a parasol would daintily poised
+by a grenadier guard.
+
+He was a strong squarely-built fellow, with crisp black hair and close
+beard, and if he had gone under a standard the height he would have
+reached would probably have been five feet, the result of this being
+that he had to look up at Mark Strong, who was about five feet six, and
+at the maid, who was only a couple of inches less.
+
+"Want to see my father?" said Mark, as the man continued to stare and
+wipe his shoes.
+
+"Ware sharks!  Heave off, you ugly lubber!  I say: will he bite?"
+
+This was consequent upon a pattering of toe-nails upon the oil-cloth and
+the appearance of Bruff, the dog, who began to walk round the visitor
+and smell him.
+
+"No, he won't bite friends," said Mark.
+
+"Tip us your fin, then, messm't," said the sailor, holding out his hand.
+
+"Give him your paw, Bruff," cried Mark; but the dog paid no heed, only
+continued to smell the visitor.
+
+"Wheer's the skipper?" said the sailor then, hoarsely.  "You his boy?"
+
+"Yes," said Mark, gazing enviously at a man who was probably one of
+those about to sail with Captain Strong on his voyage to Singapore and
+China.  "I say, don't wear out the door-mat."
+
+"Eh?  No, m'lad, I won't wear out the mat.  You see we don't have no
+mats afloat.  I say! my!"
+
+The man bent down, as if seized with a cramping internal pain, and gave
+his right leg a slap with his horny paw, whose back was as hairy as that
+of a monkey.
+
+"What's the matter?" said Mark.
+
+"Matter!  I was only larfin.  My! you are like the skipper!  Wheer is
+he?"
+
+"This way," said Mark, leading him to the comfortable room, where, as
+soon as he entered and saw Mrs Strong, the man began ducking his head
+and kicking out one leg.
+
+Mrs Strong nodded and smiled at the man, feeling a kindly leaning
+toward one of those who would be under her husband's orders for the next
+six months, and perhaps his guardians in some storm.
+
+"I'll leave you now, dear," she said.
+
+"Oh, you need not go!" said the captain; but Mrs Strong left the room.
+
+"Shall I go, father?" asked Mark.
+
+"No, my boy, no.  Sit down.  Well, Billy, what news?"
+
+"None at all, sir, only we shall soon be full up; they've bent on a new
+mains'l and fores'l; we've been a-painting of her streak to-day, and she
+do look lovely, and no mistake.  But here's a letter I was to give you,
+sir."
+
+The man evidently had a letter somewhere, from the confident way in
+which he began to search for it, looking in his cap, then feeling about
+in his loose blue jumper, and ending with his trousers' pockets.
+
+"Well," said Captain Strong sharply, "where's the letter?"
+
+"Ah! wheer is it?" muttered the man, stroking himself down the sleeves,
+the chest, and the back.  "I had that theer letter somewheres, but it
+seems to be gone."
+
+"Did you leave it aboard?"
+
+"No, sir, I didn't leave it aboard; I'm sure of that.  It's somewheres
+about me."
+
+"Hang it, man! have you felt in all your pockets?"
+
+"Ain't got but two, sir, and I feeled in both o' them.  Think o' that,
+now, arter Mr Gregory saying as I was to be werry careful o' that
+letter!"
+
+"So careful that you've lost it," cried Captain Strong.  "Bill Widgeon,
+you're about the biggest blockhead in the crew."
+
+"Well, I dunno about that, sir; I may be a blockhead, but I arn't lost
+the letter."
+
+"Where is it, then?" cried the captain angrily.
+
+"That's just what I want to know, sir."
+
+"Bah! it's lost."
+
+"No, sir, it arn't lost; I were too careful for that, and--theer, I
+telled you so.  I remember now.  Mr Gregory says, says he, `you, Billy
+Widgeon,' he says, `you've got to take great care of that letter,' he
+says; and `all right, sir,' I says, `I just will,' and I put it wheer I
+thought it would be safest, and here it is."
+
+As he spoke, grinning broadly the while, he slipped off one of his
+shoes, stooped and picked it up, and drew out the letter all warm and
+crinkled up with the pressure.
+
+"It's all right, sir," he said, smoothing and patting the letter, and
+handing it to his captain, before balancing himself on one leg to
+replace his shoe.
+
+"Why didn't you carry it in your pocket, man?" said the captain angrily,
+and he tore open the letter and began to read.
+
+"I say, youngster," whispered the sailor, whom the dog was still slowly
+going round and smelling suspiciously, "will that there chap bite?"
+
+"Bite!  No," replied Mark.  "Here, lie down, Bruff!"
+
+The dog obeyed, laying his head upon his forepaws and blinking at the
+visitor, whom he watched intently as if he were in doubt about his
+character.
+
+"Looks a nipper, he do, squire," said the sailor.  "He could take hold
+pretty tight, eh?"
+
+"Take hold and keep hold," said Mark, who could not help a feeling of
+envy creeping into his breast--envy of the easy-looking, active little
+man who was to be his father's companion over the seas to wonderland.
+
+"He looks as if he would," said the sailor after a few moments' pause.
+"I say, youngster, I'd rayther be ins with him than outs."
+
+"What! rather be friends than enemies?"
+
+"That's it, youngster.  I say, what are you going to be--first-mate, and
+skipper arter?"
+
+"No," said Mark, speaking in the same low tone as his questioner; "I'm
+not going to be a sailor."
+
+"Lor!"
+
+"It is not decided what I'm to be yet."
+
+"Arn't it now?  Why, if you'd come to sea along o' us what a lot I could
+ha' taught you surety.  Why, I could ha' most made a man of you."
+
+"Here, Widgeon," said the captain sharply, "take that back to Mr
+Gregory, and tell him I shall be aboard to-morrow."
+
+"Right, sir," said the sailor, giving his head a duck and his right leg
+another kick out--courtesies called forth by the well-furnished room and
+the soft carpet, for on the bare deck of the ship he put off his manners
+with his shore-going clothes.  "Day, sir.  Day, youngster.  Day,
+shipmet."
+
+This last was intended for the dog; but, a few moments before, Bruff had
+slowly risen, crossed the room, and drawn the door open by inserting one
+paw in the crack, and then passed through.
+
+"Why, he arn't there!" said Billy Widgeon after a glance round.  "My
+sarvice to him all the same," he added, and went out.
+
+The door had hardly closed when there was the sound of a rush, a roar,
+the fall of a chair, a crash of china, and a stentorian "Ahoy!"
+
+"I shall have to kill that dog," cried the captain, as he and Mark
+rushed into the hall, where Bruff was barking and growling savagely.
+
+"Down, Bruff!" shouted Mark, seizing the dog by the collar and enforcing
+his order by pressing his head down upon the oil-cloth, and setting one
+knee upon his side.  "Why, where's--"
+
+Mark did not finish, but burst into a roar of laughter, in which his
+father joined, as they both gazed up at the little sailor.
+
+Explanation of the state of affairs was not needed, for matters spoke
+for themselves.
+
+It was evident that Bruff had, for some reason, made a rush at Billy
+Widgeon, who had leaped upon a hall chair, from thence upon the table,
+upsetting the chair in his spring.  From the table he had leaped to the
+top of a great cabinet, knocking down a handsome Indian jar, which was
+shattered to fragments on the oil-cloth; and from the cabinet springing
+to the balusters of the first-floor landing of the staircase.
+
+There he hung, swinging by first one hand, then by the other, so as to
+get a good look down at his assailant, who was barking at him furiously
+as Mark rushed out; but Bruff had not the brains to see that if he
+rushed up stairs he could renew his attack.
+
+"Got him safe?" said Billy Widgeon, as he swung by one hand as easily as
+would a monkey, and unconsciously imitating one of these active little
+creatures in the pose of his head.
+
+"Yes; he sha'n't hurt you now," cried Mark.
+
+"'Cause dogs' bites don't come in one's pay, eh, cap'n?"
+
+"The dog's all right now, Widgeon," said the captain.  "Here, Mark, shut
+him in the parlour."
+
+"All right, father! but he won't stir now."
+
+"Come down, my lad," said the captain.  "You can climb over the
+balustrade."
+
+"Bee-low!" cried the sailor in a gruff, sing-song tone, and loosening
+his hold he dropped lightly on to the oil-cloth within a couple of yards
+of the dog.
+
+Bruff's head was pressed close down to the floor, but he showed his
+teeth and uttered a growl like a lilliputian peal of thunder.
+
+"Quiet!" cried Mark, as Billy Widgeon struck an attitude with his fists
+doubled, ready for attack or defence.
+
+"Lor', if you was aboard our ship, wouldn't I heave you overboard fust
+chance!" cried the sailor.
+
+"What did you do to the dog?" said the captain angrily.
+
+"I never did nothing at all, sir.  I only wanted my umbrella as I stood
+up in the corner.  Soon as I went to take it he come at me, and if I
+hadn't done Jacko and nipped up there he'd have had a piece out of my
+leg."
+
+As he spoke he went to take the umbrella from the corner, when, looking
+upon the movement as an attempt to carry out a robbery, Bruff uttered
+another savage growl aid struggled to get free.
+
+"All, would yer!" cried Billy Widgeon, snatching up his umbrella and
+holding it by the toe in cudgel-fashion.  "Now, then, youngster, lot him
+go.  Come on, you ugly big-headed lubber.  I'm ready for you now."
+
+As he spoke Billy Widgeon did Jacko, as he termed it, again, hopping
+about, flourishing his weapon, and giving it a bang down upon the floor
+after the fashion of a wild Irishman with his shillelagh.
+
+It was a risky proceeding, for it infuriated the dog, who began to
+struggle fiercely, while Mark laughed so heartily that he could hardly
+retain his hold.
+
+"That will do, Widgeon," said the captain, wiping his eyes.  "Here,
+Mark, make that dog friends with him."
+
+"Here, give me the umbrella," said the lad.
+
+"Nay, if I do you'll let him go at me," said the sailor doubtingly.
+
+"Nonsense, man!  Give him the umbrella," cried the captain.
+
+The sailor obeyed; and as Mark took it he held it down before the dog,
+and then returned it to its owner.
+
+Bruff did not say "All right!" but he gave three pats on the oil-cloth
+with his long bushy tail, a sign that he accepted the position, and then
+he was allowed to get up.
+
+"Who's afeard!" cried Billy Widgeon, looking from one to the other.  "I
+say, I was too many for him, sir."
+
+"Yes," said the captain; "and what about my Indian jar?"
+
+"Ah! that was the dog's fault, cap'n," said the man earnestly.
+
+"Dog's fault!" said Captain Strong.  "You knocked it down and broke it,
+and I shall stop the cost out of your pay."
+
+Billy Widgeon stood for a moment looking solemn.  Then, as if he had
+suddenly been engaged as a dentist's specimen, he bared all his fine
+white teeth in the broadest of broad grins.
+
+"Nay, skipper," he said, "you wouldn't do that.  Me and my shipmets
+wouldn't want to make another v'yge with you if you was that sort o'
+capt'n.  I'll buy you another one when we gets to Chany.  Here's off!"
+
+He nodded to all in turn, went out of the door, rattled his umbrella on
+the iron railings in front, making Bruff utter a low discontented growl,
+and then, as the door was closed, the growl became a deeply-drawn breath
+like a sigh, while putting his nose to the crack at the bottom, he stood
+with his ears twitching, giving forth a faint whine now and then,
+apparently not quite satisfied as to whether he had done his duty, and
+uneasy in his mind about that umbrella.  "You will have to be careful
+with that dog, Mark," said the captain.  "He must be tamed down, or we
+shall have worse mischief than a broken jar."
+
+"He thought the man was stealing the umbrella," pleaded Mark on behalf
+of his favourite.
+
+"Then he must be taught to think sensibly, my lad.  Billy Widgeon's one
+of my best fore-mast men, and I can't afford to have my sailors used to
+feed your dog."
+
+"You're joking, father."
+
+"Ah! but that would be no joke," said the captain.  "I should not
+approve of his devouring the lowest and most worthless class of tramp,
+or a savage; but when it comes to sailors--"
+
+"What nonsense, father!" cried Mark.
+
+"Why, Mark, my boy, what a good idea!  I think I'll borrow that dog and
+take him to sea."
+
+"Take him to sea, father?"
+
+"Yes: he would be a treasure at clearing the deck of unwelcome
+visitors--Chinamen or Malays."
+
+"What, pirates?"
+
+"Well, men who would be pirates if they dared: the low-class scoundrels
+who haunt some of the ports."
+
+"All right, father! you shall have him," said Mark.
+
+"Then I will, my boy," said the captain, looking at his son curiously,
+for he could not understand his willingness to part with his ugly
+favourite.  "He shall be well treated so long as he behaves himself."
+
+"But you can't take the dog without his master," said Mark, smiling.
+
+"Oh, that's it! is it?" said the captain.  "I thought there was
+something behind.  Well, that was news for you," he continued.
+
+"News?"
+
+"Yes, that Billy Widgeon brought.  I was afraid that we should be
+crowded in the cabin and I was beginning to regret my promise to take
+you; but Mr Gregory writes me word that a gentleman and his wife and
+daughter who were coming with us as far as Singapore have backed out, to
+go by one of the fast mail-boats, so we shall have plenty of room."
+
+"That's capital!" cried Mark.  "Mr Gregory is the second-mate, isn't
+he?"
+
+"First-mate now, my boy.  He was second-mate, but my first-mate is now
+in command of another vessel, and I was afraid he would take all my old
+crew."
+
+"But he does not, father, because that sailor said--"
+
+"Yes; the crew stay with me to a man."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+HOW FIRST-MATE GREGORY DID NOT LIKE DOGS.
+
+"Hullo! whose dog's that?"
+
+It was a hoarse gruff voice, which made Mark Strong turn sharply round
+just as he had crossed the gangway and stepped from the quay at the East
+India Dock on board the _Black Petrel_, or Mother Carey's Chicken, as
+the sailors often called her, a large ship conspicuous among the forest
+of masts rising from the basin.
+
+The speaker was a tall angular-looking man with a pimply face and a red
+nose, at the top of which he seemed to be frowning angrily as if annoyed
+with the colour which he could not help.  He had turned sharply round
+from where he was giving orders to some sailors who were busily lowering
+great bales and packages into the hold; and as Mark faced the tall thin
+man, whose hands were tucked deep down in the pockets of his pea-jacket,
+the lad thought he had never seen a more sour-looking personage in his
+life.
+
+"Hullo, I say!" he cried again, "whose dog's that?"
+
+"Mine, sir."
+
+"Then just take him ashore.  I don't allow dogs on my deck.  Here, I
+say, you sir," he roared, turning to where the men were making fast the
+hooks of a kind of derrick to a great package, protected by an open-work
+lattice of deal, "hadn't you better take that crate of pottery first,
+and put at the bottom, and then stow that portable steam-engine on the
+top."
+
+The man addressed--a red-faced, good-humoured-looking sailor, whose bare
+arms formed a sort of picture-gallery of subjects tattooed in blue--
+rubbed his ear and stared.
+
+"Why, the ironwork's heavy and might break the pottery," he said at
+last.
+
+"Well, won't it break that light carriage, you double-distilled,
+round-headed wise man of the west, you!  Put the heavy goods at the
+bottom and the light at the top."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir!" shouted the man.  "Bear a hand, lads.  Now, then."
+
+He unhooked the tackle and attached another great package, while the
+tall man turned again upon Mark.
+
+"Did you hear what I said about that dog?"
+
+"Yes, I heard," said Mark; "but he's coming part of the way."
+
+"That he is not, my lad, so off you go!"
+
+"Hullo, youngster!" said a cheery voice; and Mark turned sharply, to
+find the little squatty sailor before him, in tarry trousers and flannel
+shirt, bare-headed and heated with work.
+
+"Hullo, Widgeon!" cried Mark.
+
+"Hullo, shipmet!" cried the little sailor.  "Now, then, just you mind,
+or--"
+
+He did not finish, but made a peculiar gesture as if he were about to
+pitch the dog over the side.
+
+"Here, show this young gentleman the way ashore," said the tall man.
+"Take the dog first."
+
+"No, thankye," said the sailor grinning, "me and him's friends now,
+aren't we, shipmet?  We won't begin by falling out again."
+
+He stooped down and patted Bruff, who blinked up at him, and gave his
+bushy tail two wags, after which he walked slowly to the tall officer
+and began to smell his legs.
+
+"Stop: don't do that!" cried Mark, as he saw the officer draw back as if
+to deliver a kick.
+
+"Nay, don't you kick him, Mr Gregory, sir," said Widgeon.  "If you do,
+he'll take hold; and I know this here sort, you can't get them off again
+without a knife."
+
+"Are you Mr Gregory?" said Mark.
+
+"Yes, sir, I am; and what then?" cried the mate angrily.
+
+"My name is Strong, and I'm going with my father as far as Penzance."
+
+"You may go with your father as far as Shanghai if you like, young man,"
+said the mate angrily; "but I'm not going to have my deck turned into a
+kennel, so you'd better take your dog ashore."
+
+Mark stood staring as the mate walked away to give some orders in an
+angry tone to another gang of sailors working aft.  Then he shouted a
+command to some men busy in the rigging; while, when Mark turned his
+head, it was to find Billy Widgeon patting the dog, and smiling up at
+him.
+
+"He's a bit waxy to-day.  Just going outer dock into the river, and
+there's a lot o' work to be done."
+
+"But I thought my father was captain of this ship?" said Mark.
+
+"So he is, youngster, but old Greg does what he likes when the skipper
+aren't aboard.  Oh, here is the skipper!"
+
+"Ah!  Mark, my lad, here you are then.  So you've brought the dog?"
+
+"Yes, father, and--"
+
+"Where's Mr Gregory?"
+
+"Over yonder, sir," said Billy Widgeon.  "Pst!" he whispered to Mark,
+"say somewhat about the dog."
+
+"Do you want him to stay then?" said Mark.
+
+"Stop!  Sartin I do.  Why, theer'll be him and old Jack, and they'll
+have no end of a game aboard when theer's a calm.  There, the skipper's
+gone to old Greg, and you aren't said a word."
+
+"But I will," said Mark.  "Who is Jack?"
+
+"Who is Jack!  Why, I thought every one knowed who Jack is.  Our big
+monkey.  He's tucked up somewhere 'cause it's cold.  You wait till the
+sun's out."
+
+"Well, Captain Strong, I object to dogs and cats on board ship."
+
+"They are no worse than monkeys."
+
+"A deal, sir, and I object to them."
+
+"Nonsense, Gregory!" said Captain Strong persuasively.  "The boy's only
+going as far as Penzance, and he loves his dog."
+
+"Can't help that, sir.  Dogs are no addition to a crew."
+
+"Not a bit, Gregory.  Neither are monkeys; but, to oblige me--"
+
+"Oh very well, captain, if it's to oblige you, I have no more to say,
+and the dog can stop."
+
+"Hear that, youngster?" said Billy.
+
+It was plainly audible to half the deck; and as Mark nodded his head he
+fell a-wondering how it was that his father, who was captain, could
+allow his inferior officer to be so dictatorial and to bully every one
+about him.
+
+"It's all right," said Billy Widgeon, with a confidential wink and a
+smile; "he's going to let him stop."
+
+This was another puzzle for Mark, but he kept his thoughts to himself.
+
+"Look here--where are you going to stow him?" continued the little
+sailor, speaking of the dog as if he were a box or bale.
+
+"Keep him with me," replied the lad.
+
+"But you'll want a place for him somewheres.  You come along o' me and
+I'll find you one in the forksle."
+
+After a momentary hesitation Mark accepted the offer, and the sailor
+pointed out a suitable corner, according to his ideas.
+
+"He'll be pretty close to my berth, and I can give an eye to him."
+
+The offer was friendly, and Bruff seemed disposed to accept the sailor's
+advances to some extent, suffering himself to be patted and his ears
+pulled; but when the friendliness took the form of a pull at his tail he
+began to make thunder somewhere in his chest, and turned so sharply
+round that by an involuntary action Billy.  Widgeon popped his hands in
+his pockets.
+
+All the same when Bruff was told to lie down in there he flatly refused,
+and followed his master aft once more, the little sailor having run
+before them in answer to the mate's shout; and Mark saw him directly
+afterward hauling away at a rope with some more so as to raise the
+main-yard, which was not quite to the mate's satisfaction.
+
+"What a disagreeable brute!" thought Mark as the mate seemed to spend
+his time in shouting here, finding fault there, and everywhere making
+himself disagreeable, while the captain looked on once or twice and then
+got out of the way as fast as he could, and appeared to be generally of
+no account whatever.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+HOW THERE WAS AN UNWELCOME PASSENGER.
+
+"Here, Mark, my boy," said the captain; "come here and I'll show you
+your cabin."
+
+The lad was standing watching half a dozen men who were reefing a square
+sail high up on the mainmast, and the process gave him a peculiar
+sensation of moisture in the hands and chill in the back, for the men
+were standing upon a rope looped beneath the yard, and apparently
+holding on by resting the top button of their trousers upon this
+horizontal spar, their hands being fully occupied with hauling in and
+folding up the new stiff canvas of the sail.
+
+"I say, father," he said, "isn't that dangerous?"
+
+"What, my lad?"
+
+"The work those men are doing."
+
+"What, up aloft?  H'm, yes, no!  They're so used to it that it has
+ceased to be dangerous, my boy.  Use is second nature.  It would be
+dangerous for you or me."
+
+Mark followed, and the captain showed him his cabin.
+
+"You're a lucky one," he said.  "There's a place all to yourself.  Are
+you going to stay aboard?"
+
+"Yes, father.  I've sent my bag, and mother is going to meet me here
+this evening."
+
+"That's right.  Now I must be off to see the owners.  Keep out of the
+way as well as you can.  I suppose you will find plenty to amuse
+yourself."
+
+Mark said, "Oh, yes!" but he felt as if there was going to be very
+little that was amusing; and as he saw his father go toward the gangway
+and speak to the first-mate, who seemed to reply with a surly nod, the
+office of captain seemed of less account than ever.
+
+The scene was not inspiriting.  It was a dull, cold, cheerless afternoon
+in May; the deck was one chaos of bales, packages, and boxes.  Ropes
+were lying about as if there was no such thing as order on board a ship.
+Forward there was a pile of rusty chain, and if the new-comer stirred a
+step he was sure to be in somebody's way; and when, in response to a
+hoarse "by yer leave," he moved somewhere else, it was to find himself
+in a worse position still.
+
+Bruff quite shared his feelings, and showed it by shivering from time to
+time, and, after getting behind Mark, trying to drive his head between
+his master's legs, an attempt that was always met by a rebuff, for Mark
+had not yet gained his sea-legs and taken to walking with his feet very
+wide apart.
+
+But all the same there was a deal to notice, and by degrees the lad grew
+interested as he wondered how it was possible for the yawning hatch in
+the middle of the deck to swallow up such an endless number of crates
+and boxes, bales and packages, of all kinds.  While what seemed more
+astonishing was the fact, that as fast as the cargo disappeared more was
+brought aboard from the quay, where it was unloaded from vans and carts.
+
+"Here, hi! young Strong!" cried the mate suddenly.  "Come here."
+
+Mark walked up to him hastily as he stood near the gangway, talking to a
+custom-house officer.
+
+"Oh, there you are!  Look here, which is it--wasp or bee!"
+
+"Wasp or bee, sir--which?"
+
+The customs-officer laughed, and Mark coloured up, but Mr Gregory stood
+with his red nose shining and his pimply face as hard and cold as a
+statue's.
+
+"Which?  Why, you--come aboard to idle or work?"
+
+"I don't know, sir.  Can I do anything?"
+
+"How should I know?  I should say not, by the look of you.  Will you
+try?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  I should be glad to," cried Mark.
+
+"Come, that's better.  Take that piece of chalk, and tally."
+
+"I--I don't know how."
+
+"Bah! what do they teach boys at schools nowadays?  Do you mean to tell
+me you can't make a mark and keep count of those barrels of beer they're
+going to bring on board?"
+
+"Why, of course I can, sir."
+
+"Then why did you say you couldn't?"
+
+"You told me to tallow something, sir."
+
+"I didn't!  Here, catch hold of the chalk and make a mark there against
+every one that's rolled on board.  Hallo, ugly! you're there then!"
+continued the mate, suppressing a smile and addressing Bruff, who gave
+him a sour look and went behind his master.
+
+Mark took the chalk, and for the next half-hour he was busy checking the
+barrels.  This done there was a succession of boxes to be accounted for
+in the same way, and after them a hundred sacks, the arrival of the
+latter putting the mate in a furious passion.
+
+"For two straws I wouldn't have them aboard," he roared.  "They were to
+have been delivered a week ago, and here are we kept waiting like this."
+
+And still the vessel kept on swallowing up cargo, the riggers gave the
+finishing touches to the vessel's ropes and sails, and the confusion
+appeared to grow worse instead of better; but in spite of a low-spirited
+sensation, Mark was fain to confess to himself that he had been
+interested if not amused, when the least sailor-like man he had seen on
+board came from the cabin-door and spoke to the mate, who gave a slight
+nod, and the man went back.
+
+The former individual then went to the big opening in the deck:
+
+"Below!  Morgan!" he shouted.
+
+"Ahoy!" came from somewhere in the interior of the great vessel, and
+directly after a pleasant, manly, brown face appeared above the steps.
+
+"Take charge; I'm going to have some tea."
+
+"All right!  Who's this?"
+
+"Skipper's cub," said the first-mate shortly.  "Here, boy, come along."
+
+The new arrival gave him a friendly nod, and Mark's first sensation was
+that he would have preferred to stay with him, but the first-mate looked
+back, and he followed quickly into the cabin, where the sight of a
+comfortable meal, with clean cloth, and an appetising odour, changed the
+current of his thoughts.
+
+"Engines that work want coal and water," said the mate gruffly.  "We've
+been at work; let's coal.  Sit down."
+
+Mark obeyed, and Bruff crept under his seat.
+
+"You've brought that dog with you, then?"
+
+"He came, sir."
+
+"Same thing.  I hate dogs.  Take off that cover."
+
+Mark obeyed, and there was a steaming dish of fried steak and onions,
+looking tempting in the extreme.
+
+"Now, then, will you carve or be old woman?"
+
+"I--I'll carve," said Mark, for though he had a suspicion that to be old
+woman meant pouring out the tea, he was not sure.
+
+"Go ahead, then, my lad.  Plates hot?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"That's your style.  Don't be afraid of the onions.  No ladies aboard."
+
+Mark helped the steak, and the mate poured out the tea and hewed a
+couple of lumps off a cottage-loaf.
+
+"There you are," he said; "and make much of it.  No steaks and new bread
+at sea."
+
+"But you've plenty of other things, sir."
+
+"Humph, yes!  We manage to live.  More sugar?"
+
+"No, sir, thanks."
+
+"Help yourself, my lad.  Rum un, aren't I?"
+
+"You don't expect me to say what I think, do you?" said Mark smiling.
+
+"One to you, boy," said the mate, nodding; and this time there was a
+vestige of a smile on his plain face.  "Here, ugly, try that."
+
+This was the outside of a big piece of gristly steak which the mate cut
+off, and held toward the dog, who approached slowly and as if in doubt,
+but ended by taking it.
+
+"Yah!  What are you sniffing at?  Think there was mustard on it?  Big
+friends, I suppose, you and him?"
+
+"Yes, sir, we're capital friends."
+
+"Humph!  Better make friends with a good lad of your age.  I hate dogs.
+What are you laughing at?"
+
+"You, sir."
+
+"Eh?  Oh!  I see!" paid the mate grimly.  "I do, though, all the same.
+Don't you believe it?"
+
+"No," replied Mark smiling; "and Bruff does not believe it either."
+
+For after the mate had given the dog a couple of pieces of steak, Bruff
+had stopped by him and laid the heavy head upon his knee to patiently
+wait for further consignments of cargo, which, however, did not come,
+for the chief officer was thoughtfully stirring his tea with his left
+hand, while his right, as he said he hated dogs, was involuntarily
+rubbing the rough jowl, the process being so satisfactory that Bruff
+half-closed his eyes.
+
+"Humph!  This seems a better dog than some," said the mate.  "No
+business on board ship, though.  I don't even like chickens; but we're
+obliged to put up with them.  I'm always glad, though, when they're
+eaten.  I once went a voyage with a cow on deck.  They wanted the milk
+for an officer's lady and her children.  That cow used to make me
+melancholy."
+
+"Why, sir?  Was she such a bad sailor?"
+
+"No; she was always stretching out her neck to try and lick some green
+paint off one of the boats.  Thought it was grass.  Cows have no brains.
+Hallo!  What is it, Billy?"
+
+"Mr Morgan wants you, sir."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"One on 'em, sir, right below."
+
+"Bah!" ejaculated the mate.  "Coming directly.  Let him wait till I've
+finished my tea."
+
+The sailor gave Mark a knowing look, and made a sign which the lad did
+not comprehend, as he disappeared through the door.
+
+Mark would have given something to ask who "one on 'em" was, for the
+news seemed to have ruffled the mate terribly.  A few minutes before he
+had been growing quite friendly; now he was as gruff as ever, finishing
+his steak viciously, and drinking his tea far hotter than was good for
+him.
+
+"I'd like to trice them all up and give them the cat," he exclaimed
+suddenly, and with so much emphasis that at the last magic word Bruff
+suddenly sprang into action, cocked his ears and tail, uttered a fierce
+growling bark, and then looked excitedly from one to the other, his eyes
+plainly enough asking the question "Where?"
+
+"Get out with you, ugly!" cried the mate.  "I meant the cat with nine
+tails, not the cat with nine lives.  Here, young Strong, whatever you
+do, never take to being mate in the merchant service."
+
+He went out on deck, and Mark followed him, eager to see what was the
+matter; and as he passed out, it was to hear the second-mate say:
+
+"I was coming after you; the poor wretch's groans are awful."
+
+"Serve him right, the scoundrel!  Government ought to interfere and put
+a stop to it."
+
+"But, my dear Gregory, hadn't we better get the poor wretch out, and
+settle the government interference afterwards?"
+
+"These men make me half mad," cried the first-mate.  "Where do you
+suppose he is?"
+
+"A long way down, I'm afraid."
+
+"And we are behind with our lading.  How can a man be such an idiot as
+to expose himself to such risks?" cried the first-mate.
+
+"Sheer ignorance.  If they thought they were likely to be crushed to
+death or suffocated, they would not do it."
+
+"What is the matter?" asked Mark anxiously.
+
+"Stowaway, my lad," said the second-mate.  "Man hidden himself in the
+hold, and is frightened now the cargo has been packed over him."
+
+A peculiar chill ran through Mark as he realised the horror of the man's
+position, perhaps below the huge bales and cases which he had seen
+lowered down into the hold, and so inclosed that it would be impossible
+to get to him before life was extinct.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+HOW BRUFF SHOWED HE HAD A NOSE.
+
+As Mark reached the great opening in the deck it was to find that the
+men who had been at work below were all clustered together listening and
+waiting for instructions from their officers.
+
+"Hush!  Don't speak!" cried the first-mate, bending over the opening.
+"Are you sure it isn't a cat?"
+
+A low deep moaning sound that was smothered and strange came from below,
+and the mate gave a stamp with his foot on the deck.
+
+"No mistake, Gregory," said the second-mate.
+
+"Mistake!  No.  It's a man or a boy.  He deserves to be left; he does,
+upon my honour."
+
+"Yes, we all deserve more than we get," said the second-mate patiently.
+"Here, what do you make of it?  The sound puzzles me, and I don't know
+where to begin."
+
+The mate descended, the second-mate followed, and a big dark fellow with
+a silver whistle hanging from his neck was about to step down next, but
+he made way for Mark, who slipped down the steps, to the great dismay of
+Bruff, who sat on the top looking over the coamings, and whining in a
+low tone.
+
+Mark found himself upon a lower deck, with a hole in it of similar
+dimensions to that through which he had passed.  Mr Gregory was
+lowering himself down upon the cargo, the second-mate followed, and then
+gave orders for silence.
+
+This stopped the buzzing conversation of the men, who all seemed to be
+scared, and now the moaning sound came from somewhere--a faint, dismal,
+despairing "Oh!  Oh!  Oh!" of some one in sore distress.
+
+"Humph!" ejaculated the mate, "I suppose we must behave like Christians
+and get him out.  But when I do!  Here!  Below there: where are you?"
+
+No response; only the continuous moaning.
+
+"Do you hear there?  Answer--where are you?" shouted the second-mate
+with his mouth down to an opening in the great packages beneath their
+feet.
+
+Still no reply but this dismal moaning "Oh!" a piteous appeal in its
+way, which made Mark shudder.
+
+"I'll try again," said the first-mate.  "Here, hi!  Where are you?"
+
+He paused, and they all listened.  He shouted again and again, but with
+no result, and turning to the second-mate he said:
+
+"The poor wretch is insensible, I'm afraid."
+
+"Yes, he seems beyond answering.  Where do you make him out to be?"
+
+"That's what I can't make out," said the first-mate.  "It's just as if
+he were practising ventriloquism.  Sometimes it sounds to the right and
+sometimes to the left."
+
+"Yes, that's how it strikes me," said the second-mate.  "Listen,
+youngster.  Here: silence there on deck!"
+
+A pin fall might have been heard the next moment, and the silence was
+broken by the low piteous moan.
+
+"It seems down here at one time, and then more forward there," said
+Mark.
+
+"Yes, it does now," said the first-mate.  "Here, Billy Widgeon, Small,
+you come and try."
+
+The boatswain and the little sailor both lay down in different places on
+the cases and bales and listened, but only to rise up and declare that
+the sound came from quite a different direction.
+
+"Hang it all!" cried the first-mate; "it isn't a question of amount of
+cargo to unstow, but of time before we get at the miserable wretch.
+Now, what right has a man to come and hide down here, and upset the
+whole cargo and crew!"
+
+"My dear Gregory," cried the second-mate, "do let's begin somewhere."
+
+"Yes, but where, my lad--where?  Listen again.  There, it's further in--
+ever so much."
+
+"Sounds like it," assented the second-mate.  "Here, stop your noise!"
+
+This last was consequent upon a dismal howl uttered by Bruff, who felt
+himself aggrieved at being left alone.
+
+"Here, here!" cried Mark excitedly, and, raising his hands, he took the
+dog as he was passed down by the sailors.  "Stop a minute, Mr Gregory,
+my dog will smell him out."
+
+"Bravo, boy!" cried the first-mate, as Bruff was set down, no
+light-weight, on the stowed-in cargo.  "Good dog, then!"
+
+"Hush!" cried Mark, whose heart was beating painfully.
+
+"Silence there!" cried Mr Small.
+
+"Now, Bruff, old boy, listen."
+
+There was utter silence for quite a minute, and then, as the chill of
+dread deepened, and it seemed as if the hidden man had fainted, the
+moaning arose once more, but certainly more feebly.
+
+Mark was kneeling and holding Bruff with a hand on each side of the
+collar, and as the piteous moan arose the dog uttered a sharp bark.
+
+"Good dog, then!  Find him, boy!" cried Mark; and as the moaning
+continued, the dog went scuffling and scratching over the cargo,
+snuffing here and there, and uttering a bark from time to time.
+
+"No, no, not there," cried the second-mate.
+
+"Let the dog be," said the first; and the result was that Bruff suddenly
+stopped a dozen yards away from them toward the forecastle, and began
+scratching and barking loudly.
+
+"It can't be there," said Small, creeping over the packages till he was
+beside the dog, and then quieting him as he listened.  "Yes; it is!" he
+cried.  "You can hear him as plain as plain."
+
+The first-mate came to his side, and confirmed the assertion; the
+second-mate endorsed his brother officer's opinion; and now began the
+terrible task of dragging out the closely fitted-in lading of the ship,
+so as to work right down to where the poor wretch had concealed himself.
+It seemed to Mark's uninitiated eyes to be a task which would take
+days, but the men set-to with willing hands under the first-mate's
+guidance, and package after package was hauled out by main force, and
+sent on to the deck above, till quite a cutting was formed through the
+cargo.
+
+Every now and then the work was stopped for one of the officers to
+listen, and make sure that they were working in the right direction, and
+this precaution was not without its results in the saving of labour, for
+the faint moanings, more plainly heard now that a portion of the cargo
+was removed, seemed to be a little more to their right.
+
+Mark Strong's first sensation, after the dog had thoroughly localised
+the place of the man's imprisonment, was a desire to go right away, to
+get off the ship and go ashore, where he could be beyond hearing of
+those terrible moans; but directly after he found himself thinking that
+it would be very cowardly, worse still that the chief mate and this Mr
+Morgan would look upon him as being girlish.  The result was that he
+crept along over the top of the cargo on his hands and knees to just
+beyond the place where the men were working, and seating himself there,
+with Bruff between his legs, he watched the progress of the search.
+
+It was a curious experience to a lad fresh from school, and the aspect
+of the place added to the horror of knowing that a fellow-creature was
+perhaps dying by inches beneath the sailors' feet.  Where he sat the
+beams and planks of the lower deck were only about four feet above his
+head, and to right, left, and behind him all was thick darkness, faintly
+illumined by the yellow light of a couple of swinging lanthorns, which
+shed a curious ghastly halo all around; sixty feet away was the great
+hatch, down which came the light of day; and between this and where Mark
+sat, the dark figures of the busy sailors were constantly on the move in
+a way that looked weird in the extreme.  Now, half of them were out of
+sight fastening the hooks and loops of the tackle to some bale; then
+there was a loud "yoho-ing," and, with creaking and rasping, the great
+package was dragged away into the patch of daylight, which it darkened
+for a few moments, and then disappeared to the deck.
+
+For the first few minutes Mr Gregory--"Old Greg," as the sailors called
+him--stormed and raved about the labour and waste of time; but soon
+after he was at work as energetically as any man in the crew, and in the
+intervals of a great package being secured he kept coming to where Mark
+sat with his dog.
+
+"Rough work this, my lad, isn't it?" he said every time, and as he spoke
+his hand went unconsciously to Bruff's head to rub and pat it.
+
+Then he was off again, giving orders which package to take next, and
+securing the loops of the rope-tackle himself.
+
+"Now, all together my lads," he shouted, and away went the load.
+
+It was dreary work, and yet full of excitement, for the men toiled on
+with terrible energy, for there was the knowledge that though a great
+deal of cargo had been removed, the moans of the poor wretch were being
+heard less plainly.
+
+It was Mr Morgan who now came to where Mark was seated, and he too
+began to pat and rub Bruff's head.
+
+"No, my lad," he said, in answer to a question, "we can do no more than
+we are doing.  If we got more hands at work they would be in each
+other's way."
+
+He was panting with exertion as he spoke, and began to wipe his brow.
+
+"It's a horrible set out.  The man must have been mad to hide himself
+there."
+
+"But you'll get him out?"
+
+"Yes, we shall get him out," said the young officer; "but I'm growing
+sadly afraid that he'll die from sheer fright before we reach him."
+
+"But you will keep on?"
+
+"Keep on, my lad!  Yes, if we have to empty the hold.  Why, what sort of
+savages do you think us?"
+
+He hurried away, and after a lapse Mr Gregory came.
+
+"Help? no, my boy--poor old doggie then!  Good old man!--no, you can't
+help.  If I set you to hold a lanthorn, you'd be in somebody's way.  We
+can't half of us work as it is, for want of room.  It's a sad job."
+
+As he spoke he kept on caressing Bruff, who rolled his stupid great head
+from side to side with evident enjoyment, while, in spite of the horror
+of what was going on, Mark could not help a feeling of satisfaction at
+the way in which his dog was growing in favour.
+
+One hour--two hours--three hours must have gone by, and still the men
+toiled on at their fearfully difficult task, one which seemed to grow
+more solemn as they went on.
+
+"Can't hear a sound, my lad," said the first-mate; "and I think we'll
+try the dog again.  Come along, old chap."
+
+Mark loosened his hold on the dog, and he followed the mate and was
+lifted down into the great cavernous hole the men had made, while a
+lanthorn was held so that they could watch his proceedings.
+
+Bruff did not leave them long in doubt, but began snuffing at one side,
+close to the end, following it up by scratching and whining.
+
+"That'll do," shouted the first-mate hoarsely.  "Come, my lad.  That's
+it.  Good old dog, then!"
+
+He lifted Bruff out and passed him up to Mark, who leaned over and
+listened as in the midst of a deep silence Mr Gregory slapped the side
+of a case.
+
+"Now, then, where are you?" he shouted.
+
+There was no reply; and he shouted again and again, but without effect.
+
+"At it you go, my lads," he said, drawing in his breath with a hiss.
+"He must be in here; the dog says so."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir!" rose in chorus, and the task was resumed with fresh
+energy, and but for the careful management of the two officers there
+must have been a fresh mishap, the sailors being rather reckless and
+ready to loosen packages whose removal would have caused the sides of
+the heaps to come crumbling down in a cargo avalanche, to cause disaster
+as well as delay.
+
+Another hour had passed and Bruff had been had down four more times,
+always after his fashion to show where the man they sought must be, but
+still there was no result to their task, and Mark felt a blank sensation
+of despair troubling him, for he could see that the first-mate was
+beginning to lose faith in the dog's instinct, though there had for long
+enough past been nothing to prove that he was wrong, not so much as a
+sigh being heard.
+
+"I think we'd better have the dog down again," said Mr Gregory at last,
+his voice sounding strange from deep among the cargo.  "Stop a moment,
+my lads.  Silence, and pass me a lanthorn."
+
+At the sound of his voice Bruff uttered a whine, and Mark had to hold
+tight by his collar to keep him back.
+
+Directly after, as the lad looked down he could see the mate tap once
+more upon a case in the curious-looking hollow.
+
+"Now, then," he shouted, "where are you?"
+
+There was a silence that was painful in its intensity, and then plainly
+heard came a faint groan.
+
+"Hooray, my lads! he's here, and alive yet," cried the mate, and the men
+set up a hearty cheer.  "Steady, steady!  He's close here.  Let's have
+out this case next."
+
+"No, no," cried the second-mate; "I see."
+
+"See what?" said Mr Gregory gruffly.
+
+"Ease off that bale a little, and we can draw him out."
+
+"Draw him out!  How?  Well, of all!  Of course!"
+
+A lanthorn was being held to the side beneath Mark, and, staring over,
+he, too, grasped the position, which was plain enough now to all.
+
+The case which the mate proposed to remove was one of the great deal
+chests with the top angle cut right off and used to pack pianos, and in
+the triangular space nearly six feet long between the case and the
+chests around the unfortunate man had crept, taking it for granted that
+he would be able to creep out again forward or backward after the ship
+had sailed.
+
+The easing away of one package was enough now, and as the light was
+held, the legs of the prisoner were seen, and he was carefully drawn
+out.  A rope was placed round his chest, and he was hauled out of the
+great chasm and hoisted carefully on deck, followed by the whole crew of
+workers, who formed a circle about him, as the first-mate went down on
+one knee and trickled a little brandy between his teeth.
+
+"Shall I send one of the lads for a doctor?" said Mr Morgan.
+
+"Wait a minute," was the first-mate's answer.  "He was not suffocating,
+as you can see.  It was sheer fright, I think.  He'll come round in a
+few minutes out here in the fresh air."
+
+The second-mate held down the light, and as Mark, for whom room had been
+made, gazed down in the ghastly face of the shabby-looking man, Bruff
+pushed his head forward and sniffed at him.
+
+"Yes, that's him, old fellow," said the mate patting his head.  "You are
+a good dog, then."
+
+Bruff whined, and just then the prostrate stowaway moved slightly.
+
+"There, he's coming to; give him a little more brandy, Gregory," said
+the second-mate.
+
+"Not a drop," cried the other fiercely.  "Yes, he's coming round now.  I
+think I'll finish off with the rope's end--a scoundrel!"
+
+A minute before, in spite of his rough ways, Mark had begun to feel
+somewhat of a liking for the first-mate, especially as he had taken to
+the dog; but now all this was swept away.
+
+"Oh, yes, he's coming to," said Mr Gregory, as the man's eyelids were
+seen to tremble in the light of the lanthorn, and then open widely in a
+vacant stare.
+
+"Where--where am I?" he said in a hoarse whisper; and then he uttered a
+wild cry and started up in a sitting position, for Bruff had touched his
+cheek with his cold nose.
+
+"Where are you!  On the deck of the _Black Petrel_, my lad, and you're
+just going to have that dirty shirt stripped off your back, ready for a
+good rope's-ending."
+
+"No, no! no, no!" cried the poor wretch, grovelling at the first-mate's
+feet, and looking up at him appealingly.
+
+This was too much for Bruff, who set up a fierce bark, and seeing his
+new friend apparently attacked he would have seized the crouching man
+had not Mark dropped down and seized his collar.
+
+"Not do it, eh!  You scoundrel! what do you mean by this hiding down in
+that hold and giving us hours of work to get out your wretched carcass,
+eh?"
+
+"Please, sir--forgive me, sir.  Let me off this time, sir."
+
+"Kick the poor wretch out of the ship and let him go," said the
+second-mate in a low voice.
+
+"Let him go!  Not I.  I'm going to flog him and then hand him over to
+the police."
+
+"Ay, ay," rose in chorus from the men, who, now that they had with all
+respect to humanity saved the interloper's life, were quite ready to see
+him punished for his wrong-doing, and the trouble and extra labour he
+had caused.
+
+"There, you idle vagabond, you hear what the jury of your own countrymen
+say."
+
+"Let me off this time, sir.  I was nearly killed down there."
+
+"Nearly killed, you scoundrel!  Serve you right; trying to steal a
+passage and food from the owner of this ship.  How dare you do it?"
+
+"I--I wanted to go abroad so badly, sir," said the shivering wretch.
+"I'd no money, and no friends."
+
+"I should think not indeed.  Who'd make a friend, do you think, of you?"
+
+"Nobody, sir.  I did try lots of captains to take me as a sailor, but no
+one would."
+
+"Why, of course they wouldn't, you scoundrel!" stormed the first-mate.
+"Can you reef and splice and take your turn at the wheel?"
+
+"No, sir," whimpered the man.
+
+"Can you go aloft without tumbling down and breaking somebody's head
+instead of your own idle neck?  Could you lay out on the foretop yard?"
+
+"No, sir, but--but I'd try, sir, I would indeed, if you'd let me."
+
+"Let the poor wretch go, Gregory," whispered the second-mate.
+
+"Sha'n't!" snapped the first-mate; and as he raged and stormed Mark felt
+more than ever that this was the real captain of the ship, and that his
+father must occupy a very secondary position.
+
+"I would work so hard," said the poor fellow piteously.  "I only want to
+get into another country and try again."
+
+"At our owner's expense, eh?  Do you think the crew here want you?"
+
+"No, no," rose in chorus; and Mark's heart gave a leap of sympathy, and
+anger against the men.
+
+"There, you hear, you idle, cheating vagabond.  Where did you want to
+go?"
+
+"Anywhere, sir, anywhere.  Do let me go!"
+
+"Yes, to the police station.  You'll have to answer for all this."
+
+Mark looked at the poor, wretched, piteous face, and then up at the
+mate, whose countenance was like cast-iron with the tip of his nose
+red-hot.  He glanced at Mr Morgan, who was frowning and looked annoyed,
+but who smiled at Mark as their eyes met.
+
+"Here, Billy Widgeon, fetch one of the dock police," cried the
+first-mate.
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," cried the little sailor with alacrity; and he was in the
+act of starting, while the stowaway was once more appealing piteously
+and Mark was about to take his part, when a quiet firm voice said aloud:
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+Mark's heart gave a bound, and for the moment he thought everything
+would be set right in a humane way.  Then, as he heard the chief mate
+speak, he felt that it would be all wrong.
+
+"What's the matter, Captain Strong!" thundered the officer.
+"Everything's the matter.  Here we've to sail first tide to-morrow, and
+look at us.  My cargo, that was all stowed, hauled all over the ship.
+We've been ever since four o'clock getting him out, and now it's nearly
+ten.  And look at him--all hands unstowing cargo to get out a thing like
+that!"
+
+"Where was he?" said the captain sternly.
+
+"Where was he!" roared the mate, who looked as if one of his legs was
+quivering to kick the grovelling stowaway; "where wasn't he?  Groaning
+all over the ship; and if it hadn't been for that dog--"
+
+"Ah! the dog helped, did he?"
+
+"Yes, sir; smelt him out buried down below a thousand tons--"
+
+"More or less," said Mr Morgan laughing.
+
+"Well, I didn't weigh or measure the cargo, did I, sir?" roared the
+first-mate.  "Look at it, sir--look at it, captain.  We shall be at work
+all night re-stowing it, and then sha'n't be done."
+
+"He was right down there?"
+
+"Yes, sir; and if we hadn't got to him he'd have been a dead man in a
+few hours; and a good job too, only see what a nuisance he would have
+been."
+
+"How came you to do this, sir?" cried Captain Strong, turning to the
+man, who still crouched upon the deck.
+
+"I wanted to get abroad, sir.  Pray forgive me this time."
+
+"You must have been mad," cried the captain.  "Did you want to be buried
+alive?"
+
+"No, sir.  I didn't think you'd fill up above me, and I thought I could
+creep out by and by; but--but they stopped up both ends of the hole, and
+then--then they piled up the boxes over my head, and it got so hot, sir,
+that--that--I could hardly breathe, and--and--and, sir, I couldn't bear
+it, I was obliged to cry for help; but I wish I'd died in my hole."
+
+"Poor wretch!" muttered the captain; but his son heard him and pressed
+nearer to his side, as he gazed at the stowaway, a man grown, but who
+was sobbing hysterically, and crying like a woman.
+
+"Here, Widgeon, I told you to fetch one of the dock police," said the
+first-mate fiercely.
+
+"Ay, ay, sir!" cried Billy Widgeon, and Mark's heart sank as he felt
+that his father was only secondary in power to the fierce red-nosed
+mate.  But the next instant a thrill of satisfaction shot through him,
+for his father said in a calm, firm way:
+
+"Stop!"
+
+"Ah, we'll soon set him right," said the mate; "a miserable, snivelling
+cur!"
+
+There was a laugh among the crew, and at a word from the mate they would
+have been ready to pitch the miserable object overboard.
+
+"What is your name?" said the captain.
+
+"Jimpny, sir.  David Jimpny."
+
+"Pretty name for a Christian man," said the mate; and the crew all
+laughed.
+
+"What have you been?" said the captain.
+
+"Anything, sir.  No trade.  Been out o' work, sir, and half starved and
+faint."
+
+"Out of work!" roared the mate.  "Why, you wouldn't work if you had it."
+
+"Wouldn't I!  You give me the chance, sir."
+
+"Chance!" retorted the mate scornfully.
+
+"Perhaps the poor wretch has not had one," said the captain.  "Look
+here, my man."
+
+"I haven't, sir; I haven't had a chance.  Pray, pray, give me one, sir.
+I'll--I'll do anything, sir.  I'll be like a slave if you'll only let me
+try."
+
+"We don't want slaves," said the captain sternly; "we want honest true
+men who will work.  Small."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," said the boatswain.
+
+"This man has been half starved; take him below and see to him, and see
+that he is well treated."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," cried the boatswain.  "Now, my swab."
+
+"God--bless--"
+
+"That will do," said the captain coldly.  "No words.  Let's have deeds,
+my man."
+
+The abject-looking wretch shrank away, and the first-mate gave an angry
+stamp upon the deck.
+
+"Look here, Captain Strong," he began furiously.
+
+"That will do, my dear Gregory," said the captain, clapping him on the
+shoulder.  "I wish the man to stay."
+
+Mark Strong felt his heart at rest, for, as he saw the effect of his
+father's words upon the chief mate, he knew once and for all who was the
+real captain of the ship.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+HOW MARK STRONG MADE FRIENDS.
+
+"Of course we shall not be able to sail at the time down," said the
+first-mate rather huffily.
+
+"Of course we shall, Gregory," said the captain quietly.  "Morgan, I'm
+sorry you've had such a job as this.  Divide the men into two watches.
+I'll take the first with some extra hands.  Gregory and I will get on as
+far as we can till you and your watch are roused up.  You'll go at it
+fresher.  Pick out the most tired men for turning-in."
+
+"They're all tired alike," said the first-mate gruffly.  The captain did
+not answer, but went aft with his son.
+
+"Rather a queer experience for you, Mark," he said as they entered the
+cabin, to find that Mrs Strong was there, waiting eagerly to know what
+was wrong on board.
+
+Her anxieties were soon set at rest, and after a little examination of
+the place, the steward pointing out which were the cabins of the
+passengers expected to come on board the next day, Mrs Strong settled
+herself calmly down beneath the lamp and took out her work.
+
+"Why, mother," said Mark, "anyone would think you were at home."
+
+"Well," she replied smiling, "is it not home where your father is."
+
+The reply was unanswerable, and being too restless to stay below when
+all was so novel on deck, Mark soon after went to where, by the light of
+many lanterns, about a third of the crew, supplemented by a gang of men
+from the dock, were hard at work trying to restore order in the hold.
+
+"Hallo, youngster!" said a sharp voice; "don't get in the way.  Here,
+hallo, old what's-your-name!  Come here."
+
+Bruff gave his tail a wag, and butted the first-mate's leg, submitting
+afterwards to being patted in the most friendly manner.
+
+"Good dog that, young Strong."
+
+The mate did not wait to hear what was said in reply, but dived down
+into the hold, while Mark joined his father.
+
+"This is trying to bring order out of chaos, Mark," he said
+good-humouredly; and then turned sharply to look at a strange, gaunt
+sailor who came up and touched his hat.
+
+"Hallo!  Who are you?  Oh, I see; our stowaway friend!"
+
+"Yes, sir.  Can I help, sir?"
+
+"Well, yes--no--you had better not try at present, my man.  Get used to
+the deck first, and try and put some strength in your arms."
+
+"Please, sir, I--"
+
+"That will do," said the captain coldly.  "Obey orders, and prove that
+you are worthy of what I have done, and what I am going to do.  I don't
+like professions."
+
+The captain walked away, and the stowaway stood looking after him, while
+Bruff walked up and smelled him suspiciously.
+
+"Nobody don't seem to believe in me," said the man in a discontented
+tone of voice.
+
+"Try and make them, then," said Mark, who felt repelled by the man's
+servile manner.
+
+"That's just what I'm agoin' to do, sir," said the man, speaking with
+the most villainous of low London accents.
+
+"What did you say was your name?"
+
+"David, sir; David Jimpny.  He won't bite, will he, sir?"
+
+"No.  Here, Bruff, leave that alone and come here."
+
+Mark's declaration that the dog would not bite seemed to give the man
+very little confidence, and no wonder, for Bruff kept eyeing the
+stowaway suspiciously in a way which seemed to indicate that he was
+looking out for a fleshy place to seize, but to his disappointment found
+none, only good opportunities for a grip at a bone.
+
+Just then Small the boatswain came up from the hold, nodded at Mark, and
+gave one of his thumbs a jerk.
+
+"I showed you your berth, my lad, go and turn in."
+
+The man went forward and disappeared below, while the big rough
+boatswain gave the captain's son another friendly nod.
+
+"Got to be drilled," he said.  "Rough stuff to work up into a sailor.
+Rather have you, squire."
+
+"Oh!  I should not make a good sailor," said Mark lingering.
+
+"Not if I took you in hand, my lad?  Why, I'd make a man of you in no
+time.  Is the skipper going to hand you over to me?"
+
+"No; I'm only going as far as Plymouth or Penzance for a trip."
+
+"More's the pity, my lad.  Think twiced of it, and don't you go wasting
+your time ashore when there's such a profession as the sea opening of
+its arms to you and a arstin of you to come.  Look at your father:
+there's a man!"
+
+"Is he a very fine sailor?"
+
+"Is he a fine sailor!" said the boatswain staring.  "What a question to
+ask! why, there aren't a better one nowhere.  Think twiced on it, my
+lad, and come all the way."
+
+"I wish I could," said the boy to himself as he went back to the cabin,
+to find his father already there; and half an hour later, after a little
+joking about trying to sleep on a shelf in a cupboard, Mark clumsily
+turned in, far too much excited by the events of the day to go to sleep,
+and gradually getting so uneasy in the cramped space in which he had to
+lie, that he came to the conclusion that it was of no use to try; and as
+he lay thinking that he might as well get up and go and watch the
+re-stowing of the cargo, he found himself down low in the darkness,
+occupying the long triangular place from which the stowaway had been
+dragged.
+
+How hot and stifling it seemed, and yet how little he felt surprised at
+being there, even when a strange dread came over him and he struggled to
+escape, with the knowledge all the time that the sailors and dock
+labourers were piling and ramming in cases and barrels, bales and boxes,
+wedging him in so closely that he knew he should never get out.  Every
+minute his position grew more hopeless and the desire to struggle less.
+Once or twice he did try, but his efforts were vain; and at last he lay
+panting and exhausted and staring at the black darkness which suddenly
+seemed to have grown grey.
+
+Was he awake?  Had he been to sleep?  Where was he?
+
+He realised it all like a flash.  He was in that cramped berth in the
+little cabin; and though he had not felt the approach of sleep, he must
+have been fast for some hours and had an attack of nightmare, from which
+he had awakened flat upon his back.
+
+Mark uttered a sigh of relief, changed his position, lay looking at the
+grey light of morning and listening to some faintly-heard sounds, and
+then made up his mind to get up and dress.
+
+Almost as a matter of course the result was that he dropped off fast
+asleep, and lay till a pleasant familiar voice cried to him that
+breakfast was nearly ready.
+
+Getting off the shelf was nearly as difficult as getting upon it, but
+Mark took his first lesson in a determined way, and entered the cabin
+well rested and hungry just as the captain made his appearance.
+
+"Oh, father, I feel so ashamed!" cried Mark.
+
+"Why, my lad?"
+
+"Sleeping comfortably there while you've been up at work all night."
+
+"Nothing of the kind, my boy.  Mr Morgan relieved us at three, and I've
+had five hours' sleep since then.  Here they come."
+
+Mr Gregory and Mr Morgan entered the cabin directly, both looking as
+calm and comfortable as if nothing had disturbed them.  After the first
+greetings the first-mate began to look round the cabin.
+
+"What's wrong, Gregory?" said the captain.
+
+"Wrong!" said the first-mate.  "Nothing.  I was only looking after that
+dog."
+
+"Why, surely you don't want to send him ashore?"
+
+"Ashore, nonsense!  Very fine dog, sir.  I should like to have him.  Ah,
+there you are!"
+
+For just then Bruff came slowly and sedately into the cabin from a walk
+round the deck, and going straight up to the mate, blinked at him, and
+gave his tail two wags before going under the table to lay his head in
+his master's lap.
+
+"Well, Morgan, how are you getting on?" asked the captain.
+
+"Splendidly, sir.  Quite like home to have a lady pouring out the
+coffee."
+
+"No, no; I mean with the cargo."
+
+"Oh!  I beg pardon, sir.  All right.  We're about where we were before
+the accident."
+
+"Ah, I thought we should be able to sail to-day, Gregory!"
+
+"Humph!" said the first-mate.  "I'll trouble you for a little more of
+that fried ham, Captain Strong.  Good ham, young Strong.  I recommend
+it."
+
+Mark was already paying attention to it, and, well rested as he was,
+thoroughly enjoyed his novel meal, and was soon after as eagerly
+feasting upon the various sights and sounds of the deck.
+
+For the next four hours all was busy turmoil.  Passengers were arriving
+with their luggage marked "For use in cabin," last packages of cargo
+were being received, a couple of van-loads of fresh vegetables were shot
+down upon the deck as if some one was about to start a green-grocer's
+shop on the other side of the world, and the state of confusion
+increased to such a degree that it seemed to Mark that order could never
+by any possibility reign again.  Wheels squeaked as ropes ran through
+tackle, iron chains clanged; there was a continuous roaring of orders,
+here, there, and everywhere; and at last, when the time for going out of
+dock arrived, the deck was piled up in all directions with cargo and
+luggage, and every vacant place was occupied by passengers, their
+friends, dock people, and crew.
+
+It seemed impossible for the tall three-masted ship to get out of that
+dock through the narrow gates ahead and into the crowded river; but,
+just about one o'clock, a man in blue came on board and took charge,
+began shouting orders to men on the quay, ropes were made fast here and
+there and hauled upon, and the great ship was in motion.
+
+Before many minutes had elapsed she had glided majestically into a
+narrow canal with stone walls, and from the high stern deck Mark saw
+that a pair of great gates were closed behind them, as if the ship had
+been taken in a trap.  But no sooner was this achieved than another pair
+of gates was opened before her bows, and the slow gliding motion was
+continued till, almost before he knew it, the _Black Petrel_ East
+Indiaman, Captain Strong, outward-bound for Colombo, Singapore, and
+Hong-Kong, was out in the river without having crushed any other craft.
+
+As she swung out there in the tide, a large unwieldy object which
+threatened to come in contact with one or other of the many ships and
+long black screws lying in the river, all of a sudden a little, panting,
+puffing steamer came alongside and, amidst more shouting, ropes were
+thrown and she was made fast, while another appeared off the _Black
+Petrel's_ bows, where the same throwing of ropes took place, but this
+time for a stout hawser to be fastened to the rope which had come
+through the air in rings.  Then the rope was hauled back, the stout
+hawser dragged aboard, a great loop at its end placed over a hook on the
+tug-boat, which went slowly ahead, the hawser tightened, slackened, and
+splashed in the water, tightened and slackened again and again, till the
+great steamer's inertia was overcome without the hawser being parted,
+and kept by the tug at the side from swinging here and there, the great
+ship went grandly down the Thames.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+HOW MARK HAD A SURPRISE.
+
+Blackwall and Woolwich, Gravesend, and the vessel moored for the night.
+There a few preliminaries were adjusted, and the next morning, with the
+deck not quite in such a state of confusion, the vessel began to drop
+down with the tide.
+
+And now Mark woke to the fact that the captain was once more only a
+secondary personage on board, the pilot taking command, under whose
+guidance sails dropped down and the great ship gradually made her way in
+and out of the dangerous shoals and sand-banks, till, well out to sea on
+a fine calm day, the pilot-boat came alongside, and Captain Strong, as
+the pilot wished him a lucky voyage, again took command.
+
+There had been so much going on in lashing spars in their places,
+getting down the last of the cargo, and securing the ship's boats, along
+with a hundred other matters connected with clearing the decks and
+making things ship-shape, that Mark saw little of his father and the
+officers, except at mealtimes; and hence he was thrown almost entirely
+in the company of his mother.  There were the passengers, but they, for
+the most part, were somewhat distant and strange at first; but now, as
+the great ship began to go steadily down channel, before a pleasant
+south-easterly breeze, the decks were clear, ropes coiled down, hatches
+battened over, and there was a disposition among the strangers on board
+to become friendly.
+
+They were not a very striking party whom Captain Strong had gathered
+round his table, but, as he told Mrs Strong, he had to make the best of
+them.  There was a curiously dry-looking Scotch merchant on his way back
+to Hong-Kong.  An Irish major, with his wife and daughter, bound for the
+same place.  A quiet stout gentleman, supposed to be a doctor, and three
+young German agricultural students on their way to Singapore, from which
+place, after a short stay, they were going to Northern Queensland to
+introduce some new way of growing sugar.
+
+But just as the passengers were growing social, and the panorama of
+Southern England was growing more and more beautiful, the weather began
+to change.
+
+Its first vagary was in the shape of a fog while they were off the
+Dorsetshire coast, and with the fog there was its companion, a calm.
+
+"One of a sailor's greatest troubles," Mr Morgan said to Mark as they
+were leaning over the taffrail watching the gulls, which seemed to come
+in and out of the mist.
+
+"But capital for a passenger who only wants to make his trip as long as
+he can," said Mark laughingly.
+
+"Ah!  I forgot that you leave us at Plymouth," said the second-mate.
+
+"Penzance," cried Mark.
+
+"That depends on the weather, young man.  If that happens to be bad you
+will be dropped at Plymouth, and I'm afraid we are going to have a
+change."
+
+The second-mate was right, for before many hours had passed, and when
+Start and Prawle points had been pointed out as they loomed up out of
+the haze upon their right, the sea began to rise.  That night the wind
+was increasing to a gale, and Mark was oblivious, like several of the
+passengers, of the grandeur of the waves; neither did he hear the
+shrieking of the wind through the rigging.  What he did hear was the
+creaking and groaning of the timbers of the large ship as she rose and
+fell, and the heavy thud of some wave which smote her bows and came down
+like a cataract upon her deck.
+
+"Come, Mark, Mark, my lad," the captain said, "you must hold up.  You're
+as bad as your mother."
+
+"Are we going to the bottom, father?" was all Mark could gasp out.
+
+"No, my boy," said the captain, laughing, "I hope not.  This is only
+what we sailors call a capful of wind."
+
+Mrs Strong was too ill to leave her cabin, but the first-mate came to
+give the sea-sick lad a friendly grip of the hand, and pat poor Bruff's
+head as he sat looking extremely doleful, and seeming to wonder what it
+all meant Mr Morgan, too, made his appearance from time to time.
+
+Then all seemed to be rising up and plunging down with the shrieking of
+wind, the beating of the waves, and darkness, and sickness, and misery.
+
+Was it day or was it night?  How long had he been ill?  How long was all
+this going to last?
+
+Once or twice Mark tried to crawl out of his berth, but he was too weak
+and ill to stir; besides which, the ship was tossing frightfully, and
+once when the captain came in it seemed to the lad that he looked
+careworn and anxious.  But Mark was too ill to trouble himself about the
+storm or the ship, or what was to become of them, and he lay there
+perfectly prostrate.
+
+The steward came from time to time anxious looking and pale, but Mark
+did not notice it.  He for the most part refused the food that was
+brought to him, and lay back in a sort of stupor, till at last it seemed
+to him that the ship was not rocking about so violently.
+
+Then came a time when the cabin seemed to grow light, and the steps of
+men sounded overhead as they were removing some kind of shutter.
+
+Lastly he woke one morning with the sun shining, and his father, looking
+very haggard, sitting by his berth.
+
+"Well, my lad," he said, "this has been a sorry holiday for you.  Come,
+can't you hold up a bit?  The steward's going to bring you some tea."
+
+"I--can't touch anything, father; but has the storm gone?"
+
+"Thank Heaven! yes, my lad.  I never was in a worse!"
+
+"But you said it was a capful of wind," said Mark faintly.
+
+"Capful, my lad! it was a hurricane, and I'm afraid many a good ship has
+fared badly."
+
+"But the _Petrel's_ all right, father?"
+
+"Behaved splendidly."
+
+"Are we--nearly at Plymouth?" was Mark's next question.
+
+"Nearly where?"
+
+"At Plymouth.  I think, as I'm so ill, I'd better not go any farther.
+How is mother?"
+
+"Going to get up, my lad, and that's what you've got to do."
+
+"I'll try, father.  When shall I go ashore?"
+
+"If you like, at Malta, for a few hours," said the captain drily; "not
+before."
+
+"At Malta!" said Mark, raising himself upon one arm.
+
+"Yes, at Malta.  Do you know where we are?"
+
+"Somewhere off the Devon coast, I suppose."
+
+"You were, a week ago, my boy.  There, get up and dress yourself; the
+sun shines and the sea's calm, and in a few hours I can show you the
+coast of Spain."
+
+"But, father," cried Mark, upon whom this news seemed to have a magical
+effect, "aren't we going ashore at Penzance."
+
+"Penzance, my boy!  We had one of the narrowest of shaves of going on
+the Lizard Rocks, and were only too glad to get plenty of sea-room.  Do
+you know we've been running for a week under storm topsails, and in as
+dangerous a storm as a ship could face?"
+
+"I knew it had been very bad, father, but not like that.  What are you
+going to do?"
+
+"Make the best of things, sir.  Look here, Mark, you wanted to come for
+a voyage with me."
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+"Well, I said I wouldn't take you."
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+"And now I'm obliged to: for I can't put back."
+
+"Going to take me to China?" cried Mark.
+
+"Yes, unless I put in at Lisbon, and send you home from there, and
+that's not worth while."
+
+"Father!"
+
+"What! are you so much better as that?  Here, what are you going to do?"
+
+"Get up directly, father, and see the coast of Spain."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+HOW CAPTAIN JACK CAME ON DECK.
+
+"Yes, my lad, you've had a narrow squeak for it," said the first-mate,
+shaking hands.  "You're in for it now."
+
+He patted Mark's shoulder as he stood gazing over the port bulwark at a
+dim blue line.
+
+"I couldn't get to you more, Mark, my lad," said the second-mate, "but
+you'll be all right now.  We've had a rough time."
+
+"And to think of you coming all the way with us after all!" said the
+boatswain in a pleasant growl.  "Here, I'm going to make a sailor o'
+you."
+
+Mark was alone soon after, when Billy Widgeon came up smiling to say a
+few friendly words, and directly after a thin pale sailor came edging
+along the bulwarks to say feebly:
+
+"I see you've been very bad too, sir.  I thought once we should have
+been all drowned."
+
+Mark had an instinctive dislike to this man, he could not tell why, and
+as he felt this he was at the same time angry with himself, for it
+seemed unjust.
+
+The man noted it, and sighed as he went away, and even this sigh
+troubled its hearer, for he could not make out whether it was genuine or
+uttered to excite sympathy.
+
+There was some excuse, for Mr David Jimpny's personal appearance was
+not much improved by the composite sailor suit he wore.  His trousers
+were an old pair of the captain's, and his jacket had been routed out by
+the boatswain, both officers being about as opposite in physique to the
+stowaway as could well be imagined.  In fact, as Mark Strong saw him
+going forward he could not help thinking that the poor fellow looked
+better in his shore-going rags.
+
+Then his manner of coming on board had not been of a kind to produce a
+favourable impression.
+
+"I can't help it," said Mark aloud.  "I don't want to jump upon the poor
+fellow, but how can we take to him when even one's dog looks at him
+suspiciously."
+
+"I shouldn't set up my dog as a model to go by if I were you," said a
+voice at his elbow; and turning suddenly, with his face flushing, Mark
+found that the second-mate was at his elbow.
+
+"I didn't know that I was thinking aloud," said Mark.
+
+"But you were, and very loudly.  I don't wonder at your not liking that
+man: I don't.  Perhaps he'll improve though.  We will not judge him yet.
+So you're coming all the way with us?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I'm glad of it.  Be a change for you, and for us too.  This is rather
+different to what we've been having, eh?"
+
+"Why, it's lovely!" cried Mark.  "I didn't think the weather could be so
+beautiful at sea."
+
+"Nor so stormy, eh?"
+
+"I didn't notice much of the storm," said Mark.  "I was too ill."
+
+"Ah! it is bad that first attack of `waves in motion,' as I call it.
+But that's all past, and we shall have fine weather, I daresay, all the
+rest of the voyage.  One never gets much worse weather than we have near
+home."
+
+"Was much damage done," asked Mark, "in the storm?"
+
+"Nothing serious.  We were just starting after all our faulty rigging
+had been replaced.  If we had been coming home after a voyage it might
+have been different.  One or two sails were blown to shreds, but the old
+ship behaved nobly."
+
+"I wish I had not been so ill," said Mark thoughtfully.
+
+"So do I, my lad; but why do you speak so?"
+
+"Because I should have liked to be on deck."
+
+"Ah! well, you need not regret your sickness, for you would not have
+been on deck.  It was as much as we could do to hold our own and not get
+washed overboard.  That's worth looking at."
+
+He pointed, as he spoke, to a blue line of hills away to the east bathed
+in the brilliant sunshine, while the water between them and the shore
+seemed to be as blue, but of another shade.
+
+"Spain!" said Mark.  "How lovely!"
+
+"Portugal, my lad.  Yes, it's pretty enough, but I've often seen bits of
+the Welsh coast look far more lovely.  Don't you run away with the idea
+that you are going to see more beautiful countries than your own."
+
+"Oh, but, Mr Morgan, Spain, and Italy, and Egypt, and Ceylon, and
+Singapore, they are all more beautiful than England."
+
+"They're different, my lad," said Morgan, laughing, "and they look new
+to you and fresh; but when the weather's fine, take my word for it
+there's no place like home."
+
+"Oh, but I thought--"
+
+"You were going to see Arabian Night's wonders, eh?  Well, you will not,
+my lad.  Of course there are parts of foreign countries that are
+glorious.  I thought Sydney harbour a paradise when I first saw it; but
+then I had been four months at sea, and the weather horrible.  Hallo!
+here's an old friend.  He always disappears when the weather's bad, and
+buries himself somewhere.  I think he gets down among the stores.  Mind
+your dog!"
+
+Mark caught Bruff by the collar, for he was moving slowly off to meet
+Billy Widgeon, who was coming along the deck in company with a large
+monkey of a dingy brownish-black.  The sailor was holding it by one
+hand, and the animal was making a pretence of walking erect, but in a
+very awkward shuffling manner, while its quick eyes were watching the
+dog.
+
+"I've brought the captain to see you, Mr Mark, sir," said Billy
+grinning.  "He hasn't been well, and only come out of his berth this
+morning.  Here, Jack, shake hands with the gent."
+
+"Chick, chicker--chack, chack," cried the monkey; and turning sharply,
+he gave Billy's detaining hand a nip with his teeth, sharply enough to
+make the man utter an exclamation and let go, when the monkey leaped on
+to the bulwark, seized a rope, and went up it hand over hand in a
+quadrumanous manner to a height that he considered safe, and there held
+on and hung, looking down at the dog, chattering volubly the while.
+
+"He don't like the looks on him, sir," said Billy grinning.  "I told him
+he was a nipper.  I say, look at 'em.  Haw! haw!"
+
+The scene was curious, for as soon as Bruff was set at liberty he stared
+up at the monkey and began walking round and round, while after
+carefully lifting its tail with one hand, as if in dread that it might
+be seized, an act which would have required a ten-feet jump, the monkey
+went on chattering loudly as if scolding the dog for being there.
+
+"What would be the consequences if we fetched the monkey down?" said the
+second-mate, laughing and watching the two animals.
+
+"Bruff would kill him," said Mark decidedly.
+
+"He would have to catch him first, and the monkey is wonderfully strong.
+But we must have no fighting.  Let's see if we can't make them friends.
+Can you manage your dog?"
+
+"Oh, yes!" said Mark laughing.  "I can make him do what I like.  Here,
+Bruff."
+
+The dog came to him sidewise, keeping an eye on the monkey; and as soon
+as Morgan saw that Bruff was held by the collar he turned to the monkey.
+
+"Here, Jack, come down!"
+
+The monkey paid no heed, but swung himself to and fro, straining out his
+neck to peep round the mate and get a look at the dog.
+
+"Do you hear, sir! come down!" cried the mate.
+
+He was now so near that he could reach within a yard of where the active
+animal hung, and it looked down in his face with a comical look, and
+began to chatter, as if remonstrating and calling his attention to the
+dog, which uttered a low growl.
+
+"Quiet, Bruff!" cried Mark.
+
+"If you don't come down, Jack, I'll heave you overboard."
+
+There was another voluble burst of chattering, but the monkey did not
+stir.
+
+"Shall I fetch him down, sir?" said Billy grinning.
+
+"Yes, but don't scare him."
+
+"I won't scare him, sir.  Here, Jack, old man, come down."
+
+The monkey turned sharply at the sound of his voice, and chattered at
+him.
+
+"All right!  I hears what you says," replied Billy solemnly; "but the
+young gent's got tight hold of the dog, and he won't hurt you.  Down you
+comes!"
+
+The situation was ludicrous in the extreme, for, as if the monkey
+understood every word, and was angrily protesting and pointing out the
+danger, he kept on chattering, and bobbed his head from side to side.
+
+"Yes, that's all right enough," continued Billy, "but you're a coward,
+that's what you are.  Down you come!"
+
+Another fierce burst of chattering, and the rope shaken angrily.
+
+"Well, I've asked you twice," cried Billy.  "Here goes once more.  Down
+you comes!"
+
+If ever monkey said, "I won't," Jack did at that moment; but he changed
+his tone directly, for Billy ran to the bulwarks and began to unfasten
+the rope from the belaying-pin about which it was twisted, when,
+probably from a vivid recollection of having once been shaken off a
+rope, and apparently ignorant of the ease with which he could have
+escaped up into the rigging, the monkey began to slide down, uttering a
+low whining sound, and allowed the sailor to take him in his arms, but
+only to cling tightly to his neck.
+
+"Ah, it's all werry fine for you to come a-cuddling up like that!  You
+bit me just now."
+
+The monkey moaned and whined piteously, and kept its eyes fixed upon the
+dog, who was watching him all the time.
+
+"Ah, well: I forgives you!" said Billy.  "Now, then, sir, what next?"
+
+"Bring him to the dog."
+
+"But he thinks the dog's going to eat him, sir."
+
+"Then let's teach him better," said Mark.  "Here, Bruff, make friends
+here."
+
+Bruff looked up at his master and gave his tail a couple of wags.  Then
+turning to the monkey again he seemed lost in thought.
+
+"He won't bite now, will he, sir?" said Billy.
+
+"No, he's all right; but will the monkey bite?"
+
+"Not he, sir.  I should like to catch him at it.  Now, Jack," he
+continued, with one arm round his companion, "shake hands."
+
+He held the animal forward toward Bruff, who was watching him stolidly,
+and gave his head a shake.
+
+This act produced a frightened start on the monkey's part, and another
+burst of chattering.
+
+"Better let him go," said Morgan.  "I daresay they'll get used to one
+another by and by."
+
+"He'll do it, sir; give him time," said Billy.  "Now, Jack, give us your
+hand.  You just pat his head.  Sure he won't bite, sir?"
+
+"Certain," cried Mark.
+
+"It's all right: do you hear, stoopid?  Ah! would you bite?  You do, and
+I'll chuck yer overboard.  Now, then."
+
+In spite of the monkey's struggles he forced one hand to within reach of
+the dog's head, and pressed it down till he could pat it with the thin
+black fingers.
+
+Bruff whined, but he was held by the collar, and suffered the touch
+without other protest, while, as if relieved by finding that his hand
+was neither burned nor bitten off, the monkey made no resistance the
+second time, ending by touching the dog himself, and, as if overcome by
+curiosity, struggling to be free, and squatting down and examining the
+interior of his new acquaintance's ears.
+
+Bruff half-closed his eyes and made no resistance, and, cautiously
+loosening his hold upon the collar but kneeling ready to seize him at
+the least inimical display, Mark watched the little comedy which went
+on.
+
+For after a rigid examination of one ear, and a loud chattering,
+probably a lecture upon its structure, Jack pulled the head over and
+proceeded to examine the other ear, after which he made several pokes at
+the dog's eyes, and held his head while he looked into them as if they
+were something entirely new, all of which Bruff submitted to in the
+calmest manner.
+
+"They will not fight now," said the second-mate laughing.
+
+It was evident they would not, for the dog suddenly leaped up and ran
+away with the monkey in chase, the one big-headed and clumsy, the other
+all activity and life; and for the next ten minutes they were careering
+about the deck, chasing each other and in the best of companionship, the
+game ending by Jack making a rush and clambering into one of the boats,
+where he lay panting and gazing over the side at the dog, who crouched,
+blinking up at him with his tongue out, waiting for him to come down.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+HOW THE STOWAWAY STOWED HIMSELF.
+
+Glorious weather with the coasts of Africa and Europe visible together
+as they passed the straits.  Then lovely summer days with pleasant winds
+as they sailed along the Mediterranean.  The passengers were nearly
+always on deck, basking in the morning sunshine or taking refuge under
+the awning.  The Scotch merchant took snuff; the three German students,
+who all wore spectacles and seemed exactly alike, leaned over the side
+in a row, smoked big meerschaum pipes, looked round-faced and bibulous,
+and very often uttered the word _Zo_.  The stout doctor read books all
+day long; and the Irish major followed he captain everywhere, to declaim
+against the injustices practised in the army.  "Injustices, sor, which
+have kept me down to meejor when I ought to have been a gineral;" and as
+he talked Mrs Major worked with Mrs Strong, and watched her daughter,
+a pretty bright girl of twelve, who passed her time between her books
+and watching the three German students as she tried to recollect which
+was which.
+
+"Ah, captain," said the major to him one day, as they were all gazing at
+a large steamer that was passing them easily, "you won't understand me.
+You're a backward man, or you'd be in command of a fast steamer instead
+of a slow sailing ship."
+
+"Sailing ships are quite dangerous enough, major, without having
+hundreds of tons of coal aboard, and a large fire roaring night and day.
+Fires are risky things aboard ship."
+
+"Not if there's a properly disciplined crew on board, sor," said the
+major.  "Bah!"
+
+He cocked his cap on one side, and leaned forward to watch the passing
+steamer.
+
+"I hope we should do our duty if we did have a fire, discipline or no
+discipline," said the captain gruffly, and the subject dropped.
+
+It was a trifling incident, but it set several people on board thinking.
+It was, however, soon forgotten, and with the sea, as Billy Widgeon
+said, as smooth as a mill-pond, and all sail set, the great East
+Indiaman continued her course, the journey now being thoroughly
+enjoyable.
+
+There were plenty of little incidents occurring to keep the trip from
+being monotonous.  About every twenty-four hours Mr Gregory was finding
+fault with David Jimpny, who seemed to be one of those unfortunates who
+never succeed.  From scraps of his history, which he insisted upon
+retailing to Mark when he could find him alone, it seemed that his life
+had been so many scenes of trouble.
+
+"I'm a-trying hard, sir, as hard as I can, to be a sailor, but I don't
+get on.  My hands never seem to manage ropes, and it's no use for Mr
+Gregory to bully me.  I daren't go up these rope ladders; if I did I
+know I should be drowned."
+
+In spite of this Mr Gregory one day ordered him aloft, and the poor
+fellow managed to get up as high as the mainmast head, when he seemed
+entirely to lose his nerve, and, letting his legs slip in between the
+shrouds, he clung there with his hands clutching the ratlines, and
+holding on for life.
+
+"Go on up, sir; go on up," shouted the first-mate, and his hoarse orders
+attracted the attention of the passengers.  But the poor fellow did not
+move, and growing tired at last, the mate ordered him to come down.
+
+This order was of as much effect as those which preceded it, the man
+remaining motionless.
+
+"If this was only the royal navy," cried the mate, "I'd have you
+spread-eagled up there and lashed to the rigging till you got used to
+it.  Here, where are you going, youngster?"
+
+"Up to see what's the matter," said Mark coolly; and swinging himself up
+he began to climb the rigging.
+
+It was his first attempt, and as his feet began to make acquaintance
+with the ratlines he awoke for the first time to the fact that though
+they looked just like a ladder to climb it was a very different matter.
+They gave and the shrouds felt loose and seemed to sway; the height
+above looked terrific, and the distance below to the deck quite
+startling.  That clean-boarded deck, too, appeared as if it would be
+horribly hard to fall upon; but a doubt arose in his mind as to what
+would be the consequences if he slipped--would he fall with a crash upon
+the deck, or slip part of the way down the shrouds, and be shot off into
+that extremely soft place, the sea?
+
+The idea was so startling that he glanced down at it, to see that it
+looked gloriously clear and sunlit--transparent to a degree; but the
+great ship was gliding through it swiftly, and he knew that he would go
+down and down with the impetus of his fall, and come up somewhere in the
+current to be carried far astern in the troubled water in the wake of
+the ship.
+
+How long would it take them to get down a boat? and what would become of
+him while he was waiting?  He could swim as boys do swim in an ordinary
+way, who learn in some river or pool at school; but that was very
+different to being left astern in the sea with the ship going eight or
+nine knots an hour; and he felt that he would be drowned before help
+could come.
+
+Then there were the sharks!
+
+He did not know that there were any sharks, but his brain suggested to
+him that there would certainly be at least one big fellow whose back fin
+would be seen cutting the water as he glided towards his victim, his
+cross-cut mouth with its cruel, triangular saw-edged teeth ready; and
+then there would be the water stained with blood, and as he rose to the
+surface without, say, a leg, he would hear his mother's despairing
+shriek, and then--
+
+He had got up about a dozen ratlines while his imagination had painted
+all that picture for him, and the result was that he set his teeth hard
+and went on climbing, but thoroughly realising the while how it was
+David Jimpny, the miserable stowaway, had lost his nerve, and was now
+clinging above him in that absurd attitude, with his legs stuck through
+between the shrouds.
+
+Another minute and he was as high, holding on with both hands, and
+listening to the buzz of voices on deck, but particularly careful not to
+look down again.
+
+"I'll think about what I'm doing," he said to himself, "and then I
+sha'n't be afraid."
+
+"Hullo!  Jimpny," he said aloud, "what's the matter?" and, setting one
+hand at liberty, he gave the man a slap on the shoulder.
+
+"Don't, don't!  Pray, don't touch me, or I shall fall," groaned the
+wretched man.
+
+"Nonsense! you won't fall.  Get up through that hole on to the
+woodwork."
+
+"What, is it you, Mr Strong, sir?"
+
+"Me? yes.  I've come up to see what's the matter."
+
+"Oh, take care, sir, or you'll tumble overboard."
+
+"Nonsense! you've only got to hold tight," cried Mark to his own
+astonishment, for he could not understand how the man's cowardice should
+make him brave.
+
+"I--I did hold tight.  I am holding tight, sir, but I daren't move.  Oh,
+I do feel so giddy.  What shall I do?"
+
+"Try and be a man," said Mark.  "The mate's horribly cross with you.
+Here, hold tight with your hands and draw your legs out."
+
+"I--I daren't stir," groaned the wretched man, "I should fall if I did.
+My head's all of a swim."
+
+"Yes, because you frighten yourself," said Mark.
+
+"Now then, Strong," cried the mate, "is that fellow asleep?"
+
+"No, sir, he's coming down directly."
+
+"Coming down!" growled the mate.  "There, take care of him and mind he
+don't fall."
+
+"You hear what he says," whispered Mark.  "Come on up here.  I'll go
+first and show you the way."
+
+Truth to tell Mark did not want to go any higher, but under the
+circumstances he felt bound, terrible as it looked, and the remainder of
+the climb over the man's head was not made any the pleasanter by the
+poor wretch moaning out--
+
+"Oh, don't! oh, don't!  You'll push me off!  You'll fall!  I know you'll
+fall."
+
+But Mark did not fall, and though he chose the easier way up he did
+display some courage, and lay flat down to extend a hand to his
+miserable companion.
+
+"There, take hold of my hand.  I'll help you," he said.
+
+The man shook his head--wisely, perhaps, for Mark's help would not have
+been great as far as sustaining him went.
+
+"I can't--I daren't move," he said.  "It's as bad as being shut up in
+the hold.  Please call for help."
+
+"Ahoy, there!" shouted a familiar voice.  "What are you doing, Mark?"
+
+"Trying to help this man, father."
+
+"Here, Jimpny," shouted the captain, "get up, sir.  Don't hang in the
+rigging there like that."
+
+The man moaned, and only clung the closer.
+
+"Do you hear, sir?" cried the captain; but the man was livid, and as he
+gazed wildly up at Mark, the lad lowered himself down, thrust an arm
+round one of the ropes, and took a firm grasp of his collar.
+
+"What's the matter, Mark?" cried the captain.
+
+"He's going to faint, I think."
+
+"Here, Small, up aloft with a rope there," cried the captain, "and make
+it fast round him."
+
+The boatswain seized a coil of line and trotted to the other side of the
+deck.  Mark saw him cross, but was astonished to see how soon he
+appeared at the mast-head.
+
+"Hold tight, youngster," he said, "I'll soon give him his physic."
+
+"What are you going to do?" cried Mark.
+
+"Hang him.  You'll see," said the boatswain with a chuckle.
+
+Jimpny groaned and seemed to cling spasmodically to the shrouds as the
+great seaman slipped the end of the rope round him and made it fast.
+After which he passed the other end of the rope over a stay and lowered
+it down to the deck.
+
+"Ready below?" he shouted.
+
+"All right!" came up.
+
+"You get a bit higher, youngster.  That's your sort.  Now, my London
+prime, let go with them hands."
+
+"No, no," groaned the unfortunate man.  "I dare not."
+
+"Then I shall have to make you," roared the boatswain.  "Heave ahead
+there!"
+
+The rope tightened and there was a tremendous strain upon the man's
+chest, while, by a dexterous snatch, Small jerked one of the clinging
+hands free and thrust Jimpny off the shroud, making him swing round in
+the air, and this helped to jerk the other hand from its grip.
+
+"Now you have him.  Down he goes."
+
+It was all so rapidly done that it took Mark's breath away.  One minute
+the miserable man was clinging there half fainting, the next he was
+swinging in the air and being slowly lowered down to the deck.
+
+"You don't want sarving that way, my lad," said the boatswain laughing.
+"Catch hold o' that rope and slide down.  I'll go this way."
+
+Mark shrank for a moment but seized the rope the next, and slid down so
+quickly that his hands felt uncomfortably warm, and he reached the deck
+as Billy Widgeon was unfastening the rope from round Jimpny's chest.
+
+"Nice sorter sailor that, Captain Strong," said Mr Gregory sourly.
+
+"Yes," said the captain quietly.  "Don't send him aloft again.  Let him
+help the cook."
+
+"Help the cook!  Do you want to poison us, sir?"
+
+"No.  The man has no nerve, but he may prove himself useful some other
+way."
+
+"You are a brave boy," said a pleasant silvery voice behind Mark, and
+turning sharply round, it was to see the major's little daughter
+hurrying toward the cabin, in which she disappeared.
+
+"There, go below," said the mate angrily, "and don't show yourself to me
+again for a week."
+
+The stowaway rose and crept away, looking sideways at the sea, and
+somehow Mark could not help feeling sorry for his pitiful case.
+
+Mark did not feel as if he had been brave, and as they sat at tea that
+evening and he looked across at where Mary O'Halloran was seated with
+her mother, he said to himself that if she knew all he had thought up
+aloft and what his sensations were she would have looked upon him as an
+impostor.
+
+He felt so uncomfortable all that evening, and worried, that he longed
+to get away by himself, for the conversation seemed to be all about him.
+
+"I should make a soldier of him," said the major to Captain Strong.
+"The only career for a brave boy, sir, in spite of the disgraceful
+management at the War Office."
+
+Mark winced, and glanced towards those peaceful young gentlemen, the
+German agricultural students; but they were all three beaming upon him
+with their spectacles, looking about as round in the face and as
+inexpressive as so many enlarged buns.
+
+He glanced at the little Scottish merchant, but he took snuff and nodded
+at him.
+
+The stout doctor was looking at him and making notes in a memorandum
+book, as if he were writing down an account of the affair.
+
+Mr Morgan was on deck; but Mr Gregory, as soon as their eyes met,
+deliberately winked at him.
+
+He turned his gaze upon his father, to find that he was thoughtfully
+watching him; while, after receiving a friendly shake of the head from
+Mrs Major and a merry look from Mary, who seemed to be enjoying his
+confusion, as a last resource the lad looked at his mother, to find she
+had ready for him a tender smile.
+
+"And she put three extra lumps of sugar in my tea," said Mark to
+himself.  "I never felt so ashamed of anything in my life."
+
+To make matters worse, the major began in a loud voice to talk about the
+heroic deeds of boys as found in history, and though the saloon cabin
+was hot enough before, it seemed now to Mark that it was tropical, and
+he was only too glad to go out on deck and wipe his streaming face in
+the company of Bruff and Jack the monkey, who, from becoming the
+companion of the dog, was willing enough to transfer some of his
+friendliness to the dog's master.
+
+But even here he was not left in peace, for Billy Widgeon came up to
+compliment him on his climbing.
+
+"Look ye here, Mr Strong, sir, you'll do it.  You come up with me and
+we'll go right up to the main-topgallant cross-trees to-morrow.  I'll
+see as you don't fall."
+
+"Oh, bother the climbing!" cried Mark.  "I wish there wasn't a bit of
+rigging in the ship."
+
+"But we couldn't get on without rigging, Mr Mark, sir," said the little
+sailor taking the impatient words literally.  "See how them sails is
+spread.  Rigging's a fine thing, sir; so's a ship.  You be a sailor,
+sir, and when you're a skipper you have me for your bosun.  I aren't so
+big as old Small, but I'd put a deal o' heart into it, and keep the men
+up to the mark."
+
+"Oh, I shall never be a captain," said Mark impatiently.
+
+"I don't know so much about that, sir.  All the lads says as it was
+wonderful the way you went up after the rat."
+
+"After the what!"
+
+"Rat, sir.  The lads calls that stowaway chap the rat because he made
+hisself a hole down in the cargo.  Lor' a me, think of a thing like that
+calling hisself a man!"
+
+"But he has been half starved, Billy, and kicked about in the world.
+Perhaps if you'd been brought down as low you would have been as great a
+coward."
+
+"Hah!  I never thought o' that," said Billy scratching his head.  "I
+say, Mr Mark, sir, how you do put things.  But no, sir, you aren't
+right--leastwise not quite, you see; because if I'd been brought down
+like that, and felt as scared as he did, I wouldn't have let anyone
+know, fear o' being laughed at."
+
+"You don't know and I don't know, so we can't discuss it," said Mark.
+"Here, what are you going to do?"
+
+"Ketch Master Jack and take him to his snuggery.  He's a-getting into
+bad habits since your dog's come aboard, sir.  Monkeys is a sooperior
+sort o' animal, and the men's been talking it over."
+
+"Talking it over?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  They says as a monkey's next door to a man.  Not as I thinks
+so."
+
+"Then what do you think, Billy?"
+
+"Oh, I think he lives several streets off, sir; but the men thinks
+tother, and they says as though it's all werry well for a monkey to play
+with a dog and be friends, just as a man might; it's going down hill
+like for him to make a habit o' sleeping in a dog-kennel."
+
+"Nonsense! the monkey's happy enough with the dog."
+
+"So was a mate o' mine with the Noo Zeeling savages, after cutting away
+from his ship; but our old skipper said he ought to be ashamed of
+hisself for going and living that way, and them beginning to tattoo him
+in a pattern.  He said he was a-degrading of hisself, and fetched him
+aboard, saying as if he wanted tattooing some of his messmates should
+mark his back with a rope's end.  No, sir, we thinks a deal o' that
+monkey--our crew does--and we don't want to see him go wrong."
+
+"What stuff!  My Bruff is quite as intelligent an animal as your monkey.
+Suppose I said he should not associate with the ugly brute?"
+
+"No, no, sir: Jack aren't ugly," said Billy Widgeon in protest.  "He
+aren't handsome, but no one can't say as he's ugly; while that dog--"
+
+"Oh, he isn't handsome either, but it's absurd to draw the line between
+the two animals like that."
+
+"Well, sir, I tell you what the men says; and they thinks a deal o'
+Jacko, and looks after his morals wonderful.  We do let him chew
+tobacco, though it don't agree with him, 'cause he will swaller it; but
+as to a drop o' rum, why, Old Greg nearly chucked a man overboard once
+for giving him a tot, and Small the boatswain stopped one chap's grog
+for a week for teaching Jack to drink.  We thinks a deal of that monkey,
+sir."
+
+"And I think a deal of my dog, and keep him a deal cleaner than Jack.
+But I don't want them to be together.  Take Jack away."
+
+"Werry sorry, Mr Mark, sir.  Mean no offence," said Billy
+apologetically; "but it's the men, sir.  They think a deal o' that
+monkey."
+
+Billy went forward with a chain and a strap to where a kennel had been
+made for Bruff, by turning a flour barrel on its side and wedging it
+between two hencoops, and here, greatly to the vexation of the chickens,
+who lived in dread of Jack's long hairy arm and clever fingers, which
+were always stretching through the bars to pull their feathers, the
+monkey had--to use Billy's words--"just turned in."  The barrel held the
+two animals tightly, and there they were cuddled up together in the most
+friendly manner, Jack with his head right in towards the end, Bruff with
+his long black muzzle to the front, and Jacko's tail moving up and down
+in regular motion as he breathed.
+
+"Here! you've got to come home," cried Billy, making a dash at the
+monkey's legs, but he started back as quickly as he went forward, for
+Bruff sprang up, and, twitching his ears, burst into a furious fit of
+barking, while Jack got behind him and chattered his defiance.
+
+"Well, that's a rum game," said Billy, rubbing his nose with a rusty
+link of the chain he held; "think o' them two sticking up for one
+another like that."
+
+"Now, then, which is the more intelligent animal?" said Mark, laughing.
+
+"Well, sir, I dunno, but if so be as you'd take your dog away--"
+
+"No," said Mark quietly, "I sha'n't interfere.  The monkey's happier
+there than down in your stuffy forecastle."
+
+"Which I won't deny as it is stuffy, sir, far from it," said Billy; "but
+when you get used to the smell you don't mind, and I'm sure Jack likes
+it.  So call away your dog."
+
+"No," said Mark, "you may get him away if you like."
+
+"Well, if so be as I must, I must," said the little sailor.  "The men
+says they wants Jacko, and--Lor' a me!"
+
+As he spoke he had gone down on one knee to reach into the barrel and
+get hold of Jack's leg, but at the angry remonstrative cry of the monkey
+as he felt it seized, Bruff made so furious an attack upon the sailor
+that he started back and rolled over, to find Bruff spring upon his
+chest.
+
+"Hold hard, mate; don't bite.  I gives up," said Billy quietly.  "Call
+him off, Mr Mark, sir."
+
+But the lad had already caught the dog by the collar, and dragged him
+away growling.
+
+Just then Jack sprang out of the barrel chattering loudly, and bounded
+toward the main hatchway.  Bruff followed as if understanding the call,
+and as the monkey sprang down the dog leaped after him, but did not
+descend the steps so cleverly as his quadrumanous friend, the fact being
+made plain to those on deck by a loud scratching and scuffling noise,
+followed by a heavy bump.
+
+"That there's the dog," said Billy sitting up and scratching his ear.
+"His head's too heavy for going down them steps nose fust.  Think we can
+catch Jack now?"
+
+"No, that you will not," said Mark, laughing at his companion's troubled
+face.  "Did Bruff frighten you?"
+
+"S'pose he did, sir.  He made me feel mortal queer for a minute.  But I
+s'pose he wouldn't bite.  Here, they may fetch the monkey theirselves,"
+he continued, rising slowly; "I shan't try no more; and if his manners
+is spylte by 'sociating with dogs it aren't my fault."
+
+Billy Widgeon went forward toward the forecastle in his calm
+even-tempered way, and Mr Morgan, who had been looking on from the
+poop-deck, came and joined Mark, to stand talking with him as they
+leaned over the side gazing up at the transparent starry sky, or down at
+the clear dark sea, while they listened to the rushing water as the
+great ship glided on under quite a cloud of canvas.  The night was now
+dark, with the ship's sailing lanterns and the glow from the
+cabin-windows showing faintly and casting reflections upon the unruffled
+sea.
+
+"Suppose we were to run on to another ship, Mr Morgan," said Mark at
+last, breaking a long silence.  "What then?"
+
+"If we kept such a bad look-out, and they did the same, most likely we
+should go to the bottom, perhaps both of us; but you turn in and leave
+all that to the watch."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+HOW BRUFF SOUNDED THE ALARM.
+
+It was turning-in time, and after a couple of sleepy yawns Mark went to
+the cabin to find that nearly everyone had retired for the night.
+
+As soon as he had climbed upon his shelf he found that it was going to
+be one of those hot uncomfortable nights when pillow and sheet get
+ticklish and make the skin feel itchy.  The air he breathed was
+stifling, and for a long time he lay awake listening to the rippling of
+the water against the sides of the ship.  But at last he slept deeply
+and dreamlessly, to be awakened by a hand laid upon his shoulder.
+
+"Mark, my lad.  Hist! don't make a noise."
+
+"What's the matter, Mr Gregory?"
+
+"Nothing much, my lad; only that dog of yours is somewhere below howling
+dreadfully.  I want you to come and quiet him."
+
+"Won't he lie down when you speak, sir?" said Mark drowsily.
+
+"No.  Come: wake up my lad!"
+
+"All right, sir!"
+
+"Nonsense, boy! you're going to sleep again.  Come, now, rouse up!"
+
+"All--yes, sir, I'm awake," said Mark, springing out of his berth.
+"I'll slip on something and come."
+
+"I'll wait for you," said the mate dryly.
+
+It was a wise decision, for Mark was so confused with drowsiness that he
+dressed mechanically, and suffered himself to be led out on to the deck
+where the comparative coolness made him a little more aware of what was
+going on.
+
+"Now, are you awake?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  Quite awake now, sir," said Mark wonderingly.  "What do you
+want?  Is the ship going down?"
+
+"Nonsense, boy!" said the mate laughing.  "Why, you sleepy-headed
+fellow, didn't you understand what I said?"
+
+"That I was to get up?" said Mark.
+
+"Yes, and quiet your dog.  There, do you hear that?"
+
+A long piteous howl now fell upon Mark's ears, and recalling how the dog
+had gone below, he concluded that the animal was eager to escape on
+deck, but after his experience in falling down the steps he did not care
+to attack them again.
+
+"What a noise!" cried Mark, as the long persistent howl came up.  "Has
+he got stuck somewhere in the cargo?"
+
+"No; he could not be, I think.  Hark, there's the monkey too."
+
+An angry chattering sound came up, followed by another howl and an angry
+bark.
+
+"There, go down and quiet him.  The men in the forecastle can't sleep."
+
+Mark, now thoroughly awake, went sharply to the hatchway and descended,
+wondering why one of the sailors had not been sent down to quiet Bruff,
+and of course ignorant of the fact that they had one and all declined to
+go and face him, for certain reasons associated with the sharpness of
+his teeth and strength of his jaws, while the mate felt that it would be
+an easier way of solving the difficulty to send down the dog's master
+than to go himself.
+
+It was very dark below, and the dog's howl came once more as Mark took a
+lantern from where it was swinging.
+
+"Why, where can he be?  Here, Bruff, Bruff!"
+
+Mark dropped the lantern with a crash, and the candle within it
+flickered for a moment and went out, as a horrible thought struck him,
+and turning back to the ladder he sprang up, and was about to shout, but
+his better sense prevailed, and he ran to where the first-mate stood by
+the bulwarks talking to one of the men.
+
+"Well, have you quieted him?"
+
+"Mr Gregory!  Here!  I want to speak to you," said Mark huskily.
+
+"What, has he bitten you?"
+
+Mark dragged at his arm, and as soon as they were on the other side,
+panted out in a low whisper:
+
+"There's something on fire down below."
+
+"What!" shouted the mate in his surprise and horror.  Then recovering
+himself, and knowing the risks attending a scare, "Poor boy!" he cried
+aloud.  "Well, we shall be obliged to have that dog shot."
+
+This quieted the men, who were advancing, and they went back to their
+places, while Mr Gregory walked Mark slowly by him to the cabin-door.
+
+"Are you sure you smelt fire?" he whispered.
+
+"Yes, sir, and there is smoke coming out from between those lower
+hatches."
+
+"If I go down to make sure the men will take alarm and there may be a
+rush," said the mate coolly.  "Here, go and rouse up Morgan quietly.
+Don't say what's wrong.  I want him."
+
+"And my father?" panted Mark.
+
+"Be cool, boy; everything depends on coolness now.  I'm going there."
+
+In two minutes the captain and second-mate were out on deck, and Mark
+caught a glimpse of a pistol in his father's breast, and saw him slip
+two into the officers' hands.
+
+"Gregory, Morgan," he said, "you stop with the men.  You, Gregory, with
+the watch; you, Morgan, keep guard over the forecastle hatch."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir."
+
+The next minute the captain was below, Mark following him, and he heard
+him utter a deep sigh, almost a groan.
+
+"Is it fire, father?" whispered Mark.
+
+"Yes, my lad, somewhere down in the hold.  Heaven help us! we are in a
+sore strait now.  Who first noticed the fire?"
+
+"It was Bruff, father; he is howling now."
+
+"Poor dog! he must not be burned to death.  Go and try and find him; but
+if you find there is any smoke or strange smelling vapour, come back at
+once."
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+"No, stop; I'll go with you.  Where is the dog?"
+
+"Somewhere below."
+
+"Then he must wait.  I have the ship and people to try and save."
+
+"Then let me go, father."
+
+"Well, go, my boy, and Heaven be with you."
+
+The necessity for risking his life was put aside, for there was a
+scuffling of feet over the deck, and the dog came up whining and then
+tried to go back.  Mark called to him, but it was of no use, and he
+rushed back a little way, barking now fiercely.
+
+"I can't let him go," said Mark hoarsely, and he dashed after the dog;
+but before he had gone a dozen yards he kicked against something soft,
+and fell down, but only to scramble up again, for the mystery of the
+dog's behaviour was explained.  His companion the monkey was half
+overcome by the vapour arising from the fire in the hold, and had
+crawled, it seemed, part of the way toward the hatch and then sank down,
+the dog refusing to leave him till he heard voices.
+
+Mark dragged the poor, half inanimate animal to the hatch and carried
+him on deck, Bruff barking loudly till they were on deck, where a scene
+of excitement was rapidly growing.
+
+"Silence!" the captain roared as Mark reached his side.  "No man is to
+go near a boat save those who are picked out.  Listen, my lads, and you
+gentlemen as well.  I will have discipline observed.  And mind this: I'm
+going to extinguish this fire and save the ship if possible.  If it
+proves to be impossible we'll take to the boats."
+
+"When it's too late," shouted one of the crew.
+
+"No; when it is necessary.  Mr Morgan, take three men and the
+passengers, and put provisions and water in the boats with compasses,
+and lower them down ready.  As soon as each boat is ready place one of
+the gentlemen armed by her, and he is to shoot down any man who turns
+coward and rushes for the boats before orders are given.  Now, sir, you
+have your orders.  Go on."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," cried the second-mate.  "Widgeon, Small, Smith, this way.
+Now, gentlemen, quick!"
+
+There was a rush to follow the mate, while the rest of the men on deck
+stood in a knot whispering and excited, for the smell of burning now
+grew plainer and plainer, and a dense fume rose from the hatch.
+
+"Now, Gregory, have up the men from the forecastle.  Did they hear what
+was said?"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," came in a chorus as the men came scrambling up.
+
+"But, captain--the ladies," cried Major O'Halloran excitedly.
+
+"Well, sir, they will behave like English ladies should," said the
+captain loudly.  "My wife will have charge of them, and they will be
+ready to go down to the boats slowly and in order.  Mark, my boy, go to
+your mother's side and help her in every way you can."
+
+Mark ran to where his mother was standing with Mrs O'Halloran and Mary,
+all half-dressed and trembling.
+
+"I heard what your father said, Mark, my boy, and we are going to be
+calm.  You can go back and help."
+
+Mark ran back, to find his father giving orders sharply, but in as cool
+and matter-of-fact a manner as if there was no danger on the way.  The
+pump handiest was rigged with the fire hose attached, and another was
+being got ready for supplying the buckets with which the men were
+preparing to deluge the flame.
+
+"Now, Gregory, I must stay on deck.  Go down and haul off the hatches.
+Find as near as you can where the fire seems to be before you begin to
+work.  Remember one gallon well placed is worth five hundred thrown at
+random."
+
+"You may trust me, Captain Strong," said the mate quietly.  "Now then,
+two men--volunteers.  Go down on your hands and knees as soon as we are
+below, and you will not feel the smoke."
+
+The mate disappeared down the main hatch, and the men stood panting to
+begin, buckets filled, the hose distended, and one of the sailors
+holding his thumb tightly over the hole in the branch.
+
+As the men went down the captain drew a long breath, for he realised how
+difficult it would be to apply the water effectively.  The lower deck
+was growing more dense with smoke moment by moment, and the men who were
+to direct the water upon the flames would be compelled to stand below in
+that stifling heat.
+
+It was an awful time, and every soul there realised the horror of the
+position--a hundred miles from the nearest land, the vessel all of wood
+and laden with a fairly inflammable cargo, which must be well alight by
+now to judge from the tremendous fume.
+
+The captain's manner and his orders, however, gave some confidence to
+the men, who, as they waited, saw one boat lowered and heard it kiss the
+water, while directly after preparations were being made for the
+lowering of another.
+
+"That's right," said the captain cheerily.  "We have plenty of boats, so
+there is nothing to fear.  Now, Mr Gregory, how is it below?"
+
+There was a faint reply, evidently from a distance, and then a rush was
+heard, and the two men came up blinded, choking, and coughing violently.
+
+"Where's Mr Gregory?" cried the captain.
+
+"Here!" was the reply, and the first-mate's head appeared above the
+coamings of the hatchway.
+
+"Well?"
+
+"I can make out nothing, sir," said the mate, setting down his lantern,
+"only that the smoke is rising all over."
+
+"Can't you localise the place?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Up with the hatches, then, and let's have the water in," cried the
+captain.  "You take the deck now, and I'll go down.  Three fresh men
+here."
+
+Half a dozen stepped forward and part were selected, for the discipline
+of the ship told, and not a man so much as glanced at the boats now.
+
+"Axes," said the captain, "and as soon as we haul off some hatches pass
+down that hose, Gregory, and begin handing down the buckets."
+
+"Are you going to stay below, sir?"
+
+"Yes, for a spell," said the captain; and Mark felt a swelling sensation
+at his breast as he saw his father go down into that suffocating fume to
+risk his life.
+
+At that moment a hand was laid upon his shoulder, and turning sharply it
+was to see that the major was just passing him, laden with provisions
+for the next boat.
+
+"What a soldier he would have made, my lad!" said the major, and passed
+on.
+
+"He could not have done anything more brave," said Mark to himself, "if
+he had been a soldier;" and he ran close to the hatchway as the buckets
+of water were being handed steadily down, while the pumps clanked
+heavily with the labour given by willing hands.
+
+"Bravo, my lads!" cried Mr Gregory excitedly.  "Cheerily ho!  Now
+then."
+
+The men uttered a tremendous cheer, and another and another, and for the
+next half-hour there was the clanking of the pumps, and the loud
+slushing noise of the water being thrown below, and the hiss and rush of
+the constant stream from the hose.
+
+The next hatches were thrown open, risky as the proceeding was; but
+without a current of air through the ship it would have been impossible
+for those below to have kept on with their suffocating task.
+
+For the first quarter of an hour the captain and those with him worked
+like giants, and then came up, to be relieved by the mate and others,
+those who had been below now passing the water.
+
+But it was blind and helpless work, and when this had been going on for
+about three-quarters of an hour, and the toilers were getting exhausted
+by the heat and smoke, Mr Morgan came up and announced that the boats
+were all ready, and this set four strong men at liberty to help with the
+water.
+
+The second-mate went down at once, and in a quarter of an hour was
+relieved by the captain, who came up in turn, looking more stern than
+Mark had ever seen before.
+
+"I can't help feeling that we are wasting our energy," he said to Mr
+Morgan.  "We are not making the slightest impression."
+
+"I'm afraid not," said the officer addressed.  "The fire is increasing."
+
+"Yes; and at any moment it may burst forth with a roar, Morgan,"
+whispered the captain; "but for heaven's sake don't show that we think
+so."
+
+Another anxious quarter of an hour passed, and matters were evidently
+growing worse.  The water was passed down into the hold with unabated
+vigour, the men working desperately, but the pillar of smoke which rose
+from the hold grew thicker and thicker and half hid some of the flapping
+sails, for now it had fallen quite a calm.  From time to time Mark had
+been to his mother, who was trying, with the major's wife, to whisper
+hope and encouragement to Mary, the poor girl being horrified at the
+idea of having to leave the ship in an open boat.  But at last there
+seemed to be no hope to whisper from one to the other.  Men grew more
+stern as they worked with savage energy; and in spite of the time which
+had elapsed since the first alarm there had not been a murmur nor a
+whisper of going to the boats, which floated on either side and astern.
+
+But the captain and the two mates knew that before long there must be a
+rush of fire up through the great hatch, that the sails would
+immediately catch, and then the masts and rigging would rapidly be a
+blaze from stem to stern.
+
+Mark had just returned from one of his visits to the front of the cabin,
+where the helpless women stood gazing at the dimly-seen crowd about the
+hatch, going and coming, and blotting out the dim light of the lanterns
+placed here and there.  He was close to his father as once Mr Gregory
+came up, blinded with the smoke, and half suffocated.
+
+"I can't hit upon the place," he said angrily.  "We're wasting time,
+Captain Strong, for the smoke comes up all over, and we have never yet
+touched its source."
+
+"No," said the captain gloomily; "but we must persevere."
+
+"Oh, yes, sir, we'll persevere; never fear for that."
+
+"If I could only think of what would be likely to light by spontaneous
+combustion, it might help us."
+
+"I can help you to that," said the mate.
+
+"The fire's gaining fast, sir," said Small, the boatswain, coming up;
+"Mr Morgan says we must have more hands below."
+
+A thrill ran through the men, and one of them threw down his bucket.
+
+"It's labour in vain, captain," he said.  "Better keep our strength for
+the oars."
+
+"Take up that bucket, sir," roared the captain furiously, "or--"
+
+He did not finish his sentence but took a couple of strides forward, and
+the man resumed his work.
+
+"I give orders here," said the captain in a loud deep voice.  "Now, Mr
+Gregory, what is it?"
+
+"Matches.  A chest or two must have been sent by some scoundrel
+described as something else, and the pressure or crushing in of the case
+has ignited them."
+
+"That does not help us, sir," said the captain bitterly.  "I want to
+know where they are."
+
+"Matches--did you say matches?" cried a highly-pitched voice; and Jimpny
+dropped his bucket and started forward.
+
+"Back to your work!" cried one of the men, but the captain stopped him.
+
+"Yes, matches, my man," he said, for there was a faint hope that Jimpny
+might know something.
+
+"There were chests of 'em down below where I lay," said Jimpny eagerly.
+"I could smell 'em strong all the time."
+
+"Smell them?" cried Mr Gregory.
+
+"Yes, sir, onion phosphory smell, you know."
+
+"Hurrah!" cried the first-mate excitedly.  "Axes, my lad, and lanterns.
+We know now."
+
+Three men started forward, but the captain caught the axe from one and a
+lantern from another, and was about to follow the first-mate when an
+uneasy movement among the crew arrested him, and he handed the axe and
+light to Mr Morgan.
+
+"You go down," he said.  "I may be wanted here."
+
+It was a wise resolve, for it stayed a rush to the boats just at the
+moment when a chance was left of saving the vessel.
+
+The captain's stern presence was, however, sufficient to keep the men
+back; and as the pumping and carrying of water ceased, all stood
+irresolute, listening to the blows of hatchets and the breaking of wood
+below.
+
+All doubt as to the right place being found was ended the next minute,
+for a lurid light shot up from the hatch, and a shout arose from the
+men, who would have rushed away in panic but for the captain's words.
+
+"Pump! pump!" he roared; "now then, pass on that water."
+
+The hiss and splash of water arose directly from below, showing that the
+well-directed stream was now striking the fire.
+
+There was a cheer from below, too, which sent a thrill through them; and
+for the next half-hour the water was sent down with the energy of
+despair.  Then despair began to give way to hope, for the glare from
+below was fainter; then it grew paler still, and at last nothing but a
+dense white blinding smoke came up; and directly after the two mates,
+Small, and a couple of men came staggering up, to fall on the deck
+exhausted.
+
+"Major O'Halloran!" shouted the captain, handing him his revolver, "take
+charge here, sir, till these men recover.  Now, my lads, we've nearly
+won.  Two men to go with me below."
+
+The captain sprang down, followed by Billy Widgeon and Jimpny, while, as
+the men cheered and went on pumping, Mark ran to the cabin to return
+with spirits to revive the exhausted men.
+
+It was a good idea, followed out by Mrs Strong and the major's wife,
+who handed refreshments to all the men in turn.
+
+Mr Morgan was the first to rise to his feet and try to go down again,
+but he was too weak, and staggered away from the hatchway.
+
+One of the men started forward, but Mark was before him.
+
+"If my father can live down there, I can," he thought; and he dropped
+down to crawl through the smoke beside the leather hose of the fire
+pump, and this led him directly to where his father was directing the
+nozzle of the branch down through the broken deck, a dim lantern beside
+showing that a pillar of smoke was slowly rising up and away from the
+captain.
+
+"That you, Mark?  Go and tell them to stop sending down buckets; the
+hose will do now.  The fire is mastered, and--"
+
+He did not finish his sentence, for his voice was choking and husky as
+Mark ran to the other hatch and climbed up with his message.
+
+It was received with a tremendous burst of cheering, the men who had
+been handing the buckets dashing them down and seizing each other's
+hands, while others indulged in a hearty hug.
+
+For the danger was indeed past, and at the end of an hour the men, who
+had been working in relays, were able to leave off pumping just as the
+dawn was beginning to appear in the east, while an hour later, when it
+was broad daylight, the sun rose upon a thin blue thread of steam rising
+from the hold, and disclosed a group of haggard-looking,
+smoke-blackened, red-eyed men, utterly worn out by their efforts.
+
+But the ship was saved, and the captain said, "Thank God!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+HOW JACK PROVED TO BE AN IMPOSTOR.
+
+The damage could not be thoroughly ascertained, for a vast deal of
+mischief must have been done by the water poured into the hold, water
+which exercised the men's patience a good, deal before it was all
+cleared out; but the amount destroyed by fire when they worked down to
+the seat of the mishap was comparatively small, for the smouldering had
+produced a vast amount of smoke.
+
+One little matter which took place toward the next evening, when order
+was once more restored, the boats in their places, and everyone assured
+that there was no chance of a fresh outbreak, deserves recording.
+
+It was close upon dusk when, as Jimpny came slouching along the deck, he
+encountered the first-mate, and was about to turn aside; but Mr
+Gregory, who had been chatting with Mark, and patting Bruff, who had won
+the distinction of giving first warning of the fire, stopped him.
+
+"I'm rather rough sometimes with the men, Jimpny, and I have been
+particularly hard on you.  I can't say a good word for you as a sailor,
+but you have saved this ship by coming aboard, and if Captain Strong--"
+
+"What about him?" said the captain.  "Oh, I see; you were talking to
+Jimpny here.  Ah! he has his strong points, you see, Gregory.  I shall
+not forget what took place last night."
+
+"Don't talk about it, sir," said the stowaway in a shamefaced fashion.
+"Only too glad to have recollected about the matches."
+
+"Ah," said the mate; "and if you could only recollect the scoundrel who
+sent them, he should pay for the damage, eh, Captain Strong?"
+
+"Yes," said the captain; "it was a cruel trick, for the sake of saving a
+few pounds.  But, as I said before, Jimpny, I shall not forget last
+night's work."
+
+"I thank you kindly, sir," said the man, "but I don't want nothing, only
+a chance to get on a bit."
+
+"And that," said the captain, "you have found."
+
+The damaged cargo was thrown overboard, the hold pumped dry, and exposed
+to the air as much as possible, and the risk they had all run began to
+be looked upon as a thing of the past.  But there was one personage, if
+he could be so styled, who did not recover quite so quickly from the
+troubles of that night, and that was Jacko, who suffered so severely
+from the overpowering nature of the smoke in the hold that he became
+quite an invalid, and had to be brought up on deck by Billy Widgeon, and
+laid upon a wool mat in the sun.
+
+The poor animal was very ill, but his ludicrous aspect and
+caricature-like imitation of sick humanity excited laughter among
+passengers and men.  He used to lie perfectly still, with his face
+contracted into comical wrinkles; but his eyes were bright and always on
+the move, while, if Bruff were away from his side for five minutes, he
+would begin to chatter uneasily, and then howl till the dog returned, to
+take hold of his arm, and pretend to bite him, ending by lying down and
+watching him with half-closed eyes.
+
+After a while Bruff would utter a remonstrant growl, for Jack would set
+to work trying to solve the problem why the dog's curly coat would not
+lie down smooth and straight; and in his efforts to produce that
+smoothness that he was accustomed to see upon his own skin, he sometimes
+tugged vigorously enough to cause pain.
+
+Mark was watching the pair one day, when Billy Widgeon came up.
+
+"Why don't he get better?" said Mark.  "He ought to be all right by
+now."
+
+Billy Widgeon looked at the monkey, which seemed to be watching them
+both intently, and mysteriously drew Mark aside.
+
+"That there settles it, Mr Mark, sir," he said.
+
+"Settles what?"
+
+"'Bout his being so ill, sir.  I see it all just then in his wicked old
+eyes."
+
+"I don't understand you, Billy."
+
+"Don't you?  He's a-gammoning on us, sir."
+
+"Gammoning us?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  That's his artfulness.  He likes to be carried down to his
+snug warm bed, and carried up again, and set here in the sun, and being
+fed with figs and sweet biscuits and lumps of sugar.  It's my 'pinion
+that he's as well as you and me."
+
+"No, no," said Mark.  "I believe the poor thing is very ill."
+
+"I don't, sir, and if you'll let me, I'll cure him in a minute."
+
+"But you'd hurt him."
+
+"Well, sir, I might hurt his feelings, but I wouldn't hurt him nowheres
+else."
+
+"What will you do, then?"
+
+"Here, hold hard," said Billy in a whisper.  "Don't talk so loud; he's
+a-watching of us."
+
+Mark glanced in the direction of the monkey, and sure enough the animal
+had drawn himself up a little, and was peering at them over the dog's
+back, as the latter lay down at full length in the sunshine.
+
+"That's his artfulness, Mr Mark, sir," whispered Billy.  "I've had the
+keer of that there monkey ever since he come aboard, and have stood by
+him many's the time when the men was up to their larks, and wanted to
+make him pick up red-hot ha'pennies, and to give him pepper pills to
+eat.  Why, there was one chap used to spend hours setting traps for him.
+What d'yer think he used to do?"
+
+"I don't know," replied Mark.
+
+"Well, I'll just tell you, sir: he used to shove a little thin old file
+through a cotton reel, and make a drill of it.  You know what a drill
+is, sir?"
+
+"Yes, I've seen it used," said Mark; "worked to and fro with a steel bow
+and catgut."
+
+"That's him, sir; only my messmate hadn't no steel bow and no catgut,
+but he made hisself a sort of bow out of a bit o' cane and some string,
+and then he used to get a few nuts and stick 'em one at a time in a
+crack, and drill holes in the sides.  When he'd done this, he used to
+sit o' nights and pick all the kernels out, a bit at a time, with a pin,
+just the same as you used to do with the periwinkles, sir."
+
+"That I never did," said Mark, laughing, as he seated himself outside
+the bulwark, and gazed down in the clear water while he listened.
+
+"Well, I used to, sir, and werry nice they is."
+
+"I daresay, but go on."
+
+"Well, sir, he used to pick all the kernels out, and when they was
+empty, fill 'em up with snuff, and plug the holes with a bit o' tar."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"That's just what I'm a-coming to, sir, only you keeps a-interrupting
+so.  Then he used to put these here nuts full o' snuff in one pocket,
+and some good uns in the other, and wait till he see Jack.  Fust time he
+did it, I didn't know there was any game on, and I see him give Jack a
+nut.  He cracked it, and ate the kernel, and then my mate give him
+another, and he cracked and ate that, and held out his hand for more.
+This time he give him one full o' snuff, but Jack tasted the tar as
+stopped up the hole, and was too many for him.  He wouldn't crack it,
+but chucked it away.  I thought it was only a bad one, for I never smelt
+the snuff; but what does my mate do but begs a bit o' wheeling sacks o'
+the steward."
+
+"A bit of what?" said Mark.
+
+"Wheeling sacks, sir; what they fastens up letters with."
+
+"Oh, sealing wax," cried Mark.
+
+"Yes, sir, I said so--sealing wax, and stops up the holes with that.
+Jack didn't taste that, and first time he cracks one o' them bad uns he
+gets his mouth full o' snuff, and there he was a-coughing and sneezing
+for 'bout half an hour, while as soon as he see as it was a trick, he
+jumps on my back and bites me in the neck, and runs away to get up in
+the rigging and swear--oh my eye, but he did swear!"
+
+"Nonsense, Billy! a monkey can't swear."
+
+"But he did, sir.  He went on calling us all the names he could lay his
+tongue to in monkey, and whenever my mate give him nuts again, he used
+to crack 'em on the deck with a marline-spike.  Then my mate used to try
+it on with other tricks, but I wouldn't have it, and I've had no end o'
+rows with my messmates on account o' that little chap, for I've got to
+love him like a brother a'most--ah, more than you do your dog; but he's
+that howdacious artful that I get ashamed on him.  He aren't got no more
+morals than a lobster, as would pinch his best friend's finger off as
+soon as look at him."
+
+"And Jack bites you, then, same as he would anyone else?"
+
+"More, sir; ever so much more.  Why, I'm all over his bites."
+
+"And so you think he's shamming?" said Mark.
+
+"I'm sure of it, and I'm a-going to cure him."
+
+"What will you do?"
+
+"Well, I shall try him easy-like at first, sir, and if that don't do I
+shall try rope's end."
+
+"No, no, do it by kindness, Billy," said Mark.
+
+"Well, that would be kindness, sir.  Monkey's only a monkey, but even a
+monkey ought to be taught to have some morals.  You come along o' me."
+
+Mark leaped down, and followed the little sailor back to where Jack was
+lying watching them; and as soon as they reached the spot, Billy bent
+down, placed his hands upon his knees, and poured forth a stream of the
+most voluble vituperation ever invented by man.  He called the monkey
+all the lazy, idle, good-for-nothing swabs, lubbers, and humbugs
+possible, while the effect was droll in the extreme.
+
+At first the little animal chattered at him, then he shook his head,
+then he grew angry, and at last curled himself up, covering his head
+with his long arms, and howled piteously.
+
+"That's a-touching of him up, sir," said Billy.  "He knows it, you see.
+Why, you miserable little black-faced, bandy-legged sneak," he
+continued, addressing the monkey, "what's in my mind is to--"
+
+Woof!
+
+Billy Widgeon made a bound, and caught a rope, by whose help he swung
+himself up into the rigging.
+
+"Lay hold o' that dog, Mr Mark, sir," he cried.
+
+For Bruff, who had been lying down when this tirade began, slowly raised
+his head, then placed himself in a sitting posture, and ended by staring
+at Billy, till Jack gave a more piteous howl than any he had before
+uttered, when the dog gave vent to one low growling bark, and sprang at
+the sailor.
+
+"Ah!" said Billy, as soon as Bruff was quieted down, "you see he takes
+his part.  Being a dog he don't know no better, sir.  I must try another
+way."
+
+Billy slowly swung himself down, displaying wonderful muscular strength
+of arm as he did so, and beckoning Mark aside he continued:
+
+"I'm going to show you now, sir.  Can you make your dog howl?"
+
+"Oh, yes, Billy, easily."
+
+"How will you do it?"
+
+"Shut him up somewhere, or chain him, and then call him.  As soon as he
+finds he can't get to me, he'll make noise enough."
+
+"That's your sort," said Billy.  "You bring him along, then."
+
+Mark called the dog, who leaped up and bounded to him, and five minutes
+later he was chained up under the main hatch and left, while Billy led
+the way back to the deck, and helped Mark up to a place of vantage,
+where they could see the monkey without being seen, and at the same time
+make the dog hear.
+
+"Now then, Mr Mark, sir.  You call old Bruff."
+
+Mark obeyed, and there was a sharp bark in reply, then a volley of
+barks, a rattling of the chain, and, on the call being repeated, quite a
+howl.
+
+At the first bark Jack turned his head and listened, then, as the
+barking continued more angrily, he raised his head and looked in the
+direction from whence the sounds came.  At the first howl he went upon
+his hands and knees, and uttered an uneasy kind of noise, but threw
+himself down again, and laid his head close to the deck, shuffling about
+uneasily.
+
+Then there was peace for a few moments.
+
+"Call him again, Mr Mark, sir," whispered Billy.
+
+Mark obeyed, and, leaning down, uttered the dog's name in a suppressed
+way, which sounded as if it came from a great distance.
+
+The result was a burst of barking, followed by a series of the most
+piteous howls, wild and prolonged, such as an animal might utter who was
+suffering from some terrible torture.
+
+"That'll fetch him," whispered Billy; and he seemed to be right, for, as
+the howling continued, Jack grew restless.  He sat up, listened, threw
+himself down, turned over, then on the other side, and ended by bursting
+out into a fit of chattering, and going at full speed along the deck to
+the hatchway, down which he disappeared at a bound, old practice
+teaching him that he would drop upon the steps, and his experience being
+right.
+
+"Come along," said Billy chuckling.  "I told you so, Mr Mark, sir; I
+told you so.  I thought it was his games."
+
+Billy Widgeon took up the sheepskin rug, and carried it down below in
+the forecastle, while, when Bruff was let loose, and the two animals
+returned on deck, Jack walked slowly to his sunny corner, and stood
+staring about him as if unable to make out what it all meant, ending by
+lying down on the bare deck.
+
+But this did not seem to afford any satisfaction, and as if realising
+that his companion was quite well once more, Bruff charged at him, and
+rolled him over.  Jack retaliated by getting hold of his curly coat with
+both hands, and making a playful bite at his neck, when the game went
+on, and for the next half-hour they were frisking and bounding about the
+deck till they were tired, and Bruff found a sunny spot for a nap, as
+Jack had sought refuge among the sails.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+HOW MARK FIRST TASTED JUNGLE.
+
+A hot but uneventful voyage succeeded, during which the passengers were
+well roasted in the Suez Canal, and saturated with the steamy moisture
+of Ceylon, where Mark stared with wonder at the grandees, whose costume
+strongly resembled that of some gorgeously-decked little girl of fifty
+years ago dressed up for a party.
+
+Then there was a glimpse of Sumatra, and a stay at busy bazaar-like
+Singapore, with its shipping of all nations from great steamers down to
+Malay praus, with their bamboo sides and decks, and copper-coloured
+wide-nostrilled Malays in little flat military caps, and each wearing
+the national check sarong, so much after the fashion of a Highlander's
+tartan, baju jacket, and deadly-looking kris.
+
+"Yes, these are Malays, Mark," said Mr Morgan as they stood gazing over
+the side at the hundreds of vessels of all sizes.  "Clever sailors they
+are too."
+
+"And pirates?" said Mark.
+
+"Yes, whenever they can get the chance with some one weaker than
+themselves, but our cruisers have made their trade less profitable than
+it used to be."
+
+"Should you think these are pirates?" said Mark, pointing towards one
+particularly swift-looking prau just gliding out of the harbour.
+
+"Very likely," said the second-mate.  "They are traders and fishermen,
+and sometimes all's fish that comes to their net.  Not very formidable
+looking enemies, though."
+
+"They've no guns," said Mark, looking rather contemptuously at the
+quaint craft.
+
+"Not visible," said the second-mate, "but I daresay they may have two or
+three down below ready for mounting as soon as they get to sea."
+
+"Very large guns?"
+
+"No; small brass pieces which they call lelahs, and which send a ball
+weighing perhaps a pound."
+
+"But pirates would not dare to attack a great ship like this," said
+Mark.
+
+"Oh, yes, they would, for these Malays are fighting men, who always go
+armed, while they know that our merchantmen, as a rule, are not.  But
+there is not much to fear.  They generally attack weak or helpless
+vessels, and most of their strongholds have been rooted out."
+
+Mark watched the departing prau with no little eagerness as he recalled
+accounts which he had read of attacks by pirates, poisoned krises, and
+goodly vessels plundered by the bloodthirsty men of Moslem creed, who
+looked upon the slaying of a Christian as a meritorious act.
+
+As he gazed after the retiring prau, with its dusky crew, a vessel,
+similar in shape and size, and which had been lying close alongside of
+the _Petrel_, heaved up her anchor and set sail.
+
+"Where are they likely to be going?"  Mark asked.
+
+"Trading among the islands.  They are rare fellows for pushing their way
+in a slow fashion, but are not such business people as the Chinese."
+
+"One might have thought that this was China," said Mark, as he gazed
+ashore at the celestial quarter, and noted the great junks manned by
+Chinamen lying anchored here and there.
+
+The stay at Singapore was not long.  The three German students bade the
+passengers good-bye politely, and took their departure, beaming upon
+everyone through their spectacles, making quite a gap at the saloon
+table, though they were not much missed, for they had all been
+remarkably quiet, only talking to each other in a subdued manner, and
+always being busy with a book a piece, whose contents were tremendous
+dissertations on agricultural chemistry, all of which they were going to
+apply out in Queensland as soon as they got there.
+
+Then one bright morning, well supplied with fresh provisions, and, to
+Mark's great delight, with an ample store of fruit--from bananas, of
+three or four kinds, to pine-apples, the delicious mangosteen, and the
+ill-odoured durian, with its wooden husk, delicate custard, and large
+seeds--the ship continued her course.
+
+The sea was like crystal, and with the sun hot, but not to discomfort,
+and a soft breeze blowing, the great vessel glided gently eastward.  It
+was a trifle monotonous, but this troubled Mark in only small degree,
+for there was always something fresh to take his attention.  Sea-birds
+were seen; then some fish or another reared itself out of the limpid
+sea, and fell back with a splash.  Then a shoal of some smaller kind
+rippled the surface as they played about, silvering the blue water with
+their armoured sides.
+
+Small the boatswain and Billy Widgeon rigged up tackle for the lad to
+fish; and he fished, but caught nothing.
+
+"But then, you know, you might have ketched real big fish," said the
+little sailor encouragingly, "because, you see, you know they are
+there."
+
+It was a consolation, but not much, to one who has tried for days to
+capture something or another worthy of being placed by the cook upon the
+captain's table.
+
+And so three days of slow progress passed on, after which the progress
+grew more slow, and ended in a complete calm, just as they were a few
+miles north of a verdant-looking island, whose waving palms, seen above
+and beyond a broad belt of dingy mangroves, looked particularly tempting
+to those who had been cooped up so long on shipboard, where, now that
+the breeze had sunk, it seemed insufferably hot.
+
+"I suppose it can't be hotter than this, Mr Gregory, can it?" asked
+Mark, soon after noontide on the second day of the calm.
+
+"Hotter than this?" said the first-mate with an assumed look of
+astonishment.  "Do you hear him, Morgan?  He calls it hot!"
+
+"I say, captain," said the major, "how long's this calm going to last?"
+
+"Impossible to say," said the captain.  "I am hoping for a fresh breeze
+at sundown, but I dare not prophesy."
+
+"Well, then, let's have the boat out and manned, and two or three of us
+go ashore with our guns, to see if we can't shoot something."
+
+The captain hesitated, looked at the sky, at the offing, studied his
+glass, and then said that there was no prospect of wind before night,
+and if the major liked, they would make up a little party and go.
+
+"We can get some handsome birds for specimens if we get none for food,"
+said the major, "and perhaps we may get hold of a snake, or a big
+lizard, to make into a stew."
+
+"Stewed lizard!  Ugh!" ejaculated Mark.
+
+"And why not, young fellow?" cried the major.  "Once upon a time, as the
+geologists tell us, the lizard and the fowl were very much alike, only
+they divided, and while one went on growing more like a bird, the other
+lost his wings and the feathers in his tail, and ran more upon the
+ground.  Now, I'll be bound to say, sir, that if I shot a lizard, an
+iguana, or something of that kind, and made it into a curry, you would
+not be able to tell the difference.  Come, captain."
+
+"Oh, I'm not coming," said the captain.  "I shall stay aboard and look
+after my two wives--Mark's mother and the ship.  You youngsters can go
+and enjoy yourselves.  You'll go with them, Gregory."
+
+"No, no, I'll stop with the ship," said the first-mate.
+
+"Then it will be to keep me company," said the captain, "for I shall not
+stir."
+
+"Oh, well then, sir, I will take a run," said Mr Gregory.
+
+"You'll go too, Morgan?"
+
+"I should enjoy it much, sir," said the second-mate.
+
+"All right, then.  I'll have the gig lowered and manned.  The sooner you
+are off the better."
+
+"We shall want a man or two to carry the bags," said Mr Gregory.  "I'll
+have Small."
+
+"And I'll have Widgeon," said Mr Morgan, "in case we find ducks."
+
+"I'll have Bruff," said Mark to himself.
+
+"Look here," said the captain; "this island seems to be uninhabited, and
+it may be a foolish precaution, but I should take it.  The crew will
+have pistols, and I should advise you all to take your revolvers."
+
+"Hot enough carrying our guns," said the first-mate.
+
+"Never mind, sir," said the major.  "I remember once in the
+neighbourhood of Malacca, how a party of us officers landed to get a
+shot at the snipe, and we were surprised by a party of copper-coloured
+scoundrels.  By George, sir, there we were with nothing better than
+snipe-shot, sir, to defend ourselves against as murderous-looking a set
+of haythens as ever stepped."
+
+"What did you do, Major O'Halloran?" said Mark.
+
+"Bolted, sir--I mean we retreated through the bog.  Murder! that was a
+retreat.  Take your weapons, gentlemen, and young Strong here shall
+carry my revolver."
+
+"No," said the captain, "carry your own, major.  I'm going to lend him
+mine."
+
+The preparations did not take long, and soon after the little party were
+being rowed over the deep dark blue water toward the lonely island,
+whose shores were right and left of a rocky nature, save in the
+direction they had chosen, where a slight indentation that could hardly
+be called a bay offered a splendid landing-place, being a curved stretch
+of soft white sand.
+
+All at once the water seemed to change colour from dark blue to pale
+green, and on looking over the side the little party found that, instead
+of gazing down into the black depths, they were gliding over rocky
+shallows illumined by the sun, which showed them sea gardens full of
+growths of the most wondrous shapes, among which startled shoals of fish
+glided, while others, unmoved by the coming of the boat, played about,
+showing their armoured sides dazzling with orange and scarlet, blue and
+gold.
+
+Mark could have stopped for hours, content to gaze down into the lovely
+transparent waters, but the boat glided on and soon afterwards touched
+the shore.
+
+"There, my lads," said the first-mate, taking out a big india-rubber
+pouch of tobacco and pitching it to one of the men, "there is not a
+great deal of tide, but take care to keep the boat afloat.  You can
+smoke and sleep, but take it in turns, so as to have some one on the
+watch."
+
+The party sprang out, and the men left in the boat looked rather glum
+till the major supplemented the first-mate's gift by handing his
+cigar-case to another of the men.
+
+"One minute," he said.  "I think there are eight cigars in there, and I
+should like one for myself.  I'll have that, and then you four men will
+have a cigar and three-quarters apiece, and you must divide them
+according to taste."
+
+As this was going on, Mark stood gazing toward the ship, and as he
+looked he saw a white handkerchief waved.
+
+It was too far off to be sure who waved that handkerchief, but it was
+either Mrs Strong, the major's wife, or Mary O'Halloran.
+
+"It doesn't matter which," thought Mark, and taking off his cap he waved
+it in return.
+
+"Now, gentlemen," said the first-mate, "load away, and then we had
+better decide where to go."
+
+"Not necessary," said the major, closing the breech of his piece and
+giving the stock an affectionate slap.
+
+"Not necessary?" said Morgan.
+
+"No, sir.  This is an uninhabited island, where there are no roads and
+nature has it all her own way.  We shall have to go which way we can."
+
+They struck inland, and the major's words, the result of old experience,
+proved to be true, for as they reached the belt of jungle, which came
+within some fifty yards of the shore, it was to find their course stayed
+by a dense wall of verdure that was literally impassable, the great
+trees being woven together with creepers, notable among which there was
+the rattan cane, which wound in and out and climbed up and down in a way
+that was almost marvellous.
+
+"This is pleasant," said the major.
+
+"Oh, we can get through, sir," said Mark.  "Let me go first."
+
+"Do," said the major, with a smile at Gregory, and as the lad pressed
+forward, "_Experientia docet_," he whispered.  "I've been in a jungle
+before now."
+
+"You can't get through here without an axe to cut your way," said Mark
+at the end of five minutes, as he stood perspiring and panting, gazing
+half angrily at the dense thicket.
+
+"Thank you for the information, my lad," said the major smiling; "we
+knew that before."
+
+"But the island can't be all like this?" said Gregory.
+
+"Oh, yes, it can, my dear sir," said the major.  "Islands can be
+anything out here in the tropics, especially near the Ayquator.  Now
+look here: if we want to get inland--as we do, we must find the mouth of
+the first river and follow the sides of the stream."
+
+"Sure, sor," said Billy Widgeon, "we passed that same about a hundred
+yards back, and the bosun and I knelt down and had a dhrink."
+
+The major turned upon little Billy, who had spoken with a broad Irish
+accent, and stared at him, sticking his glass in one eye so as to have a
+better look.
+
+"Look here, sir," he said; "you're not an Irishman, and that's a bad
+imitation of the brogue.  Do you hear?  You are not an Irishman, I say?"
+
+"Sorra a bit, sor."
+
+"Then is it making fun of me you are?" cried the major, suddenly growing
+broad in turn.
+
+"No, sir, not I," said Billy, looking as serious as a judge and
+scratching his head the while.
+
+"Then why did you talk like that?"
+
+"I dunno, sor."
+
+"You don't know, you scoundrel?"
+
+"No, sir.  I once lived in Ireland for a whole year, and we used to talk
+like that; and I suppose it was hearing you say Ayquator, sir, turned on
+the tap."
+
+Gregory turned away so as to ask the second-mate a question just then,
+and they both looked very red in the face as the major coughed, blew out
+his cheeks, and ended by clearing his throat and speaking as a
+drill-sergeant does.
+
+"You'd better be careful, sir.  Now, gentlemen," he added, "suppose we
+go on."
+
+"I say, bosun," said Billy, rubbing one ear until it was quite red,
+"what have I been a-doing of?"
+
+"Getting your tongue in a knot, my lad.  Come on."
+
+He led the way and Billy Widgeon followed, talking to himself and
+evidently thoroughly puzzled as to the meaning of the major's attack.
+
+But now the attention of all was attracted by the little trickling
+stream which made its way from beneath some low growth, and lost itself
+directly in the sand; but though the way was blocked up it was evident
+that here was a road into the island, for the dense wall of verdure took
+somewhat the form of an arch; and as soon as a way had been forced
+through, Bruff dashed on ahead, splashing about and barking excitedly.
+
+"That's not the way to get sport, is it?" said Morgan.  "Hadn't we
+better call the dog back?"
+
+"Yes, call him," said the major.
+
+Mark called, but the dog had evidently gone beyond hearing, so they
+followed, finding themselves in an opening about sixty feet wide as soon
+as they had passed the arch, and with the sky above them, while they
+were walking in the gravelly zigzagging and winding bed of a little
+river, with a wall of mighty trees to right and left.
+
+It was evident that at times there was a tremendous current here, and
+that the whole place was flooded after the heavy rains, for the
+first-mate pointed out, some five feet from the ground, a patch of dry
+grass and broken twigs, matted together just as they had been washed
+down the river and left there from the last flood, while now the stream
+was reduced to a trickling rivulet, with a pool here and a pool there,
+some of which were deep and, from the swirling motion of the water,
+evidently contained big fish.
+
+There was plenty of room for walking at the sides of the gravelly
+stream, and after progressing some little distance inland, at the bottom
+of what was like a channel, whose walls were huge tree-trunks towering
+to a great height, the party began to look out for birds.
+
+"Phew! it's hot work," said Morgan, wiping his face, for the heat in
+that airless chasm was terrific.  "I don't think we shall get many
+birds."
+
+"I'm not going to try," said Gregory, "for it's neck-breaking work
+staring up in the tops of these trees."
+
+"We'll find some ducks soon," said the major, "or some ground pigeons.
+You leave it to me.  But where's that dog?"
+
+There was no answer, for evidently no one knew.  One thing was certain,
+however, Bruff had ceased barking, and therefore was not likely to
+disturb any game that might be on the way.
+
+But though they progressed nearly a mile inland not a bird was visible.
+There was the loud whizzing whirr of innumerable cicadas, and once or
+twice they heard a piping cry, after that all was stifling heat and
+silence.
+
+Their progress was very slow, for after finding there was not much
+chance of getting a shot the various members of the party began to
+inspect the objects around them.  The major lit his cigar, Mr Gregory
+examined the sand to see if it contained gold, Mr Morgan tried to find
+crystals among the pebbles, Mark gazed up at the patches of ferns and
+orchids among the branches of the trees, and Small and Billy Widgeon
+took a great deal of interest in the various pools they passed, but
+found no fish, for at their coming the occupants of the pools took
+fright and stirred up the sand and mud so that the water became
+discoloured.
+
+"And I lays as they're eels," said Billy Widgeon, as he carried on a
+discussion with Small.
+
+"And I says they're big jacks or pikes," replied the boatswain; "but I
+want to know wheer they're going to feed the beasts."
+
+"Feed what beasts?" said Mark, who was listening to their dispute and
+gazing down into a good-sized pool where the water was still in motion.
+
+"These here beasts, sir," said Small with a grin.  "All on us.  These
+canvas bags is heavy, and I want to see the weight o' the wittles
+distributed.  Much easier to carry that way, and the bottles pitched
+overboard."
+
+"Hist!" whispered Billy Widgeon, who was peering through some bushes
+where the little river made a curve.
+
+"Whatch yer found, Billy?"
+
+"Don't make a row, and come and look here, Mr Mark, sir.  Here's such a
+whacking great effet, same as used to be in our pond at home."
+
+Mark hurried to his side, followed by Small.
+
+"Why, it's a 'gator," the latter said as he reached the spot where there
+was an extensive pool, quite undisturbed, for the screen of bushes had
+hidden it from the passers-by.
+
+"A crocodile!" said Mark as he gazed excitedly into the clear water at
+the plainly defined shape of the little saurian, for it was not above
+four feet long.
+
+"Wait a minute," whispered Billy; "I'll give him such a wonner in the
+skull," and picking up a heavy piece of stone from the many lying in the
+half-dry river-bed he pitched it with fairly good aim just above the
+basking reptile.
+
+There was a dull plunge; the water seemed to be all alive for a few
+minutes, swirling and eddying, and sending rings to the edge, and then
+it began to subside, but it was discoloured now, and evident that the
+one crocodile they had seen was not without companions.
+
+"Now, it's my 'pinion," said Billy, "that if you'd come fishing instead
+o' shooting, and rigged up rods and lines and tried for these here
+things in these ponds, you'd have had some sport."
+
+"But what would you have baited with?" said Mark, laughing.
+
+"I d'know," said Billy Widgeon.  "Yes, I do," he continued, "dog.  They
+say as 'gators and crockydiles is rare and fond o' dog."
+
+At that moment, by an odd coincidence, there was a piteous howling
+heard, followed directly after by a shot and then by another.
+
+"Major's shot your dog, Mr Mark," said the boatswain, with a comical
+look at the captain's son, as they hurried on.
+
+"Bruff wouldn't have howled before he was hurt," said Mark excitedly.
+"They've shot some wild beast.  Why didn't we keep up with them?"
+
+"Hope it ar'n't lions or tigers," said Billy, as he panted on under the
+load of a bag which contained certain bottles of beer.
+
+"No lions or tigers in an island like this," said Small oracularly.
+"Oh, there they are."
+
+A turn in the river-bed had brought Mark and his companions in sight of
+the major and the two mates about a hundred and fifty yards away.  Mr
+Morgan was kneeling down by a pool doing something to the dog, while the
+major and Gregory looked on.
+
+"I was right," said Small; "they have shot your dog, Mr Mark."
+
+At that moment Bruff caught sight of his master, and uttering a loud
+bark, he started off from where he stood and came limping on three legs
+towards Mark, holding his right fore-paw in the air and whimpering
+piteously.
+
+"Why, Bruff, old chap, what is it?" cried Mark, as the dog came up
+holding out his leg as if for sympathy; "have they shot you?  Why, no;
+he has been in a trap."
+
+"No," said the boatswain, examining the dog's leg, "he's been fighting
+and something has bitten him.  Wild pig, for a penny."
+
+"Here, Mark, my lad," cried the major, "you nearly lost your dog."
+
+"What's been the matter?" cried Mark.
+
+"A crocodile got hold of him by this pool."
+
+"How, how!" cried Bruff, throwing up his head and giving vent to a most
+dismal yell, as if overpowered by the recollection.
+
+"Ah, I said as they likes dog," said Billy Widgeon sententiously.
+
+Bang, bang!
+
+Then, as the smoke rose up slowly after the discharge of both barrels of
+his piece, Morgan exclaimed:
+
+"See that?"
+
+"See it!  I nearly felt it," cried the major, drawing back from the edge
+of the disturbed pool, from which a good-sized crocodile, evidently
+pressed by hunger, had charged out at his legs.  "Did you hit him?"
+
+"Yes, I must have hit him both times, for he swerved at the first shot,
+and turned back at the second; but small-shot can't do much harm to one
+of these scaly-hided ruffians."
+
+"Well, I should like to kill that brute," said the major, looking
+ruffled, and speaking as if he thought that a great insult had been
+offered to an officer in Her Majesty's service.  "Think it was the one
+which laid hold of the dog?"
+
+"How, how!" cried Bruff piteously, and then, trotting on three legs to
+the water's edge, he began to bark furiously.
+
+"Call him away," cried Morgan excitedly, cocking his gun and following
+the dog; "that pool swarms with the beasts."
+
+"Here, Bruff, Bruff, Bruff!" cried Mark.
+
+But his cry would have been too late, even if the dog had obeyed, for at
+that moment the water was parted and a hideous head with dull gleaming
+eyes appeared, as one of the monsters made a rush at Bruff.
+
+Morgan was ready for him, though, and quick as thought, from a distance
+of not more than four yards, he poured the contents of his gun right in
+the reptile's face, following it up with the second barrel.
+
+To the delight of all, the monster gave a bound and made a clumsy leap
+out on to the dry ground, where it lay beating the water with its tail,
+giving it resounding blows, and only lying still to begin again.
+
+"Shall I give him another shot?" said Gregory.
+
+"No; half his skull is blown away," said the major.  "Let him die."
+
+"Put the game in the bag, sir?" said Billy respectfully.
+
+"Ask Mr Morgan," said the major haughtily.  "I did not fire the shot."
+
+Small took out his great pocket-knife, and cut a rattan to a length of
+about twenty feet, and after trimming off the leaves readily contrived a
+running noose at the end, then cleverly contrived to noose one leg as
+well.  A sharp snatch drew the noose tight, and at the boatswain's
+suggestion everyone took hold of the cane and the struggling reptile was
+hauled right away from the water to die, proving a goodly weight though
+it was not above nine feet long.
+
+"There, Bruff, old man," said the boatswain, "suppose you give one of
+his paws a nip to serve him out.  It would be only fair.  Shall I give
+him the knife, sir?"
+
+"No," said Mr Gregory, "the brute is dying.  Good heavens! what's
+that?"
+
+It was unmistakably a shot, and not fired with a fowling-piece, but
+evidently from some good-sized gun.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+HOW THERE WAS A STARTLING SURPRISE.
+
+"What in the world is that?" cried Gregory.
+
+"That sir?" said the major importantly.  "That was the report of a gun."
+
+"Good gracious, man, I know that," said the mate.
+
+"There again," cried Morgan.
+
+"Ship firing signals for recall," said the major.  "We are wanted
+aboard."
+
+"Nonsense, sir!" said Gregory tartly.  "We have no guns that would make
+such a report as that.  What?"
+
+This last was to Morgan, who whispered something to him excitedly.
+
+"Pooh! nonsense, man!" cried Gregory again.  Just then there was another
+shot, and another, and the first-mate's face turned of a muddy hue.
+
+"It's fighting, as sure as I'm a soldier," said the major nodding his
+head.
+
+"You're right, Morgan," said the first-mate hoarsely.
+
+"Come along, quick!  There's something wrong aboard the ship."
+
+"Aboard our ship--the _Petrel_?" cried Mark, with a curious choking
+sensation coming upon him, and his heart beating rapidly.
+
+"There, don't turn like that, my lad," said Morgan kindly, as he clapped
+the lad on the shoulder.  "We only fancy there may be something wrong,
+and I hope we have been deceived."
+
+"Do you think there will be a fight, Gregory?" said the major excitedly.
+
+"Heaven forbid, sir!" said the first-mate solemnly.
+
+"What are you talking about, sir? and you all the time with a double gun
+in your fist.  Why, it warms the very blood in my veins."
+
+"You see I'm not a fighting man, sir," said Gregory sternly.  "Yes," he
+continued, as he saw the major give him a peculiar look, and reading his
+meaning, "you're quite right, sir, I am white, and I feel afraid--
+horribly afraid, as I think of what may be happening to those poor women
+left on board, and my poor captain and our men."
+
+"And I forgot all about my wife and child," cried the major, increasing
+his pace, as he wiped the perspiration from his brow.  "Come on,
+gentlemen, for heaven's sake!"
+
+They were already going along at a double, where the rough river-bed
+would allow, but the progress was very slow, while, though they had come
+along leisurely, it was astounding how great a distance they had placed
+between them and the boat.
+
+"For heaven's sake, come on, gentlemen!" said the major again, and at
+another time his remark would have seemed very Irish and droll, for he
+was last but one in the little party, and hard pressed to keep up in the
+intense heat of the inclosed and stifling place.
+
+"Ahoy!" came from ahead just then.
+
+"Ahoy!" answered the mate, who was leading, with Mark next; and the next
+minute they were face to face with the four men who had been left with
+the boat.  "What is it, my lads?" he panted.
+
+"Pirates, sir, praus!"
+
+"Nonsense!" cried the mate fiercely.
+
+"'Strue as true, sir.  We was all half dozing in the boat when we heared
+a shot, and saw a prau alongside of the old Chicken, and another running
+up fast, and then there were more firing went on."
+
+"And we ashore!" muttered the mate.  "Keep on, my men.  What next?"
+
+"Don't know, sir," panted the spokesman; "we come on after you, sir."
+
+"And left the boat?"
+
+"She's got the grapnel out, sir, on the sands."
+
+"But the men in the prau--they could see her."
+
+"Oh, yes, sir; they could see her, sir."
+
+"Man, man! what have you done?  They will fetch her off and we shall be
+unable to follow."
+
+"Don't blame the man, Gregory, but keep on.  We may be in time to save
+her.  Let me go first, I can run."
+
+Mr Morgan sprang to the front, and with his gun at the trail ran on
+ahead at a pace that seemed marvellous; but Mark followed as rapidly as
+he could, Mr Gregory next, then the major, and the men in single file.
+
+Mark ran on with a horrible feeling of despair growing upon him as he
+thought of those on board; his heart beat; there was the hot suffocating
+sensation growing more painful at his throat, and to his misery, in
+spite of his efforts, the ground was so rough and stone-strewn that he
+was being left behind, while Mr Morgan had disappeared from his view
+round one of the sharp turns of the river-bed.
+
+All at once he remembered what he had before forgotten, namely, that he
+was wearing a belt and pouch, and that in the soft leather holster
+attached there was the revolver his father had lent him.
+
+He had never fired such a weapon in his life, but he had seen this one
+handled and loaded, and taking it out, he hardly knew why in his
+excitement, he cocked it, and ran on with the piece in his hand.
+
+Directly after he found himself close to the low growth through which
+the little river trickled to lose itself in the sand, and through the
+opening now broken larger by the passage of so many of his companions he
+forced his way out and stood upon the sands.
+
+The sight which met his eye took from him the power of action for the
+moment, and he stood there panting, gazing straight away.
+
+Out at sea lay the great _Petrel_ with a couple of praus alongside, and
+as far as he could see, in his quick glance, the deck was covered with
+swarthy figures.  But there was a scene being enacted close at hand
+which made him turn giddy, and the blood seemed to run to his eyes.
+
+Mr Morgan had always been a pleasant friend to him from the time of his
+joining the ship; and now as Mark gazed it was to see him in a peril
+that promised instant death.
+
+Out there in the bright sunshine on the glancing sea lay the gig in
+which they had come ashore, and every detail in those brief moments
+seemed to be photographed on the lad's active brain.  The gig was
+anchored as the men had said, but it was at some distance from the shore
+to which the men must have waded; and he recollected now how wet they
+had been.  There before him was a small boat of Malay build coming from
+one of the praus, full of men, some rowing, some standing up with spears
+in their hands.  They were swarthy-looking savages, in plaid sarongs of
+bright colours, these being twisted tightly about their waists, and in
+the band thus formed each had a kris stuck, above which the man's dark
+naked body glistened in the sun.
+
+They were so near that the sun gleamed on their rolling eyes as well as
+flashed from their spears, two of which were now poised and held by
+their owners as if about to be hurled.
+
+Mark shuddered as he saw all this, and the rest of the picture before
+him has yet to be described.
+
+The boat was evidently coming to secure the gig, and to save this, and
+to prevent their being left alone and helpless upon this island without
+the means of communicating with the ship, Mr Morgan was straining every
+nerve.  As Mark came out through the bushes, it was to see the
+second-mate reach the edge of the water, the sea having gone down some
+distance, and then he had a hundred yards to wade.
+
+How it all happened Mark only knew afterwards from what he was told, but
+as he grasped the position he stood, as has been said, paralysed, and
+then in his agony of mind his power of action returned.  Running down
+over the hard sand as quickly as he could, he watched the progress of
+events, and saw that the second-mate was still some distance from the
+gig, while the Malays were nearing fast.  He was evidently so exhausted
+that he would not be able to reach the gig first, and as he realised
+this he paused for a moment, raised his gun and fired at the men.
+
+This drew from them a savage yell, which seemed to be echoed from the
+praus; when as if to intimidate enemies and encourage the men a small
+gun was fired on board one of the vessels, and a little ball came
+skipping over the sea, to go crashing into the jungle.
+
+Morgan went on a few steps farther and fired again; but though his shots
+evidently told, the men wincing and one falling, but only to spring up
+again, the fire did not check their progress, and they were fast nearing
+the gig.
+
+Morgan made another desperate effort to reach it, when first one and
+then another of the Malays hurled his spear, which went through the air
+in a low curve.
+
+Mark was now at the edge of the shallow water, with a blind feeling of
+despairing rage urging him on, boy as he was.  What he was about to do
+he did not know himself.  All he realised was that he must try and help
+Mr Morgan, who, as the spears were hurled, fell headlong into the
+deeper water, which splashed up around him glistening in the sun.
+
+At this Mark uttered a groan and once more stopped short, as if
+paralysed, while, with a yell of triumph at the apparent success of
+their aim, the Malay boat came on and had nearly reached the gig.
+
+But at that moment, as if moved by some other power, Mark raised the
+revolver and fired point-blank at the advancing boat.
+
+Again and then again he fired--three shots--each, as the little weapon
+uttered its sharp ringing crack, sending a rifled bullet whizzing at the
+Malays.  One ball struck the water before them, and went over their
+heads; the second passed before them, and the third struck one of the
+rowers, who leaped up with a yell and fell overboard.
+
+This checked the progress of the on-coming boat.  But as they dragged
+their wounded companion back into the boat they uttered another defiant
+yell, and, in spite of the two remaining shots sent pinging at them
+without effect, they reached the gig, and one man sprang in to cut the
+grapnel line.
+
+At that moment there was quite a little volley fired from the edge of
+the jungle, the major and Gregory discharging four barrels at the
+Malays, and then with a shout they and the six sailors came running down
+the sands.
+
+The man in the gig leaped back into the boat, and as the shots from the
+fowling-pieces were supplemented by bullets from the men's pistols the
+Malays rapidly paddled away, while Mark thrust back his revolver, and
+waded out to where Mr Morgan was trying to raise himself in the water
+and kept falling back.
+
+"No, no, not much hurt, my lad," he gasped.  "Got the gig ashore?  Hah!
+That's saved."
+
+He had just caught sight of Gregory's excited face as he came splashing
+towards him to pant hoarsely:
+
+"That's right!  Hold him a moment and I'll be back."
+
+He was back directly with the gig, and by that time the men were about
+him, and the injured man was carried ashore, two of the sailors dragging
+the gig right up to the sands, upon which Mr Morgan was laid.
+
+"Let me look," said the major, taking out his knife and ripping up the
+mate's shirt.  "Ah!  I see.  I've had some experience of these things.
+A nasty cut, my dear boy, but it isn't wide enough to let out your
+spirit.  You let me put a bandage on it, and I warrant it will soon
+heal."
+
+"Poisoned, major?" whispered the injured man.
+
+"Poisoned, bedad!  Nonsense, man.  It's a clean cut in your shoulder,
+and thank your stars it was there, and not in your chest."
+
+"Look out!" shouted one of the men.
+
+His reason was apparent, for one of the praus, seeing that the Malays
+were going back discomfited, began firing from her brass gun, sending a
+ball skipping over the water, and it finally dashed high up among the
+trees.
+
+"Bah! let him fire," said the major scornfully; "they couldn't hit the
+Hill o' Howth, and the safest place to be in is the one they aim at.
+There, my dear boy, that's a business-like job, and it's in your left
+shoulder.  Now, Gregory, what's to be done?"
+
+"We must go off at once in the gig and retake the ship," said Gregory
+sternly.
+
+"No," said the major, shaking his head, as he gazed out to where the
+_Petrel_ lay.
+
+"Not go, sir, and you've got a wife and child on board."
+
+"And I a father and mother," groaned Mark to himself.
+
+"Yes, sir; and I've got a wife and child on board," said the major
+sadly; "and I want to help them.  But I'm a soldier, Mr Gregory, and
+I've learned a little of the art of war, and it isn't the way to save
+people in a beleaguered fort to go blindly and throw away your life and
+that of your men."
+
+"But those on board, sir," groaned Morgan.  "Hadn't we better share
+their fate?"
+
+"We don't know their peril yet," said the major; "but I know this, if
+anything has happened to my poor wife--and child," he added softly, "my
+sword and pistol were in the cabin, and some one or two black scoundrels
+have gone to the other world to announce what has been done."
+
+"For heaven's sake, sir, don't talk," cried Gregory, who was half
+frantic with excitement; "what shall we do that is better?"
+
+"There's another shot," said the major coolly.  "Go on, my fine fellows,
+waste all the powder you can."
+
+This shot was wider than the last, and it was followed by one from the
+other prau which went farther away still.
+
+"What shall we do?" said the major--"by the way, those shot were meant
+to sink that gig, and they went fifty yards away--Do?  Wait and see what
+the scoundrels go about next."
+
+"But the _Petrel_?"
+
+"Well, they can't sail that away, sir, in this calm."
+
+"But we must retake her," said Gregory.
+
+"Well, we'll try," said the major, "but it must be by cunning, not
+force.  Now, it's my belief that the captain has intrenched himself in
+the cabin, and that he will keep the scoundrels at bay till we get to
+him."
+
+"It's my belief, sir, that they are all murdered by those cut-throats.
+They're Sulu men.  I saw two of their praus leave Singapore, and they've
+been on the watch for us.  Idiot that I was to come away.  Ah, Mark, my
+lad, I didn't mean you to hear that," he added, as he saw the lad's ashy
+face.
+
+"And he's all wrong.  Erin-go-bragh!" cried the major; "there, what did
+I say: that's the captain speaking, I'll swear."
+
+For just then a series of shots were heard from the _Petrel_, and a
+faint film of smoke was seen to rise.
+
+There was the distant sound of yelling for a time, every shot being
+followed by a fierce shout, and as the party on the sands tried to
+realise the conflict going on their feelings were of the most poignant
+kind.
+
+"He's all right so far," said the major confidently.
+
+"Or beaten," said the mate.
+
+"Beaten, sir?  No," cried the major.  "If he had been beaten there would
+have been yelling to a different tune;" and he whispered in the mate's
+ear: "We should have seen the water splash up about the vessel's stern."
+
+Another shot followed, and then another; but the brass lelahs carried
+very wildly at that distance, and no harm was done.
+
+"Hadn't we better go off at once, major?  There: it is our duty.  Come,
+my lads, in with you."
+
+"Stop!" shouted the major fiercely.  "Mr Gregory, we can only succeed
+in doing good by being sensible.  What you propose is rash folly.
+Counter-order that command, sir, and as soon as it is night we'll see
+what can be done."
+
+The mate hesitated between an eager desire to afford help and the
+feeling that the major's science-taught ideas were right.
+
+"Stop, my lads," he said sadly; "the major's right, but I ask you to
+bear witness, Morgan, that I do this unwillingly."
+
+"The major is quite right," said Morgan, sitting up, his brow knit with
+pain.  "Mark, my lad, we have you to thank for saving the gig."
+
+"Oh, nonsense, Mr Morgan," said the lad.
+
+"It's quite right," he said; "and I believe you saved my life too.  At
+all events, you gave the others time to get up and stop them.  Without a
+boat we should have been helpless."
+
+"Hah! he'd make a capital soldier," said the major, as he shaded his
+eyes with his hand.  "Now, then, Mr Gregory, can your lads get the gig
+right up the sands and into the river-bed yonder?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Do it, then, for one of the praus is coming on so as to be within reach
+of the shore, and either land men, or try and shatter the gig.  Now, I
+tell you what: we'll intrench ourselves a bit, and then when they're
+near enough, and I've got the barrel resting in a fork of one of these
+trees, if I can't pick off a few men with a revolver, my name's not
+O'Halloran.  Now, then, to work."
+
+The order was given; and as the men ran up the gig, one of the two praus
+was seen to swing slowly round, and then began to move toward them, with
+her long sweeps dipping regularly in the calm blue sunlit sea, while at
+that moment, forgotten till then, Bruff, the dog, came limping over the
+sand, after a laborious journey on three legs, to lie down uttering a
+low whine at his master's feet.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+HOW THE MAJOR SHOWED HIMSELF TO BE A MAN O' WAR.
+
+Poor Bruff had to be contented with a pat on the head, and then creep
+after his master back through the bushes to where the major was doing
+his best to bring his military knowledge to bear.
+
+"It's a hard job," he said, "but it must be done.  As they come nearer
+they'll keep on firing at that boat, and in it lie all our hopes.  Mr
+Gregory, that boat must be got through those bushes and hidden."
+
+"All hands," said the mate, in answer; and setting the example, he
+helped to drag the boat round, so that her bows pointed at the narrow
+opening in the bushes up to which she was run, and then, with the prau
+continuing her fire, the gig was with great labour forced through to the
+open ground beyond, and placed behind some rocks in the river-bed.
+
+The next task was to help Morgan through, and Small and Billy Widgeon
+went to where he was lying on the sand, with Bruff beside him, sharing
+the wounded couch.
+
+"No, my lads, I can walk," said the second-mate.  "Sorry I am so
+helpless."
+
+"Not more sorry than we, sir," said Billy Widgeon respectfully.  "I wish
+we'd brought Jacko with us instead of the dog."
+
+"Why?" asked Morgan, as he walked slowly and painfully toward the
+opening.
+
+"Might have climbed a tree, sir, and got us a cocoa-nut."
+
+"I'll be content with some water, my lad," said Morgan; and then he
+turned so faint that he gladly took Mark's arm as he came up to help
+Bruff, who was limping along in a very pitiful way.
+
+"There," said the major, as soon as all were through the gap; "now, I
+think if we bend down, and lace together some of these boughs across, we
+shall have a natural palisade which we are going to defend.  That's
+right; fire away; I don't think we have much to fear from their gun.
+Now, Mr Gregory, if you will examine that side, I'll look over this,
+and see if we have any weak points on our flanks, and then we'll prepare
+for our friends."
+
+A hasty look round right and left showed that, save after a long task of
+cutting down trees and creepers, no attack could be made on the flanks,
+while, on gathering together in the front, a strong low hedge of thorny
+bushes separated them from the coming foes--a breastwork of sufficient
+width to guard them from spear thrusts, while the defenders would find
+it sufficiently open to fire through.
+
+Points of vantage were selected, and a careful division of the arms
+made, two of the men, in addition to their pistols, being furnished with
+the spears which had been thrown at Morgan, and were found sticking in
+the sand, with their shafts above water.
+
+Small took possession of these, and handed one to Billy Widgeon.
+
+"I'm the biggest, Billy, and you're the littlest," he said, "so we'll
+have 'em.  I don't know much about using 'em, but I should say the way's
+to handle 'em as you would a toasting-fork on a slice o' bread, these
+here savage chaps being the bread."
+
+"Or," said Billy, making a thrust through a bush, "like a skewer in a
+chicken.  Well, I'm a peaceable man, Mr Mark, sir, and if they let me
+alone and us, why it's all I ask; but if they won't, all I hopes is, as
+two on 'em'll be together, one behind the other, when I makes my first
+job at 'em with this here long-handled spike."
+
+"Now, my lads," said the major, who seemed to be enjoying his task,
+"just two words before we begin.  I'm going to tell you what's the fault
+of the British soldier: it's firing away his ammunition too fast.  Now,
+in this case, I want you to make every shot tell.  Don't be flurried
+into shooting without you have a chance, and don't give the enemy
+opportunities by exposing yourselves.  Lastly, I need not tell you to
+stick together.  You'll do that."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir."
+
+"That's good, and now recollect you are Englishmen fighting for women as
+well as yourselves."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir."
+
+"Mr Gregory lets me command, because I'm used to this sort of thing, so
+don't mind me taking the lead."
+
+"No, sir, we won't," chorused the men.
+
+"Very well, then: don't be bloodthirsty, but kill every scoundrel you
+can."
+
+There was a hearty laugh at this, for, even in times of peril, your
+genuine British seaman has a strong appreciation of fun, and in spite of
+their position the major's ways and words had a spice of the droll in
+them.
+
+Just at that moment Morgan came up, pistol in hand, his gun having been
+given to one of the men.
+
+"Why, my dear Mr Morgan," said the major, "this is not right.  You are
+in hospital, sir."
+
+"No," said Morgan grimly; "I am better now, and I'm not a bad shot with
+a revolver."
+
+"You had better leave it to us, Morgan," said the first-mate.  "You and
+Mark Strong go and lie down in shelter."
+
+"Oh, Mr Gregory," cried Mark.
+
+"Why, you miserable young cockerel," said the major, "you don't want to
+fight?"
+
+"No, sir; but it seems so cowardly to go and hide away when the men are
+fighting."
+
+"So it does, my lad, so you shall stop with me, and load for me while
+I'm firing.  Come along.  Now, my lads, steady, and not a Malay pirate
+shall get through that bush."
+
+Every man uttered a low cheer, and settled in his place, well hidden
+from the occupants of the coming prau, and ready to deliver his fire
+when the enemy came near.
+
+It was coming steadily in, the sweeps being worked by the motley crew of
+scoundrels on board with a regularity which drew rough compliments from
+the men, and made Mr Gregory utter a remark.
+
+"Oh, yes," said the major, "they row well enough, but so did the old
+galley-slaves in the convict boats.  Now, I won't use my revolver yet,
+but I've got four cartridges of BB shot that were meant for cassowaries
+or wild swans.  Now, Mark, I think I'll give our friends their first
+peppering with them."
+
+"They will not kill, will they, sir?" said Mark anxiously.
+
+"No, not at the distance I shall fire from.  Ah, that was better aimed,"
+he said, as the brass lelah on board the prau was fired, to strike the
+sand in front of the natural stockade, and then fly right over the
+sailors' heads.  "I'll lay a wager, Gregory, that our friends don't make
+such another shot as that to-day."
+
+Then followed a few minutes of painful inaction, which seemed drawn out
+to hours.  While the prau swept slowly in, the sun beat down with
+terrible force, and there was not a breath of wind to cool the burning
+air.  Fortunately, though, the little stream gurgled among the stones,
+and was so handy that the men had but to scoop out holes in the sand, or
+to form them by turning over some huge stone, to have in a few minutes
+tiny pools of clear cool water with which to slake their thirst.
+
+On came the prau, with her swarthy crew crowding her bamboo decks, and
+their dark skins shining in the sun.  Their spears bristled, and as they
+leaned over the side and peered eagerly among the bushes, the party
+ashore felt to a man that once they were in the power of so
+savage-looking a crew no mercy must be expected.
+
+The men lay close, and to the enemy there was nothing to indicate that
+there would be any defence.
+
+This seemed to make the Malays more careless, for they came on
+excitedly, and, as it was about low water, made no difficulty in that
+calm sea of running their vessel's prow right ashore.
+
+Then there was a few minutes' pause, which the defending party did not
+understand.
+
+"I see," said Mr Gregory, at last; "they're getting the lelah in a
+better place, so as to have another shot at us before the men charge."
+
+The first-mate was right, for all at once there was a loud roar, and a
+charge of stones, it seemed, came hurtling over their heads, and flew
+up, to break down twigs and huge leaves from the trees, while, as the
+smoke rose, the Malays leaped overboard on either side, yelling
+excitedly, splashing in the water, and then began to wade ashore.
+
+"Eighty yards is a long shot," said the major just then, "but I may as
+well give them a taste of our quality."
+
+"No; wait a few moments," said Gregory, for the men were collecting in a
+cluster, and directly after began to rush up the sands toward the
+opening, yelling furiously and shaking their spears, ready to hurl.
+"Now," said the mate.
+
+By this time the Malays were little over fifty yards away, and taking
+careful aim low down the major drew both triggers so quickly, one after
+the other, that the report was almost simultaneous.
+
+The smoke as it cleared away unveiled a strange scene of men running
+here and there evidently in pain, others were spluttering about and
+leaping in the water, others were returning hurriedly toward the prau,
+while about a dozen still came on yelling with rage and brandishing
+their spears.
+
+"Now," said the major, "fire steadily--gunners only.  Pistols quiet."
+
+Two shots followed, then two more, and the effect was an instantaneous
+retreat.  One man dropped, but he sprang to his feet again and followed
+his companions, the whole party regaining the prau and climbing aboard,
+while the firing was resumed from the lelah.
+
+"Now I call that pleasant practice, gentlemen," said the major.  "Plenty
+of wounded, and no one killed.  It has done some good work besides, for
+it has let the captain know we are all right, and ready to help.  By
+Saint George--and it's being a bad Irishman to take such an oath--see
+that!"
+
+"See what?" cried the mate.
+
+"The flag, Mr Gregory.  Look!" cried Mark.
+
+For plainly enough now a signal was being made from one of the stern
+windows of the ship, and as far as they could make out it was a white
+cloth being waved to and fro.
+
+"Now if we could only answer that," said the major, "it would encourage
+them."
+
+"I could answer it, sir," cried Mark.
+
+"How, my lad?"
+
+"Give me a big handkerchief, and I'll climb up that tree and tie it to
+one of those branches."
+
+"Capital, my lad," said the major.  "But, no; risky."
+
+"They could not hit me, sir," cried Mark; "and it's like taking no
+notice of my father's signals to do nothing."
+
+"I think he might risk it, major," said Gregory.
+
+"All right, then, my lad.  Go on."
+
+Mark started, and after a struggle reached an enormous pandanus, one of
+the many-branched screw-pines.  It was not a very suitable tree for a
+signal staff, and there were cocoa palms and others of a far more
+appropriate kind, but these were unclimbable without notches being
+prepared for the feet, whereas the pandanus offered better facility.
+
+Still it was no easy task, and it was made the more difficult by the
+fact that the Malays began firing at him with their brass gun, a fact
+enough to startle the strongest nerves.
+
+But Mark recalled for his own encouragement the fact that the major had
+laughingly announced the spot at which the enemy aimed as being the
+safest, and so he climbed on till about thirty feet above the ground he
+managed to attach the major's great yellow handkerchief, so that it hung
+out broadly, and then came down.
+
+Four shots were fired at him as he performed this feat, and on rejoining
+the major and Mr Gregory, the former laughingly said that not a shot
+had gone within fifty yards of him.
+
+"But I tell you what," he continued, "that's a bad signal--the yellow
+flag; they'll think we have got fever."
+
+"So we have, sir," said Morgan grimly--"war fever."
+
+"Look!" cried Mr Gregory; "they see the flag signal, and are answering
+it.  Do you see?"
+
+It was plain enough; two flags were held out of the cabin-window, and
+after being waved withdrawn.
+
+"Yes," said the major, "it's mighty pretty, but there's one drawback--
+one don't know what it means."
+
+The firing from the lelah was kept up at intervals, but every shot went
+over them, whether fired point-blank or made to ricochet from the sands.
+There was tremendous bustle and excitement on board the prau, but no
+fresh attempts were made to land, and as the long, hot, weary hours
+crept on the question rose as to what would be the enemy's next move.
+
+"They'll wait till dusk and attack us then," said Mr Gregory.
+
+"No," said the major, "I think not.  These people never seem to me to be
+fond of night work.  I think they'll wait till the tide rises and then
+go back."
+
+"Without destroying our boat?" said Morgan.
+
+"Yes, my lad.  It's bad warfare to leave an enemy behind; but you'll see
+that is what they'll do."
+
+The major proved to be right, for after a time the prau began to move
+slowly round, and they saw it go back leisurely, the great sweeps
+dipping in the calm blue sea and an ever-widening line left behind.
+
+"That's one to us, my lads," said the major, "and next time it's our
+play."
+
+The men gave a cheer, and Small rose and came forward.
+
+"Lads says, sir," he began respectfully, "that if it were all the same
+to you they'd like me to pipe down to dinner."
+
+"Of course," said Gregory.  "Where are the provisions?"
+
+"Well, you see, sir, when we all come running down, the bags o' wittles
+was chucked away in the jungo--in the wood, sir."
+
+"Then a couple of men must go after it--those who threw it away."
+
+"Well, sir, seeing as it were me and Billy Widgeon, we'll go arter it,
+if you like."
+
+The necessary permission was given, the two men departed, and at the end
+of an hour returned to find their companions still watching the praus,
+which were both made fast to the ship.
+
+"Thought as the crockydiles had been at it, sir," said Small grimly;
+"but we found it at last.  I've brought Billy Widgeon back safe."
+
+"Of course," said the mate quietly.  "Why not?"
+
+"Well, you see, sir, there was one crock took a fancy to him, and we see
+another lying on the edge of the pool, smiling at him with his mouth
+wide open; but Billy wouldn't stop, and here's the prog."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+HOW THE CREW OF THE "BLACK PETREL" WERE IN SORE STRAITS.
+
+The supply of food, supplemented by the bottles of beer, which were
+equitably distributed so as to give all the men a tiny cup or two, had a
+wonderful effect upon their spirits, so that the rest of the afternoon
+was passed waiting patiently for the night, the sailors expressing
+themselves as willing to do whatever their leaders bade.
+
+Billy Widgeon was the spokesman, Small occupying a sort of middle
+position between officers and men.
+
+"We says, sir," he began, addressing the major--"I mean they says as
+we--I mean they ain't fighting men, never having 'llsted or gone in the
+ryle navy; but in a case like this they will--no, we will, for of course
+I ar'n't going to stand back--have no objection to a bit of a set-to so
+as to lick the niggers.  For if ever niggers wanted licking it's niggers
+as'll take advantage of a ship being in a calm, and part of her officers
+and crew away, and--and--here: what was I to say next, lads?"
+
+Billy Widgeon had come to a stand-still, and had to appeal to his
+companions.
+
+"That's about all," said one of the men.  "I'd stow it now."
+
+"Right, mate; I will," said Billy, who had recovered himself a little
+and was beginning to think of a great many more things he would like to
+say.  "So we're ready, sir, whether it's fisties or pistols, and if Mr
+Gregory yonder and Mr Morgan--as we're werry sorry he's wounded--don't
+give no orders another way, we'll do as you wants us to, so what's it to
+be?  Theer, that's all."
+
+"Thank you, my lads, thank you," said the major quietly.
+
+"Not much of a speech, were it?" said Billy to one of his forecastle
+mates.
+
+"What, yourn?" said the man.
+
+"Tchah!  No!  The major's."
+
+"Didn't think much o' yourn anyhow," said the man.
+
+"Why didn't you make one, then?" growled Billy fiercely.
+
+"There, don't get up a quarrel, mate," said the man.  "P'r'aps we shall
+all be trussed up like larks 'fore to-morrow morning; so let's be
+friends."
+
+"Eight," said Billy, slapping his great palm into his companion's; and
+Mark smiled to himself as he thought how much these big men were like
+school-boys in spite of their years.
+
+The evening drew near after what seemed to be an interminable space of
+time, and to the great delight of Mr Gregory there was no change in the
+weather.  There had been every probability of a breeze springing up at
+sundown, but the great orange globe had slowly rolled down and
+disappeared in the golden west, amidst the loud barking of the hornbills
+and the strident shrieks of flocks of parrots, and not a breath of wind
+was astir.  Then came down the night, a purply black darkness spangled
+with stars overhead and reflected in the water, and with that darkness a
+hot intense silence.
+
+"Finish your pipes, my lads," said the major, "and then we're going
+afloat once more."
+
+The men replied with a cheery "Ay, ay, sir," and at once extinguished
+their pipes in token of their readiness; and soon after, in accordance
+with plans made by the three officers, Small assisting at their council,
+the boat was safely run down through the bushes, over the sand, and away
+into the calmly placid sea, which wavered from her touch in golden
+spangles, and then in silence all embarked, the rowlocks being muffled
+with handkerchiefs and jacket sleeves.
+
+It was not a long journey, but had to be taken with the greatest of
+caution, for the slightest sound would have betrayed their whereabouts,
+and, in view of this, Mr Gregory had whispered to Mark:
+
+"I don't want to oppose your dog coming again, Mark, but can you depend
+upon his being quiet?"
+
+"Oh, yes, Mr Gregory."
+
+"I mean when we near the praus.  Will he bark?"
+
+"No," said Mark confidently.
+
+"Good.  Pull easy, my lads; we've plenty of time.  If the wind holds
+off,"--he added to himself, for he knew that with ever so light a breeze
+the _Petrel_ would be soon taken far beyond their reach.
+
+As the boat left the shore Mark strained his eyes to make out the ship
+and its attendants; but all was dark, save the spangling of the stars,
+till they were about a hundred yards from the shore, when a beautiful
+phenomenon caught the lad's eye, for wherever the oars disturbed the
+water it seemed as if fiery snakes darted away in an undulating line
+which seemed to run through the transparent black water in every
+direction.
+
+Mark only checked himself in time, for his lips began to form
+ejaculations of delight as he found that he was about to call upon those
+about him to share his pleasure.
+
+At times the sea appeared to be literally on fire with the undulating
+ribbons of light, and as Mr Gregory realised this he had to reduce
+their speed and caution the rowers to dip their oars with greater care.
+
+They glided on through the darkness, looking vainly for the ship, and
+from Mr Gregory's manner it soon became evident that he was doubtful as
+to whether they were going in a straight line towards it, for after a
+few minutes he made the men cease rowing, and bent down to take counsel
+with Morgan, who sat in the bottom of the boat resting his back against
+one of the thwarts.
+
+"You ought to be able to see her now," whispered Morgan, "but I fear
+that the current has carried her more east."
+
+"That's what I was afraid of," said Gregory softly, "and I'm afraid of
+missing her.  If she would only show a light!"
+
+Just then there was a low, ominous-sounding growl which made Mark hug
+the dog's head to his breast and hold it tightly, while he ordered it to
+be silent.
+
+There was occasion for the growl; and it was their temporary saving that
+the men had ceased rowing, for the fiery look of the water would have
+betrayed their whereabouts as it did that of a vessel coming toward
+them, and they were not long in realising that it was one of the praus
+being rowed cautiously toward the shore.
+
+The prau came on with the golden snakes undulating away at every dip of
+the sweeps, and right and left of the keel as she softly divided the
+water.  All was silent on board, and nothing visible but what seemed
+like a darkening of the horizon; but, as he held Bruff tightly to keep
+him silent and stared excitedly at the passing vessel, Mark pictured in
+his mind the deck crowded with fierce-looking opal-eyed savage men,
+spear and kris armed, and ready to slay if they had the chance.
+
+Those were perilous moments; for as the prau drew near it seemed
+impossible for its occupants to pass without seeing the gig lying little
+more than a few yards away.  And as the English party sat there hardly
+daring to breathe, and knowing that a growl from the dog would result in
+a shower of spears, it seemed as if the vessel would never pass.
+
+But pass it did, with the wonderful display of golden coruscations
+undulating from the spots where the long oars softly dipped still going
+on, but gradually growing more faint, and at last invisible.
+
+"Bless that dog!" said Mr Gregory, drawing a long breath.  "Now, my
+lads, pull softly.  We're in the right track.  Give way."
+
+The men rowed, and a whispered conversation went on between the three
+heads of the little party.
+
+"Couldn't be better, gentlemen," said the major.  "Here we have half the
+enemy's forces gone ashore, and the other half not expecting us; that's
+clear, or else they wouldn't have sent that expedition to surprise us.
+What do you mane to do?"
+
+"Get close up under the cabin-window," said Mr Gregory, "if we can find
+the ship.  If we can lay the boat right under the stern we shall be
+safer from those on deck, for they could not see us."
+
+"Yes," said the major gazing over the sea; "but, my dear sir, we must
+find the ship first before we can get to her stern."
+
+"Is there no light?" said Morgan at last, after they had been rowing
+softly about for quite a quarter of an hour.
+
+"No, not a spark," whispered Mr Gregory.  "I've tried to keep in the
+course by which the prau came when it passed us, but the darkness is so
+deceptive that we might as well be blind."
+
+Another ten minutes or so were passed and still they could not make out
+the tall spars and huge hull of the ship, while a feeling of despair
+began to come over Mark as he asked himself whether he should ever look
+upon those he loved again.  He had never before realised the vastness of
+the ocean and how easy it was to go astray and be lost, for as minute by
+minute glided away, the search for the great ship became more hopeless,
+and the darkness that was over the sea began to settle down upon the
+young adventurer's heart.
+
+"I'm about done, major," whispered Mr Gregory.  "We're just as likely
+to be going right away from her as to her."
+
+"A current must be setting strongly now at the change of tide," said
+Morgan.  "We shall have to wait for day."
+
+"And throw away our chance of doing some good!" said Mr Gregory
+pettishly.  "Here you, Mark Strong, this dog of yours seems as if he
+could do anything.  Do you think if we put him in the water he'd swim
+toward the ship?"
+
+"If I let him go into the water he would begin to bark loudly,"
+whispered Mark.
+
+"Ah! and do more harm than good," said the major.  "Now, look here,
+gentlemen: my wife and daughter are on board that ship, and we've got to
+find her, so let's have no talk of giving up, if you please."
+
+"Give up, major!" said the first-mate with an angry growl; "don't you
+run away with that idea.  I'm not going to give up."
+
+There was so much decision in Mr Gregory's tone and words that Mark's
+heart grew light again, and the horrible picture his fancy painted of
+his father and mother being left at the mercy of the Malays once more
+grew dim.
+
+"What shall we do, then, next?--go west?"
+
+"No, sir, I think north," replied Gregory.  "There isn't a breath of
+air, so we cannot have gone far.  What say, Morgan?"
+
+"The tide may have taken her many miles," said the second-mate, speaking
+painfully; "but try north."
+
+The first-mate was about to whisper to the men to easy on the port side
+when all at once there was a flash at a distance, followed by a sharp
+report.
+
+"From the ship," said Gregory.  "A signal."
+
+"No, no," said Morgan peevishly.  "That is from the shore."
+
+"Oh, impossible!" said the major.  "That shot was fired from the ship."
+
+Another flash, evidently from half-a-mile away in quite a different
+direction.
+
+"That is from the ship," whispered Morgan as the report of the gun went
+vibrating through the dark night air.
+
+"No, no, man; from the shore," said the major pettishly.
+
+"I stake my life, sir, it is from the ship," said Morgan, straining his
+eyes in the direction from which the last signal had been made.
+
+"Morgan's right, major," said Gregory firmly.
+
+"Yes; that there last shot was from seaward," whispered the boatswain.
+"I haven't not no doubt about that."
+
+"Steady, my lads, and give way now," whispered Gregory; and the boat was
+turned and rowed steadily for quite a quarter of an hour as nearly as
+they could tell in the direction from which the last shot had come.
+
+At the end of that time, though, they were as badly off, it seemed, as
+ever, for they ceased rowing, to find that the darkness was more dense,
+for a soft mist was gathering overhead and blotting out the stars.
+
+"If we only dared hail," muttered Gregory.  "Major, this is horrible.
+Pst!"
+
+This was consequent upon a faint flash of light appearing not twenty
+yards away; then it seemed as if there was a tiny flame burning, and
+directly after complete darkness.
+
+"The _Petrel_ or a prau," said Mr Gregory in a low voice, and with his
+lips to the major's ear.
+
+"The ship," said Mark excitedly, striking in.
+
+"How do you know, lad?"
+
+"By the height up."
+
+"You're right, boy; so it is."
+
+"And there," said Mark softly, "it was someone lighting a cigar."
+
+"Yes; I can smell it.  But hist!"
+
+"It was my father," said Mark excitedly.  "I know what he's doing:
+smoking at the cabin-window."
+
+"May be," whispered back the mate cautiously.  "Here, pull that
+starboard oar, Small."
+
+The boatswain obeyed, and the one impulse seemed to send them all into a
+greater darkness, while the odour of tobacco pervaded the air quite
+strongly and a little point of light shone above their heads.
+
+"Father!" whispered Mark, for he could not control himself, and the word
+slipped from his tongue.
+
+"Mark?  Hush!" came back to set all doubts at rest.
+
+"Here, hook on, Small, keep the boat as she is," said Mr Gregory; and
+this was done in silence; but it was some few minutes before they were
+in their former position, all being done with the most extreme caution.
+
+"Have you a rope, Strong?" said Gregory in a low voice.
+
+There was no reply, but the glowing end of the cigar disappeared from
+where it shone some fifteen feet above their heads, and at the end of a
+few minutes something was lowered down, which proved to be so many
+sheets tightly rolled up and knotted together.
+
+The first-mate seized the extemporised cord and drew hard upon it to see
+if it would bear.  It proved to be made quite fast, so he turned to
+Mark:
+
+"Now, young un," he said, "you can climb that rope.  Go up and hear from
+your father how matters stand."
+
+Mark said nothing, but seized the soft cord, and, with the mate's help,
+was soon half-way up, but the rest, as he quitted the support of the
+mate's shoulders, was more difficult.  Still, the knots helped him, the
+distance was short, and, after a little exertion, he felt a couple of
+strong hands passed under his arms, when, after a bit of scuffling and
+plenty of hoist, he felt himself half-lifted in at the cabin-window, and
+the next instant clasped in a pair of softly-clinging arms.
+
+"My poor boy!" whispered Mrs Strong.
+
+"Hist! don't speak!  Don't make a sound!" said the captain sternly.
+"There may be a sentry at the door."
+
+"But, father, are you hurt?"
+
+"A little, my boy; not much," said the captain.
+
+"Terribly, Mark," whispered Mrs Strong; and the lad felt a shudder run
+through him.
+
+"No, no!  Don't alarm the boy," said the captain; and just then Mark
+felt a little hand steal into his, and heard a faint sob, while another
+hand was laid upon his shoulder.
+
+"Miss O'Halloran!  Mary!" whispered Mark.
+
+"Yes: the major?"
+
+"Papa?"
+
+Two voices whispered those questions at the same moment.
+
+"He's quite right, and down there in the boat," said Mark.
+
+"Now, my boy, quick!" said the captain, catching Mark by the shoulder;
+"who's below in the boat?"
+
+"All of them, father."
+
+"Unhurt?"
+
+"Mr Morgan has got a nasty spear wound."
+
+"Ah!" ejaculated the captain.  "Very bad?"
+
+"Through his shoulder, father."
+
+"Did you meet one of the praus?"
+
+"Yes, as we came across."
+
+"Gone to destroy your boat," said the captain.  "I heard the orders
+given.  Now go down to the boat and tell Mr Gregory that we are partly
+prisoners here.  I say partly, because I have barricaded the cabin-door.
+Tell him that one of the praus came alongside to beg for water.  The
+crew said they were dying for want of it, and the scoundrels had hidden
+their arms.  I can hardly tell now how it was done, my lad, but one
+moment I was giving orders for the water to be passed over the side, the
+next I was lying on the deck struck down, and when I came to, the men
+were secured below and the deck was in possession of the Malays, a
+second prau having come up and helped the men of the first."
+
+"But we heard firing, father?"
+
+"Yes, my boy, so did I, as if it was in a dream, and I found afterwards
+that my poor lads had made a brave fight of it, and driven the first
+party out, but the crew were without a leader, and the Malays fired into
+them till they came close alongside and boarded together."
+
+"Was--was anyone killed?"
+
+"Don't ask now, my lad.  Tell Gregory we were driven in here, and the
+ladies are all right.  Ask him to climb up and talk the matter over with
+me, as to what we shall do."
+
+"Pst!" came from the cabin-window, and directly after Mr Gregory
+climbed in.
+
+"I could not wait," he said, "and I found the rope would bear me.  Now,
+Strong, how do matters stand?"
+
+The captain explained the position.
+
+"And the men--down below deck?"
+
+"No," said the captain bitterly; "half the poor fellows died like men--
+no, like sheep," he cried excitedly, "for they had no weapons but the
+capstan bars.  The other half were sent afloat in one of the boats, I
+suppose, and one of the praus kept firing at them till they got beyond
+reach."
+
+"Ha!" ejaculated the mate.
+
+"Now go down and talk with the major.  Poor Morgan is helpless?"
+
+"Yes, quite."
+
+"Well, ask the major if he will stand by me.  There are only two courses
+open.  We must either try and retake the ship or escape at once before
+morning."
+
+"Which do you think is best, Strong?" said Mr Gregory huskily.
+
+"I'm pulled two ways, Gregory.  I want to save my ship; but, on the
+other hand, there is the thought of these helpless women and our
+position if we should fail."
+
+"Well," said Gregory slowly, "I'm for the fight.  We've got some weapons
+now, and hang me if I'm going to strike to a set of treacherous pirates
+like this."
+
+The captain grasped his hand and began smoking.
+
+"Quiets the pain a bit," he whispered.  "An ugly wound; but I don't
+think the kris was poisoned."
+
+"Why, Strong," said the first-mate sympathetically, "we ought to give up
+and escape."
+
+"My dear Gregory, I'm quite a cripple; but if you and the others will
+stand by me, we'll stick to the ship till she sinks, if we have such bad
+luck as that; and if she doesn't sink, we'll save her."
+
+"I'll answer for it they will stand by you," said the mate, and going to
+the window he lowered himself down, and told those below how matters
+stood.
+
+"Now, major," he said, "what do you say?"
+
+"Say, sor!" whispered the major; "why, there isn't anything to say.
+I've paid for my passage and the passages of the wife and daughter to
+Hong-Kong, and does Captain Strong think I'm going to let them finish
+the voyage in a scrap of an open boat.  No, sor; fight, sor, fight, of
+course."
+
+"Will you stand by us, my lads?" said Mr Gregory.
+
+"Will we stand by you, sir!" growled Small.  "Why, of course we will.  I
+want to make J Small, his mark, on some of their brown carkidges.  Don't
+you, boys?"
+
+A low whispered growl came in reply, a sound that was as full of fight
+as if it had been uttered by some fierce beast.
+
+"That will do then," said the first-mate.  "You slip up there first,
+Billy Widgeon, and you others go next.  Stop: Billy, send down a
+table-cloth."
+
+"Table-cloth, sir?"
+
+"Yes, to tie the dog in; we mustn't leave him."
+
+Widgeon went up, his mates followed one by one, for the cotton rope
+stood the strain, and then a big white table-cloth was dropped into the
+boat.
+
+"Now, Bruff, my lad, you've got to go up like a bundle.  Will you go
+quietly, or are you going to betray us?"
+
+The dog made no resistance, but allowed himself to be stowed in the
+middle of the cloth, which was tied up bundle-wise, the end of the
+sheet-rope was attached, a signal made, and the animal drawn up and in
+at the cabin-window without his uttering a sound.
+
+A minute more and the rope came down.
+
+"Can you bear it round you, my lad?" whispered Gregory to Morgan.
+
+"I'll bear anything," was the calm reply; and he did not wince as the
+rope was secured about his chest.  Then a signal was given, and he was
+drawn up, to be dragged in at the cabin-window with his wound bleeding
+again and he insensible.
+
+"Can you climb up, major?" said Gregory as the rope came down again.
+
+"No, sir," said the major stoutly.  "I shall have to be hauled up like a
+passenger, I suppose.  I am no climber.  But won't they hear us on
+deck?"
+
+"I wonder they have not already," said the mate, though all was
+perfectly still, and the stern stood out so much that they were in some
+degree protected.
+
+"This is confoundedly undignified, sir, confoundedly," said the major,
+as the cotton rope was secured about his waist.  "Hang it, Gregory, I
+don't like it, sir.  Can't I climb?"
+
+"You said you could not.  Will you try?"
+
+"No; it's of no use.  But really I do object to be swinging there at the
+end of a string like a confounded leg of mutton under a bottle-jack.
+Not too tight."
+
+"No; that knot will not slip.  There, shall I give the signal?"
+
+"Yes--no--yes; and let me get it over as soon as I can.  Good gracious!
+if the men of my regiment were to see me now!"
+
+The signal was given, the rope tightened, and the major uttered a low
+cry as he was sharply lifted off his feet, and before he could check
+himself surely enough he began to turn slowly round and round as if he
+were being roasted.
+
+Left alone now, Mr Gregory waited patiently till the rope came down
+again, when he caught it and secured it round his waist, after which he
+went to the bows of the gig, took the painter, and by pressing the stern
+of the ship managed to draw the prow close up to the hull, and then
+after a little search he discovered a ring-bolt upon the rudder-post, to
+which he drew the boat, running the painter right through and making it
+fast, so that the little vessel was well out of sight, unless seen by
+the crews of one of the praus.
+
+This done he went to the stern, tightened the rope, and found that if he
+swung off he would go into the sea with a splash, an act sufficiently
+noisy to arouse the watch presumably set on deck.
+
+This was out of the question, and he was about to lower himself into the
+water when the thought occurred to him to feel about the boat as to
+whether anything had been left; and it proved to be as well that he did,
+for beneath one of the thwarts his hand came in contact with a bag which
+proved to contain the ammunition and one of the revolvers.
+
+Gregory secured the bag to his neck, hoping and believing that he would
+be able to keep it dry; and now, taking well hold of the rope, he let
+himself glide down over the side of the boat into the deep water,
+hanging suspended till the men above began to haul and without leaving
+him to climb, he was drawn up to the window and helped in, to stand
+dripping on the floor, and far more concerned about the contents of the
+bag than his own state.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+HOW MARK PASSED A BAD NIGHT.
+
+The prisoners had been gathered together in the cabins, of which the
+whole were in their possession, and were still discussing various plans
+for proceeding when the splash of oars was heard through the open
+cabin-window, and as Mark was one of the first to run and look out he
+could plainly see that the prau they had passed was returning, her
+course being marked by the undulating streams of light which flashed
+away at each dip of the long sweeps.
+
+In a few minutes the vessel had passed, going right up to the bows of
+the _Petrel_, and now a loud burst of talking was heard on the night
+air.  It rose and fell and rose again, quite a discussion full of
+commands and protests, so they seemed from the tones of the voices,
+lasting for a full quarter of an hour, and then all was still, not so
+much as the tramp of a foot being heard upon the deck of the ship.
+
+The ladies had retired into one of the cabins, the sailors seated
+themselves quietly in one corner, sipping the cold grog the captain gave
+them, and Mark sat near his father listening to the discussion going on.
+
+The major was for a bold attack upon the pirates and driving them
+overboard.
+
+Morgan, who was wounded, proposed that the ladies should be lowered down
+into the boat at once, and that they should escape and take refuge upon
+the island.
+
+Gregory said scarcely anything, and when pressed he cried in a harsh
+tone:
+
+"I'm ready for what my captain settles to do.  Then I'll do my best, but
+I'll not take any responsibility."
+
+"But you'll fight, Gregory, if called on, eh?" said the major.
+
+"Try me," replied the first-mate gruffly.
+
+"Well, Captain Strong, what's it to be?" said the major; "a bold attack
+upon the scoundrelly set of jail-sweepings and a lesson for them in
+British valour?"
+
+"No attack, Major O'Halloran, but a bold defence, sir.  Weak as we are
+it is the better policy."
+
+"Then you mean to hold the ship, Strong?"
+
+"To the last," said the captain sternly.
+
+"Good!" said Gregory.  "Then let's get to work before it's daylight."
+
+"What are you going to do?"
+
+"First thing, sir, is to get out a few tools I have in my cabin and take
+down two or three doors."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"To screw up over the skylights, for that is our weak point.  The
+scoundrels could stand up there and shoot us down or spear us as they
+pleased."
+
+"Right!" said Captain Strong shortly.  "And while you do that we'll
+strengthen the barricade across the door."
+
+"Serve that the same," said the first-mate.  "A couple of doors can be
+screwed across silently.  Then up against them you can plant your chests
+and cases and the place will be as firm again."
+
+"Ah, Gregory, you were meant for a soldier!" said the major sadly.  "My
+word, sir, what a sapper you would have made!"
+
+"And what should I have done for a first-mate?" said the captain
+pleasantly.
+
+"Well, we won't stop passing compliments," said the major.  "Let's get
+to work.  You're hurt, captain, so you sit down and give orders to your
+boy to lay out the fighting tools.  Get 'em all ready, ammunition and
+all.  Bedad, sir, I haven't had a fight since I was up in the hill
+country having a turn at the niggers, and this promises to be a rare
+treat."
+
+"I'll have everything ready for your feast, major," said the captain
+sadly.
+
+"Hold up, man, and don't talk as if you had lost a half-sovereign, or,
+worse still, your ship.  Keep a good heart, as I do.  Sure, captain,
+haven't I got my two darlings on board--and do you think I don't love
+them?" he added in a whisper.
+
+The captain's answer was a firm grip of the hand extended to him in the
+dark.
+
+"That's it, my boy," whispered the major.  "Now, next time you speak try
+and forget you are wounded, if you can, and say things cheerily.  It
+puts heart in your men and yourself too.  That's the beauty of being a
+soldier, sir.  He isn't often called upon to fight; but when he does he
+has to take his wounds pleasantly, and set an example to his men by
+dying with a smile on his lip and a laugh in his eye."
+
+Meanwhile Mr Gregory had got out the tool-drawer from his chest, and
+was busily attacking the lath which kept in place the sliding-door of
+his cabin.
+
+It was a toughish task, but with Small and Widgeon for his helpmates he
+soon had it off, and before long the two sailors were holding it
+crosswise over the saloon sky-light, while Mr Gregory rapidly secured
+it in its place with screws.
+
+Another and another was fitted up in a similar way, and all so silently
+that very little was heard beyond the heavy breathing of the first-mate
+as he drove the screws home.
+
+"There, major!" he whispered; "those doors are not very strong, but
+wherever they drive through a hole we can put a gun to that place as
+easily as they can."
+
+"And better, too," said the major.  "Now, then, as soon as you get a
+couple more cabin-doors off, we'll move away these boxes and things the
+captain has clapped here, and you shall screw up your barricade."
+
+"I'll soon be ready," said the mate; and he kept his word; while, as
+soon as he had let his two men lift out the second door, the major
+brought up the reserve, as he called it, the chests piled against the
+door by the captain, Mrs Strong, and the major's wife, were lifted
+over, and in an incredibly short time the opening, with the door bolted,
+was covered breast-high with the other doors, which were securely
+fastened, and the chests were once more piled up in their places.
+
+Meanwhile, in spite of his injury, the captain had been busily engaged
+placing the weapons in order in his own cabin, off the saloon--the door
+not being required; and this he carried out by the help of a lamp, Mark
+eagerly obeying his slightest wishes, with the result that at last there
+was an ample supply of charged weapons ready, with ammunition so placed
+as to be at hand.
+
+"If it comes to fighting, my boy--which Heaven forbid!" said the
+captain--"you will take your place here, and as rapidly as you can you
+will recharge the pieces brought back to you.  Now, try that revolver."
+
+Mark caught up the weapon.
+
+"Unload it."
+
+He was sufficiently versed to understand the process, and rapidly drove
+out each cartridge.
+
+"Now reload," said the captain.
+
+Mark's fingers were just as active in replacing the cartridges; and this
+done, the guns were tried in the same way.
+
+"I don't see what more we can do," said the captain.  "So lie down and
+have a sleep, my boy.  I'll keep watch.  To-morrow may be a very weary
+day for us all."
+
+"Don't ask me, father," said the boy in tones of remonstrance.  "I feel
+as if I couldn't sleep to-night.  Let me go and talk to mother."
+
+"They may be asleep," said the captain.  "No; it is not likely.  Yes; go
+if you like."
+
+Mark went softly to the cabin-door and tapped.
+
+The door was opened softly by Mrs Strong, who held up her hand and then
+pointed to where Mary O'Halloran lay fast asleep, while her mother was
+seated by the berth, her head fallen sidewise and resting against her
+child.  Soldier's wife and daughter, they were so inured to peril and
+anxiety that these did not hinder them from taking necessary rest, and
+being ready for the troubles of the day to come.
+
+There was a tender embrace, a kiss, and Mark stole away once more to
+return to his father, whom he found seated on a locker faint and
+exhausted from his injury.
+
+"It's a hard fight, Mark," he whispered hoarsely; "and I feel as weak as
+man can feel.  Don't let me go to sleep."
+
+"Why not, father?  I'll watch and call you if there is anything wrong."
+
+"No, my boy," said the captain sadly.  "I could not sleep, I believe,
+after all, even if I tried.  It was a momentary weakness."
+
+"The captain awake?" said a deep harsh voice.
+
+"Yes, Gregory, I'm awake," was the reply.
+
+"Well, sir, I think we've done all we can.  The lads are asleep; so is
+Morgan.  The major is on guard, and the men understand what to do if
+they are roused.  Now, sir, why don't you turn in?"
+
+"No, Gregory; I'll keep watch too."
+
+"Well, sir, we mustn't waste strength.  If you and the major are going
+to watch I'll turn in, for I'm dead beat.  Hullo! what's that?"
+
+There was a low whining sigh, and a faint bark answered the first-mate's
+question.
+
+"Oh, it's that dog again, eh?  Well, sir, shall I turn in?"
+
+"Yes, Gregory.  We'll rouse you if there's anything wrong."
+
+"All right!" said the mate; "but it's my opinion that we shall have no
+fighting at present.  They'll wait for wind and get us ashore in some
+creek hidden among the mangroves, and there plunder the ship."
+
+The mate went out, whispered a few words to the major, and then turned
+in--a process which consisted in lying down on the cabin-floor, with a
+revolver in his hand; while to the major, who was seated on a chest by
+the barricaded door, with an unlighted cigar in his lips, it seemed as
+if Gregory sighed softly and was then fast asleep.
+
+Mark got up once or twice and went into the saloon, where all was still.
+Then he walked to the window and looked out, to find that not a breath
+of air had arisen, and that the mist was gathering more thickly over the
+sea.
+
+Going back to where his father was seated he too sat down; and then it
+seemed to him that a dull oval sun rose out of the sea--a sun so dull
+that its flattened oval shape suggested that it must have been squeezed
+so as to get nearly all the light out of it.  And there that sun stared
+at him blankly, as if wondering to see him there; while he was as much
+surprised to see the sun--and more surprised as his brain cleared and he
+realised that he had been asleep and was staring at the plate-glass
+cabin-window, and that it was broad day!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
+
+HOW MEN FIGHT FOR LIFE.
+
+Mark started up in terror as he saw his father's face, pale, haggard,
+and smeared with blood; but as soon as he encountered his son's eye he
+smiled pleasantly.
+
+"Have I been asleep, father?"
+
+"Capitally, my boy," said the captain kindly.  "A good four hours, I
+should say."
+
+"And you've been watching?"
+
+"No--only resting and thinking, my boy.  I'm better now.  Go out and see
+how things are."
+
+Mark stepped softly into the saloon, which was now full of light from
+the stern windows, and a dull sense of horror and misery came over him
+as he noted the desolate aspect of the place, with the screwed-up doors,
+the barricade, the look of the men asleep, and above all the pallid
+aspect of Mr Morgan, who seemed to have grown old since the previous
+day, so seriously had his wound affected him.
+
+This was all seen at a glance; and he was going toward the door when he
+stopped short, startled, for there stood the major with a double gun at
+his shoulder taking so straight an aim at him that Mark seemed to see
+nothing of the gun but the muzzle, looking like a pair of spectacles
+without glasses, and through which frames he was trying to peer.
+
+Not a pleasant prospect for him if he could have looked, for it would
+have been right down the barrels at the wads of a couple of cartridges;
+but as he stared the piece was lowered and the major said in a low
+voice:
+
+"I could have brought you down like a bird.  Why, you looked just like a
+Malay.  Mark, what have you been doing, sir? rubbing your powdery hands
+all over your face?"
+
+"I suppose so, major.  What time is it?"
+
+"Time the ship was cleared, my lad, but I suppose we must wait.  Let me
+see," he continued, referring to his watch.  "I didn't like to look
+before; it makes a man impatient for his breakfast, I'm seven o'clock.
+That's three bells, isn't it?"
+
+"I think so," said Mark.
+
+"Think, and you the son of a captain in the merchant service!  Why, I
+should have thought you would have been born a sailor."
+
+"Have you heard the Malays, sir?"
+
+"Heard them!  Yes, my lad, going about the ship with their bare feet on
+the planks; but they haven't tried the door.  There, rouse up the men
+while I wake Gregory."
+
+He touched the first-mate, who sprang up, revolver in hand, wide-awake,
+and ready for instant action.
+
+He glanced sharply round, realised that all was right, and stuck the
+revolver in his belt.
+
+"How's the skipper?" he asked.
+
+"My father seems worn out and ill," said Mark sadly.
+
+"Make him lie down," muttered the mate; and he strode across to the
+captain's cabin, but came back shaking his head, and went to the
+cabin-window, where he leaned out and was trying to see whether the boat
+was all right when a faint noise overhead made him instinctively draw in
+his head.
+
+It was a narrow escape, for as the mate drew back there was a dark line
+seen to dart across the cabin-window and return.
+
+"Well, I'm not a spiteful man," said the mate, rubbing his ear, "but I
+should certainly like to give that fellow a pill that would lay him up
+for six months.  Now, what pleasure would it have afforded him, Mark, my
+lad, if he had run that spear through my neck?"
+
+"It's his nature, sir," said the major shortly.  "Those fellows value a
+life at about a rupee, and sometimes not at that."
+
+The men had risen, stretched, and were looking round in a discontented
+way; but they began to beam shortly after when a fair supply of biscuits
+and sardines from the captain's private supply was handed round, and
+followed by some bottled beer, the opening of which seemed to cause a
+commotion on deck, and an excited talking as if the Malays thought some
+kind of weapon was being fired.
+
+The breakfast worked wonders in the gaunt, untidy-looking throng, and
+when the captain said a few words to them asking their help, and that
+they would stand by him to the last, there was a hearty cheer, one which
+caused a rush of feet upon the deck, and then a hurried buzzing sound
+was heard as if the Malays were gathering for an attack.
+
+In view of this the men were placed well armed by the barricaded door,
+and the major stood ready at their side, while Small was stationed
+beneath the sky-light armed with a gun, and with orders to fire through
+the first hole driven down in the panels of the door Mr Gregory had
+placed for protection.
+
+"So far so good," said the captain cheerily, and the excitement seemed
+to remove the haggard look in his pale face.  "But look here, gentlemen,
+we must leave a way open for retreat."
+
+"Of course," said the major, "never lose touch of that."
+
+"My plan is to defend the ship to the last, and then take to the boat--
+that is, if the case has become hopeless.  So, Gregory, sooner or later
+they will find out that the boat is here, and try to cut it adrift.  You
+will go to the cabin-window which commands the boat's painter, and shoot
+down whoever tries to cut it."
+
+Gregory nodded, took a gun and some cartridges, and walked to one of the
+cabin-windows, then to another, and changed again.
+
+He had hardly reached the last and looked out when there was a shot, a
+yell, and a second shot.
+
+The captain rushed to his officer's side.
+
+"What is it?" he cried.
+
+"Only just in time," said the mate, coolly reloading.  "One of the
+scoundrels had swum round, was in the boat, and cutting her away."
+
+"Did you--"
+
+The captain paused and looked inquiringly in the mate's eyes.
+
+"We're fighting for our lives and the lives of these ladies, Captain
+Strong," said Gregory.  "Suppose we do our duty and ask no questions
+afterwards.  The Malay did not cut the painter."
+
+Captain Strong nodded and returned to where the men stood by the
+barricaded door, to answer the major's inquiring look with a few words
+as to matters being all right, and then they waited, with the ladies
+pale and anxious, in one of the cabins, and Mark standing ready to
+supply ammunition when it should be required.
+
+They had not long to wait for an attack.  The discovery that the man who
+had tried to get the boat had been shot was met with a loud burst of
+angry yells, and this was followed by a fresh attempt, as was shown to
+the defenders of the door by another shot from the mate.
+
+There was another burst of yelling, and at intervals three more shots
+were fired by Mr Gregory.
+
+"Why, he's getting all the fun, Strong!" said the major.  "They might
+come this way; but the mischief is that we've left no holes to fire
+from.  Never mind; if we had they would have been able to see in."
+
+Mark about this time walked to where Mr Gregory was leaning against the
+bulkhead with the muzzle of his gun bearing upon the spot a man must
+reach to cut the painter.
+
+"Want any more cartridges, Mr Gregory?" said Mark.
+
+For answer the mate bent down, glanced along the barrel of his gun and
+fired.
+
+Mark darted forward and caught sight of a hideously-distorted face and a
+pair of raised hands before they disappeared beneath the surface, and
+just at that moment he darted back, barely in time to avoid a spear
+which stuck quivering in the woodwork round the window.
+
+"Not a very safe place.  Squire Mark," said the mate, reloading without
+taking his eyes from the boat, and firing again as a dark head literally
+flashed into sight, one of the Malays having dived and so arranged his
+plunge that he should form a curve in the water and rise close to the
+boat's stern.
+
+"I wish they would get tired of this," said Gregory, again reloading,
+and speaking through his teeth.  "If they put no value on human life I
+do."
+
+The ill success of the venture to cut the boat adrift seemed to have
+maddened the Malays, for after a burst of angry talking there was a loud
+yell, a pattering of naked feet on the deck, and the next minute a
+furious attack was being made upon the cabin entrance, blows were
+delivered with axes, and it soon became evident that a way would be made
+through.
+
+"Ah! what are you going to do?" roared the major, as he saw a man about
+to fire.  "Don't waste your shot, man.  Stand back till you can see the
+whites of your enemy's eyes, and then let him have it."
+
+There was a thrill running through the men, and click, click, of lock
+after lock.
+
+"That's it," said the major, "cool as cucumbers.  Bravo, lads!  What
+soldiers I could make of all of you!  Now, look here, I'll give the
+order to fire, but what you have to do is this: wait till these black
+murdering scoundrels make a hole in the defence, and then you fill it up
+with the mouth of your pieces, and look sharp, before they thrust
+through a spear."
+
+The men uttered a low growl, and the captain now stood by the major,
+while Morgan after a smile at Mark seated himself upon the cabin table
+to watch for an attack from the sky-light, toward which he held a loaded
+revolver.
+
+A sharp report from Mr Gregory's gun was followed by another yell,
+telling painfully enough that the Malays had been deceived in imagining
+that the whole of the little force would be defending the door, and that
+now was the time to cut the boat adrift.
+
+The yell from the water was followed by a fierce one on deck, and the
+chopping and splintering of wood.  The door was stoutly built, but those
+behind were very slight, and it was not long before the panels began to
+show gaps of splinters and jagged holes through which spears were thrust
+so suddenly that the men fell back, and the blows were redoubled.
+
+"Ah! they are nasty weapons, my lads," said the major coolly.  "Serve
+them this way."
+
+As he spoke he watched his opportunity, waiting till a spear was darted
+in for some distance, when, catching it in his left hand, he pressed it
+aside, readied forward, and discharged his revolver right through the
+hole by which the spear had come.
+
+The proof of the efficacy of this shot was shown by the major drawing in
+the spear and throwing it upon the deck, while his example was followed
+more or less by the men, who now sent shot after shot through the
+various holes made in the door.
+
+"Don't waste your fire, lads; don't waste your fire," cried the major;
+and his words were not without effect, as the slow delivery of shots,
+and the yells of pain and rage which followed many of the discharges,
+told.
+
+No more attempts were made to cut away the boat, and Mr Gregory's piece
+became silent; but it soon grew evident that a fresh attack was to be
+made upon them, for the crashing and shivering of glass was heard in the
+sky-lights, and directly after, heavy blows from an axe.  This was soon
+followed by the appearance of an opening through which a spear-head
+gleamed as the weapon was darted down so adroitly that it passed through
+the fold of the boatswain's trousers, and pinned him to the table on one
+side of which he too leant.
+
+The answer to this was a shot from Morgan's revolver, and another from
+the gun the boatswain held, after which he proceeded leisurely to
+wriggle out the spear and draw it away.
+
+Then more blows were heard, and a fresh hole was made in the sky-light
+defence, but the spear thrust down more than met its match, and after a
+shot or two no more blows were delivered there.
+
+By this time the Malays had grown less daring, and though a man or two
+rushed forward now and then to dart a spear at them, there was a
+cessation of the work of destroying with axes, and the sailors were able
+to keep command of the holes, and send a well-directed shot through from
+time to time.
+
+But the encounter, badly as it had gone with the Malays, had had its
+effects among the defenders of the place.  The major had an ugly gash in
+his left arm delivered by a knife-bladed spear.  Billy Widgeon's ear was
+cut through, and he had a slight prick in his right arm, while one of
+the other men had a spear stab in the left leg.
+
+The withdrawal of the Malays from the attack enabled the injured to go
+into hospital as the major termed it, and each wound was carefully
+bandaged by the major's wife or by Mrs Strong.
+
+"They're about beaten, I should say," said the major, cheerily.  "By the
+way, Strong, a little bleeding is very refreshing.  I feel like a new
+man."
+
+"So do I," said the captain grimly.
+
+"Here, quick, look out!" cried Mark at that instant, for, wincing from
+seeing the dressing of his father's wound, he had unscrewed one of the
+little side-lights and was looking over the calm sunlit sea, when he
+caught sight of a prau gliding along from the _Petrel's_ bows, and it
+was evident that she was coming to attack simultaneously from the stern.
+
+"Hah! that's it, is it!" said the major.  "Hitting back and front too!
+Confound that fellow! how badly he steers the boat!"
+
+As he said these words he clapped his gun to his shoulder and fired.
+
+The steersman fell, but it had no permanent effect, save to draw a
+little shower of spears at the window opening, one of which passed
+through and stuck quivering in the bulkhead.  Then another man took the
+steerer's place, and the prau glided by evidently to take her station
+astern.
+
+"We shall lose the boat, major," said the captain bitterly.
+
+"Shall we!" replied the major.  "Just take my place, sir, by the door.
+I'm going to use my little hunting rifle now alongside of Gregory; and
+if a man does reach that boat I'm going to know the reason why.  I'm not
+much given to boasting, but I can shoot straight."
+
+He had already proved it to some purpose, and without a word the captain
+took his place by the barricade, while the major went into his own cabin
+and returned with a little double rifle and a pouch of ammunition.
+
+"I did not want to use this," he said; "but things are growing serious."
+
+The prau had by this time been rowed to its station, and from the stir
+on deck it was now evident that the brass swivel-gun was being loaded
+and preparations made to send a volley of missiles tearing through the
+stern windows.
+
+"That will be awkward, Gregory," said the major.
+
+"Do a lot of damage, sir," said the mate coolly.  "They are so low down
+in the water that they can't send a shot along our floor.  The charge
+will go right up and through the deck."
+
+"Well, at any rate I think I'll try and stop them."
+
+"By all means," said the mate, and he watched keenly as the major knelt
+down, resting his rifle on the sill and taking aim, but waiting.
+
+All at once there was a puff of smoke, a sharp crack, and at the same
+moment a deafening report from the prau, but the charge of missiles went
+hurtling and screaming up through the mizen rigging and away over the
+ship to sea.
+
+The major's shot was more successful, for a man fell.
+
+"He was a little too quick for me," said the major, reloading and
+waiting for another chance.  "Nasty work this!" he added; "but I suppose
+it's necessary."
+
+"Necessary, sir!" cried Gregory angrily; "think of those poor women in
+the cabin."
+
+There was a sharp crack from the major's rifle, and another man fell.
+
+"That's the left barrel!" said the major, reloading.  "Yes, my dear sir,
+I am thinking about those poor women in the cabin.  Ah, would you!"
+
+He drew trigger again, and another man who had been about to fire the
+lelah sprang up and dropped the match.
+
+There was a yell, and a fresh man picked up the piece of burning match
+from the deck, shouted, and giving the fire a wave in the air, he was in
+the act of bringing it down upon the touch-hole, when the major, who had
+not stirred to reload, drew trigger once again, the rifle cracked, and
+the Malay dropped upon his face.
+
+There was a fierce yell at this, and in the midst of tremendous
+confusion on board, the prau continued her course, the sweeps being
+worked rapidly by the crew, who were evidently in frantic haste to get
+out of the deadly line of fire.
+
+"Ah!" said the major, coolly reloading, "now I could pick off the
+steersman, or that chap with the red handkerchief; but it would do no
+real good.  We've scared them off, and that's good work."
+
+"Splendid, major.  Why, that rifle is a little treasure."
+
+"Well, yes," said the major, patting it; "but it was meant for tiger and
+leopard, Gregory, not to kill men."
+
+"You may make yourself easy," said the first-mate quietly; "these are
+savage beasts more than men.  It is life for life."
+
+"Ah! that's comforting, Gregory, and I take it as kindly of you, for I'm
+not fond of this sort of work, though I say I am.  Well, let's see how
+they are getting on yonder."
+
+He went out of the cabin, leaving the first-mate to resume his watch
+over the boat, for during the time this episode of rifle practice was in
+progress another furious attack had been made upon the barricaded door.
+Spears had been thrust and darted through, blows struck through cracks
+and holes with krises and the deadly sword-like parang, and in spite of
+the fierce and slowly-sustained fire kept up, the defences were rapidly
+becoming more dilapidated, and several fresh wounds had been received.
+
+But the determination of the men had not failed for a moment, while just
+at the worst time a change was made for the better by the fresh force
+put into the defence by Small and Mr Morgan.
+
+The attack through the sky-lights had not been renewed, and, weary with
+sitting and watching through the films of blue smoke which filled the
+cabin their captain and the men so sorely pressed, these two suddenly
+dashed into the fray, each going to a hole and firing rapidly.
+
+This checked the Malays for the time, but they came on again, and when
+the major joined in with a couple of shots from his little rifle the
+fight was still furiously raging.
+
+Suddenly, however, just as the barriers were giving way, and every
+opening seemed to bristle with spears, there was a terrible shout, and
+the attack ceased.
+
+"Failure of the rear movement, cease firing ordered from the front,"
+said the major quietly.  "Now we shall have time to repair damages."
+
+"Ah, major," cried the captain, "if I could only be as cool as you!" and
+he wrung his hand.
+
+"My dear Strong, you are a regular lion," replied the major.  "You were
+getting hard pressed there."
+
+"And you were as calm as if nothing were the matter."
+
+"Way to win, my dear sir: way to win; but I say, between ourselves,
+things were looking ugly just then."
+
+"I believe you saved us--you," said Morgan.
+
+"Humph!" replied the major.  "It's my belief, sir, that if those
+scoundrels had not let themselves be damped by the failure of the plan,
+and had kept on, we should have been all prisoners by now.  Or--"
+
+"I understand you," said the captain gravely.  "Well, we must still
+hope."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
+
+HOW THE MAJOR GAVE HIS ADVICE.
+
+As the major and Captain Strong hurried into the ladies' cabin on the
+cessation of the fighting it was to find them all ready, even to Mary,
+with bandages and pieces of linen to staunch the blood and help the poor
+fellows who had been wounded in their service; while as soon as Mark
+found that his services were no longer required as distributor of
+ammunition, he got together refreshments, and without being told handed
+them round to the wearied and bleeding sailors.
+
+The food and the kindly words of sympathy they received seemed to put
+heart into the men, who had been ready to give up as soon as the rage
+and excitement of the fighting was over, but now they strung themselves
+up and patted their bandages, as if proud of having received them in the
+ladies' defence; though as the men grew more cheery the captain grew
+more serious.
+
+"We shall have hard work to get through this afternoon," he said to the
+major, who lit a cigar and smoked as coolly as if there were no pirates
+for a hundred miles.
+
+"No, you will not," was the blunt reply.
+
+"Why, the savage wretches are swarming upon the decks," said the
+captain.
+
+"Yes; but this afternoon is already gone.  We shall have darkness soon."
+
+"Gone!  Why, it is five bells!"
+
+"Yes, sir; fighting takes time.  I say, how the smoke has cleared away!"
+
+"Yes; it is less choking now," said the captain thoughtfully; and he
+went slowly to where Gregory was waiting and watching still for an
+attack upon the boat.
+
+The captain said nothing further for some few minutes, and then returned
+to Morgan, who was very silent, and evidently weak and in great pain.
+
+Here he had a long discussion, and as Mark watched him wonderingly,
+trying the while to make out what steps his father would take next, the
+captain went slowly to where the major was talking calmly enough to Mrs
+O'Halloran and his child.
+
+"Nonsense!" he was saying; "there is no such a fine bit of Latin
+anywhere as nil desperandum.  You never know what course a battle may
+take.  Old Nap thought he had won Waterloo; but he had not.  Cheer up,
+my dears!  Look how young Mark Strong takes it.  Well, captain, he
+added, leaving the cabin and joining him, what news?  Have you naval
+gentlemen hatched the conspiracy?"
+
+"It is no conspiracy, major," said the captain quietly; "but we have
+been trying to arrive at the best course of proceeding."
+
+"Well, captain, and brother in affliction, what's to be done?"
+
+"I propose a bold attempt to clear the deck of these scoundrels, major,
+during the night.  Once get them over the side, we could keep them out.
+Will you give me your advice as a brave soldier who understands these
+things better than I, and will you fight with me?"
+
+"My dear Strong," said the major sharply, as he caught the captain's
+hand; "you ought to have been a soldier, sir."
+
+"But you see I am a sailor," said the captain with a sad smile.
+
+"There's the pity, sir.  Now to business.  Will I fight with you!
+Bedad, sir, I've proved that."
+
+"You have, my dear major, like the bravest of men."
+
+"No, no.  Tut, tut!  Like a soldier should, sir.  But now about this
+plan of yours."
+
+"Yes, major, yes."
+
+"Well, sir, there must be about eighty or ninety of these tawny rascals,
+and we are all more or less damaged, and, counting our young friend
+Mark, eleven men and three hospital nurses.  Now the nurses can't fight,
+and Mark must still be powder-monkey, so there we are ten men, and, as I
+said, all damaged, to fight eighty."
+
+"Yes," said the captain, "the odds are very great; but I think we might
+do it."
+
+"Humph!" said the major.  "I don't.  No, my dear Strong; it would be a
+failure.  I should like it immensely.  I've been in several fights, and
+I was never in one yet which stood at eight to one.  Yes, I should like
+it immensely; but there are the women."
+
+"Yes," said the captain sadly; "there are the women."
+
+"You don't think me turning tail because I speak so plainly?" said the
+major.
+
+"No;--how could I, major!"
+
+"Well, I don't know, sir.  The world is far more ready to think a man a
+coward than a hero.  But set aside that, it would not do, my dear
+fellow.  We are Englishmen and Irishmen, and can do a great deal; but
+when it comes to eight to one there isn't room for one to move."
+
+"You are right," said the captain with a groan.  "My poor ship! my poor
+wife and boy!"
+
+"Get out with you!  Why, what now!" cried the major, whose eyes were wet
+with tears as he grasped the captain's hands.  "We're not beaten yet, my
+dear boy, and we're not going to be.  Now I tell you what is our duty,
+sir."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"To put into that boat all the food and ammunition we've got, and then
+all get in quietly but one; and he'd stop back to get the old ship well
+alight; and then bad luck to the scoundrels on board, much good may it
+do them!"
+
+"My poor ship!"
+
+"But you'd rather sink her or burn her than let these dogs grow fat on
+what they get?"
+
+"Certainly I would," said the captain.
+
+"Then to-night, as soon as it's dark, let's do it, me dear boy, and make
+for one of the islands."
+
+"But we could hold out for long enough yet."
+
+"No," said the major gravely; "we're beaten, me dear sor.  The poor lads
+are getting more stiff and sore every minute.  To-morrow morning they
+won't have a bit of fight in them; why, even your humble servant, sir,
+who adores a scrimmage, would rather lie on a sofa and smoke till his
+wounds are healed.  Now isn't it all true?"
+
+"Yes," said the captain; "you are quite right; but we'll hold out till
+to-morrow.  Help may come."
+
+"To be sure it may," said the major cheerily.  "I'm ready to wait.  I've
+only spoken my mind."
+
+"I thank you, major," said Captain Strong.  "You are quite right.  I
+felt that my plans were next door to madness; but I was ready to do
+anything sooner than lose my ship."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN.
+
+HOW THERE WAS ANOTHER ENEMY TO FIGHT.
+
+It was rapidly growing dark as Billy Widgeon went slowly up to Mark.  He
+limped as he walked, and there was a bandage round one of his short
+legs.
+
+"I've been having a look at that there monkey, Mr Mark, sir," said the
+little sailor.  "He's just come out of his hole, looking scared because
+he thought the fellows was shouting at him.  He came down over the stern
+and in at one of the windows, and he's been a-making no end of fuss over
+old Bruff's crocodilly leg, and he doesn't seem to understand it a bit.
+But I say, sir, what are we going to do next?  Some of the chaps is
+rather bad."
+
+"Poor fellows!" said Mark.  "I suppose we shall have to fight again."
+
+Billy made no answer, for another engagement seemed terrible enough to
+think of now in cold blood, and they were soon after joined by Small,
+who said nothing, but held out his hand to Mark, to give the lad's
+fingers a long silent pressure, which seemed to him to mean only one
+thing, and that was good-bye.
+
+After a time the captain's voice was heard to summon the men, and Small
+was sent to relieve Gregory; but the mate declined to leave his post,
+and no attempt was made to enforce obedience.
+
+Then half the men were placed at the barricade, and the weapons of the
+other half were placed by them, while these latter were drawn up by the
+saloon windows.
+
+"What's we going to do?" whispered one of the men to Mark; but he could
+give no answer.
+
+It was now dark, even darker than the previous night, but a slight
+breeze was beginning to rise in fitful gusts, and there was now and then
+the ripple of water against the stern.
+
+"You've made up your mind then?" said the major.
+
+"Yes," replied the captain firmly.  "We have done our duty.  Now
+humanity must be heard."
+
+The captain then spoke a few words to Mr Gregory, and the question of
+how the boat was to be brought from where she was secured exactly under
+the cabin-window was discussed and settled by Mark volunteering to go
+down.
+
+"You lower me into the water with a rope," he said, "and I'll soon swim
+to her and get in."
+
+The captain hesitated for a few moments, and then the sheet-rope was
+once more brought into use, and with it fastened round his waist Mark
+climbed out, glanced up at the stern-rail to see if anyone was waiting
+ready with a spear to thrust him through, and directly after he was
+lowered into the water.
+
+A few strokes took him to the boat, and after a good deal of trying he
+managed to scramble in.  The unfastening was a matter of very few
+moments, and then with the painter in hand he worked right beneath the
+cabin-window, when Mr Gregory slid down and joined him.
+
+For the next two hours slowly and silently ammunition and such food as
+they possessed in the shape of preserved meats and such like from the
+captain's store were lowered down and packed in the bottom of the boat
+and beneath the thwarts, and this was hardly done when a dull glow
+seemed to show up the window above their head.
+
+"Climb up, Mark, and tell them to put out that light," whispered Mr
+Gregory.
+
+Mark obeyed, not without some difficulty, and found that the saloon was
+in a state of excitement.
+
+"I've been smelling it this last half 'our, sir," said Billy Widgeon,
+"but I thout it was some queer kind o' bacco as they Malay chaps smoked,
+so I didn't speak."
+
+"Ah, there's no mistake about it, Captain Strong!" said the second-mate;
+"the ship is on fire, sir.  They'll take alarm directly."
+
+Almost as he spoke the Malays, who must have been asleep, did take the
+alarm, and in a minute the whole deck was in an uproar.
+
+"We've no time to lose," said the captain, and he ran to the window and
+whispered down to Gregory what was wrong.
+
+"Go down, Small," said the captain then, "and help take the ladies as we
+lower them.  Every man keep to his arms."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir."
+
+"Is the ammunition down?"
+
+"Yes, father," said Mark.  "I stowed it myself in the locker."
+
+Already the smoke was gathering in the cabin, and bright light shining
+in through the damaged barricade, but thanks to the example set there
+was no confusion after the first minute.  The captain took his place by
+the window and gave his orders, and one by one the ladies, the wounded,
+the dog, and the monkey were lowered down, and then turn by turn the men
+followed.
+
+It now became evident that there was no farther need to fear attack, for
+the Malays were rapidly quitting the burning ship amid yells and
+confusion, while the light increased, and fortunately made the spot
+where the boat lay beneath the stern seem by comparison more dark.
+
+At last Mark followed the men, and was resting on the sill trying to
+recollect whether all the arms were in the boat, when he heard the
+captain say:
+
+"Did you set her on fire?"
+
+"My dear boy, no," cried the major.
+
+"You proposed burning the ship."
+
+"Just as I would if I were in command and about to evacuate a fort, my
+dear sir; but how could I do this?  She caught fire somewhere amidships,
+I should say from their carelessness.  Gun-wads have been smouldering
+about, perhaps."
+
+"Perhaps so," said the captain thoughtfully; and Mark sat with one leg
+in and one leg out of the window gazing at his father as he stood there,
+his fine, manly face thrown up for a moment by the glow which shone
+through a hole in the door as a puff of wind set in through the open
+stern and wafted back the smoke which seemed to settle down directly.
+
+"Well," said the major, speaking as coolly as if he were on parade,
+"shall I go first?"
+
+"I was thinking, major.  I can't do it.  It seems like breaking my
+pledges, and acting dishonourably to the owners of the ship to leave
+her."
+
+"My dear Strong," said the major, clapping him on the shoulder, "the
+more I know of you the more I regret that you took to the sea."
+
+"My dear sir," said Captain Strong angrily, "is this a time for
+compliments?"
+
+"It was meant sincerely," replied the major; "but let me point out to
+you that however painful this may be to you we must go now."
+
+"Why?" said the captain.  "The Malay scoundrels are escaping to their
+praus."
+
+"Yes, there is no doubt of that."
+
+"Then it is my duty to call back my men, and attack the flames."
+
+"Now, my dear Strong, even if we had the whole crew instead of half a
+dozen men, all more or less wounded," said the major, "you know as well
+as I do that we could not master a fire like this.  Look out of the
+window yonder, how the sea is lit up, and then through that hole; why,
+the mainmast and rigging must be all in a blaze!"
+
+"Yes," said the captain, as if to himself, "from deck to truck, and the
+burning pitch falling in a fiery rain.  But if we could master the
+flames, now the enemy are gone--"
+
+"They would be waiting close at hand to come back and take possession,
+my dear sir.  Come, Strong, you've done your duty to everyone; it is now
+time to save life."
+
+"I cannot go," cried the captain fiercely.  "I must have one try first."
+
+He ran to the barricade, closely followed by the major, to see that the
+deck had become quite a furnace, the waves of fire running upward, and
+seeming to be borne here and there by the strong current of air which
+the heat produced, and which now swept through the saloon, clearing it
+of the smoke and rushing out of the jagged openings to fan the flames.
+
+The captain stood gazing through for a few minutes without speaking, and
+then turned sadly away.
+
+"It would be impossible," he said.
+
+"Is anything wrong?" came in a whisper from the boat to Mark.
+
+"No, no," he whispered back; "they are coming directly."
+
+"Yes, impossible, my dear fellow," said the major quietly.
+
+As he spoke there was a sudden flash and a roar; the barricade was
+driven in, and Mark felt as if something soft, but of enormous power,
+drove him from his hold where he sat, so that he fell headlong into the
+boat, his fall being broken by his coming down upon the men in the bows.
+
+He was not hurt, and as he struggled up it was to see that there was
+comparative darkness and a huge cloud of smoke over them; but directly
+after, there was a rushing noise, and a glare of light seemed to blaze
+out, showing the smoke rising red-edged and lurid, while the effect of
+the explosion seemed to be that there was more food set free for the
+flames.
+
+"Help me up," said Mark excitedly.  "Let me go back.  They must be
+killed."
+
+"Nay, nay, my lad, it's all right," whispered the first-mate; "they're
+coming down."
+
+It was a fact, for the major slid quickly down the cotton rope, and the
+captain could be seen leaning out ready to follow, as he did directly
+and took his place in the boat.
+
+"Will you give orders, or shall I?" whispered Gregory, as Mark gazed to
+right and left, and then back over the stern, where his mother sat by
+Mary O'Halloran, and as he looked he could see that there was a black
+shadow of the ship stretching far away over the shining waters.
+
+"Go on," said the captain; and, taking an oar to steer, the mate gave a
+short order, oars were dipped, and the heavily-laden gig moved slowly
+out from under the stern, the mate keeping her in the shadow as soon as
+she was turned.
+
+In the act of turning Mark caught sight of one of the praus glistening
+as if gilded, and just a slighter glimpse of the second prau, while for
+a minute or two all sat in silent dread of their having been seen.
+
+But there was no yell to announce their discovery, and directly after
+they were back in the shelter of the shadow, and moving steadily in the
+face of a soft breeze farther and farther from the praus.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY.
+
+HOW THEY FELL IN WITH GREATER PERIL.
+
+The peril was still great, and there was the risk that at any moment
+another inadvertent movement on the part of the boat, such as that made
+by Mr Gregory in his ignorance of the side on which the enemy lay,
+might result in discovery, for the sea glowed in the intense light shed
+by the burning vessel, and the faces of all in the gig stood out so
+plainly that it seemed to be only a question of moments before they were
+seen.
+
+But the mate carefully manoeuvred his steering oar; the men pulled a
+slow, silent, and steady stroke; and fortunately for all, the Malays
+were so intent upon the fire that they did not alter the positions of
+their vessels.
+
+For a very short time the boat was in the black shadow cast by the
+stern; then they were floating as it were on golden waters; and the same
+feeling animated every breast, though it remained an unspoken thought:
+This is all in vain; we must be seen and brought back.
+
+"A little more room there; sit close; move steadily," said the
+first-mate hoarsely.  "Now two more oars."
+
+These were laid in the rowlocks silently, and with four men pulling in
+place of two the heavily-laden boat made more rapid progress, so that
+before long there was a space of several hundred yards between the
+fugitives and the flaming ship, and they could look at the two praus
+lying a short distance away without so much fear of being seen.
+
+"Steady, my lads! pull!" said the mate, whose was the only face turned
+from the ship, and as he stood in the stern his shadow was cast upon the
+water.
+
+"Were you hurt, father?" said Mark.
+
+"No, my lad, not much," said the captain.  "The explosion struck us both
+down.  That was all."
+
+Nothing more was said, for everyone was too much intent upon the sight
+before them, one which was grand in the extreme, and lit up the ocean
+far and wide.  The main and fore-masts were blazing right to the very
+trucks, and as the fugitives watched the mizzen-mast caught, and they
+could see the flames leap from spar to spar, running along ropes with
+quite a rapid motion, while great burning drops seemed to keep falling
+toward the deck.  By rapid degrees the burning ship now assumed the
+aspect of a pyramid of fire, sails, yards, cordage, and masts being all
+involved, while from the blazing cone a steady burst of great golden
+sparks rose toward a huge purple canopy, all folds and wreathing volumes
+edged with orange and gold, the cloud of smoke that floated lazily in
+the heated air.
+
+By degrees the sparks became invisible, and the flames were merged, many
+tongues in one, as the distance was increased; while the praus, out of
+whose sight it was no longer necessary to keep, looked comparatively
+small, with their sides still glistening in the light.
+
+"There is no occasion to keep silence now," said the captain quietly.
+"We are far out of hearing."
+
+"What caused that explosion there?" said the mate, as he seated himself
+now, but continued to steer.
+
+"We cannot tell for certain," said the captain.
+
+"No," said the major; "but there seems to me to be no doubt that it was
+a powder-keg which the Malays had brought on board, I should say to blow
+open the cabin-door.  And it did," he added grimly, "and I hope they
+liked it."
+
+"What do you propose doing, captain?" said Mr Gregory at last, and the
+answer was eagerly listened for.  "We are heavily-laden and ought to
+make land."
+
+"Yes, but it must not be in the sight of the praus.  It is early in the
+night yet, and we are evidently in a sharp current."
+
+"Yes, a strong current," said the mate.
+
+"Then row steadily till daybreak, and by then we shall be well out of
+sight, and can make for one of the islands to the south, or try and get
+in the route of the China ships."
+
+"Right!" said the mate.  "Give way, my lads; a slow easy stroke, and
+we'll all relieve you in turn."
+
+This was done all through the rest of the night, but with great caution,
+for the gig was very low in the water; and while they rowed in turn
+those who were not at the oars sat gazing at the burning ship, and the
+wounded men sometimes slept.
+
+But wounded or no, all took a turn at the oars, from the captain
+downward; and towards morning, when all were utterly exhausted, fair
+progress was still made in the boat as she was pulled by the two ladies,
+and Mary O'Halloran and Mark.
+
+The night had not been without incidents, for when they were about a
+couple of miles from the ship the mainmast fell over the side with a
+rush of flame, and lay burning on the surface of the water; to be
+followed almost directly by the fore-mast; and the mizen alone remained
+standing like a pillar of light for about another hour before it fell in
+the opposite direction.
+
+This altered the shape of the fire, but the ship blazed on, the size of
+the conflagration seeming less as the distance increased, but still
+flaming plainly on the horizon, till just at daybreak a low cloud seemed
+to come sweeping over the sea, borne on a sighing breeze, which faintly
+rippled the surface, and as this enveloped them the glow astern was
+blotted out and a soft rain began to fall.
+
+As it grew lighter the rain became more heavy, and at last it came down
+in a perfect deluge, increasing so in violence that before long one of
+the men was set to work with the baler emptying the water out that
+collected under the thwarts.
+
+It was a depressing time, for as the hours passed on, the rain never
+ceased for a moment, but kept on in a regular tropic deluge; while, in
+spite of food and stimulants, exhaustion and suffering from their wounds
+told more and more, till one by one the men gave up, and the boat at
+last drifted with the swift current into which they had been drawn.
+
+A short consultation was held between the heads, and failing
+observations, it was decided that it would be better to make for the
+island off which the ship had been becalmed; but even that desperate
+resolve had now to be given up, for the strength of all seemed gone, and
+the current set in, as far as they could judge, the opposite direction.
+
+"We can do nothing, major," said the captain at last; "nothing now but
+trust in God and hope for the best."
+
+"Amen!" said the major quietly, and he calmly took his turn at the
+baling, which had now become the one task undertaken, so as to keep the
+boat clear of water.
+
+Night came slowly as they drifted on, but it came at last--a densely
+dark night, with the rain still falling; and in spite of their being in
+the tropics, the cold and suffering, as they all sat in their saturated
+garments wishing for the cessation of the rain, was terrible; and how
+those hours next passed none seemed to know, for they were utterly
+stupefied with weariness and exhaustion.
+
+Morning at last, and with the break of day the rain partially ceased,
+for its violence was not so great, but it kept falling; and now to add
+to their peril a gusty wind came from astern as the sun began to rise.
+
+It was plain to all on board that if the surface became rough their boat
+must sink.  For she was so heavily-laden that the space of side above
+the water was small indeed.  Under the circumstances Captain Strong
+decided to raise the little lug-sail neatly rolled round its mast, and
+this latter being stepped, the sail was unfurled, and in a few minutes
+they were gliding rapidly on, shipping a little water from time to time,
+but no more than could be easily mastered and kept down.
+
+Where to steer was not in their choice.  All that could be done was to
+keep the gig afloat, and to this the captain and mate directed all their
+energies.
+
+Food was distributed, and of water they felt no want, their saturated
+garments having quenched all thirst; but matters seemed to grow worse.
+Mr Morgan was delirious, and one of the men lay rambling on about some
+place in London where he meant to have called.
+
+Morning, noon, evening, and the gig rushing on through the broken water
+with a thick misty rain all around and no chance of making out their
+whereabouts.
+
+"Shall we be saved?" said Mrs Strong at last in a whisper as, utterly
+worn out, the captain came at last and sat down between his wife and
+son.
+
+"Don't ask, my dear," he said calmly.  "We have done, and are doing, all
+that men can do.  The rest must be left."
+
+Night came, a night that was even blacker than that which had passed,
+but the rain did not cease nor the sky clear.  Everything a hundred
+yards away seemed to be so much solid darkness; but, on the other hand,
+the sea grew no rougher, and the wind sent the boat rapidly along.
+
+It must have been about midnight that, as nearly everyone in the gig
+were plunged in a stupor-like sleep, the first-mate was steering, the
+boat gliding swiftly through the broken waves.  The major sat on one
+side and Mark on the other talking from time to time in a low voice.
+
+A calm feeling of despair had settled down among them, and when they did
+speak it was about some indifferent matter, all shrinking from anything
+concerning their approaching fate, when Mark, who was stooping to pat
+the poor wounded dog at his feet, where he lay curled in company with
+shivering Jack, suddenly laid his hand upon Mr Gregory's arm.
+
+"What's that?" he said in a whisper.
+
+"What?  I heard nothing," said the major.
+
+"Silence!" cried the mate sternly; and he listened intently to a low
+roaring noise.
+
+"Breakers!" he said suddenly.  "We are near land."
+
+"Land?" cried Mark.
+
+"Yes, my boy.  Oh, if it were day!"
+
+The mate changed the course of the boat directly so as to run off to the
+left, but at the end of five minutes he altered the course again.
+
+"Breakers there too," he said.  "We are between them."
+
+"Well, then, quick!" said the major.  "Go about and let's turn back."
+
+"My dear Major O'Halloran," said the mate calmly, "if I attempt to go
+about, the boat will fill instantly and sink.  Our only chance is in
+keeping on."
+
+As he spoke he resumed the course they had been just taking, and now,
+rapidly increasing in power, the sound of the waves breaking on rocks
+could be heard to right and left.
+
+"But you don't know where you are going," said the major.
+
+"No, sir.  But it is all I can do.  Mark Strong, rouse your father; and,
+major, be prepared to swim right ahead if anything happens."
+
+"What's the good?" said the major calmly.  And then, "Shall I wake them,
+or let them meet it asleep?  I'll wake them," he said; and he crept
+cautiously to arouse Mrs and Mary O'Halloran, as Mark was rousing his
+father, his mother waking too.
+
+"Breakers?" said the captain.  "Well, I have been expecting it for
+hours.  Can you make anything out, Gregory!"
+
+"No, captain.  All's like pitch ahead."
+
+The captain uttered a sigh, and as the rest were roused, and realised
+what was taking place, they received it all with a dull quiet
+resignation, as if death would be almost welcome now.
+
+The moments passed, and right and left the breakers roared, seeming so
+near that they fancied they saw them, and then as they rode on all at
+once there was a roar of breaking water right ahead.
+
+But it was impossible to change the boat's course, and sitting stern and
+with his teeth set, Mr Gregory bent at the tough ash oar, as the boat
+refused to swerve a little to the right, where he thought the roar of
+breakers was less loud.
+
+Then, with a shock which seemed to electrify all on board, the keel
+struck upon a rock, there was a crushing grating sound, a roar of
+waters, a wave leaped in, deluging all afresh, and the gig rose high in
+the air, and then plunged down as if into the depths of the ocean never
+to rise again.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
+
+HOW HELP CAME IN TIME OF NEED.
+
+The shock was so sudden that the half-awakened and helpless occupants of
+the boat made no effort to move, but clung to the thwarts of the boat,
+while the mast, with its heavy rain-saturated sail, snapped off short
+and fell over the side, dragging by its cords, as the boat rose again
+after its dive, gliding up a hillock of water, halted for a moment on
+the summit, and then glided down again.
+
+This was repeated two or three times, and each with less violence, after
+which, to the surprise and joy of all, the little vessel rose and fell
+easily as the sea undulated, the officers knowing at once that they had
+struck upon a reef, which they had but just touched, and then had been
+carried over it into the calm water of a lagoon, where they rocked
+peacefully and safely, while only a short distance away the waves were
+thundering upon the coral rock, and fretting and raging as they roared,
+apparently wroth at not being able to reach their escaping prey.
+
+"No water to signify," said the mate, as Billy Widgeon and Small baled
+hard till their dippers scraped the bottom without success.
+
+The captain did not speak, but pressed his wife's hand, while for the
+first time Mrs O'Halloran displayed emotion by taking her half-numbed
+child to her breast, and sobbing aloud.
+
+The major did not move, but laid one hand on Mark's knee and gave it a
+firm grip, sighing hard the while, and then there was silence for a
+time, as the gig rocked easily in the darkness, while the thunderous
+roar of the breakers grew less violent; and, instead of being deluged
+with spray as every billow curved over, there was a sensation as of
+shelter and warmth which pointed to the fact that the boat must have
+drifted behind rocks as into some channel; but the intense darkness
+rendered everything obscure.
+
+"Cheer-ri-ly, mates," said a voice suddenly, as a slight splashing was
+heard.  "We're not a-going to be drowned--dead this here time, for I've
+just touched bottom with the hitcher."
+
+"Now, my lads," said the captain gravely, "our lives have been spared,
+thank Heaven! and we are to see the light of another day."
+
+There was again silence, with the muffled roar of the breakers farther
+away than ever, and as the boat rocked away slowly with the same gentle
+motion, the wet, cold, and misery were forgotten by one after another,
+the darkness helping, the occupants of the little craft dropped off to
+sleep, one of the last being Mark.
+
+Cramped, faint, and miserable, the lad woke at last with a start, to lie
+with his eyes open staring straight up at the blue sunlit sky, his mind
+for the time being a perfect blank.  In fact it was some minutes before
+he realised that he was in the bottom of the boat, with his head resting
+upon Bruff's curly coat, and that Jack was huddled up close to him
+staring down into his face with an inquiring look, which, being
+interpreted, really meant, Where is the food?
+
+Mark struggled up so painfully that he felt ready to lie down again; but
+he persevered and knelt in the bottom of the boat, to see as strange a
+sight as had ever before met his eyes.  For, in spite of their cramped
+positions, every soul on board was sleeping heavily, the men in the
+bottom of the boat forward making pillows of each other, the tired
+ladies clinging together in the stern, and the officers amidships--the
+extreme stern with its limited space having been left to Mark, Bruff,
+and the monkey.
+
+Haggard, pale, some with faces blackened with powder, others with their
+heads bound up with handkerchiefs and bandages which showed the
+necessity for their application, and all in the sleep which comes of
+utter exhaustion.
+
+The ladies, with their hair dishevelled and their wet garments clinging
+to them, evoked most of the lad's pity, which was the next moment
+withdrawn for his father, who looked ghastly pale, and lay back with his
+head against the side of the boat, his hand resting upon that of Mr
+Morgan, whose face was buried in his chest as he leaned against a
+thwart.
+
+The first-mate, too, crouched amidships in a very uneasy position, where
+he had tried to settle down with the major so as to leave more room.
+While the latter seemed the most placid of all, and lay back with half a
+cigar in his teeth--one which had evidently been cut in two, for there
+was no sign of the end having been lit.
+
+Mark gazed round in a half-stupefied way for some minutes, hardly
+realising what it all meant, and it was only by scraps that he recalled
+the events since the fight in the cabin.
+
+But by degrees all came back, even to the grazing of the reef and the
+gliding into calm water, and he looked to the right, to see about a mile
+away a long line of white foam, whose sound came in a low murmur, while
+between them and it lay blue water quite smooth and unruffled, save that
+it heaved softly, and far beyond the line of white foam there was the
+sunlit sea.
+
+Sunlit, for, save to his left, there was not a cloud to be seen.  The
+sky was of an intense blue, and the cloud that remained was
+peculiar-looking--fleecy and roseate, and hanging over the centre of a
+beautiful land whose shore was of pure white sand, rising right out of
+which and close to the water were the smooth straight columns of the
+cocoa-nut trees with their capitals of green.
+
+He could see little but these beautiful vegetable productions, save
+farther along the shore, and beyond the belt of cocoa-nut trees a pile
+of rocks ran right down into the water; but from a glimpse here and
+there it was evident that there were tall trees and high ground beyond
+the palms.
+
+Greatest boon of all to his eyes was the sun, which was not yet high,
+but whose warm beams provided him with an invigorating bath and seemed
+to send life and hope and strength into his cramped and chilled limbs.
+
+He turned to look in another direction, and found that the boat was
+within a few yards of the pure white sands of a sort of spit or point
+which ran down into the lagoon, whose limpid waters were sheltered by
+the barrier reef; and as he wondered how it was that they had not
+drifted quite ashore he realised that the sail with its yard half sunken
+beneath the surface had caught in a piece of jagged coral rock, which
+rose from the bottom covered with its freight of animation, and to this
+they were anchored.
+
+"Shall I wake them?" thought Mark as he looked round him at the sleeping
+people; but he did not stir, for the act seemed cruel.  They were
+sleeping soundly and resting; the sun was rising higher and drying their
+wet garments; and at last, deciding that it would be wiser to let them
+wake of themselves, he turned his longing eyes to the soft white sand,
+which he felt must be warm, and it was all he could do to keep from
+lowering himself over the side and wading ashore, to lie down in it, to
+cover his limbs with it, and try once more to sleep.
+
+The act would have aroused the sufferers about him, and he refrained,
+contenting himself with gazing down over the side at the coral rock
+three feet below the bottom of the boat, and seeing there among the
+miniature groves of wondrously tinted weeds shoals of silvery fish;
+translucent shrimps; curiously long snaky, scaly looking objects which
+wound in and out and undulated among the weeds, while every here and
+there played about some tiny chubby-looking fish like a fat young John
+Dory, but gorgeous in colour in the sunlit waters almost beyond
+description, so vivid were the bands of orange, purple, azure-blue,
+green, and gold.
+
+Every here and there were curious shell-fish, some creeping like snails
+with their heavy houses upon their backs, others were oyster and mussel
+like, anchored and lying with their valvular shells half open; while a
+couple of yards away lay one monster about two feet long, a bivalve with
+ponderous shells, whose edges were waved in three folds, and a glance
+inside whose opening showed a lining of the most delicate pinky tint.
+
+The warmth of the sun and the wonders of the coral-reef beneath his eyes
+made Mark forget his troubles for a time, but he was recalled to his
+position by his sensations of hunger, a whine from Bruff, and an
+inquiring chatter from the monkey, who changed his position and sat up
+on one of the thwarts looking very skinny and miserable, his face
+wrinkled and puckered, and the appealing inquiring look in his eyes
+growing more intense.
+
+Mark gazed from one countenance to the other, all haggard and troubled,
+and he was beginning to long to awaken some one when the major stirred
+slightly, and drawing a long breath rolled the half cigar to and fro
+between his lips.  Then without unclosing his eyes he grunted out:
+
+"Bring me a light."
+
+Miserable, wet, and hungry as he was, Mark could not restrain a smile.
+
+"Bring me a light," growled the major again.  "Do you--eh?" he
+ejaculated, opening his eyes and gazing round.  "Oh! hah!  I remember
+now.  Huph!  Oh my legs; they're as stiff as if they'd no joints!  Why,
+Mark, my lad, good morning."
+
+His words were uttered in a low voice, for he had glanced round and seen
+that everyone was asleep.
+
+Mark reached over and extended his hand, which was warmly grasped, and
+this done, the major gave a glance round, grasping at once their
+position.
+
+"Shame to wake them," he said, "but I want to stretch my legs.  Ah,
+that's it!  Give me your knife, lad."
+
+Mark drew out his pocket-knife, and the major took hold of the sheet
+which reached to the submerged sail, and drew upon it so as to set the
+boat in motion.  Then letting it go again he dexterously cut the sheet
+in two upon the edge of the boat before there was any check, and the gig
+floated slowly towards the shore.
+
+"We shall be able to find that afterwards," he said in a whisper; and
+then he waited till the boat softly grounded upon the sands, so close to
+where they lay dry, that the major was able to step ashore, rocking the
+boat so slightly that no one stirred.
+
+Mark made a sign, and Bruff limped up on to the thwart painfully, and
+made as if to leap ashore, but hesitated, lifted up his wounded paw, and
+whimpered.
+
+The difficulty was solved by his master lifting his hind quarters over
+the side, the dog offering no resistance, and touching bottom he managed
+the rest himself, and splashed through the water to limp a few yards,
+and lie down and roll in the warm dry sand.
+
+Jack needed no invitation or order, for, hopping to the side rather
+stiffly, he leaped over the intervening water on to the sand, and
+bounded to Bruff, chattering and revelling in the sunshine, while the
+dog ran on along the shore, and the two now began to gambol and roll.
+
+Mark was the next to step ashore, and as he followed the major he
+limped, feeling as if every joint had been wrenched; but the pain wore
+off a little as he persevered, and following the major's example he
+stretched himself upon the sand.
+
+"We're not much more than damp now, my lad," said the major; "and this
+will dry us and warm us too.  I say, my boy, I thought we had come to
+the end of the book.  Didn't you?"
+
+"No," said Mark quietly.  "I knew we were in great danger; but I felt
+that my father would save our lives."
+
+"That's right," said the major.  "Always have faith in your father, my
+lad.  He's a fine fellow, and if you follow his example you will not go
+far wrong.  Now, then, I begin to feel much better, and if I could light
+my cigar I should feel better still."
+
+"Have you no matches, sir?"
+
+"Yes, my lad, but if they are dry they may be wanted to cook something
+if there is anything here to cook, and I mustn't waste them on my
+luxuries.  I wish I had awakened my Mary, but it's best to let her waken
+herself, and if I woke her I should have awakened them all."
+
+"There's Mr Gregory opening his eyes, sir," said Mark eagerly; and he
+made a sign to the mate.
+
+Mr Gregory stared hard at him for a few moments before any sign of
+comprehension came into his face.  It did, however, at last, and he rose
+stiffly and stepped ashore.
+
+"Good morning, indeed," he said; "it's more than good, for yesterday I
+thought it was good night for all of us.  Why don't you light your
+cigar, major?"
+
+"Don't tempt me, man, I'm going to practise chewing.  Have this other
+half.  Will you chew it?"
+
+"No," said Mr Gregory, taking out a little silver matchbox; "I've
+plenty of lights, quite dry."
+
+He struck one, and the two men lit their half cigars and sat in the sun
+smoking, while Mark watched them, the sun begetting a delicious sense of
+content and satisfaction, making him half-close his eyes as he listened
+to their conversation.
+
+"Where are we, major!  Can't exactly say.  Small coral island somewhere
+near the track of ships to the east."
+
+"It must be a good-sized coral island," said the major, "for there seems
+to be quite a mountain yonder."
+
+"Can't be the mainland," said Gregory.  "Yes, you're right.  That is a
+hill of some height, and--why, there are clouds upon it and--why, they
+are only half-way up, and there are more on the top."
+
+"Why, Gregory," cried the major, "it's a volcano!"
+
+"No," said the mate; "there is no volcano anywhere near where we can be.
+You're right, sir, after all.  Well, I'm puzzled; for that's a burning
+mountain certainly!"
+
+Mark gazed with wondering eyes at the mountain, to see that the clouds
+which he had noticed when he first gazed shoreward were slowly
+dissolving away, leaving a line of mist apparently about a thousand feet
+above the sea; while above that the mountain was visible running up in a
+perfect cone to quite three thousand feet higher, where the point was
+hidden in a steaming cloud.
+
+"You don't know where we are, then?"
+
+"No, sir; perhaps the captain will know when he wakes.  I've been out
+here again and again, and never seen that mountain.  We can't, I am
+sure, be on the mainland, and it seems impossible that we can have been
+driven anywhere near Java.  However, we are safe ashore, and, judging
+from the look of the trees and the sea, we shall not starve."
+
+"I shall," said the major, puffing away at his bit of cigar.  "If we
+don't soon have food I shall either kill and eat the monkey or Master
+Mark here!  I must have something.  By the way, don't throw your
+cigar-end down--save it.  Tobacco may grow scarce."
+
+The mate nodded; and just then Mark uttered an ejaculation, for he saw
+Mrs Strong move; her companions started into wakefulness at the same
+time; and the next moment, as they rose painfully the major and Mark
+helped them ashore, where they sank down in the warm sand.
+
+The captain was roused by the motion of the boat; and he would have come
+ashore without awaking his men, but the boat was so lightened now that
+the men were roused.  The least injured came ashore, and after an effort
+or two ran the gig up on the sands, with the two men who were worst
+lying in the bottom--Mr Morgan and one of the fore-mast men--these two
+being carefully lifted out and laid on the sand in the shade of the
+cocoa-nut trees, while something in the shape of breakfast was prepared.
+
+At first everyone moved painfully, but every step in the light and
+warmth seemed comforting; and before long all were busy, the men finding
+shell-fish in the hollows and crevices of the coral rocks; others
+collected wood, while a fire was made.  Billy Widgeon, after rubbing his
+legs and bathing his feet first in the sea and then in the warm sand,
+volunteered to climb a cocoa-nut tree and get down some fruit; the
+ladies went to a pool in the rocks to try and perform something in the
+way of a morning toilet; and the major turned chef and cooked the
+shell-fish, and opened some tins of preserved meat and biscuit; Mark
+being the successful discoverer of a spring as he went in search of
+Bruff, to find him drinking thereof.
+
+Shortly afterwards, in earnest thankfulness, a hearty breakfast was
+eaten upon that lonely shore.  But when cuts had been bathed and
+re-bandaged and evidences of the conflict removed, and a short
+inspection made to see if there was anything to fear from savages, the
+arms were examined and made ready, a watch was set; and in the shade of
+the cocoa-nut grove the greatest boon of the weary was sought and
+found--for by mid-day, when the sun was scorching in its power, all had
+gladly lain down to rest and find the sleep that would prepare them for
+the struggle for life in which they were to engage.
+
+"So we are to be the first watch--eh, Mark?" said the major.
+
+"Yes, sir," was the reply.
+
+"Four hours.  Shall we keep awake?"
+
+Just then there was a low moan.
+
+"Yes," said the major; "we shall not want to sleep with poor Morgan like
+that."
+
+"Will he recover, sir?" whispered Mark as he knelt in the sand by the
+sick man's head, and raised some cocoa-nut leaves over his head as a
+screen.
+
+"Please God!" said the major piously; and he followed Mark's example and
+screened the injured and now delirious fore-mast-man from the sunbeams,
+which streamed like silvery arrows through the great founts of verdant
+leaves.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
+
+HOW THE WATCH HEARD A NOISE.
+
+That was a weary watch, but, as the major said, they did not want to
+sleep, with the wounded men moaning and muttering in their uneasy rest.
+For there was so much to do, seeing to the shade and altering the
+positions of the leaves, so that while the sun was kept off, the soft
+breeze from the sea was allowed to cool the fevered brows of the
+patients.
+
+Then there were flies which were disposed to be troublesome and had to
+be kept at a distance, Mark making a loose chowry, like a horse-tail, of
+long wiry grass, and this proving so effective that the major annexed
+it, and advised Mark to make another.
+
+And so an hour passed away, after which Mark took a tin and fetched some
+of the cool spring-water which came trickling down from the interior,
+deeply shaded by the ferns, and so low among mossy stones that he had to
+climb into a narrow chasm to the clear basin-like pool.
+
+With this he prepared to bathe Morgan's forehead; but as he bent over
+him the poor fellow's countenance wore so terrible an aspect, the skin
+being absolutely green, that the lad shrank away and signed to the
+major.
+
+"Well, my lad, what is it?"
+
+"Look!--his face!  What does it mean?"
+
+"Eh!--mean!  What?"
+
+"Don't you see?  That horrible green!"
+
+"Tchah! what are you talking about?" said the major, picking up a leaf
+and holding it over his head.  "Now, then, what colour is my face?"
+
+"Green," said Mark, smiling.  "How stupid of me!"
+
+"Well, we will not call it stupid, my lad; but with so many real
+difficulties we must not make imaginary ones.  Why, Mark, this voyage is
+making a man of you--self-reliant, business-like, and strong.  When we
+get over it--"
+
+"Shall we get over it, sir?" said Mark sadly.
+
+"Ah!" said the major, speaking in a low tone so as not to disturb the
+patients; "now, that's a chance for a sermon for you, my lad, only I
+can't preach.  Look here, Mark, ten thousand things may happen to us,
+one of which is that we may all die here of starvation."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Well, then, that's ten thousand to one.  Bah!  Don't fidget now.  We
+have just landed in a little paradise, after running terrible risks from
+spear and kris, explosion, fire, storm, and wreck.  You ought to be
+thankful, and not growl."
+
+"I am thankful, sir."
+
+"Then show it, my lad.  Take what comes, like a man; do the best you can
+for everybody, and leave the rest."
+
+"I'll try, sir."
+
+"Try! nonsense!  I know you already, my lad, better than you know
+yourself.  You'll do it naturally without trying."
+
+They sat here in that golden glow of shelter for some time in silence,
+watching their patients and the glittering sea, broken every now and
+then by the splash of a fish.
+
+"Do you think Mr Morgan will get better, sir?" whispered Mark at last.
+
+"Certainly I do.  Why shouldn't he?  A strong healthy man with his wound
+waiting to heal as soon as he could have rest and proper sleep.  What we
+have gone through was enough to give us all fever, so no wonder a
+wounded man is so bad.  I expected that your father would give up."
+
+"But he has not, sir."
+
+"No; mind has kept him from breaking down.  He has all the
+responsibility, you see.  You must try and grow up just such a man, my
+lad."
+
+There was again a silence, broken at last by the major.
+
+"I want to go exploring here, Mark," he said.  "I expect this will prove
+to be a very wonderful place."
+
+"But I thought such an island as this would be full of beautiful birds."
+
+"Perhaps it is, but the birds are all sitting under their sun-shades
+till the sun begins to go down.  Why, Mark, we shall be in clover!"
+
+"But about food, sir?  What shall we do for food for such a party?  The
+stores won't last long."
+
+"Now, that's a boy all over," said the major, chuckling.  "Food!  My
+word, how a boy does love the larder!  There, don't look so serious,
+Mark.  I was just as bad, I can remember, at home, enjoying my own
+school-room breakfast, then getting a little more when my father had
+his; having a little lunch; then my dinner, followed by my tea; after
+which dessert, when they had theirs, in the dining-room; lastly, a bit
+of supper; and I finished off by taking biscuits or baking-pears to
+bed."
+
+"Yes, sir," said Mark; "but that was in England."
+
+"Well, never mind.  We shall find something to eat here, I daresay.
+Enough to keep us.  Why, Mark, I don't suppose we should have to put you
+in the pot for quite a year."
+
+Mark laughed, and the major's eyes twinkled as he went on.
+
+"What nonsense, my lad! we couldn't starve here.  The sea teems with
+fish waiting to be caught.  Look yonder."
+
+Mark glanced in the required direction, and could see the smooth water
+in the lagoon dappled and blurring as a shoal of fish played upon the
+surface.
+
+"But how are we to catch them, sir?"
+
+"Hooks and lines; make nets; fish-traps.  Why, Mark, if a savage can do
+these things, surely we can!"
+
+"Do you think there are any animals here?" said Mark, glancing round.
+
+"Sure to be of some kind.  The place is evidently extensive.  Pig,
+perhaps deer; plenty of birds; and we have guns and ammunition.  Then
+there will be fruit."
+
+"Do you think so, sir?"
+
+"I'm sure of it.  There are the cocoa-nuts to begin with.  Fruit! yes,
+and vegetables too."
+
+Mark smiled.
+
+"Ah, you don't know!  Knock that fly off Morgan's cheek.  But I do, my
+lad.  We sha'n't get any asparagus; but we can eat the palm-shoots; and
+as for cabbage, we sha'n't regret that as long as we can get at the
+hearts of the palms."
+
+"Do you think there will be any snakes?" asked Mark.
+
+"Sure to be."
+
+"Poisonous?"
+
+"Very likely.  Perhaps some big ones.  They'll do to eat if we are very
+hungry."
+
+"Ugh!" ejaculated Mark, with a shudder.
+
+"Well, I'm like the Yankee backwoodsman, Mark, my lad.  He didn't
+`hanker arter crows' after he had eaten them once.  I don't `hanker
+arter' snakes, but I'd sooner sit down to a section of boa-constrictor
+roasted in the ashes than starve."
+
+"I don't think I would."
+
+"Wait till you are starving, my lad."
+
+"Should you say there are any big dangerous animals?" continued Mark,
+after a pause; "lions, or tigers, or leopards?"
+
+"Certainly not; but there may be rhinoceros or elephant, if the island
+is big enough, or near the mainland, and--what the dickens is that?"
+
+He jumped up as rapidly as Mark sprang to his feet, for just then there
+came, apparently not from very far off, so terrible a roar that the
+major ran to the nearest gun, examined the loading, and then stood with
+the weapon cocked.
+
+Mark involuntarily caught his arm.
+
+"Don't do that, boy," said the major in a low angry voice.  "That is
+what a woman would do--try to find protection, and hinder the man.  Get
+a weapon if it's only your knife."
+
+Mark's pale face flushed, and he caught up a gun, to stand beside the
+major, as the terrific harsh yelling roar came again.
+
+It was a sound horrible enough to startle the stoutest hearted, so weird
+and peculiar was it in its tones; while the silence which succeeded was
+even more terror inspiring, for it suggested that the wild beast which
+had uttered the cry might have caught sight of them, and be coming
+nearer.
+
+The sound seemed to come from the rocky rapidly-rising ground beyond the
+narrow tree-fern shaded gorge where the spring had been found; but
+though they listened intently for a few moments, there was utter
+stillness till all at once there was a fresh sound, something between a
+sigh and a moan, such as an animal might utter if it had been struck
+down.
+
+Mark's eyes swept the land beyond the cocoa-nut grove wildly; but he
+could see nothing save the rocks and flowering shrubs; then he glanced
+at the shaded sands where their friends were sleeping, but the sound had
+not awakened them.
+
+"I can't make it out, Mark," said the major, as he keenly swept the
+place as far as the trees would allow.  "Couldn't be fancy, could it?"
+
+The answer came in a piteous burst of howls, followed by a hissing
+sound, and directly after Bruff appeared, tearing along on three legs,
+his last tucked out of sight, the rough shaggy hair which formed a ruff
+about his neck bristling; and close behind him, Jacko running as if for
+his life.
+
+"No," said the major; "it couldn't be fancy.  They heard it too."
+
+Bruff ran up to Mark, and crouched at his feet shivering and whining;
+while Jacko kept running from one to the other, chattering in a low tone
+and staring wildly about as if in a terrible state of excitement.
+
+"Can you hear anything coming, Mark?" said the major.  "Down, dog! lie
+still!"
+
+Mark listened intently; but there was not a sound to be heard but the
+distant boom of the breakers on the barrier reef, the beating of his
+heart, and the growling of the dog.  Once only came a shrill chizzling
+chirping, evidently made by some kind of cricket, otherwise there was
+the stillness of a torrid day when the very vegetation begins to flag.
+
+"I can't hear it, sir," he whispered.
+
+"So it can't be coming," said the major, looking uneasy.  "I'm puzzled,
+Mark.  It was neither lion nor tiger, though something like the roar a
+lion can give; it was not like an elephant's trumpeting, nor the
+grunting of a rhinoceros; and it could not be a hippopotamus, for we are
+out of their range, and there is no big river--there can't be--here."
+
+"Could it be some enormous serpent?" whispered Mark.
+
+"I never heard a serpent do anything but hiss, my lad, though they say
+the anacondas make strange thunder in the North American forests."
+
+"It might be a large crocodile."
+
+"Yes, it might," said the major; "but if it was, the noise is something
+quite new to me."
+
+"It is more likely to be some terrible beast here that we never heard of
+before, sir," faltered Mark.  "Don't laugh at me, sir, I can't help
+feeling nervous."
+
+"You'd be a wonder if you could," said the major.  "I feel ten times as
+uncomfortable as I did at any time yesterday.  We knew what we had to
+meet then, but this is something--"
+
+Whoor-r-oor!
+
+The sound came again with terrible violence, but though it was as
+horrible and awe-inspiring it was either farther away or the animal
+which uttered the cry had turned its head in another direction.
+
+"It's beyond me, Mark, my lad," said the major, drawing a long breath;
+"but it can't see us here, whatever it is, and it is something strange
+to be roaring like that by day."
+
+"I wonder it has not woke anyone up," whispered Mark.
+
+"Worn out," replied the major, laconically; and then they stood peering
+out from among the trees, and watching intently for a long time without
+hearing a sound, till the cricket began to utter its chirruping note
+again.
+
+This was taken up by another close by, and by another at a distance, and
+then quite a chorus followed, resembling the sounds made by the
+house-cricket of the English hearth, but more whirring and ear-piercing.
+
+"It must have gone back into the jungle, Mark," said the major, "or else
+fallen asleep.  Anyhow I'm not at all pleased to find we have such a
+neighbour."
+
+"Do you think it is a dangerous beast?" whispered Mark.
+
+"I can't say till I've seen it, but it sounds very much like it."
+
+"I know what it is!" said Mark in a low excited voice.
+
+"You do?"
+
+"Yes.  It is in that jungle, yonder."
+
+"I don't know where it is, but it must be somewhere near.  Well, what is
+it?"
+
+"A wild man of the woods."
+
+"What! an orang-outang?"
+
+Mark nodded.
+
+"Well, if it is, we shall have to tame him.  My word, he must have a
+fine broad chest, Mark, and he has a wonderful voice for a song.  There,
+I don't think we are in any danger for the present, and it must be
+nearly the end of our watch by the look of the sun.  Here comes the
+captain."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
+
+HOW BILLY WIDGEON WAS DAMPED.
+
+Mark turned sharply, to see that his father was approaching, and his
+first words were concerning the time.
+
+"It must be beyond your watch, major," he said.  "Why didn't you wake
+me?"
+
+"Well, the fact is, we've had a scare," said the major; and he related
+their experience.
+
+"It's strange," said the captain; "but we are well armed.  It may be, as
+Mark says, some kind of monkey.  They can make atrocious noises.  How
+are the sick men?"
+
+"Sleeping beautifully," said the major.  "And you?"
+
+"Far better; that little sleep has worked wonders.  I'll go and rouse up
+Small."
+
+"No; let the poor fellow sleep," said the major.  "I don't want to lie
+down.  Do you, Mark?"
+
+"No; I couldn't sleep with that noise so near," said Mark.  "I should
+like to stay.  But wouldn't it be best to get the boat launched again in
+case there is any very great danger?"
+
+"It would not take long to launch that," said his father.  "If we are
+not molested for the night we will begin exploring to-morrow.  This
+evening we must try and rig up a shed for the women.  To-morrow we shall
+be better able to think what we can do."
+
+The captain looked at the two wounded men, who seemed to be sleeping now
+more easily, and then taking his gun he proposed to the major that they
+should make a little search round their resting-place to see what was
+the cause of the noise they had heard.
+
+This meant leaving Mark alone, and he looked up so ruefully at the
+major, that, recollecting his own qualms, the latter objected to the
+plan.
+
+"No, no, Strong," he said; "if there is any danger let it come to us, I
+don't see any use in going to meet it."
+
+"As you will," said the captain quietly.  "What we seem to want now is
+rest and strength.  Oh, here is one of the men!"
+
+Bruff and the monkey drew their attention to him by going toward the
+place where the men were sleeping, Bruff limping, but wagging his bushy
+tail, and the monkey cantering towards his old friend Billy with plenty
+of low chattering and sputtering noises.
+
+This awoke Small, who rose and came out of the grove to walk slowly
+along the sands comparing notes about their injuries, which were
+fortunately very slight.
+
+"What shall we do, captain?" said Small.
+
+"Take the boat and see if you can recover the sail.  You can go with
+them if you like, Mark."
+
+Mark turned to go eagerly.
+
+"Can you launch the boat?"
+
+"Ay, ay, sir; it ain't far," was the reply; and the three went down to
+the spot where the gig lay, ran her down into the smooth water, and
+pushed out, Small thrusting an oar over the stern and giving it the
+necessary fish-tail motion known as paddling, while Mark and Billy
+Widgeon looked out for the submerged sail.
+
+It was soon found and towed ashore, where, after the boat had been made
+fast to a piece of rock, the canvas was drawn over the dry burning
+sands, first on one side and then on the other, parting readily with its
+moisture, and being finally left in the hot glow.
+
+The captain joined them directly after with the major.
+
+"Did you hear it, father?" whispered Mark.
+
+"No, my boy; all has been perfectly silent.  Now, to see if we cannot
+make some kind of shelter."
+
+It was by no means a difficult job, for Small and Billy Widgeon soon set
+the boat mast free from its lashings, which were utilised to fasten the
+slight spar horizontally between two thin cocoa-nut palms at about three
+feet from the ground, which was here, as for the most part about them,
+covered with soft dry drifted sand.
+
+Over this it was proposed to hang the sail as soon as it was dry and peg
+out the sides, for which purpose Small and his companion took out their
+knives, and, attacking a low scrubby bush, soon had a sufficiency ready.
+
+"Not much of a place, Mark," said the captain cheerfully; "but it will
+make a dry little tent for the ladies till we see what we can do."
+
+The next thing was to overhaul the stores, which made so poor a show
+that the captain knit his brow, but cleared it directly, and helped to
+place all together in a little heap beneath the cocoa-nut trees in
+company with the ammunition, of which there was a fair supply, and the
+arms.
+
+"I think these men should carry revolvers in their belts," said the
+captain, "in case of there being any danger."
+
+"Decidedly," said the major in an emphatic way.
+
+"Which I shouldn't say as there was, sir," said the boatswain, "unless
+some of these copper rascals come and land, for this here must be only a
+little island, as a climb up the mountain will show us when you like to
+go, sir."
+
+"Never mind, Small, carry a loaded revolver.  Better be prepared than be
+caught helpless.  Besides, you might, perhaps, unexpectedly get a shot
+at a pig, and such a chance mustn't be lost."
+
+Danger past, a sailor soon recovers his good-humour, and Billy Widgeon
+ducked down, doubling himself up in a silent laugh.
+
+"Which is right, Billy, my lad," said the boatswain good-humouredly.
+"He thinks if we waits for pork till I brings down a pig with a
+six-shooter the crackling won't burn and the stuffing spoil."
+
+He thrust the weapon through the waistband of his trousers, right at the
+back, so as to leave his hands free, and then looked up at the captain
+for orders.
+
+"We shall have to set-to and get provisions somehow, Small," said the
+captain, "and begin in real earnest to-morrow, trying what we can do
+with the guns inland.  Suppose you and Widgeon try to unlay one of the
+sail-ropes and make a fishing-line."
+
+"And about hooks?" said the major.
+
+"Ah! that has been a puzzle," said the captain, "that I have not solved
+as yet."
+
+"I know," said Mark eagerly.  "The ladies are sure to have some
+hair-pins."
+
+"Which we can temper in the fire and hammer into shape," said the
+captain.  "Think you could raise a barb at one end before we point it,
+major?"
+
+"I think I can try," replied the major.
+
+"And I could pynt 'em on the stones," said Billy eagerly.
+
+"Then the fishing difficulty is over," said the captain.  "Fish are sure
+to swarm off those rocks."
+
+"I say, Billy," said Small, giving one ear a rub, "aren't there a couple
+o' fishing-lines in the locker of the gig?"
+
+Billy gave one of his short legs a slap, turned sharply and ran down to
+the boat, where he lifted a triangular lid in the bows, and gave a cheer
+as he plunged in his hand.
+
+"Three on 'em," he cried, "and good uns."
+
+"Then we sha'n't starve yet, major.  There are fish and water."
+
+"And cocoa-nuts in plenty," cried Mark.
+
+"If we can get at them," said the major.
+
+"Why, Billy, couldn't you climb one o' them trees?" cried Small.
+
+"I could--one of the small ones," said Mark.
+
+"But the small ones don't seem to bear nuts," said the captain quietly.
+
+"I dunno," said Billy, after a spell of thinking.  "I'm a bit skeert
+about it."
+
+"What, afraid?" growled Small.
+
+"No, no, not afraid," said Billy; "skeert as I couldn't get up.  You see
+there's no branches, not a sign o' one till you gets to the place where
+the nuts grows, and then the branches is all leaves."
+
+"No," said the major, looking at Billy with his head on one side, "he is
+not a countryman of mine.  That was an English bull, Mark."
+
+"Why, o' course!" cried Billy, slapping his leg.  "I've got it."
+
+"Got what, m'lad?" said Small.
+
+"The coky-nuts," said Billy, smiling.  "'Tis his natur' to."
+
+"Don't talk conundydrums, m'lad," said the boatswain.  "If so be as
+you've got the coky-nuts, let's have 'em, for I'd like a go at one
+'mazingly."
+
+"Why, I aren't got the nuts, gentlemen," said Billy; "but, as I said
+afore, it is his natur' to."
+
+"Whose, Billy?" said Mark.
+
+"Why, the monkey's, sir.  Here, Jack."
+
+The monkey, who was performing a very kindly office for Bruff, as the
+dog lay stretched upon the sand, and making a slight repast off the
+insects, left off searching, and ambled in a sideways fashion to Billy.
+
+"Look ye here, my hearty," said the latter, as the monkey leaped lightly
+in his arms, and holding him with one, the sailor picked up an old dried
+nut in its husky covering.
+
+"These here's coky-nuts, as you knows very well; so let's pick out a
+good tree, and up you goes and gets some and throws 'em down."
+
+Jack uttered a chattering noise, took hold of the light nut, turned it
+over, and let it fall.
+
+"Toe be sure," said Billy, smiling with pride.  "Then let 'em fall, and
+`below!' and `ware heads!' says you.  Ain't he a monkey to be proud on,
+Master Mark?"
+
+"Send him up then, Billy, and let's have some down."
+
+"That I just will," said the little sailor; and toddling to one of the
+most heavily-laden of the trees near, where the nuts could be seen
+pendent beneath the plumose leaves which glistened in the evening sun,
+he placed the monkey against the smooth-stemmed tree.
+
+"That's your sort," he cried; "up you goes, Jack, and shies down all the
+lot."
+
+The monkey seemed to enjoy the task, and catching the smooth stem with
+its fore-paws he began to ascend quite readily, while those below
+watched him till he reached the crown of the graceful tree, fifty feet
+above their heads.
+
+"Bravo, Jack!" said the major.  "I claim the three first nuts for the
+ladies."
+
+"And I the next for the wounded men," said Mark.
+
+"And you shall have 'em, my lad," said Billy excitedly.  "I say, Mr
+Mark, sir, aren't he a monkey to be proud on?  He's cleverer than lots
+o' men."
+
+Meanwhile Jack had climbed solemnly into the verdant nest above the
+nuts, and now looked down to where Bruff was staring wonderingly up at
+him, and uttered a low chattering, to which the dog responded with a
+bark.
+
+"That's them, Jack.  Chuck 'em down, old lad," cried Billy, smiling
+gleefully, as he rubbed his hands up and down his sides.
+
+Jack changed his position, his tail giving a whisk or spin round, and
+looked down at Bruff, who now ran to the other side.
+
+"Come, matey!  Let's have 'em," said Billy.  "Here, look sharp!  Chuck
+down the whole lot."
+
+Jack chattered again, and then as Bruff barked he barked in no very bad
+imitation, while he took hold of a leaf and gave it a shake.
+
+"No, no; the nuts, stoopid, not them there leaves," cried Billy.
+
+Jack shook another leaf and barked at the dog, who barked up at him, and
+reared up and scratched the tree.
+
+"Here, you be off, and don't interrupt," cried Billy, throwing his cap
+at the dog.  "Don't you see he's busy?"
+
+Bruff caught the cap up in his teeth and trotted away with it, whereat
+Jack chattered and sputtered more loudly, and again shook one of the
+leaves, whilst the little party below looked on in an amused fashion.
+
+"Why, Billy," said the boatswain at last, in the most stolid of tones,
+"don't seem to me as that there is a monkey to be proud on."
+
+"Oh yes, he is, Mr Small, sir!  He's a good un, and he'd ha' sent them
+there nuts a showering down if that there dorg hadn't begun his larks.
+Here, give me my cap."
+
+"Never mind the cap, Billy," said Mark, laughing, "we want the nuts."
+
+"So do I, Mr Mark, sir," said Billy, scratching his head, "and I'd give
+old Jack such a clout o' the head if I was up there."
+
+"Ah! you'll have to teach him how, my man," said the major.  "No nuts
+that way."
+
+"He knows, begging your pardon, sir," said Billy.  "You just wait a
+minute, sir, and you'll see."
+
+"No," said the major, "it does not seem any use to wait.  Come, Strong,
+let's see how our wives are getting on."
+
+"Well, I do call that shabby," muttered Billy.  "Just as I was a taking
+all this trouble.  Here, you, sir, shy down one o' them nuts."
+
+"Chick!" said Jack.
+
+"Do you hear?"
+
+"Chack!" said Jack.
+
+"Now, look here," said Billy, stooping down and picking up a handful of
+sand; "if you don't chuck down some of them here nuts I'll shy this here
+at you and knock you off your perch."
+
+"Chick, chick, chick!  Chack, chack, chack!  Chicker, chicker, chacker,
+chacker, chacker, chack!" sputtered the monkey, dancing up and down in
+the tree.
+
+"Well, I am blamed!" cried Billy savagely, as he saw the captain and
+major strolling away and the boatswain and Mark laughing at him.  "It's
+all his orbstinacy--that's what it is.  I'll give him such a wunner when
+I gets hold of him.  I'll make him say `chack!'"
+
+But there seemed to be no more chance of Billy getting hold of the
+monkey than of the nuts, and the more he scolded and abused the curious
+animal the more loudly it sputtered at him, and seemed to expostulate
+and scold by turns.
+
+"There, it's of no good," said the boatswain; "give it up, my lad."
+
+"Yes," said Billy sulkily, "I'm a-going to; but if I don't sarve him out
+for this my name aren't Widgeon."
+
+"Come along, Mr Mark," said the boatswain, "Jack's going to roost up
+there to-night."
+
+"Wish he may tumble out o' the tree, then, and break something," growled
+Billy, whose dignity was touched.
+
+"He won't tumble," said the boatswain, "he knows better.  Come along,
+Mr Mark."
+
+"Want him down, Billy?"
+
+"Course I does, and I'm sorry for him when he do come, for I'm a-going
+to warm his skin, that's what I'm a-going to do for him."
+
+"Shall I get him down?"
+
+"You can't," cried Billy sourly.
+
+"Better than you can get cocoa-nuts," said Mark, laughing, for the
+perils were all forgotten, and the strange noise in the jungle might
+never have been.  "Here, Bruff."
+
+The dog trotted up with Billy's cap in his mouth, surrendered it
+dutifully; and then Mark caught up a piece of drift-wood--a branch swept
+ashore by the current--and raising it in a threatening way, Bruff
+uttered a low howl.
+
+Whish went the stick through the air, and Bruff crouched at his feet,
+grovelling in the sand, and holding up his wounded and bandaged paw as
+he whined piteously, as if that injury were sufficient to exempt him
+from being beaten.
+
+Mark bent over him, caught him by the loose skin of his neck, and struck
+the sand a heavy bang.
+
+The dog whined softly as if beaten, and Jack began to dance about up in
+the cocoa-nut tree, snaking the leaves and chattering savagely.
+
+Another blow on the sand, a howl, and a furious burst from the monkey,
+who spat and scolded more fiercely.
+
+Another blow, and another, and another; and as Bruff whined, the monkey
+came scuffling down the smooth columnar trunk, and was evidently on his
+way to attack Mark, but Billy caught him before he could reach the
+ground, administered a smart cuff on the ear, and would have delivered
+another, but, quick as thought, Jack sprang from his grasp, spun round,
+leaped upon his back like lightning, bit him in the thick of the neck,
+and then bounded away towards the jungle, followed by the dog.
+
+"Now I calls him a warmint," said Billy, rubbing his neck softly.  "A
+warmint--that's what I calls him.  Only let me get hold on him again;
+and if I don't make him warm, my name aren't Widgeon."
+
+"You've got about the worst on it this time, my lad, and no mistake,"
+said Small, laughing, while Mark stamped about and held his sides.
+
+"Yes, I've got the worst on it," said Billy; "but I'll sarve him out--a
+warmint.  My neck a-bleeding, Mr Small?"
+
+"No, m'lad, only a bit red.  He's give it a bit of a pinch; that's all."
+
+"Yes, and I'll give him a bit of a pinch when I ketches him.  I calls
+him a warmint--that's what I calls him."
+
+Billy kept on repeating this as he followed Mark and the boatswain to
+where the two wounded men were lying, and just then one of the sailors
+came out of the grove to join them, his services being enlisted to help
+stretch the sail over the mast and peg it tightly down, for it was now
+pretty well dry, the result being that a fairly good shelter was
+provided for the ladies, who soon after came out to join the captain and
+major just as the sun was going down, and the short tropical twilight
+set in.
+
+There was no desire for another meal, the weariness consequent upon the
+exertions and anxieties of the past still inviting rest; and after all
+had sat upon the sands for a while gazing at the phosphorescent sea, and
+the great stars which glowed out of the purple sky, a fresh watch was
+set, Mr Gregory being roused now from his heavy sleep.
+
+"Shall I tell him about the noise we heard?" said the major.
+
+"It would only be fair," the captain said; and the result was told.
+
+"Well," he said, "Small's going to share my watch, and we'll have the
+guns.  If whatever it is comes, I daresay we shall have a shot at it
+before it does us any mischief, and I suppose if you hear firing,
+gentlemen, you'll rouse up."
+
+Half an hour later those two were keeping their lonely vigil, while the
+rest followed the example of the men who had not yet been awake, and
+sought in sleep and in simple trustfulness for the rest which was to
+give them strength for the labours of another day.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
+
+HOW MARK STRONG PASSED A BAD NIGHT.
+
+The sand made a comfortable bed, and Mark had not lain down very close
+to one end of the little tent before he became aware that he had two
+companions in the shape of Bruff and Jacko, who just at dusk had come
+stealing back out of the jungle, and kept close to him and out of Billy
+Widgeon's reach.
+
+Weary as he was, Mark found it a difficult task to go to sleep.  Nothing
+could have been more comfortable than his bed, the soft dry sand fitting
+in to his shape so as to give rest to his tired muscles, and the
+pleasantly cool night breeze that floated through the leaves of the tall
+palms breathed upon his sun-scorched cheeks.  Now and then there was the
+hum of mosquitoes, but they did not molest him; and as he lay listening
+to the distant boom of the surf and watched the great twinkling stars he
+now and then nearly lost consciousness, and the tall columns of the
+cocoa-nut trees took the shape to him of the supports of the old
+four-post bedstead at home.
+
+Then he would start into wakefulness again and listen, fancying that he
+heard rustling sounds from the jungle inland, and as he raised his head
+he fully expected to hear the awful roar of the uncouth beast as it came
+down toward the grove.
+
+But all was silent, and he was obliged to confess that it was fancy as
+he turned over, and with his back to the sea and its murmuring boom as
+in slow pulsation the billows curved over and broke, he now lay looking
+inland.
+
+The cocoa-nut trees formed quite a narrow belt, so narrow that where he
+lay he could see between their trunks the starlit sky over the sea on
+the one side and the darker sky over the mountain a few miles away.
+
+The stars shone very brightly here, too, and every now and then there
+was the nicker of lightning, generally so slight that it was but pale;
+but now and then there was a flash which seemed as if the sky opened and
+displayed the shapes of the clouds, and these were like mountains, or
+might be the mountains themselves as far as he could tell.
+
+Still sleep would not come, and he turned again and again till he grew
+more hot and weary, and began to think at last how delightful it would
+be to go down to the edge of the sea, undress, and bathe in the cool
+sparkling water.
+
+Very nice, but there were drawbacks.  He did not know what strange
+creatures might be roaming about in search of prey, and he had often
+read that the lagoons about the tropic islands were infested with
+sharks.
+
+Then he began to think over their future in this strange place, not with
+any feeling of dread, for there was a delightful novelty in the idea of
+exploring this unknown island; of building their own houses, making
+their own gardens, and fishing, hunting, and leading a life of
+adventure.  All this seemed delightful, for he would not be alone.  At
+times he thought of how pleasant it would have been if there were a
+companion of his own age; but on the whole the prospect was fascinating,
+and even the sensation of dread did not master the satisfaction.
+
+There would be journeys into the interior; the burning mountain to
+ascend; strange birds, butterflies, and reptiles to discover, and
+perhaps mines of precious stones and gold.  Plenty to see, plenty to
+find, especially wild fruits, such as were written of in the tropics.
+Everything with its spice of danger was tempting, till the recollection
+of that appalling roar came again, and with it a sensation of dampness
+about his forehead.
+
+At last, just as Mark had decided that he would get up and go and join
+Mr Gregory and Small, to sit and talk to them, he dropped off fast
+asleep, and started into wakefulness again listening, for he fancied he
+had heard that appalling roar.
+
+All still save the sigh of some sleeper, and once more he lay down hot,
+weary, and uncomfortable, for sleeping in his clothes seemed to be a
+horrible mistake.  He had never before realised how many buttons he had
+about him; for, if he lay on one side, a brass button seemed to be
+thinking that it was a seal, and his ribs were wax.  On the other side
+it was just as bad.  If he turned over on his face, as if about to swim
+in the soft sand, the sensation was horrible from his throat downwards;
+while, if, in despair, he lay flat on his back, he felt as if a couple
+of holes were being bored into his waist, working their way on slowly
+till he told himself he could bear no more.
+
+Just then Captain Strong came to the front of the bed, stepping on to
+his legs, walking right up him, and sitting down upon his chest, telling
+him he was a disobedient son for not going down into the hold of the
+ship to dig out the stowaway with the old blue earthenware shell that
+lay in the tea-caddy at home, a measure which, when filled three times,
+was considered sufficient for the pot.  After that Mrs Strong came and
+looked at him reproachfully for feeling dissatisfied with his father's
+proceedings.  She told him he had no business to consider the captain
+heavy, for he had often carried him when a little boy, while now it was
+his duty to carry his father.
+
+The position seemed painful and tiresome to Mark, for the captain was so
+unreasonable; he kept on scolding him in a gruff voice for not getting
+up to dig out the stowaway, who by some singular arrangement was deep
+down in the hold below the packages of cargo, and at the same time
+standing at the foot of the bed with a handkerchief tied round his head,
+looking wistfully at him, as if appealing to him to come and use the
+caddy-spoon, and yet the captain would not get up.
+
+It was a terrible trouble to Mark, for his reason told him that his
+father's conduct in sitting upon him was absurd and bad for his chest,
+and yet all the while he felt that his father must know best.
+
+But then there was the little brittle caddy-spoon.  He wanted to think
+it was correct; but his reason told him it was absurd to attempt to dig
+up a man with such a pitiful tool.  If his father would only have got
+off his chest and reasoned with him he would not have cared; but here he
+was, a big heavy man, squatted just upon the top button of his
+waistcoat, his legs drawn up, his knees at his chin, and his face
+staring right into Mark's.
+
+It was no wonder that the lad felt in a perspiration, and was ready to
+reproach his mother for not assisting him in what was minute by minute
+growing a more painful position; but Mrs Strong did not stir; the
+captain kept up in constant repetition his scolding apostrophe, and the
+stowaway looked more dismal than ever.
+
+Mark tried to change his position a little so as to get ease, for the
+heels of the captain's boots were very hard, but to move was impossible,
+try how he would.  He wanted to speak, but the words would not come; the
+oppression on his chest grew more terrible; and at last, unable to bear
+it any longer, he took hold of his father's thick, short, curly whiskers
+with both hands as he tried to thrust him away.
+
+For response the captain uttered a low deep remonstrant growl, and Mark
+awoke, to find himself on his back holding Bruff's coat in his hands,
+and the dog protesting, for he found Mark's chest a comfortable place.
+Jack had agreed with him, and the pair were cuddled up together in a
+sort of knot which rolled off on to the sand as the lad threw himself
+upon his side.
+
+Mark lay panting and hot for some time, and then once more oblivion came
+over him, this time with no painful nightmare full of absurdities, but a
+deep heavy dreamless sleep, from which he started up in horror with that
+appalling roar ringing in his ears and dying away in the distance.
+
+This was no delusion, for Bruff was standing beside him whining and
+shivering with terror, the monkey was grovelling in the sand, and all
+around there were eager voices inquiring:
+
+"What was that?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
+
+HOW THE AWFUL ROAR WAS CANVASSED.
+
+No one could tell what, or whence came the noise, but the terror it
+inspired was sufficient to chase away sleep from all.  Everyone had been
+awakened, and the captain had at once gone to the watch, followed by
+Mark, after he had been to the end of the little tent and tried to give
+some comfort by telling its occupants that the noise came from some wild
+beast in the jungle.
+
+Mr Gregory and Small were on the alert.  They had had a perfectly quiet
+watch till just then, as they were noticing the first signs of daybreak,
+when, increasing in volume and then dying away, there came this
+appalling roar.
+
+"Just the same as we heard, eh, Mark?" said the major, coming up.
+
+"Yes, just the same."
+
+"Well, Gregory, what do you make it?" said the captain, who had rather
+doubted before.
+
+"Don't know--some beast of the forest."
+
+"You have heard nothing before?"
+
+"Not a sound.  Small thinks it must be a lion."
+
+"Well, something of that kind, sir.  I once heered a lion make such a
+row that he nearly blew off the roof of his cage! but it wasn't quite
+the same as this here, as is hollerer."
+
+"Well," said the captain, "it can't be a lion; and as it does not seem
+disposed to molest us we must be--"
+
+He stopped short, for there was a low moan from the same direction as
+that in which they had heard the cry.
+
+"Is that something it has killed?" whispered Mark in an awe-stricken
+voice.
+
+The captain did not answer; and as all listened for a repetition of the
+sounds the day began to dawn rapidly, the birds twittered and piped, and
+shrieked at the edge of the jungle, while flecks of orange and scarlet
+appeared high up in the sky.
+
+Then a low murmur of admiration burst from the group as they saw a
+roseate cloud upon the top of the conical mountain begin to glow and
+burst into a dozen tints of purple and gold, shot with the most
+effulgent hues; and then slowly there was a glowing point to be seen
+just above the cloud, which circled it like a ring of
+gorgeously-coloured vapour; then slowly the light descended the mountain
+till from top to bottom it was aglow with purple and green and orange;
+and they turned sharply, to see that the sun was just rolling up over
+the smooth sea, spreading a pathway of light from the horizon to the
+isle.
+
+So glorious was the scene, as the light wreaths of mist above the purple
+rolled away, that the terrible awakening from sleep was forgotten, and a
+spirit of thankfulness that they had been saved from the sea to land in
+such a paradise filled the breasts of all.
+
+Beauty is beauty, but the loveliest scene is soon forgotten by a hungry
+man.  Rest, freedom from peril, wounds and bruises amending, and the
+fact that the previous day's supply had been very short, combined to
+make everybody ravenous; and the captain, though without a ship, had his
+hands full.
+
+He satisfied himself that Morgan and the sailor were better, the fever
+having abated, and then gave his orders shortly.
+
+Two men were set to make a fire, two more to cut down a cocoa-nut tree
+that was of small size and yet bore several fruits.
+
+The major and Widgeon started off along the shore with a biscuit-bag to
+collect shell-fish, and at the muddy exit of a tiny stream came upon
+quite a swarm of little crabs, who challenged them to fight--so Billy
+afterwards said--by snapping their claws at them and flourishing them
+above their heads as they retreated to their holes.
+
+Mark and Small provided themselves with a bag of bivalves for bait and
+went off to the boat to fish.
+
+Lastly, the captain and the ladies walked to the edge of the jungle in
+search of fruit, while the former shot a few birds.
+
+The morning was delightful, and Mark and Small were soon afloat, to
+Billy Widgeon's intense disgust, for it had been his full intention to
+take Mark's place and form one of the fishing party.
+
+Mark soon had a line ready, and after opening some of the shell-fish
+with his knife baited a couple of hooks and waited till the boatswain
+had piloted the boat to where there was an opening in the reef and the
+sea was setting into the lagoon.
+
+"Now, lookye here, my lad," said Small; "when I was a boy I used to fish
+in the mill-dam at the back of our cottage, and I always found as there
+was most fish where the stream set in or came out.  Now that's deep
+water, and I'll hold on to the bit of rock here while you chuck in; and
+if you don't get a bite we'll try somewheres else."
+
+He laid in the oar, and taking the boat-hook had no difficulty in taking
+hold of the coral, which was only a couple of feet below, and Mark made
+his first cast right into the running current.
+
+It was a good throw, and he stooped down and picked up the loose rings,
+to lay them out quite neatly and wind some of the superabundant line
+about the little frame, when there was a whiz over the side, the line
+darted out, there was a painful sensation of cutting, a jerk at the
+lad's arm as if it were about to be dragged out of the socket, and--that
+was all!
+
+"Well, you hooked him," said Small grimly.  "He must have been a big
+un."
+
+"Big?--a monster!" cried Mark excitedly.  "He must have broken the
+line."
+
+"Haul in and bait again," said Small; and as the line was drawn in it
+was found that there was no breakage, but the soft metal hook had bent
+out nearly straight and torn from the fish's mouth.
+
+"It hurt my hand horribly," said Mark as he bent the damaged hook back
+into position; "but it must have hurt the fish more."
+
+"Sarve him right, my lad!--he was on his way to kill and eat some other
+fish.  That's it.  Chuck out again, and this time let him have it easy,
+and if he's a big one give him time."
+
+The carefully-baited hooks were thrown out again, and before the bait
+had sunk a couple of feet it was once more seized.
+
+"Sha'n't starve here, my lad!" said Small gleefully.
+
+"Not if we can catch the fish," said Mark, whose fingers were burning
+with the friction of the line.  "I say, Small, is it a crocodile?"
+
+"G'long with you!  Crocodile!--no; it's not a very big one."
+
+"But see how it pulls!" cried Mark as the fish continued its rush and
+would have been off, line and all, some twenty fathoms, if it had not
+been that the cord was securely fastened to the winder, which was
+suddenly snatched from the bottom of the boat to fly with a rap against
+the lad's knuckles.
+
+"Don't you let him go, Mr Mark, sir!" cried Small, who was as excited
+now as the lad.  "Hold on!  That's all our braxfusses."
+
+"I'm going to hold on if I can," said Mark between his teeth; "but I
+shall let him run if he's going to pull me out of the boat."
+
+As he spoke the fish was tugging furiously at the line, drawing the
+holder's arms out to their full stretch, and actually threatening to
+jerk him over the side of the boat.  Now it rushed to right, now to
+left, and then made straight once more for the sea, and so full of
+strength that this time Mark set his teeth, feeling sure that line,
+hook, or his fingers must give way.
+
+"You'll lose him.  I know you will," cried Small, though how the
+fisherman was to prevent the catastrophe now that he was at the end of
+the line the boatswain did not say; and while finding fault, after the
+fashion of lookers-on, it never occurred to him that he might help the
+capture by letting the boat follow the fish.
+
+Matters then had just as it were reached a climax, when, instead of the
+line breaking or Mark going over the side, the strong cord, which had
+been hissing here and there through the water, suddenly grew slack, and
+the tension was taken off Mark's muscles and mind to give place to a
+feeling of despair.
+
+"Well, you are a fisherman, sir," growled Small, spitting a little
+tobacco juice into the water in disgust.  "You've lost as fine a fish as
+was ever pulled out of the sea."
+
+"How do you know?" said Mark, beginning to haul in the line slowly hand
+over hand.  "You didn't see it."
+
+"See it!  Why, I see it pull.  It was a fine un, and badly as we wants a
+bit o' fish too.  There, haul in sharp and put on a fresh bait."
+
+"It doesn't seem much use," said Mark bitterly.  "My hands are quite
+sore."
+
+"You'll be obliged to let me have a try.  Skipper'll come down on me if
+we don't have something to show when we get back.  Ah! there's a nice
+fish now," he continued, as a great fellow looking like a fifty-pound
+salmon sprang a full yard out of the water and fell back with a
+tremendous splash.
+
+"Why, that's him," cried Mark, "and he's on still."
+
+"Hooray! then: get him this time, my lad," cried Small; and it was
+evident now that, finding its course out to sea checked, the fish had
+suddenly turned and darted back, swimming toward the boat and causing
+the slackening of the line, but directly in the hauling it felt the hook
+it sprang right out of the water and made a fresh rush.
+
+But this was not so powerful a run as the first, and as Mark held on,
+the fish repeated its manoeuvre and swam toward the boat.
+
+This time Mark was able to haul in nearly half the line before the fish
+made another dart, but only to be checked, and rush to and fro, forming
+zigzags through the water, which it varied by a series of leaps clear
+out.
+
+"You'll lose him, my lad, you'll lose him," grumbled Small at every
+bound; but the hook was fast in, and Mark instinctively gave line at
+every rush till the fish grew weary, and was drawn in closer to the boat
+after the wild dashes, and then, for the seventh or eighth time as it
+was hauled in, and Mark was prepared for a new dart, and in dread that
+this time the hook should straighten or break away, the panting creature
+suddenly turned up and floated upon its side.
+
+"Well hauled," shouted Small.  "You have done it this time, my lad."
+
+"Not caught yet!" said Mark.  "How are we to get it in the boat?"
+
+"Oh, I'll show you about that," said the boatswain, loosening his hold
+of the rock, and, watching his opportunity, he gaffed the great fish
+cleverly with the boat-hook by drawing it into the prize's gills, and
+the next instant it lay splashing at the bottom of the boat.
+
+"Well done us!" cried Small, as Mark stood gazing down at his prize, a
+magnificent fish of over forty pounds weight, with brilliant silvery
+scales double the size of those of a salmon, and all flashing in the
+morning sunshine.
+
+"What is it?" said Mark.
+
+"Well, I don't rightly know," said Small drily.  "'Taint a sole."
+
+"Why, of course not."
+
+"Nor it arn't a salmon, you see, cause it's got all them stickles on its
+back.  Some kind o' shark, I should say.  Look at its teeth."
+
+"And you've been to sea all your life, Small, and don't know a shark!"
+cried Mark.  "Why, I know that isn't a shark, or anything of the kind."
+
+"Yes, because you've had books to go at all your life, my boy, while
+I've been knocking about in ships.  Man may learn to be a good sailor,
+but he don't learn much else aboard ship afore the mast."
+
+"Never mind," said Mark; "the question for us to settle is--Is it good
+to eat?"
+
+"Just you wait till we've cooked him over the fire," said Small, as he
+extracted the hook from the fierce jaws.  "I'll answer that question
+then.  'Most anything's good to eat when you're half starved, my lad.
+I've knowed men eat their shoes.  Going to have another try?"
+
+"Yes, I should like to get some more," said Mark; and as soon as the
+captured fish was laid under the thwart he baited and threw out again.
+
+This time he waited so long that he began to draw in the line, expecting
+to find the bait gone; but long before it reached the surface it was
+seized by another ravenous fish, and after a sharp fight this was also
+got into the boat, proving to be something similar to the other, but
+only about half the size.
+
+"As I said before, I says it again," said Small oracularly, "we sha'n't
+starve here."
+
+Mark thought of his words as he paddled ashore--Small cleaning the fish
+the while and throwing the offal overboard for ground-bait, as he said--
+when he helped carry the prizes up to the fire in triumph, for there he
+found that the major had returned, he and Widgeon having quite a load of
+shell-fish; the men had cut down the cocoa-nut tree, and the nuts were
+lying on the sand; while the captain and the ladies were back, the
+former with about a dozen small cockatoos, and the latter with
+handkerchiefs full of jungle fruit, a good deal of which promised to be
+valuable.
+
+A large fire of drift-wood and old cocoa-nuts and their husks was
+burning, making a fierce blaze, before and partly over which the fish
+were soon roasting on wooden spits, the sailors being particularly handy
+in obeying orders for anything which they could provide by means of
+their knives.
+
+The shell-fish soon followed, being ranged round the glowing embers to
+cook in their shells, and before long there was an odour rising that was
+little short of maddening to the hungry throng, several of whom directed
+envious glances at the birds which were hung up in the shade to be
+prepared for the next meal.
+
+"Well, not so very badly," said the major about half an hour after the
+fish had been declared done.  "I missed my cup of coffee and my dry
+toast, but I never ate fresher fish; and as to the scalloped gentlemen
+in their shells, captain, with one exception I never ate anything more
+delicious.  Whether they were oysters, clams, cockles, or mussels, I'm
+sure I don't know, and what's more, I don't care.  I say they were
+good."
+
+"What was the exception?" said Mrs O'Halloran, smiling, for that lady
+seemed to bear everything with equanimity, and always proved herself a
+campaigner's wife.
+
+"The exception, my dear," said the major, "was that spiral gentleman
+handed to me all hot by friend Mark, who took it sizzling out of the
+fire with a bit of bent stick held like tongs."
+
+"But I meant that for Miss O'Halloran, sir," said Mark, flushing.
+
+"Then, for what reason, sir, did you try to poison my daughter?" cried
+the major.  "That fish, or mollusc as the naturalists would call it, was
+undoubtedly something of the whelk family; and if you can only find some
+of them large enough to cut up in slices, we shall have nothing to ear
+as to a supply of india-rubber shoe-soles.  I've had some experience of
+contract beef in the army; but that is calves'-foot jelly compared to
+Mark's whelk."
+
+"I thought it would be a delicacy, sir," said Mark, whose ears were
+particularly red as he saw Mary laughing.
+
+"And I thought it was a trick," said the major; "so, after wriggling the
+monster out with my penknife and trying it fairly, I gave it to Mark's
+dog, and he has looked very unwell ever since."
+
+The major's high spirits, and the calm matter-of-fact way in which his
+wife and daughter bore their privations, had an influence on the rest of
+the party, the captain looking less troubled, and Mr Gregory less
+serious.  As for the sailors, they appeared to be quite enjoying
+themselves and treating the whole as a kind of picnic.
+
+But there was plenty of work to be done, for as soon as the captain had
+seen to the two wounded men, who were able to talk now feebly, but
+without a trace of delirium, he began to make his plans, talking the
+matters over with the major and the mate; while the men, pending
+instructions, cut off all the cocoa-nut leaves to lay to dry, and
+gathered plenty of fuel for the cooking fire, whose place Small decided
+ought to be in a nook among some rocks, where it would be sheltered from
+the wind, and the rocks would grow heated and help the roasting or
+baking.
+
+"It is gloriously fine now," the captain commenced by saying; "and one
+of the first things we ought to do is to provide a kind of hut or shed
+against the tremendous showers we are sure to have before long."
+
+"My dear Strong," said the major, "I'm ready for anything, from shooting
+savages to cutting down trees."
+
+"Then take your gun," said the captain, "and shoot a few savages, only
+keep yourself to the smaller inhabitants of the place, as we are not
+cannibals."
+
+"Can I have Mark for my game-bearer?" said the major; and the lad darted
+a grateful look at him.
+
+"I was going to propose that he should take a gun and go with you," said
+the captain.  "He can catch a fish, and the sooner he can shoot us food
+the better.  But be careful, my lad, and don't waste powder."
+
+"I'll drill him," said the major; "and, by the way, would it not be as
+well to hoist something in the shape of colours on the top of the
+highest tree one of the men can mount?"
+
+"I had planned that too," said the captain.  "I hope our signals will
+soon be seen; but we must go on as if we expected to be in this place
+for years."
+
+"That's good policy, my dear Strong," said the major; "so we'll leave
+you to your work, while we two idlers see what we can find inland.  Now,
+Mark, guns and cartridges, and call your dog.  His leg seems to be
+healing fast."
+
+"Keep a sharp look-out," whispered the captain.  "That noise must be
+made by some uncouth creature, so be on your guard."
+
+"That's why I'm going to have the dog," replied the major; and, leaving
+the rest all busy over some preparation for the future comfort of the
+party, the ladies preparing to go fruit-seeking after attending to the
+wounded men's wants, while Mary collected some large pearl-shell oysters
+and the halves of the cocoa-nuts for cups and plates, the major and his
+young henchman set off.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.
+
+HOW MARK AND THE MAJOR SAW SIGNS.
+
+Bruff limped up eagerly, and sometimes put down his injured paw, which
+he had been dressing after nature's fashion by licking it well, and
+trotted by their side; but it was evident directly that another was to
+be of the party, for before they had gone fifty yards Jack bounded up
+and placed himself beside the dog.
+
+The major hesitated for a moment.
+
+"He won't do any harm," he said at last.  "Let him come.  I say, Mark,
+my lad, all that was very comic about the little fellow climbing the
+tree; but do you know, if you took pains I'm sure you might teach him to
+go up into the leafy crowns and screw the nuts round till they dropped."
+
+"I was wondering whether it would be possible," said Mark eagerly.
+
+"Quite.  He is an intelligent little fellow.  Try.  Now, then, let's
+take our bearings," continued the major, and he pulled out a
+pocket-compass.  "Don't let's be wearied out in finding our way back
+when we are tired."
+
+"Which way are we going, sir?"
+
+"That depends, my lad.  It is not as we please, but as the jungle
+allows.  You talk as if you were in a country full of roads."
+
+"I forgot," said Mark, changing the position in which he carried his
+father's double gun.
+
+"First lesson in using a gun," said the major: "either point the muzzle
+at the ground or up at the sky.  It's considered bad manners, Mark, to
+shoot your companions."
+
+"I--I beg your pardon, sir," faltered Mark.  "It was very clumsy of me."
+
+"Not a bit more clumsy than every young fellow is, when he first handles
+a gun.  That's the way.  I'm sure you don't want to have to carry me
+home without a head.  Now, then, our easiest route would be to go along
+the sands at the edge of the cocoa-nut groves; but I propose we strike
+in beside the first stream or through the first valley we find.  Come
+along."
+
+They followed the beautiful shore line for about five hundred yards, and
+at a turn came suddenly upon a lovely little stream which offered far
+better facilities for obtaining drinking water than that from which it
+had been obtained, and as soon as he saw the spot, the major exclaimed
+that this was the place for their temporary home.
+
+A cocoa-nut grove, a sandy cove, plenty of nipah-palms ready for making
+into thatch or wails for their hut, and an abundance of slight young
+palm-trees like scaffold poles exactly suitable for making their hut or
+shed.
+
+"We must go back, Mark," said the major.  "This is a find that will save
+them endless trouble."
+
+It seemed a pity to return, as the sun was growing very hot; but they
+tramped back, and the captain followed when they again started, to
+decide with Gregory whether it would be a better site.
+
+"Now," said the major, leaving them to their discussion, "you shall try
+and bring down the first eatable bird we see, and I'll look out for pig
+or deer."
+
+"Are you going straight inland?" asked Mark.
+
+"No, but just as the open ground beside this stream will let us.  I want
+to get to the high ground and reach the slope of the volcano if we can."
+
+It was not an easy task; for though the jungle was open here in
+comparison to what it was on either hand, every step of the way was
+impeded by creepers, awkward roots, patches of moss into which their
+feet sank, and by the rattan-canes that draped the trees and ran in and
+out and enlaced them together, as if nature were making rough attempts
+to turn the edge of the forest into a verdant piece of basket-work.
+
+The heat was great and it was rather exhausting toil, but at every turn
+the beauties of the place were quite startling to Mark in their novelty.
+Over the clear sun-spangled stream drooped the loveliest of ferns,
+whose fronds were like the most delicate lace; while by way of contrast
+other ferns clung to the boles of trees, that were dark-green and forked
+like the horns of some huge stag; great masses and clusters, six or
+seven feet long, hung here and there pendent from the old stumps.
+
+Flowers too were in abundance, but for the most part quaintly-shaped
+orchids of cream, and yellow, and brown, some among the moss, others
+clinging to the mossy bark of the trees.  But the greatest curiosities
+of all were the pitcher-plants hanging here and there, some fully
+suspended, others so large that they partly rested on the moss, forming
+jungle cups capable of containing fully a pint of water, some of them
+even more.
+
+The beauties of the scene increased, in spite of each one in which they
+paused seeming as if it could not be surpassed; for as they penetrated
+more deeply they not only came upon flowering trees about which tiny
+sun-birds, whose plumage was a blaze of burnished metallic splendour,
+whirred, and buzzed, and darted, or probed the blossoms with their
+beaks, but they found that the island, if island it should prove, was
+inhabited by endless numbers of gorgeous butterflies.
+
+Great pearly-looking insects, whose wings gleamed with azure
+reflections, floated calmly down the glades, their wings fully eight
+inches across.  Others were specked and splashed with scarlet, or barred
+with orange, or dashed with glistening green.  Then, as if there was to
+be no end to the feast of beauty for their eyes, great quick-flying
+insects came darting among the sunny openings, butterflies with
+elongated, narrow, and pointed wings similar to those of the sphinx
+moths of our own land.
+
+Mark could have sat down and watched the various gorgeously-coloured
+beauties for hours, but theirs was a business task, and he plodded on
+behind the major, both the monkey and the dog untiringly investigating
+everything they saw.
+
+But there was no trace of large animal, no sound that suggested the
+neighbourhood of anything likely to be inimical, while the best test was
+the fearlessness with which their two companions kept by their sides.
+
+"Ah!" ejaculated the major at last, as a low cooing noise fell upon
+their ears.  "Now for something for dinner!  You go first, Mark, and let
+them have both barrels sharply--one after the other."
+
+"Let what have them?"
+
+"The pigeons.  Creep on yonder softly, and you will soon come upon
+them--a flock of pigeons feeding in one of the trees."
+
+Mark went on as silently as he could, and the major kept back the two
+animals and waited a minute--five minutes, ten minutes--and then softly
+followed, to find the lad at the edge of a glade watching a flock of
+great lavender-hued and feather-crowned pigeons, as big as fowls,
+feeding in the most unconcerned manner.
+
+The major did not hesitate for a moment, but fired at the spot where the
+birds were thickest, and again as they rose with whirring and flapping
+wings in a little flock.
+
+Three went down at his first discharge, two at his second; and Mark
+started as if he too had been shot.
+
+"You here, sir?" he said.
+
+"Yes.  Why didn't you shoot?"
+
+"I forgot to," said Mark hesitatingly; "and I was admiring them."
+
+"Yes, admirable, my young naturalist!" said the major.  "But we are sent
+out here to find food for so many hungry people; and these are glorious
+eating."
+
+"Yes; I forgot," said Mark, helping to collect the birds, which were
+tied by the legs and hung over the trunk of a tree, as the stream would
+act as their guide on their return.
+
+Then going on, the little rapids and falls in the tiny river showed that
+they must be steadily rising, but at so slow a rate that it soon became
+evident that, unless the country opened out, they would not reach the
+mountain that day.
+
+At the end of a couple of hours, though, when they paused to rest and
+began refreshing themselves with some fruit similar to a large nut, but
+whose interior contained a couple of kernels imbedded in custard, they
+found themselves quite upon a hill, with a valley dipping down below
+along which the streamlet came, and beyond these the mountain-slope
+rose, so that they had a good view of the cone, with the film of cloud
+still rising, but looking almost transparent in the bright sunrise.
+
+"There ought to be pigs here," said the major; "but it does not seem as
+if we shall see any.  But look yonder; there's another of those
+fruit-trees, with pigeons feeding beneath.  Go and try now."
+
+Mark hurried on, and threading his way among the trees took a long and
+careful aim before firing; and, as might be expected, missing.  But as
+luck had it, the flock rose with a tremendous beating of wings and went
+right over the major's head, giving him an opportunity to get a couple
+of good shots, with the result that three more of the great pigeons came
+crashing down.
+
+"I think I hit one," said Mark as he came panting back, to find that the
+major and Bruff between them had retrieved all three birds.
+
+"Where is it, then?" said the major.
+
+"The smoke got in my eyes, and I could not see whether one fell."
+
+"Take the dog, then, and see if he can find it," said the major, smiling
+to himself.  But after a good search the lad came back hot and
+disappointed.
+
+"Better luck next time, my boy," said the major.  "You are not the only
+one who did not hit his first bird.  Shooting is not so easy as fishing
+in the sea."
+
+The question now arose whether to go on further or to return.  They had
+obtained eight good weighty birds, and the heat was great; but Mark was
+so anxious to try and make better use of his piece that the pigeons just
+shot were hung up similarly to the first, and they proceeded, to find
+hopeful signs of an abundance of fruit, some of which was familiar to
+the major from his having encountered it in different parts of the East,
+while other kinds looked promising enough for testing.
+
+But though a sharp look-out was kept, no other opportunity for a shot
+presented itself.
+
+The reason was plain enough--they were unable to get along without
+making a good deal of noise; and though the smaller birds of brilliant
+plumage paid little heed, the larger, such as might have been used for
+food, took flight before they got within shot, as they often knew by the
+flapping and beating of their wings.
+
+They were slowly descending one beautiful slope after carefully taking
+in some landmarks so as to guide them on their return, when all at once
+Mark laid his hand upon the major's arm and pointed to an opening in the
+jungle about a hundred yards away.
+
+"What is it?" said the major sharply.  "Ah! that looks bad;" and he
+pressed Mark back under cover.
+
+"Savages?" whispered the lad.
+
+"I'm afraid so.  It's a bad sign and a good sign."
+
+Mark looked at him interrogatively.
+
+"Bad sign if they are a fierce lot like the New Guinea men; good sign if
+they are peaceable fellows, for it shows that it is quite possible to
+live here."
+
+The sight which had caught Mark's attention was a thin cloud of vapour
+rising slowly from among some low bushes, and it was evident that there
+was a fire and some cooking operation going on.
+
+"Better part of valour is discretion," said the major softly.  "Not
+going to run away, Mark--soldiers can't do that--but we must retire and
+take up fresh ground, my lad, for your father expressly pointed out to
+me that we were not cannibals, and that I was not to shoot the human
+savage.  Keep out of sight.  Perhaps we had better return."
+
+They backed away softly, the dog following, and the major whispered:
+
+"The mystery is explained, Mark.  It must have been one of those
+interesting gentlemen who made that terrific row.  His idea of a cooey,
+I suppose."
+
+A low growl came from Bruff just then, and they stopped short, the
+silence being broken by the dick, dick of the major's gun.
+
+They had on retiring gone a little higher up the slope so as to be more
+among the trees, and the result was that they found themselves at the
+top of a little ridge and at the edge of the denser growth, so that, as
+they paused, they could look down into another part where the trees gave
+place to low bushes and glorious ferns, the whole being a glade of
+surpassing loveliness, such a spot as might very well be chosen by a
+party of simple savages for their home.
+
+The major pressed Mark down, and they cowered among the trees, for they
+were evidently going right in sight of a second encampment.
+
+"Keep the dog quiet if you can, lad," whispered the major, peering among
+the trees.  "Can't see their attap [see note 1] huts, but there are
+plenty of fruit-trees."
+
+"Have they seen us?" whispered Mark.
+
+"Impossible to say.  You go along first between those trees bearing to
+the right.  Stoop.  I don't want you to get a notice to quit in the
+shape of a spear."
+
+Mark obeyed, and went on as swiftly and as silently as he could, so as
+to reach the path they had made in coming, and to this end he had to
+quit the denser shade and pass through a clump of foliage plants and
+flowering bushes of the loveliest hues.
+
+The way seemed easy, and the bushes were not so closely together, but
+the ferns were enormous, their fronds stretching out in all directions
+and having to be pressed aside.
+
+"Never mind me," whispered the major, as Mark held an unusually large
+frond aside.  "Bear down more to the right and strike the stream.  We
+mustn't leave those pigeons."
+
+Mark forced his way on, with the growth completely hiding him from his
+companion, while the heat seemed to be more and more oppressive.  It was
+a dank stewing heat, very different to the scorching of the sun out in
+the more open parts, and both were longing to get to a spot where they
+could breathe more freely, when Mark, who was about six yards ahead,
+leaped down into a little hollow to save himself from a fall, his feet
+having given way as he trod upon the rotten roots of a large fern.
+
+It was a matter of a few instants, for as the lad alighted he found that
+it was upon something soft and elastic, and at the same moment there was
+a disturbance among the undergrowth and a sharp angry hiss.
+
+He bounded back with a faint cry of horror, turned, and taking rapid aim
+at the spot where he had leaped fired downward.
+
+"Quick! load again," said the major.
+
+"A great serpent," panted Mark, obeying with nervous fingers.
+
+"Killed him?"
+
+"Don't know, sir," said Mark, staring down among the ferns and arums
+which filled the hole.
+
+"Must have killed him, for he does not move.  Squat down.  We don't want
+the savages to see us.  They are sure to come."
+
+"Let's run."
+
+"What?  The gauntlet?  No, thank you, my boy.  We are safer here.
+Hist!"
+
+They crouched there listening for the sounds of the enemy's approach,
+but all remained silent.  Mark could hear his heart beating with
+excitement, and he found himself wondering why it was that he, with a
+serpent on one side and savages on the other, was not more alarmed.
+
+"Keep still," whispered the major; "we must hear them directly.  What's
+that?"
+
+"The dog," said Mark in the same low tone, for Bruff had softly crept to
+their side, looked up in their faces, and lain down.
+
+"Why, hallo!" exclaimed the major, "this isn't natural."
+
+"What?"
+
+"This dog.  There can't be any savages on the way; and, what is more,
+you can't have shot a serpent, or Bruff here would have been excited and
+routed him out.  Did you see the serpent?"
+
+"No, sir; I didn't see it exactly, but you heard it hiss."
+
+"But, hang it all, Mark!  You didn't shoot at a hiss, did you?"
+
+"Well, no, sir.  I was horribly startled, and shot down at the soft
+thing upon which I jumped."
+
+"But if you are entrusted with a gun," said the major angrily, "you
+mustn't take fright and shoot at what you hear and feel, my lad."
+
+"Did you see the savages, sir?" said Mark in self-defence.
+
+"Well, no, but I saw the smoke of their fire; and here, Bruff, fetch him
+out, boy," he continued, breaking off his speech, and with cocked gun he
+parted the twigs and fronds cautiously as he stepped down into the
+hollow from which Mark had fled.
+
+Hiss! hiss! hiss! came sharply from where the major stepped, and he in
+turn bounded back to Mark's side, falling over the dog, and having some
+difficulty in recovering himself.
+
+"That's good!  I like that," he cried, as, instead of helping him, Mark
+covered his escape by taking a step forward, and bringing his gun to
+bear on the spot whence the sounds came.
+
+"Did--did you see it?" said Mark huskily.
+
+"See it!  No, my lad.  Only that!  Look!"
+
+He pointed as he rose to a filmy vapour floating away and dissolving in
+the sunshine.  "You did not see that before because you fired.  Don't
+you see?  It's steam."
+
+"Steam!" said Mark.
+
+"Yes.  Look here.  Give me your hand.  I don't want to go through."
+
+He caught Mark's hand and stepped cautiously down, keeping one foot on
+sure ground, as with the other he pressed and stamped upon a spot that
+was quite elastic.  At every stamp there was a hiss--a sharp, angry hiss
+and a puff of vapour rose from among the leaves.
+
+"There's your serpent," he said, laughing.  "No wonder you did not hit
+it."
+
+"Then that must be steam we saw over yonder, and not savages' fires."
+
+"Right, my lad.  A false alarm.  We're in a volcanic land, and if we
+search about I daresay we shall find hot springs somewhere."
+
+"It can't be very safe," said Mark thoughtfully, as he watched the
+little puffs of steam rise.
+
+"Not if you jump on a soft place, for there would be no knowing where
+you went.  But come along, I think we've done enough for one day, so
+let's find our pigeons and get back."
+
+"Where's Jacko?" said Mark, looking round.
+
+"Jack!  Last time I saw him he was up a tree eating those sour berries
+just after I shot the last pigeon.  He must have stayed back to feed."
+
+They whistled and called, while, as if comprehending it all, the dog
+barked; but all was still, and in the hope of finding their hairy
+companion they now pressed steadily on, passing the tree laden still
+with a bright purple kind of berry, but there was no sign of Jack.
+
+"He'll return to savage life, safe," said the major.  "It is too much of
+a temptation to throw in his way.  Why, Mark, if I were a monkey I think
+I should."
+
+"I don't think he'd leave Bruff now," replied Mark.  "They're such
+friends that they wouldn't part, and I'm sure my dog wouldn't go."
+
+He glanced down at Bruff as he spoke, and the dog barked at him, and
+raised his injured paw.
+
+"Well, we shall see," said the major, as they forced their way on.
+"There's where we stopped to listen for birds," he continued, "and
+there's the tree upon which I hung the pigeons."
+
+"Where?" asked Mark.
+
+"Yonder, straight before you.  There, lad, fifty yards away."
+
+"But I can't see any pigeons," said Mark.
+
+"Not near enough.  Let's get on, I'm growing hungry, and beginning to
+think of dinner, a cigar, a good rest, and a bathe in that
+delicious-looking sea.  By the way, the clouds are gathering about the
+top of that mountain.  I hope we shall have no storm to-night.  Why,
+Mark, the pigeons are gone!  I hung them upon that branch."
+
+Mark turned from gazing at the clouds, which seemed to be forming about
+the cone away to his right, and was obliged to confess that the pigeons
+were gone.
+
+"Savage, or some animal," said the major, peering cautiously round.
+
+"Would it be a big bird--eagle or vulture?" said Mark.  "I saw one fly
+over."
+
+"Might be," replied the major.  "I'm not naturalist enough to say; and
+if I was, I daren't, Mark, for what a bird will do in one country it
+will not in another."
+
+Mark stared at him.
+
+"Well, I mean this, Mark, my lad.  At home, in England, the kingfishers
+sit on twigs over the streams, and dive into the water and catch fish.
+Here, in the East, numbers of them sit on twigs in the forest paths and
+catch beetles, so there's no knowing what a bird of prey would do in a
+place like this."
+
+Just then they were close up to the tree, and Bruff set up a joyous
+barking, which was answered by the chattering of the monkey.
+
+"Why, there's Jack!" cried Mark.
+
+"The rascal, he has got down my pigeons!" cried the major.
+
+Just then a puff of feathers flew up in the air, and the two travellers
+stepped forward and simultaneously burst into a roar of laughter.
+
+For there, in amongst the undergrowth, sat Jack, his hairy coat, head,
+arms, and legs covered with feathers, which formed quite a nest about
+him, and as they came up he chattered away loudly, and went on tearing
+the lavender plumage out of one of the great pigeons which lay in his
+lap, and scattering the soft down far and wide.
+
+"Why, he must have seen the birds plucked yesterday," said the major,
+wiping his eyes, so comical was the monkey's seriously intent aspect, as
+he kept glancing up at them sharply, and then chattering and peering
+down at the half-denuded pigeon, his little black fingers nimbly
+twisting out the feathers, and his whole aspect suggestive of his being
+a cook in a tremendous hurry.
+
+"There, come along," continued the major; "pick up the birds, Mark."
+
+Easier said than done.  There were three, but two, half-picked, had to
+be hunted out from the heap of feathers, and Jack objected to part with
+the third, holding on to it tightly till he was pressed back with the
+stock of the gun, after which the miserable half-picked birds were tied
+together by the legs and hung over the barrel.
+
+They had no difficulty in finding the rest of the morning's sport, and
+this done, the first being shouldered by the major, they walked as fast
+as the nature of the way would allow, back to the shore, unwillingly on
+Mark's part, for there was always some brilliant bird or insect flitting
+across their path and inviting inspection.
+
+But this inclination to stay was always checked by the major, who kept
+on bringing his companion back to the commonplace by uttering the one
+word, "Dinner!" and this sufficed.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Note 1.  Attap, thatching made of the leaves of a palm--the nipah.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.
+
+HOW MARK ENCOUNTERED A SAVAGE.
+
+"We were beginning to think you long," said the captain as they reached
+the cocoa-nut grove, having found that though there were signs of palm
+leaves and young trees having been cut by the mouth of the stream this
+had not been selected as the site of the huts.
+
+"We've been a long way," said the major.  "Not empty-handed, you see."
+
+"Splendid," cried the captain; "but you need not have stopped to pick
+them."
+
+"Thereby hangs a tale," said the major, laughing.  "How's Morgan?"
+
+"Much better, and sitting up.  There, you see, we've not been idle."
+
+He pointed to a large low hut formed in the cocoa-nut grove by utilising
+six growing trees as corners and centre-posts, and binding to these thin
+horizontal poles, freshly cut down for eaves and ridge.  Others formed
+gables, being fixed by the sailors with their customary deftness, thin
+rattans being used as binding cords.  Then other poles had been bound
+together for the roof, and over these an abundant thatching of palm
+leaves had been laid and laced on with rattan till there was a
+water-tight roof, and in addition one end was furnished with palm-leaf
+walls.
+
+"That will keep us dry if the rain comes," said the captain, after due
+praise had been awarded for the energy displayed.  "But now, quick: have
+a wash, and we'll dine.  Every one is hungry."
+
+Mark's eyes twinkled as he saw the preparations.  Palm leaves were
+spread in two places, but the food supply was the same for all; and if
+they were going to feed as well during their stay on the island, they
+felt that they would not have much cause to complain.
+
+Food is so important a matter in our everyday life that, even without
+being sybarites, one may pause to give an account of the savage banquet
+prepared in the rock kitchen by the captain's and major's wives, aided
+by Mary O'Halloran, whilst the rest were busy hunting and building.
+
+There was another fish secured by Small, similar to the one Mark had
+caught, about two dozen little roast cockatoos, and an ample supply of
+baked shell-fish.  These delicacies were supplemented by plenty of
+cocoa-nut milk and wild fruit, some of which was delicious.
+
+"I never had a better dinner in my life," said the major.  "It has been
+so good that I never once remembered our heavy fat Goura pigeons, which
+I had reckoned upon having for a treat."
+
+"I think we ought to compliment the cooks," said the captain.  "Poor
+Morgan quite enjoyed his fish, and Brown says he didn't know cockatoos
+could taste so good."
+
+"I think we've fallen into a kind of Eden," said Gregory pleasantly.
+"If we could find some tea-trees or coffee-bushes, and a wheat-field and
+windmill, we shouldn't want anything more."
+
+"Ah!" said the captain gravely; "we should want a great deal more than
+those to make up for the loss of civilisation; but let's try and do our
+best under the circumstances."
+
+"Why, we are doing it," said Mrs O'Halloran with a smile.
+
+"True, madam; and I thank you for your brave, true womanly help, both
+for the wounded and for my men."
+
+"Thank your wife too, captain," said Mrs O'Halloran gravely.
+
+"She does not need it, madam," said Captain Strong.  "It is her duty."
+
+That night passed quite peacefully, the watch hearing nothing of the
+strange roar.  The next day busy hands were at work making a second hut
+for the men, every one working his best so as to be prepared for the
+tropical showers, which have a habit of coming on nearly daily; but this
+day broke gloriously fine, and palm leaves were cut and carried, bamboos
+discovered and cut down for poles and rafters, and the men worked with
+such good heart that the second hut towards afternoon began to assume
+shape.
+
+The ladies were as busy as ever, undertaking the nursing and cooking;
+but Morgan relieved them of half the former by getting up to seat
+himself under a shady tree and watch the progress made.
+
+Mark and the major were told off for their former task of finding
+provisions; and, nothing loth, they started in good time, choosing
+another route--that is to say, they struck off to the east--going beyond
+the cooking place among the rocks, meaning to see if any of the great
+grey pigeons were to be found in that direction by some other pass into
+the interior.
+
+Their walk was glorious; with the beautiful lagoon on one side,
+evidently crowded with fish, and the fringe of cocoa-nut trees on their
+left; while from time to time, as the groves opened, they obtained
+glimpses of the volcanic cone.
+
+Bruff and Jack took it as a matter of course that they were to belong to
+the foraging party, and trotted along over the sand, the one eagerly on
+the search for something that he might hunt, the other with his little
+restless eyes watching for fruit.  But neither met with any reward.
+
+Picking out the firm sand where the tide had gone down the hunters found
+good walking, and were able to leave the encampment several miles behind
+without feeling any fatigue, but the game-bags which they had this time
+slung over their shoulders, remained empty, and the guns seemed to
+increase in weight.
+
+"I wish we could get right round and prove that this is an island," said
+the major; "but we must not attempt it to-day.  Are these cocoa-nut
+palms never coming to an end?"
+
+"Let's go through them, and try to reach the foot of the mountain," said
+Mark at last.  "I want to get a supply of something to eat, but I should
+like to see the mountain close to."
+
+"And go up it and peep in at the crater, eh?"
+
+"Indeed I should, sir."
+
+"Ah, well! we'll see about that; but work first, Mark.  We must get a
+load of birds or a pig."
+
+"Think there are pigs, sir?"
+
+"Can't say.  I haven't seen a sign of one yet.  If it is a part of some
+great island we may find deer."
+
+They tramped on, hoping to find a stream, but another two miles were
+traversed before they came upon a rushing rivulet, gurgling down from
+among piled-up masses of blackish vesicular rock, which the major at
+once dubbed scoria.
+
+"Now for a good drink," he said.  "I'm thirsty;" and they both lay down
+to drink from a pool of the loveliest nature, so clear was the water, so
+beautiful the ferns and other growth that overhung.
+
+But at the first mouthful both rose, spitting it out, and ready to
+express their disgust.
+
+"Why, it's bitter, and salt, and physicky as a mineral spring," said the
+major.
+
+"And it's quite hot," said Mark.  "Ugh! what stuff!"
+
+It was disappointing, for they were both suffering from thirst; but it
+was evident that to penetrate the jungle from where they stood would be
+next to impossible, so craggy and rocky was the ground, while, as after
+struggling on for about a couple of hundred yards, they found the water
+grown already so hot that it was almost too much for their hands, they
+concluded that if they persevered they would find it boiling--an
+interesting fact for a student of the wonders of nature, but an
+unsatisfactory matter for a thirsty man.
+
+"What a place for a botanist!" cried the major.  "We could fill our bags
+with wonders; but a good patch of Indian corn would be the greatest
+discovery we could find now, for, Mark, my lad, we shall find that we
+want flour in some form."
+
+"Is Indian corn likely to grow here?"
+
+"If some kind friend who has visited this shore has been good enough to
+plant some--not without."
+
+They stood gazing for a few minutes at the wondrously fertile growth of
+the plants whose roots found their way to the warm stream, and whose
+leaves received the steamy moisture, and then climbed slowly back.
+
+"We must explore inland some day, Mark, and see if we can find a hot
+spring of good water fit to cook in.  I must say I should not like my
+cabbage boiled in that."
+
+"That's better," said Mark as they reached the sand once more, and stood
+panting.
+
+"Yes; the other's `pad for the poots,' as a Welsh friend of mine used to
+say.  Now, then, forward to find fresh water and birds.  We'll go
+another mile, and if we don't find a stream we must try for some fruit."
+
+The dog trotted on a little ahead, and, to their great delight, they
+came to the end of the monotonous fringe of cocoa-nuts and found that
+quite a different class of vegetation came down close to the shore,
+which now grew more rocky, and it was not long before they were able to
+slake their thirst on the pleasant sub-acid fruit of a kind of
+passion-flower.
+
+A few hundred yards further and Bruff began to trot, breaking into a
+canter of two legs after one, and suddenly turned into the jungle, to
+come back barking.
+
+They soon reached the spot, to find that quite a fount of pure-looking
+water was welling up out of a rock basin, trickling over and losing
+itself in the sand, while upon a tree close at hand were at least a
+hundred tiny parrots not larger than sparrows, fluttering, piping, and
+whistling as they rifled the tree of its fruit.
+
+"Too small for food unless we were starving," said the major.  "We shall
+have to fill our bags with what answer here to cockles and mussels,
+Mark.  We must not go home empty-handed."
+
+"Shall I try the water first?" said Mark.
+
+"No need," said the major, pointing to where, at a lesser pool, Bruff
+and Jack were slaking their thirst.
+
+The example set by the two animals was followed, and deep draughts taken
+of the delicious water, which was as cool and sweet as the other spring
+had been nauseous and hot.
+
+"Now, then; forward once more," said the major.  "Just one more mile,
+and then back, though I believe we could get round, for we must have
+come so that the huts are quite to the south.  Yes; we're travelling
+north-west now, and when we started we were going north-east."
+
+"Hist!  Look!" whispered Mark; and he pointed forward.
+
+"Phew!" whistled the major.  "Down, Bruff!  To heel!"
+
+The dog obeyed, and cocking their guns, and keeping as close to the
+trees as the rocky nature of the soil would allow, the two hunters
+approached the game Mark had pointed out.
+
+Strange-looking birds they were, each as big as a small turkey, and,
+provided that they were not of the gull tribe, promising to be an
+admirable addition to the pot.
+
+But though they advanced cautiously, neither the major nor Mark could
+get within shot, the birds taking alarm and scurrying over the sand
+rapidly.
+
+They tried again, taking shelter, going through all the manoeuvres of a
+stalker; but their quarry was too wary, and went off at a tremendous
+rate, but only to stop when well out of reach and begin digging and
+scratching in the sand somewhat after the fashion of common fowls.
+
+"It's of no use," said Mark at last, throwing himself down hot and
+exhausted after they had followed the tempting creatures for fully a
+mile.
+
+"No use!" said the major.  "What, give up!  Do you know what Lord Lytton
+says in Richelieu?"
+
+"No," said Mark wearily; and then to himself--"and I don't care."
+
+"`In the bright lexicon of youth there is no such word as fail.'"
+
+"But then Lord Lytton had not been out here hungry and thirsty, toiling
+after these sandy jack-o'-lanterns with a heavy gun," said Mark.
+
+"Probably not," said the major.  "But, never mind: we may get a shot
+yet.  One more steady try, and then we'll go back."
+
+"Oh, Major O'Halloran, what a man you are to walk!" said Mark, rising
+wearily.
+
+"Yes, my lad," said the major smiling.  "I belong to a marching
+regiment.  Now, look here, Mark; I'm quite sure those birds would eat
+deliciously roasted, and that the ladies would each like a bit of the
+breast."
+
+"Let's try, then, once more," said Mark; and they went on, with Bruff
+dutifully trotting behind waiting for the first shot and the fall of a
+bird.
+
+But no; as they advanced the birds still went on, running well out of
+range and stopping again to scratch and feed.
+
+There were about fifteen of them, and the more they kept ahead the more
+eager grew their stalkers, till after this had been going on for another
+half-hour Bruff could stand it no longer, but dashed off at full speed,
+barking furiously, with the result that instead of running off like the
+wind the birds stopped staring for a few seconds and then all took
+flight.
+
+"That's done it!" cried the major angrily.  "Hang that dog!  No: look,
+Mark!"
+
+"Yes, we may get a shot now," he cried; "they're all in those trees."
+
+"Well, keep close in, and we'll have a try."
+
+They had a couple of hundred yards to go to where Bruff stood barking
+furiously at the birds, which kept in the moderately high boughs staring
+stupidly down at him, and so intent upon the beast, so novel evidently
+to them, that the two hunters had a chance to get close up, and taking
+his time from the major, Mark fixed the quivering sight of his gun on
+one of the birds, and drew trigger just as the major fired twice.
+
+As the smoke blew away there was a whirring of wings and three heavy
+thuds upon the ground.
+
+Away went the birds, but only about fifty yards more, to settle again,
+Bruff keeping up with them, and again taking their attention by barking
+furiously.
+
+The manoeuvres of approaching were again successfully gone through, and
+this time the major whispered:
+
+"Loaded again?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then fire both barrels this time.  Try and get a right and left.
+Fire!"
+
+Their pieces went off simultaneously the first time; then the major's
+second barrel rang out, and Mark's second directly afterwards, and by
+sheer luck--ill-luck for the birds--he brought down his first bird from
+the branch of the tree dead, and in his random flying shot winged one of
+the others so badly that it fell, and Bruff caught it before it had time
+to recover and race away.
+
+"Hurrah!" shouted the major as the diminished flock now flew inland over
+the jungle.  "Seven birds, Mark: a load.  And you said you couldn't
+shoot!  Why, it's glorious!"
+
+"I'm sure it was accident, sir," said Mark with his cheeks burning.
+
+"Then bless all such accidents say I, a hungry man!"
+
+"Yah!" came faintly from a distance.
+
+"What's that?" cried the major.
+
+"Yah!" came again, or what sounded like it, for to their startled ears
+it was more like a savage yell.
+
+"Load quickly," cried the major, setting the example.  "Savages at last.
+Now, the birds and a quick retreat.  Wonder how heavy they are; but
+save them I will if I have a stand to defend them, and send you back for
+help."
+
+Mark caught up his heavy birds and ran back with the major to where the
+first they had shot lay, while from behind came another yell, and
+looking over his shoulder Mark saw that a spear-armed figure was coming
+rapidly in pursuit.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.
+
+HOW MARK FOUND SOMETHING THAT WAS NOT GAME.
+
+They had not far to go, but in a hot sun, and with the double guns,
+ammunition, and the heavy birds, they were panting and in a profuse
+perspiration.
+
+"Can't do impossibilities, Mark, my lad," cried the major.  "We must
+either run for it without our game, or stop and fight for it."
+
+"Oh!" cried Mark; "we can't leave the birds."
+
+"But you can't fight," cried the major, who, as he spoke, began throwing
+the great birds behind a clump of rocks.
+
+"But they have taken so much trouble to get," panted Mark.
+
+"And I'm so hungry that I feel like a dog with a bone," snapped the
+major.  "I won't give 'em up without a fight.  Come in here, my boy, and
+I'll have a good try for it.  We've plenty of ammunition, and perhaps a
+peppering with small-shot will scare the blackguards away."
+
+Mark obeyed, and the next moment, with their birds, they were snugly
+ensconced in a little natural fortification, open to attack only on one
+side, the others being protected by the rocks and the dense jungle.
+
+This movement took them out of sight of their pursuer, who was hidden
+now by the trees.
+
+"Now, my boy, lay out some cartridges, and keep down out of sight.  You
+reload, and keep on exchanging guns.  I'm a soldier, and will do the
+fighting.  I meant to run and leave our dinner, undignified as it may
+be; but hang me if I do at the sight of a half-naked savage with a
+spear."
+
+"But there must be a whole tribe of them behind, sir," whispered Mark.
+
+"Yes; that's the worst of it.  But never mind, I'll pepper their skins,
+and perhaps that will stop them.  But look here, my boy, if matters
+begin to look very ugly you are not to hesitate for a moment."
+
+"Yah!"
+
+A pause.
+
+"Yoy-oy-oy-oy!"
+
+This last in a different tone, but both yells were of a most savage,
+highly-pitched nature.
+
+"Another of them," whispered the major; and then, as the sounds were
+repeated faintly a long way off, "There's the main body coming on.
+Mark, my lad, never mind me.  I didn't know what I was saying before.
+Here, shake hands, and God bless you, boy!  I don't suppose I shall
+hurt.  Run for it at once, and I'll cover your retreat."
+
+Mark sprang up, placed one foot on the rocks, shook hands with the
+major, and in his excitement and dread, as another yell rang out much
+nearer, gathered himself up to spring clear of the rough scoria that lay
+about, and then turned sharply round and leaped back in his place.
+
+"What now?" cried the major sharply.
+
+"Who's to reload if I go?" said Mark hoarsely; and he looked very white.
+
+"I can, boy.  Quick! there's no time to lose."
+
+Mark hesitated for a few moments.  On the one side seemed to be safety;
+on the other, perhaps death from a set of spear-armed savages.  Then he
+ground his teeth, and stood fast.
+
+"Well, why don't you go?"
+
+"I won't be such a coward," cried Mark in a hoarse whisper.
+
+"It is no cowardice to retreat," cried the major, "when your superior
+officer gives the word."
+
+"You're not my superior officer," said Mark between his teeth.  "What
+would my father say?"
+
+"That you obeyed orders."
+
+"He wouldn't," growled Mark.  "He'd call me a contemptible cur.  So I
+should be if I went.  How could I face Mrs O'Halloran and Miss Mary
+again?"
+
+The major seemed to choke a little, and he gave quite a gasp, whilst
+certainly his eyes were suffused with tears as he cocked his gun and
+turned upon Mark.
+
+"I order you to go, sir," he said.  "Run for it while there's time."
+
+"I won't," cried Mark fiercely.  "I'm going to stop and load the guns."
+
+The major gave a long expiration, as if he had been retaining his
+breath, but said nothing, only laid his gun-barrel ready on the natural
+breastwork of rock before him, waved Mark a little way back into
+shelter, and then stood ready as the beat of feet on the sand was
+plainly heard, accompanied by a hoarse panting as of some one who had
+been running till quite breathless.
+
+Then from just round behind some intervening branches which grew out
+broadly by the projecting rocks there came another hoarse yell.
+
+"Yah!"
+
+There was a pause, and from the distance an answering cry.
+
+Then a terrible silence.  The steps had ceased, but the hoarse panting
+continued, and for the moment Mark was in hopes that their concealment
+might prove effectual, and the savages pass on, and to aid this he bent
+down softly to make a threatening gesture at Jacko, and to hold Bruff's
+muzzle tightly closed as the pair lay on the birds, among whose feathers
+Jack's fingers were already busy.
+
+The major had evidently caught the idea, and he too drew back, when once
+more came the terrible yell, and the keen point and half a dozen feet of
+the lance dropped into sight, while through the leaves which partially
+concealed him they could make out a portion of the figure of the savage.
+
+The silence now was terrible, and Mark held his breath, hardly daring to
+breathe, in dread lest the major should fire, for he could have laid the
+man lifeless without raising the gun to his shoulder.
+
+Then all at once, in the midst of the hot stillness of that tropic land,
+with the blue sea lying calm beyond, the sparkling creamy foam where the
+ocean pulsated on the coral-reef, there came a hideous screech and the
+swift beat of wings.
+
+Startling enough, but only the cry of a passing parrot, and the sound
+had hardly died away when the point of the spear was slowly raised, and
+disappeared behind the trees.
+
+Then once more came the loud yell.
+
+"Yah!" and its repetition three times, now telling of the savages being
+scattered.  And then--
+
+"Oh, dear! oh, dear!  Where can they be got to?  I'm sure I saw 'em come
+by here."
+
+"How--how--how--how!" burst out Bruff, and shaking his head free he
+leaped out, followed by Mark and the major, to confront their
+spear-armed enemy, about whom the dog was leaping and fawning.
+
+"Why, Jimpny," cried Mark, "is this you?" as he caught the stowaway's
+hand.
+
+"You scoundrel!" roared the major.  "You frightened us, and--no, you
+didn't quite frighten us," he said, correcting himself, "but we thought
+you were a savage!"
+
+"So I am, sir," whimpered the man.  "Look at me."
+
+He did look one after a fashion as he stood there, Malay spear in hand,
+his only garment being a pair of canvas trousers whose legs had been
+torn-off half-way above his knees.  For he was torn and bleeding from
+the effects of thorns, his skin was deeply sunburned, and a fillet tied
+about his head, stained red with blood, kept back his tangled hair,
+while his eyes had a wild and scared look.
+
+"Well, it was excusable to think you one," said the major.
+
+"But how came you here?" cried Mark excitedly.
+
+"I don't know, sir," whined the man, piteously.  "I've been mad, I
+think.  I believe I'm mad now; and I was just telling myself that it was
+another of the dreams I had while I was so bad from this chop on the
+head; and that I had only fancied I saw you two shooting, when old Bruff
+barked and came out."
+
+"You've been wounded then?"
+
+"Yes, sir, badly, and off my chump."
+
+"But how?"
+
+"One of those Malay chaps gave me a chop on the head with his sword,
+sir; and I fell down on the deck and crawled right forward down by the
+bowsprit and lay between some ropes and under an old sail, and then I
+got mixed."
+
+"Mixed?" said the major.
+
+"Yes, sir; I was so bad I didn't know which I dreamed and which was
+real, only it seemed that there was a lot of fighting and shooting and
+yelling."
+
+"You didn't dream that," said Mark sadly.
+
+"I'm glad of that, sir; but I suppose I dreamed that the Malay chaps
+made the sailors go over the side into one of the boats and row away."
+
+"That must be quite true," said the major gravely.
+
+"But I was very much off my head, sir, and so weak and thirsty.  I know
+I didn't dream about the fire though, for the ship was afire."
+
+"Yes," said Mark; "the poor _Petrel_!"
+
+"It was very horrid, gentlemen; for as I lay there I couldn't speak nor
+move, only look up at the glare and blaze and sparks, and from where I
+lay, afraid to stir in case they should chuck me overboard, I saw those
+savage chaps go over the side and leave the ship; and then there was a
+blow-up, or else it was before--I don't know, for I was all in a muddle
+in my head and didn't know anything, only that it was getting hotter and
+hotter; and at last I was in a sort of dream, feeling as if I was going
+to be roasted."
+
+"How horrible!" cried Mark.
+
+"Yes, sir, it was horrid, for the masts ketched fire and burned right
+up, and the great pieces of wood kept falling on the deck, and ropes
+were all alight--and swinging about with the burning tar.  I didn't
+dream all that, for I see the big mast blazing from top to bottom, and
+it fell over the side; and then the others went, and the spars was on
+fire, and the booms at the sides.  And at last, as the fire came nearer
+and nearer, sir, I knew that if I lay there any longer I should be
+burned to death, and I thought I'd move."
+
+"And very wisely," said the major.
+
+"Yes, sir; but I couldn't," said the stowaway.  "I wanted badly, and
+tried and tried, but I was much too weak.  And that's what made it seem
+like a dream; for the more I tried to creep out from under the sail, the
+more I lay still, as if something held me back.  And all the time there
+was a puddle of melted pitch bubbling and running slowly toward me.  My
+face burned and my hands were scorched, the wood was crackling, and the
+pitch rising up in blisters.  And if the smoke had come my way I
+couldn't have breathed; but it all went up with the flames and sparks.
+But the heat--oh, the heat!"
+
+"And you couldn't crawl out?"
+
+"No, sir; couldn't move--couldn't raise a hand; and I lay there till I
+couldn't bear it no longer, and tried to shriek out to the Malay chaps
+to come and put me out of my misery, for I wanted to die then; and I'd
+waited too long, for I couldn't even make a sound."
+
+"And what happened next?" asked Mark, for the man had ceased speaking.
+
+"Dunno, sir.  One moment it was all fiery and scorching, the next I
+seemed to go to sleep like, and didn't feel any more pain till I woke."
+
+"Till you woke?" said the major.
+
+"Well, yes, sir.  It was like waking up, to find it was all dark, and
+the wind blowing, and the rain coming down.  Then the sea was roaring
+horribly; and after lying perished with cold there and helpless for a
+long time, I suppose I went to sleep again.  Oh, dear me!"
+
+The major and Mark exchanged glances, for the poor fellow put his hand
+to his head and stared about him for a few moments as if unconscious of
+their presence.
+
+"But you got safe to land?" said Mark at last.
+
+"Eh?"
+
+"I say you escaped," said Mark.
+
+"Did I, sir?"
+
+"Yes, of course.  You are here."
+
+"Oh, yes--I'm here, sir! but I don't know hardly how it was."
+
+"Can't you recollect?"
+
+"Yes, I think I can, sir, only my head's so tight just now.  I think
+this handkerchief I tied round when it bled does it, but I'm afraid to
+take it off."
+
+"Wait a bit and we'll do that," said the major kindly.
+
+"Will you, sir?  Thank ye, sir."
+
+"But how did you get ashore?" said Mark.
+
+"In the ship, sir.  I suppose the rain and the waves must have put out
+the fire, and what's left of her went bumping over rocks and knocking
+about, making my head ache horribly till I went to sleep again; and when
+I woke it was all bright and fine, and the half-burned ship close to the
+sands in shallow water, so as when the tide's down you can walk ashore."
+
+"The ship here?"
+
+"Yes; round there, sir," said the poor fellow wearily.  "There's some
+half-burned biscuit in her, and I've been living on that and some kind
+of fruit I found in the woods when I could get ashore.  I brought this
+thing for a walking-stick."
+
+"Then the ship is ashore here?" cried the major joyfully.
+
+"Yes, sir; but she's not good for anything but firewood," said the
+stowaway sadly.
+
+"Ah! we shall see about that," said the major.  "I'm glad you've
+escaped, my lad."
+
+"And has everybody else, sir?" said the man.
+
+"No, not everybody," said Mark; "but my father and the ladies and the
+officers are safe."
+
+"Don't say as Billy Widgeon isn't saved, sir," cried the man piteously.
+
+"No, because he is," replied Mark.
+
+"That's a comfort," said the stowaway.
+
+"Look here, my man," said the major, "how far is it to the ship?"
+
+"I don't know, sir.  I'd come a long way when I heard guns, and walked
+on till I saw you; and I thought I should have dropped when I lost sight
+of you again."
+
+"Ah, you're very weak," said the major.
+
+"'Taint only that, sir; for it's enough to frighten a man to death or
+send him mad to be all alone here in a place like this."
+
+"Why, it's a very beautiful place, Jimpny."
+
+"Yes, sir, to look at; but as soon as you go into the woods to find
+fruit there's things flies at you, and every now and then in the night
+there's a great bull roaring thing that makes a horrid noise."
+
+"Indeed!" said the major, exchanging glances with Mark.
+
+"Yes; something dreadful, sir."
+
+"Ah, well! we needn't talk about that now," said the major.  "We will
+not go on to the ship, but get back to camp--eh, Mark?"
+
+"Yes, sir: the news will be glorious," cried Mark.
+
+"And what are you going to do?" said the major drily.  "Go back to the
+ship?"
+
+"Go back to the ship, sir!" cried the stowaway wildly.  "No, no, sir!
+Pray don't leave me alone!  I can't bear it, sir--I can't indeed--it's
+too awful!  Mr Mark, sir, don't let him leave me!  Say a kind word for
+me!  I'd sooner lie down and die at once!"
+
+He flung himself upon his knees, the spear falling beside him on the
+sand, as he joined his hands together and the weak tears began to stream
+down his cheeks.
+
+"Get up!" said the major roughly, "and act like a man.  Don't be such a
+whimpering cur!"
+
+"No, sir, please, sir, I won't, sir; but I'm very weak and ill, sir.
+Take me with you, please, sir, and I'll do anything you like, sir."
+
+"Why, you ought to be ashamed of yourself," said the major sharply, "for
+thinking that two English gentlemen would be such brutes as to leave a
+sick and wounded man alone in a place like this.  Eh, Mark?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said the lad, flushing at being called an English gentleman.
+"But he is very weak and ill."
+
+"That's it, sir--that's it," cried the man piteously.  "You will take
+me, then?"
+
+"Of course.  Come along," said the major.  "Confound that monkey!"
+
+For, while they had been intent upon the man's account of his escape,
+Jack had been busy covering himself with feathers, as he plucked away at
+first one and then another of the birds.
+
+"Ah! would you?" cried the major as Jack chattered fiercely upon the
+bird being taken from him, and then retreated behind Bruff.
+
+"I'll carry those, sir," said Jimpny.  "I'll take that too.  Would you
+lend me a handkychy or a bit o' string, Mr Mark, sir, to tie their legs
+together, and then I can carry the lot over my shoulder, some before and
+some behind."
+
+"Fore and aft," said Mark, taking a piece of fishing-line from his
+pocket.
+
+"Yes, sir, that's it," said the man; "but I can't never recollect those
+sailors' words.
+
+"That's your sort," he continued cheerfully, as the birds' legs were
+securely tied, and as he knelt on the sand he got them well over his
+shoulder, got up slowly by a great effort and essayed to start, then
+reeled, and recovered himself, reeled again, and fell headlong with his
+load.
+
+He raised himself slowly to his knees, and looked pitifully from one to
+the other, and then at his load.
+
+"I'm no good," he said in a whimpering tone.  "I never was no good to
+nobody, and I never shall be."
+
+"Bah! stuff!" cried the major.  "Here, untie them, and tie two, two, and
+four together, Mark.  I'll take four, and you a pair each."
+
+"Let's make Bruff carry two," said Mark, as soon as the birds were
+freshly disposed, and hanging a pair pannier fashion over the dog's
+back, leaving thus a pair apiece, they started, after a vain attempt on
+the part of the stowaway to obtain permission to carry four.
+
+Bruff protested at first, and seemed to consider it to be his duty to
+lie down and get rid of his load; then when it was replaced, with stern
+commands to him to carry it, he took upon himself to consider that it
+must be carried in his jaws, when Jack bounded to his side and began to
+pick out the feathers.
+
+But after a little perseverance the teachable dog bore his load well
+enough, and the little party trudged back over the firm sand.  They made
+a pause by the clear water for refreshment and then went on again, but
+only slowly, for the stowaway was very weak and the heat great, while it
+was piteous to see the brave effort he made to keep up with his load.
+This at last was plainly too much for him, and he was relieved, Mark and
+the major taking it in turns.
+
+But even then it was all the poor fellow could do to keep on walking,
+and the journey back proving longer than they had imagined, it was night
+and quite a couple of miles away when Jimpny broke down.
+
+"I don't mind, gentlemen," he said; "I shall be so near the camp that I
+sha'n't mind."
+
+"Near the camp!" cried the major; "why, we are nearly an hour's walk
+away."
+
+"Yes, sir; but that can't matter now.  I know that there's someone in
+the place and that my trouble's over, so I can lie down here in the soft
+sand and go to sleep till morning, and then I shall be able to come on."
+
+"Here, Mark," said the major decisively, "pick out a comfortable spot
+somewhere.  Here, this will do--by this point.  We'll settle down here.
+Leave the birds, my lad, and go on with the dog.  Ask the captain to
+send three men to help us back into camp.  I'll stay with Jimpny till
+they come."
+
+"No, no, sir.  I shouldn't like that," said the stowaway.
+
+"Let me stay with him, sir," cried Mark; and after a great deal of
+arguing it was finally decided that Mark should stay, and selecting a
+hollow beneath some jutting masses of rock where the sand lay thick, the
+stowaway was helped to his natural couch, the birds were thrown down,
+and after another brief argument, in which Mark declared he should feel
+far more nervous in going alone along the shore than in stopping, the
+major started off on his journey in search of help.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
+
+HOW JACK DID NOT APPRECIATE A STORM.
+
+The night was intensely dark, not one star shining, and before many
+minutes had elapsed after the major's steps had died away the face of
+Mark's companion was invisible, and he could not help a sensation of awe
+invading his breast as he felt how absolutely alone they were, and this
+made him realise more fully the feelings of the stowaway, wounded and
+faint, and believing himself entirely alone in that desert place.
+
+But the darkness seemed to trouble no one else, for after saying a few
+words about its being a shame and that he could never forget it, Jimpny
+fell off at once into a deep sleep, his hard breathing telling its own
+tale; while Bruff and Jacko obtained a delicious couch by scratching
+away some of the dry sand and making pillows of the birds.
+
+More and more, as he listened to the breathings of his companion, Mark
+began to suffer from the horror of thick darkness.  For to quote the
+familiar old term he could not see his hand before his face.  Out by the
+edge of the lagoon, where a slight ripple was phosphorescent, it might
+have been possible, but there, beneath the shadow of the rocks, nothing
+could be seen.
+
+All was wonderfully still, not so much as a whisper could be heard of
+night bird or animal astir.  Once he thought he heard a querulous cry
+far out on the shallow sea-washed shore such as a wading bird might
+make, but it was not repeated, and at last he found himself listening,
+with his heart beginning to beat heavily, for the terrible roaring
+sound, and the more he tried not to think about it the more the thoughts
+would come, till at last he felt sure that he could hear something
+moving in the jungle.  Then again all was still, and though he had been
+in momentary expectation of hearing the awe-inspiring roar, it did not
+come, and he grew a little more calm, telling himself that he had
+nothing to fear, and wondering why he could not lie down and rest there
+as peacefully as the animals by his side, who were sleeping happily
+enough and troubling themselves not in the least about darkness or
+danger.
+
+All at once, after wondering how long it would be before the party came
+from camp, and making up his mind to be very watchful so that they
+should not pass him in the darkness, there was a vivid light, which
+showed the sand, the glistening sea, and the distant line of breakers
+quite plainly, followed at the distance of time of quite a minute by a
+low muttering roar which seemed to make the air quiver and the earth
+shake.
+
+Then all was black again for a time, during which, with the sensation of
+drowsiness which had been slowly coming on completely driven away, Mark
+sat and watched for the next flash of lightning, and before long it
+came, displaying the shapes of the clouds which overhung the sea.
+
+It was worth watching, for anything more grand could not be conceived.
+One moment everything was of a velvety blackness, then in an instant
+came the flash, the sky seemed to be opened to display the glories
+beyond of golden mountain, vivid blue sea, and lambent yellow plain.  In
+the twinkling of an eye the sky closed again, and the darkness was more
+dense than before, while, as Mark sat thinking of the wonderful contrast
+between lying in his bed at home in North London and being there, once
+more came the deep, booming, heavy, metallic thunder.
+
+Again a pause, with the three sleepers breathing regularly.  Mark was
+weary, his legs and back ached, and there was a suggestion of a blister
+on one heel; but he felt no inclination now to sleep, and lay there upon
+his chest listening for the dull sound of footsteps on the sand in
+company with the murmur of voices.
+
+Who would come? he asked himself.  Mr Gregory and two men, or Small?
+He came to the conclusion that it would be Small, and at times he almost
+fancied that he heard the distant murmur of the boatswain's deep rough
+voice.
+
+Then came another flash more vivid than ever.  And this time it was as
+he turned in the direction where Jimpny lay sleeping.  The result was
+that he saw the poor fellow's swarthy panic-stricken countenance, and
+the dog and the monkey snuggled up together as comfortably as they could
+make themselves; and they did not even start as a tremendous peal of
+thunder broke, seeming as if it would shake the rocks down above their
+heads.
+
+Then all was pitchy blackness again, and the silence by contrast was
+awful.
+
+Another flash, and while it was quivering in the air the thunder came
+with one sudden instantaneous crash as if some magazine of powder had
+been exploded, while after the first burst the peal rolled round and
+round and slowly died away, as if it were passing along vast metallic
+corridors to be emptied far away in space.
+
+As Mark sat listening to the dying away of the thunder and watching for
+the next flash, comparing the noise with that which he heard from the
+jungle, and wondering why the one should be looked upon as a matter of
+course while the other caused the most acute horror, he became aware of
+a strange hissing sound, apparently at a great distance, but evidently
+coming on rapidly.  The sound increased till, from a hiss it became a
+rush, then by rapid degrees a tremendous roar, and then, as if in an
+instant the hurricane was upon them, the rain came down in sheets, the
+sound swept by the rocks, and as the lightning flashed Mark became aware
+of the fact that the air looked thick and dense and as if filled by the
+spray from off the sea.
+
+But the storm swept over from behind, so that though the water poured
+down from all round the rock beneath which they were sheltered none was
+driven in.
+
+To sleep was out of the question had the watcher felt disposed, for he
+was bound to confess that it was impossible for help to come to him in
+the midst of such a terrific deluge.  Meanwhile as the rain came down in
+a veritable water-spout, hissing angrily as if a myriad of serpents were
+in the air, the lightning flashed and the thunder roared so incessantly
+that it became almost a continual peal.
+
+At the best of times, and in company, the storm would have been attended
+by feelings of awe; but now, comparatively speaking, alone in that
+solitude with the deafening din and the terrible weird glare of the
+lightning flashing through the rain, Mark could not help for the second
+time that day a strange feeling of dread come upon him with chilling
+force.
+
+Just when the storm was at its worst there was a soft whining sound on
+his right, and as he sat up and listened in that direction a cold nose
+touched his hand, and Bruff thrust his head into his master's lap,
+uttering a low snuffling sound indicative of content.
+
+Almost at the same moment, as the thunder paused for a moment, came a
+whimpering chattering from his left, and a little thin hand caught hold
+of him.
+
+"Why, Jack, old fellow, frightened?" he said, as he passed his arm round
+the human-looking little animal.
+
+"Chick, chack!" cried Jack, and accepting the invitation he huddled up
+close to Mark's breast, tucking his nose under his arm, and directly
+after the lad could feel that both the thin little arms were clinging to
+him tightly.
+
+"No wonder I feel a bit afraid," he said to himself, "if they wake up
+and come to me for protection."
+
+And with something of a warm glow at his heart as he felt himself
+occupying the position of protector, he sat there waiting for the storm
+to cease, the danger dying out of his mind, his head drooping down upon
+his chest, and at last Mark and his two strange bed-fellows were fast
+asleep, with the thunder roaring to them its deep-toned lullaby till it
+slowly died away.
+
+Bruff was the first to wake and begin barking loudly, for Mark to start
+up in wonder, perfectly ignorant of where he was.  It was as dark as
+ever, but the rain had ceased, the lightning merely flashed now and
+then, and there was a delicious sensation of cool freshness in the air
+which came most gratefully to the senses.
+
+"Where am I?" thought Mark, "and what does this mean?" for he had been
+awakened by the dog's barking from one of those heavy dreamless sleeps
+where the mind refuses to open and take in facts as quickly as do the
+eyes.
+
+The dog barked again more loudly than ever and now rushed from out of
+the shelving rocks.
+
+"Mark, ahoy!  Where are you, lad?"
+
+"Here, father, here!" he shouted, but still wondering what it meant,
+till he heard the loud thud of approaching feet coming through the
+darkness, and once more there was a hail.
+
+"Where away, lad?"
+
+Mark ought to have answered, "Three points on your port-bow," but he was
+not well up in nautical terms in this, his first voyage, and so he
+simply cried out, "Here!"
+
+The result was that in a few minutes the captain, Small, and Billy
+Widgeon came feeling their way into the hollow.
+
+"Are you all right, my boy?"
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+"How dark it is!  We were afraid we should miss you.  Strike a light,
+Small, and let's see."
+
+The boatswain struck a match, and while the thin splint burned there was
+time for the position of all to be observed, and Billy Widgeon
+immediately placed himself alongside of Jack.
+
+"We started to come to your help directly the major came into camp,"
+said the captain, "but we were driven to take shelter till the storm was
+over.  I don't believe I was ever in such a downpour before."
+
+"How long did you have to wait?" asked Mark, who felt guilty at having
+been to sleep.
+
+"Six hours at least," said the captain.  "It must be very nearly
+morning.  How is Jimpny?"
+
+"He has been fast asleep all the time."
+
+"Well, then, we will not wake him," said the captain.  "It is so
+intensely dark that we shall have difficulty in getting him home, and it
+can't be very long to-day."
+
+It was longer than the captain thought, but he sat chatting about how
+busy they had been setting up the second hut and improving the first,
+besides making preparations for their home becoming permanent.
+
+"The ship will supply us with endless useful things," he said, "even if
+much of the cargo is burned.  This man has again proved himself a
+treasure, Mark, for it might have been a long time before we had
+explored far enough to enable us to find the hull."
+
+"When shall you go to see it, father?" asked Mark.
+
+"To-day, my boy.  We'll get back to camp and have a good breakfast and
+then start.  By the way, the major says you have got some capital
+birds."
+
+"Eight, and they are bigger than fowls.  Curious-looking things, with a
+sort of helmet on their heads."
+
+"I think I know them," said the captain, "a sort of brush-turkey, I
+expect, the maleo birds I think they are called, and they are splendid
+eating.  I don't think we shall starve, my lad."
+
+"Day!" said Mark eagerly, pointing to a faint gleam away to his right.
+
+"Yes; the first touch of dawn.  I think we may prepare to go now.  Get
+together the birds, my lads."
+
+Widgeon and Small obeyed, finding them already tied, and slinging them
+over their shoulders.
+
+"Now, Mark, wake up your companion," said the captain.  "He ought to be
+able to walk after eight hours' rest."
+
+Jimpny started into wakefulness at a touch, and on being spoken to
+answered, in a vacant wandering way, something about the fire and
+wanting his spear; but the day was rapidly coming round, and the faces
+of those in the shelter of the rocks growing visible.
+
+"What's the matter?" said the stowaway suddenly.  "Have they got off the
+bales and boxes.--No, I--I--is that you, Mr Mark?"
+
+"Yes, all right, Jimpny.  Had a good sleep?"
+
+"Yes, I think so.  I--I'm not quite awake.  Yes, I recollect now."
+
+"Can you walk a couple of miles or so, my lad?" said the captain.
+
+"Yes, sir; yes, I can walk," said the stowaway; "but there are some
+birds here.  Let me help carry the birds."
+
+"No, no; they're all right, my lad," said Small.  "You carry yourself.
+That's enough for you to do.  Ready, sir."
+
+"Come along, then," said the captain; and he led the way out into the
+delicious early morning with the light growing rapidly now and showing
+the trees laden with moisture, whose only effect upon the sand had been
+to beat it down into a firm path, so that they would have been able to
+go rapidly had it not been for the weakness of the stowaway.
+
+"Better when I've had some breakfast," he said feebly.  "Been a bit bad,
+sir.  Soon get well, though, now."
+
+He did not look as if he would, but there was plenty of the spirit of
+determination in him, and he plodded on till they came in sight of the
+grove where the huts had been set up, and there in the first beams of
+the morning sun the ladies could be seen anxiously on the look-out for
+the lost ones, while, to mingle matter-of-fact with sentiment, there,
+from among the rocks rose up in the glorious morning the thin blue smoke
+of the so-called kitchen fire, telling of what was to follow after the
+welcome--to wit, a good breakfast of fruit and freshly-caught fish, with
+other delicacies, perhaps, by way of a surprise.
+
+Safely back, and the night's anxieties soon forgotten in the light of
+the sun, the storm having made everything seem bright, and by comparison
+peaceful and calm.
+
+"Now, Mark," said the captain after the refreshing sensation consequent
+upon a good bathe and a hearty meal, "you will be too tired to go in
+search of the ship to-day."
+
+To which Mark gave a most emphatic "No," and declared himself quite
+ready for the start.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY.
+
+HOW MARK SAW THE SEA-SERPENT.
+
+"He's about the most misfortnatest chap as ever was born, Jimpny is,"
+said Billy Widgeon.  "He do get it bad and no mistake, allus."
+
+For the stowaway had been at once taken up to the hospital, as the shady
+spot under the cocoa-nut trees had to find him lying there looking
+already quite another man.  Kindly hands had been busy with water and
+bandages; he was decently clothed, and the feverish haunted look had
+gone out of his eyes, as he lay chatting with the sailors under a
+capital shedding of palm leaves and bamboos, which had been rigged up
+just in time for the storm, and which, like the other huts, had proved
+fairly water-tight.
+
+"Oh yes, Mr Mark, sir, I'm a-getting on splendid now," he said.  "This
+is a deal better than being aboard."
+
+It was an understood thing that the party should start at once so as to
+have a long day for the search for the ship, and they had just prepared
+to start well armed for defence and to obtain fresh supplies of birds
+when Mark got back to the men's hut.  The captain was loth to leave the
+camp, but most eager to see the ship, so it was decided that the major
+should remain and Mr Gregory be the captain's companion, Billy Widgeon
+and another man being appointed to the party.
+
+"Good luck to you!" said the major.  "We'll defend the camp, and have a
+splendid dinner of roast turkey ready when you come back.  By the way,
+Mark, show them how to shoot these maleo birds.  You will not run after
+them again as we did."
+
+"No; I shall know better now," he replied; and, after another glance
+round at the arms, they were just setting off when an idea struck the
+lad.
+
+"I say, father," he exclaimed; "it's going to be a very hot day, and all
+along by the side of those trees and rocks you get hardly a breath of
+air."
+
+"I suppose not," said the captain drily.
+
+"And after a time the guns get very heavy to carry."
+
+"Very," said the captain.
+
+"And the maleo birds are regular lumps, if we shoot any."
+
+"So I suppose, my boy.  There, don't beat about the bush.  We can find
+our way, of course.  You are tired with yesterday's exertions, so why
+don't you frankly say that you would rather stay?"
+
+"But I wouldn't rather stay, father.  I only thought it would be much
+pleasanter to ride."
+
+"Ah, to be sure!" said Mr Gregory grimly, and with a sarcastic smile.
+"Widgeon, run round the corner and call a couple of hansom cabs."
+
+The men laughed and Mark flushed up.
+
+"Couldn't we ride as well in a boat as in a hansom cab, Mr Gregory?" he
+said.
+
+"Done!" cried Gregory, giving his leg a slap.  "Here, captain, we had
+better take second grades.  Of course: why not row round?"
+
+"Why not, indeed?" said the captain smiling.  "I daresay we can keep in
+the smooth lagoon all the way; and when we cannot, we can land and
+continue afoot.  Did you notice the water, Mark?"
+
+"Yes, father; it was exactly like this all the way, only, I think, the
+line of breakers comes in nearer."
+
+"Here, launch the boat, my lads," cried the captain; and she was run
+down, the guns, ammunition, and provisions placed in the stern, and ten
+minutes later they were all riding easily over the blue waters of the
+smooth lagoon, the men bending to their oars, tiring their arms perhaps,
+but saving their legs, as the gig ran easily over the bright surface.
+
+It was a glorious ride, and they had not gone twenty yards before there
+was a rush along the sands and then a plunge as Bruff came swimming
+after them; while Jack, chattering loudly, came cantering down toward
+the edge of the water, and then ran along the sands.
+
+"We may as well take him in," said the captain; and giving orders for
+the men to cease pulling, they waited till Bruff came alongside, Billy
+Widgeon receiving orders to help him in at the bows, where he was
+allowed to have his customary shake and go off like a water firework as
+the drops flew in all directions, glittering in the sun.
+
+"Now, men, give way again," said the captain.
+
+The men obeyed rather unwillingly, and Jack, who was being left, ran
+along by the edge of the water shrieking and chattering to be taken with
+them, Bruff answering with a burst of barks.
+
+"He'll soon go back," said Gregory.
+
+Billy Widgeon looked appealingly at Mark.
+
+"Let's have him with us, father; he'll be quiet enough."
+
+"But I want to get on, my lad."
+
+"Begging your pardon, sir," said Billy Widgeon respectfully; "me and my
+mate here's willing, and he won't weigh heavy in the boat."
+
+"Run in and take him," said the captain shortly; when one man backed,
+the other pulled, the bows of the gig were run in to the sand; and Jack
+leaped on board, chattering in duet with the dog's excited fit of
+barking; after which, as they continued their way, Bruff seemed disposed
+for a gambol; but Jack was decidedly stand-offish, from the fact that he
+was comfortably dry, while the dog was most unpleasantly wet.
+
+They soon settled down, however, and the journey continued, with the
+shore presenting a succession of lovely pictures which could be enjoyed
+from the boat far more than while trudging over the sand.  Groves of
+cocoa-nut trees, and beyond them the dense green of the jungle, with, as
+they progressed, piled-up rocks, black, dark-brown, and glorious with
+parasitical and creeping growths.
+
+Then every here and there, through some opening where the trees were a
+little lower, glimpses of the conical mountain appeared, always with the
+film of vapour hanging about its point, and inviting an ascent to see
+what wonders it had to show.
+
+When weary of gazing at the shore there was a submarine forest to
+inspect beneath them where the sea-weed waved and the corals and other
+sea-growths stood up in the tiny valleys and gorges which the rock
+displayed.  Sea-anemones waved their tentacles as they looked like
+tempting flowers which invited the tiny fish and crustaceans to inspect
+their beauties, and at the slightest touch of one of these waving petals
+fell paralysed, or were drawn into the all-absorbing mouth that took the
+place of the nectary in a flower.
+
+Every stroke of the oars, too, sent the brilliant little fish scurrying
+away in shoals--fish that were gorgeous beyond description, and were to
+the water what the sun-birds were to the air.
+
+All at once the men ceased rowing and allowed the boat to stop.
+
+"What is it?" said the captain.
+
+Billy Widgeon, who had been looking out seaward, pointed with his oar to
+something glistening on the top of the water, and then, giving a
+whispered hint to his companion, the latter gave one sturdy tug at his
+oar and then raised it and let the boat glide on, curving in a
+semicircle toward the object on the water.
+
+"A sea-serpent!" whispered Mark.
+
+"Yes, and a real one," said Gregory as they all watched the creature
+lying basking and evidently asleep in the hot sunshine.
+
+Setting aside its shape, which always seems repellent, it was beautiful
+in the extreme, being marked with broad bands of orange upon a purple
+ground; and as it lay there on the blue water it seemed hard to believe
+that it could be dangerous.
+
+"We're not on a collecting expedition," whispered the captain, taking up
+his gun; "but I should like to have that to show to people who say there
+are no serpents in the sea.  What's that, Gregory--ten-feet long?"
+
+"Twelve at least.  Aim at his head."
+
+He was too late, for the captain's piece was already at his shoulder,
+and as he drew trigger the charge struck the serpent about a third of
+its length from the head, making it heave up out of the water, while a
+convulsion ran through it, and then it lay motionless upon the surface.
+
+"Dead!" cried Mark excitedly; and he made a dash to check Bruff, but too
+late, for the dog plunged over the side and swam towards the serpent.
+
+"Stop him, Billy!" cried Mark; and the little sailor, who had laid in
+his oar and stood ready with the boat-hook, made a snatch at the dog's
+collar, but did not succeed in gaffing him, and Bruff swam on.
+
+"It's dead, Mark," said the captain; and then, more quickly than it
+takes to describe it, Bruff made a snatch at the nearest portion of the
+snake--its tail--caught it in his teeth, and was in the act of turning
+to drag it after him back to the boat, when there was a rush in the
+water, the creature heaved itself up, and quick as lightning threw
+itself round the dog, and they saw its head raised and darted down at
+the dog's neck.
+
+Instantaneously as it had constricted poor Bruff, it untwined itself as
+rapidly; and as in his wonder and alarm Bruff uttered a furious bark, he
+unloosed his hold upon the slimy creature's tail, before he could
+recover from his surprise and make a fresh attempt at seizure the
+serpent had dived and was gone.
+
+"Did you see the snake strike him?" said the captain.
+
+"Yes; and they are terribly poisonous."
+
+"Said to be," said the captain, "but I never knew anyone bitten."
+
+"I have," said the mate in a low voice, "two cases; and both people
+died."
+
+"Call the dog on board," said the captain; and in obedience to his
+master's call the dog swam alongside and was hauled in, to stand barking
+with his paws resting on the bows after his regular shake.
+
+They all looked hard at the dog, but his only concern seemed to be as to
+where the serpent had gone; and that was very evident, for as the water
+grew quiescent they could see it about eight feet below them swimming
+slowly with an undulating motion in and out among the weeds and corals,
+apparently none the worse for having been perforated with small-shot.
+
+"Couldn't we get it?" said Mark, glancing at the boat-hook.
+
+"No," said his father decisively; "and even if we could, I think we are
+better without its company.  Go on."
+
+The oars dipped again and the boat glided rapidly over the calm waters,
+while Mark spent his time between gazing at the beauties of the shore,
+with its many changes, rocky points, and nooks, and watching Bruff, who
+exhibited no signs of suffering from the venom of the serpent's bite.
+
+It was a long pull for the men, and from time to time the captain and
+mate exchanged places to give them a rest; but it was far more easy for
+all than toiling over the heated sands, while, as far as they could
+judge, there seemed every probability of their being able to row on as
+far as they liked, the broad canal-shaped lagoon being continued right
+onward--the reef of coral only varying a little by coming nearer at
+times, and always acting as a barrier to break the heavy swell.
+
+At last Mark caught sight of that for which he had long been watching,
+having made out the sheltering rocks where he had slept quite early in
+their journey.  The sight for which he had attentively watched was a set
+of specks far off upon the yellow sands, and as soon as they came in
+sight he pointed them out to his father.
+
+"Well, I see nothing," said the captain; "but wait a moment."
+
+He took up his gun, opened the breech, and removed the cartridges, after
+which he held the double-barrel up to his eyes as if it were a binocular
+glass and looked long and attentively through it.
+
+"Oh, yes, and I can make them out now," he said; "twenty or thirty of
+them scratching in the sand not far from the trees."
+
+Mark had a look through the barrels, and then, with rather a sneer on
+his face, the first-mate had a look, but changed his expression as he
+did so.
+
+"Well, you can certainly see them better," he said rather grudgingly.
+
+"Better! yes," said the captain; "it's a simple plan for anyone out
+shooting, and worth knowing."
+
+"But it can't magnify," said Mark.
+
+"No," replied the captain; "but it shades the eyes and seems to increase
+the length of their sight as they peer through these long tubes."
+
+"You'll try for a few of the birds, I suppose?" said the mate.
+
+"By all means.  Half a dozen such fellows as those will make a capital
+addition to our table--I mean sandy floor, Mark," he said, smiling.
+
+The birds, as they neared them, seemed to take no heed till they
+attempted to land, and Mark could not help noticing the annoyance
+painted in the mate's face, as, eager to have a shot at the fine
+fat-looking fellows, he saw them move off in a rapid run.
+
+"Row a little farther," said the captain.
+
+This was done, and the boat was pulled a hundred yards and the same
+evolutions gone through on both sides.
+
+"Why, I thought you said they were easy to shoot!" said the mate
+impatiently.
+
+"So they are," said Mark, smiling with the confidence of his hard-bought
+experience, "if you know how."
+
+"Show us then," said his father, handing him his gun.  "We shall never
+get any this way, and I suppose if we land and try and stalk them
+they'll keep running out of shot."
+
+"Yes," said Mark.  "The major and I followed them for over a mile."
+
+"Ah, well! let's see the wise man give us a lesson," said the mate
+grimly.
+
+Mark took the gun, and after they had been rowed another hundred yards
+he bade the men pull in sharply right to the shore, taking his place
+previously in the bows alongside of Bruff.
+
+The boat touched the sands and Mark leaped out, followed by Bruff, who
+charged the birds, barking furiously the while, with the same result as
+before; the birds ceased running, turned to gaze at their enemy, and
+then took flight to the trees.
+
+"Now, Mr Gregory," shouted Mark, waiting till he came up, when they
+fired together and each got a bird.
+
+Following the flock after these had been retrieved and carried to the
+boat they obtained another, Mark missing an easy shot.  Soon after they
+both missed, and then the mate obtained two with his right and left
+barrels.
+
+This was carried on for about half an hour, when with a bag of nine
+birds they stopped, the supply being considered ample to last three or
+four days.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.
+
+HOW THEY ENTERED CRATER BAY.
+
+The birds were now stowed away in the bows and stern, the former lot
+being investigated with plucking views by Jack, who, however, was
+stopped by his master and forced to seat himself on one of the thwarts,
+where he sat eyeing the game and evidently longing to begin, while the
+boat was now once more propelled swiftly, and judging from the numbers
+of these curious birds they saw, it seemed that a supply for food was
+not likely to fail for some time to come.
+
+They rowed steadily on for quite a couple of hours more, beyond where
+Mark and the major had their encounter with the supposed savage, but
+there was no sign of the ship.
+
+"He didn't dream it, did he?" said the mate gruffly, as he stood up and
+scanned the line of coast in front.
+
+"He could not," said the captain smiling.  "His coming here was no
+dream."
+
+"No; we did not bring him," assented the mate.  "Let's see; we are going
+due west now.  No doubt, I think, about this being an island."
+
+"Not the least," said the captain.  "Come on now and let's take the
+oars."
+
+They changed places with the men, Mark also taking his turn, and pulled
+steadily for quite a couple of hours more, but still there was no sign
+of the ship; and at last, as they came abreast of a little stream
+flowing down from a gorge in a high and rocky part of the land to leap
+from rock to rock with a musical plashing before it came gurgling
+through the sand, they decided to land, go and find a shady spot, and
+there rest and partake of the provisions with which they were prepared.
+
+The boat was run ashore, the grapnel placed on the sand, and as they
+leaped on to the level surface one by one they reeled and caught at the
+air to save themselves from falling, for the sand seemed to heave like
+the sea.
+
+"Are we giddy from rowing in the sun?" said the captain excitedly.
+
+"No; the earth moved.  Hush!"
+
+It was Mark who spoke, and they listened to a dull rumbling sound.  Then
+there was a smart shock, a great cloud seemed to be puffed out of the
+mountain, whose top they could see plainly dominating the gorge, and
+then all was still.
+
+"An earthquake!" said the captain.  "Here, stand up, men, what are you
+doing?"
+
+This was to Billy Widgeon and the other sailor, who, immediately upon
+feeling the tremulous wavy motion of the earth, had dropped into a
+sitting position, and from that lain flat down upon their backs.
+
+"Is it safe to get up, sir?" said Billy pitifully.
+
+"Safe!" said the mate.  "Yes, for you.  You wouldn't fall far."
+
+"No, sir, not so werry far," said Billy apologetically; "but you see I
+ain't used to walking when the ground's a-heaving up like that there."
+
+"My good fellow, who is?" cried the mate.
+
+"Never felt anything like it before, sir.  Hadn't we better go back?"
+
+"Quick!" cried the captain; "run--for those rocks."
+
+He led the way, and all ran, followed by Jack and the dog, and as they
+ran a rushing sound came behind them, nearer and nearer and louder and
+louder.  Mark glanced over his shoulder and saw that a great
+white-topped wave was dashing in from seaward, turning the calm lagoon
+into a fierce scene of turmoil, and racing after them so rapidly that
+before they reached the rocks it was half-way up the sands.  As they
+climbed up about twenty feet the wave struck the foot, sending the spray
+flying over their heads, and then retiring with a low hissing roar back
+to the lagoon, across it, plunging over the barrier reef, and as they
+watched they could see that the ocean was heaving and tossing in the
+brilliant sunshine, and then in the course of a few minutes all was
+peaceful once again.
+
+"Oh, the boat!" cried Mark, for he had been intent upon the wave.  The
+captain had, however, been watchful of the boat the whole time, and had
+seen it caught by the earthquake wave, swung round, and carried up over
+the sands to be thrown at last and left close to the pile of rocks to
+which they clung.
+
+Fortunately it had been heaved up gently and allowed to fall easily upon
+the soft sands, so that when they descended to it and swung its stern
+round so as to place it in an easy position for running down, they found
+it to be perfectly uninjured, and that it had not shipped a drop of
+water.
+
+All joined to run her down again toward the sea, but the captain
+concluded to wait till they were ready to start, in case another wave
+should run in and worse mischief befall them.
+
+It was not a pleasant preparation for their meal, but the sea now calmed
+down, the water of the little stream came gushing perfectly clear, the
+sun shone brightly and not a cloud was visible; in short, but for their
+memories, it was impossible to tell that anything had befallen them.
+Still it required a little effort to sit down where only a short time
+before the earth had been trembling, and it was impossible to avoid a
+sensation of dread lest the trembling of the ground should only have
+been the precursor of a terrible earthquake when the island would open
+and swallow them up, and this idea was fostered by the behaviour of
+Bruff, who kept running here and there snuffing the sand and uttering
+every now and then an uneasy whine.
+
+After the first few mouthfuls, however, their confidence began to
+return, and a hearty meal was eaten, and supplemented by some draughts
+of cool, sweet cocoa-nut milk obtained by Billy Widgeon, who contrived
+to climb a young newly-bearing tree.
+
+After this the boat was run down to the lagoon, and they continued their
+journey refreshed and ready to send the little vessel rapidly through
+the water.
+
+The land trended more and more now to the west, but in front of their
+course a long spit of rocks ran right out for a considerable distance,
+and after scanning the shore carefully the captain concluded that if the
+ship was anywhere it must be just beyond the point.
+
+The state of the atmosphere made the distance deceptive, and the rocky
+spit proved to be far nearer than had been anticipated.  And here as
+they drew close to see that the rock was of a blackish-brown it became
+evident that unless they cared to row completely out to sea and then
+back so as to double this point, where there would in all probability be
+a tremendous current, they must now land and continue the journey on
+foot.
+
+The latter was decided upon and the gig run up on a beach whose sand was
+of some sparkling black mineral, the grains all being of a good size and
+tremendously heavy.  The rocks towered above them and were extremely
+craggy, but of a columnar, basaltic nature, which formed plenty of steps
+for the climbers, who mounted some fifty feet and then were able to look
+down into a perfectly-formed semicircular bay, the spit on which they
+stood forming one side, a similar spit being on the other about a
+hundred and fifty yards away, while the whole wore the aspect of a
+volcanic crater, one side of which had been washed down by the sea, the
+black jagged rock and barren aspect being suggestive of this having been
+once the scene of an eruption.
+
+As they stood on the rocks gazing down before them there was a slight
+quivering to be felt, and soon after a dull heavy explosion, which
+sounded as if it had taken place far below, while directly after a ball
+of vapour shot up out of the conical mountain, here about a couple of
+miles inland, right from the head of the bay.
+
+It was a wild and desolate scene, for instead of the volcano being shut
+off in its lower parts by bands of vegetation, there rose from the water
+great swarthy walls of basaltic rock, all looking as if they had lately
+cooled down after being in a state of incandescence; while to add to the
+weird aspect of the place, so strange in the midst of so much verdure
+and lush growth, the waters of the little bay were of pitchy blackness,
+and hardly showed a ripple upon the jetty sand.
+
+Desolation in its wildest form, but at that moment it seemed the framing
+of one of the most attractive pictures the travellers could find; for
+half hidden by rocks, but as it were just at their feet, lay the
+blackened hull of the ship, just as it had drifted ashore and been
+heaved up and tossed higher and dryer by the late earthquake wave.
+
+No time was lost in climbing down to the black sands, while the burnt
+and torn-off remains of the shrouds which hung over the side of the hull
+rendered an ascent to the deck quite easy, the captain leading, Mark
+following, and the others rapidly joining them where they stood.  But as
+it was, only Mark heard the low groan the captain uttered as he stood
+and gazed about him on the charred deck of his ship.
+
+It was a pitiable spectacle indeed, for the planks were almost entirely
+black; three charred stumps showed where the great masts had been, and
+saving that the bowsprit was nearly intact the fire had made a clean
+sweep of the deck, even the greater portion of the bulwarks having been
+burned away.
+
+Here and there the planks were so completely burned through that the
+greatest care was needed to avoid a fall below, but by picking their way
+they were able to go from end to end of the charred hull.  As the
+burning masts had fallen they had carried with them over the sides the
+greater part of the standing and running rigging with every spar, while
+the shrouds and ropes that had been dragged across the deck were reduced
+to cinders which crumbled at a touch.
+
+Everything pointed to the truth of the stowaway's story, for as they
+stood in the bows there was a portion of the deck almost untouched, and
+the remains of a stay-sail furled up and only burned through.  There
+could be no doubt that the fire was blazing furiously, had burned all
+the boats, and was eating its way down toward the cargo and stores when
+the tropic downpour came and extinguished it before greater mischief was
+done; for though the vessel had become a complete hulk there was one
+fact perfectly evident, and that was that they had only to descend below
+to find in the hold and stores a perfect mint of useful treasure for
+people in their condition.
+
+"Yes," said Gregory, as if someone had just spoken these words to him,
+"we can get enough out of her to live on for a couple of years, and
+stuff sufficient to set-to and build a little schooner or smack big
+enough to take us to Singapore."
+
+"I was thinking precisely the same," said the captain eagerly, while
+Mark said nothing, for with the ship's stores and treasures to work upon
+it seemed as if they could make themselves very happy in such a glorious
+place.  With a comfortable home, plenty of fruit and birds, and their
+friends about them, life on the island would be a very happy one, so it
+seemed to him, and he felt a kind of wonder that there should be a
+difference of opinion.  But then there was the volcano and the
+earthquake!
+
+They were now picking their way aft, and here the destruction was
+greater.  In one place it was perfectly plain that the powder-keg must
+have stood, for coamings, bulwarks, skylights, everything had been swept
+clear off at the time the explosion occurred, while as they reached the
+saloon entry it was to find only its place, for here the fire had been
+raging furiously, the poop-deck and the cabins on either side of the
+saloon being burned completely away.
+
+"Well," said the captain, after a long inspection, "we've found the poor
+old girl, Gregory, and she's past mending."
+
+"Yes," said Gregory with a short sharp nod of the head.
+
+"But she will be a treasure-house for us, and some of her cargo may be
+saved, so we must make her fast."
+
+"Not much fear of her breaking away," said the mate; "she's well wedged
+in these sands, and it strikes me--yes, it is so, that big wave to-day
+gave her a lift up and drove her farther ashore.  No tide would ever
+float her off."
+
+"No," said the captain, "but all the same let's make sure.  We could get
+a cable out to yon piece of rock and moor her safely."
+
+"Yes," said the mate.  "Now, my lads, bear a hand."
+
+All joined in, from the captain to Mark, and in half an hour a cable was
+run out of one of the hawse-holes, dragged high up the sands, one end
+taken round a huge mass of rock, tied and lashed, and the other end well
+stopped in the ship.
+
+"There," said the captain, "that's enough.  Now for home.  Shall we go
+back the same way?"
+
+"Well, the worst that could happen would be that we should have to camp
+out," said Gregory; "and as I make it we've one knot to go this way to
+two the other."
+
+"If it's an island."
+
+"As I believe it is, sir.  What do you say?  We must explore it some
+time, and if this is the nearest way to fetch cargo we'd better find
+it."
+
+"Unless we come and make our home here."
+
+"No, sir.  The ladies wouldn't like this black furnace hole of a place.
+Let them stop where they are."
+
+"Perhaps you are right, Gregory; but now how to get back?  Shall we row
+out right round the point?"
+
+"No, sir.  I'm thinking there's an opening about a couple of hundred
+yards out yonder, and if there's no water perhaps we can get the boat
+across."
+
+"Come on, then."
+
+The captain sighed as he gave one more glance round, and ended by
+picking up one of the charred handles of the wheel, which he put in his
+pocket before returning to the boat.
+
+"There is plenty of powder and shot in the magazine," said the captain,
+thankfully; "and we can find no end of useful stuff if we break bulk."
+
+"Ay, we shall manage, sir," said the mate.  "Now, my lads, all
+together," and the boat was once more run out and rowed to the opening
+the mate had seen.
+
+It proved enough for them to pass through with their oars laid in, and
+as soon as they were through the change from the brilliant blue water
+with the lovely coral and sea growth beneath to this jetty black bay was
+quite awe-inspiring.
+
+"The water's clear," said Mark.  "What makes it so black?"
+
+"I should say," said the captain, gazing down over the side, "that it is
+of almost unfathomable depth."
+
+"And was once a pit of fire," said the mate.  "But let's try."
+
+He took one of the fishing-lines, fitted a leaden weight to it, and
+lowered it over the side, when it went down and down till the end of the
+line was reached.  Then another was tied on, and this went down, making
+together nearly 200 yards.  There was yet another line, and this was
+fastened on, another fifty yards going down.
+
+"There, you see," said the captain.
+
+"Bottom!" cried the mate, as the weight ceased and the line slackened.
+
+"Two hundred and fifty yards," said the captain: "a hundred and
+twenty-five fathoms."
+
+"No," cried the mate excitedly, "it isn't bottom, it's a fish."
+
+"Nonsense!"
+
+"It is; I can feel him," cried the mate; and he hauled rapidly in, with
+a heavy fish playing about till, just as it reached the surface and
+displayed a hideous pair of jaws, it let go, and with a flounder
+disappeared.
+
+"Glad he was not hooked," said the mate, as Mark shrank away.  "What a
+brute!"
+
+"Horrible!" exclaimed Mark, shivering, for the idea of being overboard
+in such a black bottomless hole sent a chill through him.  But they were
+soon across, to find they could drag the boat over fifty yards of black
+sand and launch her again in blue water, where all around was bright and
+attractive; for though no large trees were growing near the shore, the
+land was covered with a glorious vegetation, and looked attractive right
+away to the slopes of the volcano, as soon as the crater bay, with its
+lowering black basalt, was left a quarter of a mile behind.
+
+"Now," said the captain, "how are we steering?"
+
+"Nearly due south," said the mate, glancing at a pocket-compass.
+
+"Then you are right, Gregory, and this is the nearest way home."
+
+"If it is an island, father," said Mark, smiling.
+
+"And that it must be, Mark, my lad, and a very small one, as we shall
+see."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.
+
+HOW THAT FISH MEANT MISCHIEF, AND BECAME MEAT.
+
+Their way still led them along the peaceful waters which girt the
+island--for so they now felt that they might venture to call it--the
+strong barrier reef of coral keeping back the heaving swell of the
+ocean, which foamed and broke outside, leaving the lagoon perfectly
+calm, save here and there where they came across an opening in the reef
+through which a fleet might apparently have sailed into fairly deep
+anchorage, sheltered from the wildest storm and the roughest sea.
+
+Here and there the reef was so far above water that vegetation had taken
+root, and young cocoa-nut trees were springing up to form the beginning
+of a grove, but for the most part there was the dead coral, the gleaming
+sand, and the pearly foam glistening in the sun.
+
+No currents to stay them, no rough winds to check.  Their journey might
+have been upon some peaceful lake, whose left-hand shore was one
+succession of cocoa-nut groves; and beyond that, rocky jungle, full of
+ridge and hollow, mound of verdure, and darksome glade and chasm, down
+which trickled streams of water, such as had risen in the heights which
+culminated in the smoking cone of the volcano, while here and there the
+streams gave marked traces of their sources by sending up faint clouds
+of steam.
+
+Mark felt as he lay back in the stern and gazed at the glorious panorama
+that he could watch the various phases of beauty in the landscape for
+ever.  But then he was not rowing, and the motion of the boat and the
+dipping of his hands in the water kept him comparatively cool.
+
+Still, in spite of its beauty it was impossible to gaze shoreward
+without a feeling of awe.  For there had been that trembling of the
+earth; there were here and there openings in the trees through which
+vast blackened roads of rock seemed to come down to the sea, zigzag
+tracks which it was plain enough were the cooled-down and hardened
+streams of lava which had made their way to the sea during some eruption
+of the calmly beautiful mountain which rose so peacefully toward the
+clouds, one of which seemed to have remained to act as its feathery
+crown.
+
+Then, too, there was the remembrance of that terrible roar which they
+had heard in the jungle, and every now and then Mark's eyes searched the
+trees at the edge beyond the sands, and he longed with a sensation of
+shrinking to catch sight of the creature which had given them all so
+much alarm.
+
+But search how he would, as the boat went steadily on, there was no sign
+of animal life ashore but the birds.  Once or twice he fancied he could
+see something like a lizard run across the heated rocks, but he could
+not be sure.  But of birds there seemed to be plenty.  Flocks of doves,
+large lavender-plumed pigeons, white cockatoos, long-tailed lories, and
+parrots whose feathers bore all the colours of the rainbow; but
+shorewards that was all.  In the lagoon it was very different.
+
+"Sha'n't want for fish," said Gregory, as he dipped his oar--he and the
+captain now giving the men a rest.
+
+As he spoke a shoal was making the water dance just ahead and completely
+changing its colour, for, as they fed upon the small fry with which the
+surface gleamed, the sea was dappled with rings, serried with ridges,
+and seemed as if it were a fluid of mingled gold and silver beneath
+which some volcanic action was going on, which made it boil and flush
+and ripple till the bows of the gig reached the shoal, and then
+instantaneously the surface became calm.
+
+"Plenty of work for you, Mark," said the captain.  "You will have to be
+head of our fishing department, and keep our little colony supplied."
+
+"You must get Small to help you make a net," said Gregory, "and contrive
+some long lines."
+
+They ceased rowing, for they were now opposite a spot where the jungle
+came close to the edge of the lagoon, being only separated by a smooth
+patch of sand.  Here, too, were quite a flock of the maleo birds,
+scratching and searching for food, after the fashion of fowl; but as the
+boat stopped they took alarm, and seemed to skim over the sand, their
+feet striking the ground so rapidly as to become invisible.
+
+"They can run," said the mate; "but we seem to have learned their
+secret.  What's that?"
+
+All listened, but there was no sound.
+
+"I fancied I heard a low distant roaring noise," said the mate, dipping
+his oar again, "but I may have been mistaken."
+
+The captain was in the act of dipping his own oar when Billy Widgeon,
+who was seated just in front of Mark, whose place was right astern,
+turned sharply and caught the lad's arm:
+
+"Look, Mr Mark, sir, look!" he cried, pointing with his other hand,
+"there he goes!"
+
+"Who?" cried Mark excitedly; "a savage?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Billy, grinning and holding Bruff, "savage enough.
+Nay, nay, my lad, you lie down.  It wouldn't do you no good to go
+overboard now."
+
+"A large one, too," said the captain, resting on his oar.
+
+"Ay, he's a nasty customer," said the mate.
+
+"What is?" cried Mark eagerly.  "What is it you can all see?"
+
+"Shark!" said the captain.
+
+"Where?  Where?  I want to see a shark."
+
+Mark's eyes were roving all about, but he saw nothing in any direction
+save a little dark triangular piece of something, with the forward side
+a little curved, and this was moving slowly through the water.
+
+"There, my lad, there," said the captain; "can't you see his back fin?"
+
+"Is that a shark?" said Mark, in a disappointed tone, as the black
+object, looking like the thick lateen sail of some tiny invisible boat,
+glided along the surface not fifty yards away, and making as if to cross
+their bows.
+
+"Yes," said the captain, "that's the fin of a shark, ten-feet long I
+should say."
+
+"And I a dozen," said the mate.
+
+"Like to see him a little closer?" said the captain.
+
+"Yes," cried Mark eagerly; and then he wished he had said "No," for the
+oars were, after a pull or two, laid inboard, while the captain took
+hold of the sharply-pointed hitcher, and held it balanced in his hand.
+
+The impetus given to the boat was sufficient to drive it onward, so that
+it was evident that the back fin of the shark and the bows of the gig
+would arrive at the same point together, and Mark rose eagerly to see
+what would follow, when the captain made him a sign.
+
+Mark sat down, and suddenly saw the shark's fin stop some three or four
+yards from the boat, change its position, and come end on towards where
+he was seated; and his eyes were fixed so firmly on this that he quite
+started, as he saw before it, and very close to where he sat, a
+dark-looking body, with a rounded snout and two pig-like eyes.
+
+"Don't know what to make on us, Mr Mark, sir," said Billy Widgeon,
+grinning.  "See his old shovel nose?"
+
+"Yes," said Mark, "but I can't see his mouth.  I thought they had great
+gaping mouths, full of sharp teeth."
+
+"He keeps his rat-trap down underneath him, sir, so as not to frighten
+the fishes."
+
+"Hand me that gun, Mark," said the mate.
+
+Mark passed it along; and as he did so the shark glided round the stern,
+and came along the other side.
+
+"You don't think he'll attack us, do you?" said the captain.
+
+"There's no knowing what a jack-shark will do," said the mate, quietly
+cocking both barrels, and making the muzzle of the gun follow the
+movements of the great fish, whose elongated form was perfectly plain
+now in the clear water as he slowly glided on.  The long unequally-lobed
+tail waved softly to and fro like a peculiarly-formed paddle, and the
+motion of the fish seemed to be peculiarly effortless as he went on
+right past the gig, and continued his course a dozen yards ahead.
+
+"Off!" said the captain laconically; but as he spoke the shark turned,
+and the fin came toward them again, always at the same distance above
+the water, and again on their starboard side, by which it glided, went
+astern, and turned, to come back once more.
+
+"Hadn't we two better pull, sir?" said Billy.  "He means mischief, that
+he do."
+
+"Think he'll attack?" said the captain again.
+
+"I'm beginning to think he will," said Mr Gregory.
+
+He had hardly spoken when the shark turned, and there was an eddying
+swirl in the water where his tail gave a vigorous stroke or two, and
+almost simultaneously a long glistening cruel-looking head rose out of
+the water.
+
+The monkey uttered a shriek, and would have leaped overboard in his
+fright, but for Billy Widgeon's restraining hand, when the poor little
+animal took refuge beneath his legs, while Bruff set up a furious bark,
+his hair ruffling up about his neck, and his eyes glistening with anger.
+
+But shriek or yell had no influence upon the hungry shark, which seemed
+to glide like a glistening curve or arch of shark right over the bows of
+the boat, striking her side in the descent as the fish passed into the
+sea again; but so heavy was the blow, and so great the creature's
+weight, that the gig was extremely near being capsized.
+
+"Pass me the other gun, Mark," cried the captain.  "Look out, Gregory,
+whatever you do.  Another attack like that, and the brute will have us
+over, and--"
+
+He left his sentence unfinished, while Mark passed the gun, and then
+resumed his grasp of the thwart upon which he was seated, holding on
+with both hands, while in the agony of dread he suffered the great drops
+of perspiration stood out upon his forehead, and ran together, and
+trickled down the sides of his nose, as his breath came thick and fast.
+
+Some very heroic lads would, no doubt, have drawn a knife, or seized an
+oar, or done something else very brave in defence, but in those brief
+moments Mark was recalling stories he had read about sharks seizing
+struggling people as they were swimming, and that the water was stained
+with blood, and one way and another he was as thoroughly frightened as
+ever he had been in his life.
+
+"Now, then!" said the captain, as the shark completed another circuit of
+the boat, and was about to repeat his evolution.  "Both together at his
+head, and fire low as he rises."
+
+It was a quick shot on the part of both, delivered just as the shark
+rose from the water again to leap at the boat, which probably
+represented to him an eatable fish swimming on the surface, while, as
+the two puffs of smoke darted from the guns and the loud reports rang
+out, the great fish fell short, but struck its nose against the side of
+the gig, and sank down in the water, the back fin disappearing, and
+coming up again fifty yards away.
+
+"I think we'll be contented," said the captain, closing the breech of
+his piece, and passing it to Mark.  "Let's make a masterly retreat,
+Gregory."
+
+"Think he'll come back?"
+
+"I should say no," replied the captain.  "The brute has evidently had
+quite as much as he requires for the present."
+
+"Will it kill him?" asked Mark.
+
+"Can't say.  I should think not.  He must be badly wounded though, to
+sheer off like that."
+
+"Look at that," shouted Billy Widgeon excitedly, as all of a sudden the
+shark was seen to leap clear out of the water, and fall back with a
+tremendous splash, not head first, so as to dive down, but on its flank,
+sending the water flying, while directly after the sea in that direction
+became tremendously agitated, sending waves toward them sufficiently big
+to make the boat rise and fall.
+
+"He's in his flurry, Mr Mark, sir," said Billy Widgeon gleefully.  "I
+can't abear sharks."
+
+"Pull hard, Gregory," said the captain; "the sooner we are away from
+here the better."
+
+He spoke in a low voice, and exchanged meaning glances with the mate,
+who at once bent to his oar.
+
+"No, no: don't go," cried Mark.  "I should like to see him when he's
+dead."
+
+"I'm afraid there will be no shark to see," said the captain grimly, as
+the gig surged through the water.
+
+"Why, there's his back fin, and there it is again and again," cried
+Mark.  "How he keeps curving out of the water and dashing about!  I say,
+father, row back and put him out of his misery."
+
+"I daresay he is out of it by this time, my boy," said the captain,
+rowing hard.
+
+"But there he is again, swimming round and beating the water."
+
+"Why, Mark, can't you see that the water there is alive with sharks, and
+that they are devouring their wounded brother--fighting for the choice
+morsels, I dare say.  This is a warning never to bathe except in some
+pool."
+
+"What! do you think?  Oh, I see now!  How horrible!" said Mark.
+
+"Horrible, eh?" grunted Gregory.  "I wish they'd make a day of it, and
+eat one another all up.  We could get on very well without sharks."
+
+Mark said no more about putting their enemy out of his misery, but sat
+watching till, at the end of a few minutes, the surface of the lagoon
+grew calm; but until they had turned a low spit of sand, the black fins
+of at least a dozen sharks could be seen cruising round and round, and
+to and fro, in search of something more to satisfy their ravenous
+hunger.
+
+"We are getting some experience of the dangers we shall have to
+encounter," said the captain, as the scene of their late conflict with
+the shark passed completely out of their sight, and they rowed on
+steadily.  "That's your first shark, Mark, eh?"
+
+"Yes," said Mark, thoughtfully, "I shall know what a shark is now."
+
+"I think we'll give them a turn now, Gregory," said the captain.  "No,
+no, one at a time," he cried angrily, as the men sprang up together.
+"We must not capsize the boat here.  Now you, my man," he continued,
+sitting fast, as the sailor stepped across and took the mate's place
+before Mr Gregory rose.  "Now you, Widgeon."
+
+Billy crept very softly into the captain's place, and the latter seated
+himself on the thwart in front of Mark, to be joined directly by
+Gregory.
+
+"There," cried Mark, as the oars dipped, "I heard it.  There."
+
+"What?" said his father.
+
+"That roaring which Mr Gregory heard."
+
+"It was the creaking and groaning of the oars in the tholes."
+
+"No, no, father.  It was that deep savage roar heard ever so far off."
+
+They ceased rowing again and again, but the sound was heard no more, and
+the captain began to talk rather anxiously to Mr Gregory as the sun
+grew low in the west, and it became evident that they had a long way yet
+to row.
+
+"Tired, Mark?" cried the captain.
+
+"No, father," he replied, laughing; "but if you'll say hungry, I'll tell
+you: Yes, very."
+
+"Ah, well, I keep hoping that every headland we pass may bring us in
+sight of the camp!  It cannot be very far now."
+
+"But suppose it isn't an island," said Mark; "we might be rowing right
+away."
+
+"Come, come," cried the captain cheerily; "you the son of a navigator,
+and talking like this.  Now, then, which way did we row when we
+started?"
+
+"North-east," said Mark.
+
+"And then?"
+
+"North."
+
+"Yes, go on."
+
+"Then I think we went north-west."
+
+"Well, and after that?"
+
+"West, father."
+
+"Then as we ran from the shark we went south, didn't we?"
+
+"I don't know," said Mark.  "I was too intent on the way in which they
+were tearing him to pieces."
+
+"Well, you might have said you were too frightened to notice," said the
+captain, smiling.  "You need not have been ashamed.  But come now, which
+way are we going now?"
+
+"Away from the sun," replied Mark, who felt no inclination to show that
+he had felt too much alarmed to take any notice of the direction they
+rowed.  "I suppose we must be going east."
+
+"Well, then, if you started by going east, and kept on rowing till you
+are going east again, I think you may conclude that you have gone nearly
+round a piece of land, and that the said piece is an island.  It might
+not be, for we may be going right into some gulf; but this place looks
+as much like an island as is possible, and I don't think it can be
+anything else."
+
+"Island," said Gregory, gruffly, "volcanic, and the coral has risen up
+round it, and kept it from being washed away."
+
+"But could an island like this have been washed away?" said Mark.
+
+"To be sure it could, my boy," said the captain.  "From what I have seen
+a great deal of it is loose scoria.  You saw plenty of big stones lying
+about?"
+
+"Yes," replied Mark, "but they were huge stones.  Some of them must
+weigh half a ton."
+
+Mark knew that half a ton meant ten hundredweight; but his comparison
+was a shot at a venture, for he had no idea how big, or rather how
+small, a rock is which weighs half a ton.
+
+"I don't think the sea would make much of a rock weighing half a ton,
+Mark," said the captain, smiling.  "Why, in one of our great storms it
+would move that almost as easily as if it were a pebble.  Mr Gregory is
+quite right.  Volcanic islands have before now been formed, and been in
+eruption for a long time, and then been slowly swept away by the action
+of the sea."
+
+"How long to sundown, sir?" said Mr Gregory.
+
+"Half an hour," said the captain, after a glance at the slowly
+descending orb.
+
+"And then it will be dark directly.  What do you say, sir, give it up,
+land and set up camp, or keep on?"
+
+"Keep on, Gregory," said the captain, quietly.  "There is a headland
+away yonder.  Once we get round that we may see home.  Tired, my lads?"
+
+"Tidy, sir," said Billy Widgeon.  "But if it's all the same to you, we'd
+rather keep on as long as we can."
+
+"Why, Billy?" asked Mark.
+
+"Well, sir, since you put it like that," said the little sailor, smiling
+sheepishly, "it is that."
+
+"Is what, Billy?"
+
+"Why, what you mean, sir.  You meant wittles.  That's what you was
+a-thinking about.  You see if we goes ashore we shall have to pick they
+fowls, and make a fire, and wait till they're cooked afore we can eat
+'em, and to men as hungry as we, sir, that's a deal wuss than rowing a
+few miles; eh, mate?"
+
+This was to the man at the oar forward.  The response was an affirmatory
+grunt.
+
+"There, Gregory," said the captain, "what do you say now?"
+
+"Keep on," replied Gregory, shortly.  "Widgeon is right."
+
+The island never seemed more beautiful to them than now as the sun went
+down lower and lower till, like a great fiery globe, it nearly touched
+the sea: for rock, jungle, and the central mountainous clump, with the
+conical volcano dominating all, was seen through a glorious golden haze,
+while the sea was first purple and gold, and then orange, changing
+slowly into crimson.
+
+The sun disappeared just as they rounded the point for which they had
+been making; but still there was no sign of the camp.  Nothing but the
+purple lagoon stretching on and on, with the creamy line of surf on one
+side, the fringe of cocoa-nut trees right down to the sand on the other.
+
+"A good clear row at all events," said the captain.  "Here, Gregory,
+let's take the oars and pull till we can't see."
+
+The mate changed places with the sailor in front, the captain took Billy
+Widgeon's oar, and the boat began to travel more rapidly, but still
+there was no sign of the camp.  The stars came out, the water seemed to
+turn black, and in a very short time all was darkness; but there was no
+difficulty in keeping on, for the light-coloured sands on the one side
+acted as a guide, and the roar of the breakers on the reef kept them
+away on the other.
+
+There was something very awe-inspiring though in the journey in the
+dark; and in spite of himself Mark could not help feeling that it was
+rather uncanny to be riding over the black water with what seemed to be
+golden serpents rushing away in undulating fashion on either side.
+Then, too, there was a curious quivering glow, something like an aurora,
+playing about the top of the mountain on their left; while all at once,
+plainly heard now by all, there came the distant roar of the creature
+which had so far remained undiscovered.
+
+"We must be getting near home now," said the captain quietly, "for that
+sound comes always from the north-west of the camp."
+
+He spoke calmly enough, but Mark detected a peculiarity in his voice
+which he had noted before when his father was anxious, and this finally
+gave place to words.
+
+"I hope the women have not been alarmed by that sound, Gregory," he said
+at last.
+
+"I hope so too," said the mate quietly.  "It may be a timid creature
+after all.  I believe it's one of those great orang-outangs.  I've never
+heard one, but I've read that they can roar terribly."
+
+"I hope it's nothing worse," said the captain in a low tone.
+
+"Keep on, of course?" whispered Gregory.
+
+"I think so, as long as we can see.  We must have nearly circumnavigated
+the island, and it will have been a splendid day's work to have
+discovered the ship and done that too."
+
+"I've got two hours' more row in me," said Gregory quietly.  "By that
+time the men will have another hour in them, and at the worst we could
+manage another hour afterwards.  Before then we must have reached camp."
+
+"Ah, what's that?" cried the captain as the boat struck something.
+
+"Bock," cried Gregory.  "No, too soft."
+
+"Row! row!" said Mark.  "It was a monstrous fish--a shark."
+
+"You could not see it?" cried the captain hoarsely, as he bent to his
+oar, Gregory following his example, so that the boat surged through the
+water.
+
+"I saw something dark amongst these golden eel things, and they all
+seemed to rush away like lightning."
+
+There was a dead silence in the boat for the next quarter of an hour,
+during which the rowers pulled with all their might.  No one spoke for
+fear of giving vent to his thoughts--thoughts suggested by the adventure
+early in the day; but every one sat there fully expecting to see the
+savage-looking head of some shark thrust from the water and come over
+into the boat.
+
+The suffering was for a time intense, but no further shock was felt, and
+as the minutes glided away their hopes rose that if this last were an
+enemy they were rapidly leaving it behind.
+
+All at once Mark half rose from his place.
+
+"Is that the light over the mountain?" he exclaimed.
+
+"Nay," cried Billy, "that's a fire.  You can see it gleam on the water."
+
+"Hurrah!" cried Gregory, "then that means home, and they are keeping it
+up as a guide."
+
+Another quarter of an hour's rowing proved this, for a big fire was
+blazing upon the sand, and before long they were able to make out moving
+figures and the fire being replenished, the leaping up of the flames and
+the ruddy smoke ascending high in the air.
+
+"Now, then, give a hail," said the captain, "to let them know we're
+safe.  They'll think we are coming from the other direction."
+
+Billy Widgeon uttered a loud "Ahoy!" and then putting two fingers in his
+mouth, brought forth an ear-piercing whistle.
+
+A distant "Ahoy!" came back, and a whistle so like Billy Widgeon's that
+it might have been its echo, while directly after there was a flash and
+then a report.
+
+"A signal from the major," said the captain.  "There, Mark, a chance for
+you.  Fire in the air."
+
+Mark caught up the gun, held the butt on the thwart, and drew trigger,
+when the flash and report cut the air and echoed from the wood.
+
+Another ten minutes' hard pull and the boat touched the sands close to
+the fire, where all were gathered in eager expectancy of the lost
+voyagers, who had, to meet the complaints about dread and anxiety, the
+news of their discoveries.
+
+"But you have not been much alarmed, I hope?" said the captain, drawing
+his wife's hand through his arm.
+
+"But we have, captain," cried the major; "for Morgan and I have been in
+momentary expectation of an attack from that terrible wild beast."
+
+"But there, you are tired and starving," said Mrs Strong.  "We have
+food waiting.  Sit down and rest, and we'll tell you all the while."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.
+
+HOW THE CIRCUMNAVIGATORS RESTED AND HEARD NEWS.
+
+"This here's just what I like, mates," said Billy Widgeon, as he sat on
+the sand in the full light of the blazing fire with his fellow-sailor
+opposite to him, and a large piece of palm-leaf for a table-cloth.  Jack
+was on his right munching fruit, and Bruff on his left, sitting up,
+patiently attentive, waiting for bones from the hissing, hot maleo bird
+that had been kept for the sailors' dinner.
+
+Small and the other men were close by smoking, and Jimpny, with his head
+neatly and cleanly bandaged, was lying upon his chest, resting his
+elbows on the sand and his chin in his hands, kicking up his heels as he
+stared at Billy Widgeon and listened to his adventures.
+
+Billy was hungry, and so was his mate, and when Billy carved he prepared
+so to do by opening his jack-knife and whetting it on his boot, after
+which he seized the bird, which was double the size of a large fowl, by
+one leg.
+
+"Now, shipmet," he said to his companion, "lay holt o' t'other
+understanding with both hands, and when I say haul! you put your back
+into it."
+
+The sailor took hold of the leg, Billy held on by the other, and placed
+the blade of the knife between two of the fingers of the left hand while
+he made believe to spit in his right.  Then seizing the knife firmly, he
+plunged the point right into the breast of the fat, juicy bird, a gush
+of gravy came oozing out, and he began to cut so as to divide the food
+into two equal portions.
+
+"My hye! he is a joosty one," cried Billy.  "It's worth waiting till now
+to get a treat like this, mates.  Can't you smell him?  Anyone going to
+jyne in?"
+
+"No," said Small; "we've all had plenty, my hearty.  So go on, and tell
+us all about what you've done to-day."
+
+"All right!" cried Billy.  "Now, then, messmet, she's nearly through.
+Now haul, my son.  Hauly, hi, ho!"
+
+Billy's fellow-traveller hauled at the bird's leg; but that bird was
+rather overdone.  Mrs Strong, aided by Mary O'Halloran as cook and
+kitchen-maid, had done their best in the rock kitchen with a fire of
+cocoa-nut shells and barks; but some piled-up pieces of coral and
+basalt, though they are great helps, do not form a patent prize
+kitchener; and though the result was very tempting to hungry men, there
+was a want of perfection in the browning of that bird.  In fact here and
+there it was a bit burned, notably in its right leg--the one Billy's
+companion held--and that leg was so horribly charred that when the man
+hauled it snapped off like a burned stick, and the bird, by the recoil
+and drag, came right into Billy's lap.
+
+"What are you up to now?" cried the latter.  "Well, you are a chap,
+playing your larks when we're so hungry!  Don't you want none?"
+
+As he spoke, he worked his knife to and fro, and ended by making a
+division of the bird that could hardly be called a fair one.
+
+"Look at that," he said.  "You've got first pick, as I'm carver; and
+though I feels a deal o' respect for you, matey, I don't think as how as
+you'd pick out the smallest bit, and hang me if I would, so here goes
+for another try."
+
+Billy made another cut at the bird, hewing off a good slice of the plump
+breast, which he laid on to the smaller side, giving it a flap with his
+blade to make it stick, and then passed it over.
+
+"There," he said, "that's fair; so here goes to begin.  Hullo, matey,
+won't you bite?" he continued to the dog.  "There, then, you can amoose
+yourself with them till your betters is done."
+
+He hacked off the bird's head and neck; and after slicing off a portion
+of the meat, added the drumstick to Bruff's share.  He then began eating
+voraciously, giving his messmates a version of their "adventers," as he
+called them, since the morning.
+
+Billy would have made a splendid writer of fiction--a most exciting
+narrator, for he forgot nothing, and he added thereto in a wonderful
+manner.  He threw in, with his mouth full, touches of description that
+made his companion stare, and his eloquence about the blackened hull of
+the vessel was wonderful.
+
+"Talk about charkle fires," he cried; "why, if my old mother was here
+she'd nail the lot and save it, to use up the fruit off some of these
+here trees and make jam."
+
+"Why, you can't make jam out of a burnt ship," said the stowaway.
+
+"Who ever said you could, Davy Jimpny?" cried Billy.  "But you wants
+charkle to make it with, don't yer?"
+
+"Yes, if you can't get coke," said the stowaway sadly.
+
+"Well, I aren't seen no gasworks on those here shores nowheres, and so
+you can't get no coke, can you?"
+
+"Course not."
+
+"Well, then, charkle it is.  The whole deck's charkle, and so's the
+bulwarks, and the chunk end o' the bowsprit?"
+
+"And the masts, Billy?" said Small.
+
+"Dessay they are, but they're floated away.  The whole ship's a reg'lar
+cellar."
+
+Billy then got on about the length of time they stopped, about the
+wonderful nature of the crater bay, and the depth of the water.
+
+"Why, when you was rowing acrost it you could feel as it must go right
+through to the other side, it was so deep.  No water couldn't be so
+black as that was without being hundreds o' knots deep."
+
+"I say, Billy, ain't you getting hundreds o' knots into your yarn?" said
+Small.
+
+"Not I, bosun.  It's all fact; you ask my mate here if it aren't.  I
+suppose you don't want to know about that there shark?" he continued, as
+he picked a bone in a very ungentlemanly manner, taking his hands to it,
+and once leaving it stuck across his mouth like a horse's bit, while he
+altered his position.
+
+"Oh yes, we do!  Let's hear about the shark," cried all present.
+
+"Well," said Billy, "there aren't much to tell, only that as we was
+going along I says to the skipper, I says, `There's a whacking great
+shark along yonder.'
+
+"`Ay, Billy,' he says, `that's a thumper, and no mistake.'
+
+"There he was, going round and round us with his back fin above water,
+just like a steam launch, and before you knew where you was he puts his
+head out o' water, gives a squint at us to see which was the best
+looking to swaller--"
+
+"And he chose you, Billy, because you've got such short legs as wouldn't
+kick about much when you was down."
+
+"Wrong, Mr Small, sir," said Billy, handing the remains of his half of
+the bird to the dog and cleaning his knife by sticking it in and out of
+the sand; "wrong, sir.  I think he meant Jack here; but the monkey
+squeals out and hops under my legs in no time, and Mr Jack-shark alters
+his mind and goes for Muster Gregory, shoots out o' the water, he does,
+and he was aboard of us afore we knowed where we was."
+
+"Get out!" said Small.
+
+"It's a fact, Mr Small, sir; ask my mate if it aren't.  He didn't stop
+aboard cause he come crostwise over the bows; but there he was aboard
+for a moment afore he slips off, and when he comes round to try it again
+the skipper and Mr Greg lets him have it out o' their guns, and scared
+him off; and, bless your 'arts, I have seen a few rum games in the sea,
+but the way his mates chawed him up arterwards beat everything.  Why,
+the lagoon, as they calls it, was chock full o' sharks--millions of
+'em."
+
+"Were there now, Billy?" said Small, smiling.
+
+"Well, of course I can't say to a few, for we was a good ways off; but
+what I do say is that it seemed the sharkiest spot I ever see; and, if
+they'd only have stood still, you might have walked on their backs for
+miles."
+
+"Give Billy Widgeon a cocoa-nut to stop his talk," said the boatswain;
+"and there's a bit o' 'bacco for you, Billy, to clear your memory, my
+lad."
+
+"Oh, my memory's clear enough, Mr Small, sir," said Billy, who was
+eating something all the time; "but thanky all the same.  And now, how
+have you got on?"
+
+"Oh," said the boatswain, "we've had a bit of a scare!"
+
+But a narration of this was being given where the other occupants of the
+boat were partaking of their evening meal.
+
+"Did the creature seem to come any nearer?" said the captain as the
+little group sat beneath the edge of the cocoa-nut grove, satisfying
+themselves with the reflected light of the men's fire, which had been
+lit as a beacon to attract them home.
+
+"I think yes, decidedly," said Morgan, who was rapidly getting better.
+
+"So did I at first," said the major; "but I have been in Africa as well
+as India, and have heard lions roar.  When one of these gentlemen is
+doing a bit of nightingale he roars in one direction, then in another,
+now with his head up, and now with it down; and when you add to it that
+he roars loud and roars soft, he seems to be quite a ventriloquist, and
+you are puzzled."
+
+"But I think the animal came nearer, my dear," said Mrs O'Halloran.
+
+"I think so, too," said Mrs Strong.
+
+"I'm sure it did, papa," cried Mary.
+
+"Then I'm not," said her father.  "It is impossible to tell how near a
+cry from a jungle may be."
+
+"Well," said the captain, "it is not pleasant to know that such a savage
+creature is close to our camp.  Something must be done."
+
+"Seems a pity to pull up stakes and move," said the major.
+
+"Pity!" said the captain.  "Suppose we do move to the far side, we shall
+still be within reach.  We are fixed here, and it seems to me to be the
+best spot we can find, and the farthest from the volcano.  I'm afraid it
+must be a case of war.  Either our friend must be driven away or killed.
+What do you say, major, to an expedition in search of him?"
+
+"I'm willing," said the major.
+
+"But the risk?" said Mrs Strong.
+
+"More risk in waiting to be attacked than in attacking," said the
+captain.  "I feel that we must put this danger beyond doubt, or we shall
+have everyone in the camp suffering from nervousness."
+
+"If you would wait a few days I could be of some use," said Morgan.
+
+"Then we will wait a few days," said the captain sharply.  "It will give
+you something to anticipate and help you to get well."
+
+"I am well now," replied Morgan.  "I only want strength."
+
+The report of all was the same, that over and over again the creature
+had been heard to roar savagely, and to be at times very close at hand.
+
+Still all this did not interfere with Mark's appetite.  On the whole,
+though sorry that his mother and the O'Hallorans should have been
+alarmed, he was rather pleased to find that he had been right in his
+belief that from time to time he could hear the roaring.  Maleo bird
+roasted--the repast being made off those that were first shot--was
+excellent; so was the acid fruit squeezed over it--fruit picked by Mrs
+O'Halloran while the others cooked.  Then there was a kind of oyster
+which was delicious roasted in its shells.  And one way and another Mark
+felt that he had never before partaken of so appetising a repast,
+especially as he sat sipping cocoa-nut milk when it was done.
+
+Everyone was in good spirits, for the captain promised tea and chocolate
+from the stores that were untouched by fire, and plenty of flour and
+biscuit--treasures, which would make their stay on the island far more
+bearable, without counting upon the many other things which the ship
+would supply.
+
+At last they separated to their couches of leaves and sand, after an
+arrangement being made for an early start next day to explore the island
+by a party well armed and ready to do battle with any enemy that might
+present itself.
+
+Mark's, sleeping-place was next to the major's now, the hospital being
+closed, for the stowaway wanted to be along with his mates; and the
+other wounded sailor sturdily declared that he was quite well now, and
+walked very nimbly to the men's hut.
+
+Mark recollected lying down, and then all was perfectly blank till he
+began dreaming in the morning that his father told him that he was not
+to go with the expedition; but just then the savage beast in the jungle
+roared and repeated its cry in a way which suggested that he was to
+come, for the creature particularly wanted him.
+
+This woke him; but all was perfectly still, and he could not tell
+whether the sound had rung upon his ears or not.
+
+It was daylight though, and, rising, he went out, to find that Small and
+Mr Morgan were taking the morning watch, while Billy Widgeon was
+lighting a fire in the rock kitchen.
+
+He was very sleepy still, and his couch coaxed; but he mastered the
+sluggishness, fetched his piece of calico which did duty for a towel,
+and after a careful inspection of the water, in company with Mr Morgan,
+he had a good bathe, and came back to shore feeling as if filled with
+new life, and ready for the expedition of the coming adventurous day.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.
+
+HOW BILLY WIDGEON WENT SOMEWHERE.
+
+The preparations were soon made, and directly after breakfast, in spite
+of Mr Morgan's desire to be of the company, the little band of half the
+occupants of the isle gathered for the start.  Mr Gregory was obliged
+to remain and take charge of the camp, leaving the captain free to be
+the head, with the major for his lieutenant, Small, Billy Widgeon, and
+two other men.
+
+Mark was to be left behind, but a piteous appeal reversed the edict,
+and, armed with a gun, he took his place with the expedition folk ready
+for the start.
+
+They took a bag or two for fruit and game, a small amount of luncheon
+for each, and their arms and ammunition.  Thus equipped and with the
+good wishes of those they left behind, the party set off for the creek
+where the nipah-palms grew, and up the path followed by Mark and the
+major before, but with the intention of turning off where the steam
+issued from the earth, as everyone seemed to select the jungle between
+that and the mountain-slope as being the spot from whence the roaring
+sounds were heard.
+
+Backed by the knowledge already gained, there was not much difficulty in
+reaching the scene of the fright with the supposed serpent; and here
+they paused to try the ground, which sent out puffs of steam with a loud
+hiss directly it was pierced.
+
+Billy Widgeon shook his head at it and looked at Small, who frowned,
+took off his cap, and scratched his head, as if he did not approve of
+the place as one for a walk.
+
+Just then there was a capital opportunity for a shot at the great
+pigeons; but shooting was forbidden until their return, the object being
+to trace the strange creature if possible and see what it was like.
+
+"It can't be a crocodile," said the major, "for there is no river up
+this way except this bit of a stream; great snake I can't believe it is;
+what is it, then?"
+
+"The only way is to examine every bit of soft ground for traces of
+footprints," said the captain.  "Nearly every beast has its times for
+going to drink; so we ought to get some inkling of what it is like at
+the various springs."
+
+They were not long in coming to one in a hollow beneath a great pile of
+moss-grown rock down whose sides trickled the water to form at last a
+good-sized pool of the most limpid kind; but the mossy boggy earth
+around was untrodden, the water clear, and no trace to be seen of a
+single footprint other than their own.
+
+The water was delicious on that hot day in the steamy jungle, and the
+band was refreshed--Mark having hard work to refrain from chasing some
+gorgeous butterfly of green and gold, or with wings painted in
+pearl-blue, steel, and burnished silver.  At other times some lovely
+kingfisher, with elongated tail, settled almost within reach.  Then it
+would be a green barbet, with bristle-armed beak and bright blue and
+scarlet feathers to make it gay.  Or again, one of the cuckoo trogons,
+sitting on some twig, like a ball of feathers of bronze, golden green,
+and salmon rose.
+
+But this was not a collecting trip.  Earnest investigation was the order
+of the day; and after carefully taking their bearings the captain
+pressed on, with their way always on the ascent and growing wilder and
+more rocky.
+
+This had its advantages as well as its disadvantages; for though the
+path was from time to time one continuous climb, they were not compelled
+to force their way through tangled growth, with trees bound together by
+canes and creepers, as if nature were roughly weaving a stockade.
+
+Another stream was passed rising out of a boggy patch of ground, and
+here footprints were plentiful, but they were only those of birds that
+had been down to drink.
+
+Onward again, and to ascend a steep precipitous slope right before them
+they had to descend into a dank, dark, gloomy-looking gorge, whose
+vegetation was scarce, and yet the place seemed to grow hotter as they
+went down.
+
+A peculiar whistling sound came now from before them, and they stopped
+to listen, with the day evidently growing hotter, for down in the gorge
+there was not a breath of air; while as they listened the whistling grew
+louder and was accompanied by another in a different key, the two
+producing a curious dissonant sound for a few minutes, increasing
+rapidly, and then ceased, to be followed by absolute silence, and then a
+dull sound followed as if something had burst.
+
+"Steam--a hot spring, I should say," exclaimed the captain, going
+cautiously forward, parting the low growth as he went.
+
+His progress became slower, and at the end of a minute he stopped and
+stepped cautiously back.
+
+"Not safe," he said; "my feet were sinking in.  We must go farther
+round."
+
+He led the way, and they forced their way through the sickly-looking
+bushes till they came all at once upon a glistening patch of
+whitish-looking mud some thirty or forty yards round, and above which
+the atmosphere seemed to be quivering, if it were not so much clear
+steam rising in the air.
+
+Here they found the cause of the noise, for as they approached there was
+a tiny jet of steam issuing from one side near the dense growth of a
+peculiar grass, and when this had been whistling for about a minute,
+another jet burst out on the other side, whistling in the different key,
+while in the middle of the mud-pool there was a quivering and rifting of
+the surface, followed by the formation of a huge bubble, which kept on
+rising up larger and larger till it was a big globe of quite two feet
+high, when it suddenly burst with a peculiar sound, as if someone had
+said the word _Beff_! in a low whisper.
+
+This occurred several times before they went on, having vainly searched
+the borders of the mud-pool for footmarks; and at the end of another few
+hundred yards loud hissing and shrieking noises led them to another
+pool, but, far from being so quiescent as that which they had left
+behind, this was all in commotion.  The hot shining mud was bubbling
+furiously, rising in mud bladders, which were incessantly rising and
+dancing all over the surface, while one in the middle, larger than the
+rest, rose and burst with a loud puff.
+
+Very little steam was visible, and though here too the edge of the pool
+was examined, there was not even the footprint of a bird.
+
+Still ascending, and with traces of the volcanic action growing more
+frequent as they progressed, the mud springs were left behind, and an
+opening reached so beautiful, that all stopped to rest in the shade of a
+wild durian tree, whose fruit were about the size of small cricket
+balls, and chancing the fall of the woody spinous husk, all sat down to
+admire the beauty of the mountain rising before them, and to partake of
+some of the fallen fruit.
+
+They would not have been touched if the major had not pounced upon them,
+and declared that they were a delicacy; but as soon as he opened one
+with his knife, and handed it to Mark, that gentleman's nose curled, in
+company with his lip, and he threw the fruit down.
+
+"Pah! it's a bad one," he exclaimed.
+
+"Bad! you young ignoramus!" cried the major, taking up the fallen fruit,
+and beginning to pick out its seeds and custardy interior with his
+knife.  "You have no taste."
+
+"But it smells so horrible!" cried Mark.
+
+"Bah!  Don't think about the smell.  Taste it."
+
+He opened another, and handed it to Mark, who, seeing that his father
+was eating one, proceeded cautiously to taste the evil-smelling object,
+and found in it so peculiarly grateful a flavour that he tried it again
+and again, and before he knew what he was about he had finished it.
+
+"Try another, Mark," said the major.  "I learned to eat these at
+Singapore, where they cultivate them, and they are twice as big, often
+three times."
+
+Mark took another, and sniffed at it, to find when he had done that
+Billy Widgeon had been looking on with an air of the most profound
+contempt.
+
+"Haven't you had one, Billy?" said Mark eagerly.
+
+"Haven't I had one, Mr Mark, sir!  No, I haven't; and how people of
+eddication can go and eat such things as them is more'n I can make out."
+
+"You try one," said Mark.  "They're lovely."
+
+"Too lovely for me, Mr Mark, sir.  I'm going to have a chew of
+tobacco!"
+
+Mark was so highly pleased with his experiment that he turned to Small,
+who was seated staring straight before him and listening.
+
+"Try one of these, Mr Small," he said.
+
+Small took the fruit, smelt it, and then jerked it away.
+
+"Don't you try to play larks on them as is older than yourself, young
+gentleman," he said so sourly that Mark walked away discomfited, and the
+boatswain went on listening till the sound he had heard increased in
+violence, and he found that everyone was on the _qui vive_.
+
+"It comes from over the other side of that rocky patch of hill," said
+the major, pointing.  "It's a waterfall, and we did not hear it before
+on account of the wind."
+
+But if it was a waterfall, and that it sounded to be, it ceased flowing
+as rapidly and suddenly as it had begun, for once more all was still in
+that direction, and they sat resting and gazing with mingled feelings of
+awe and delight at the glorious landscape of black and brown rock and
+wondrous ferny growth rising before them from beyond a little valley at
+their feet right up to the summit of the mountain, about whose top the
+little cloud of smoke or vapour still hung.
+
+It was a never-to-be-forgotten scene of beauty that no one cared to
+leave, but the captain soon gave the word, for he was desirous of
+finding some sign of the strange creature that had caused so much alarm.
+
+They had climbed far above the spot whence the sounds seemed to come,
+but all felt that probably the beast would come down from the mountain
+and make that his home; and in this belief the party once more started,
+directing their course so as to go down and round the rocky eminence in
+face of where they stood, and then begin to climb the mountain where it
+steadily rose in one long slope to the summit.
+
+The major was leading as they went down, and he had no sooner reached a
+spot whence he could see beyond the long mass of rock than he waved his
+hand for the party to come on.
+
+Mark was the first to reach him, and as he did so it was to see a tall
+column of water as big as a man's body rush down a hole, which seemed to
+have been formed in the centre of a pale stony-looking basin.
+
+"Look, my lad, look!" cried the major.
+
+There was no occasion for him to speak, for Mark was already gazing with
+a feeling of shrinking awe at another of these stony basins, in which a
+quantity of clear hot water was boiling up and steaming.  It rose from a
+hole in the middle, quite four feet in diameter, and simmered and
+bubbled and danced, and then suddenly disappeared down the hole with a
+hideous gurgling, rushing sound, followed by horrible rumblings and
+gurgitations in what seemed to be an enormous pipe of stone.
+
+Once more it rushed to the surface, and then disappeared again, leaving
+the opening clear of water, so that the major went to the stony bottom
+of the basin, or saucer, to try whether it was slippery; and finding it
+firm, he walked on to where he could gaze down the well-like hole.
+
+He did not stop many moments, but stepped back.
+
+"Horrid!" he said.  "Right down into blackness.  Come and look."
+
+Mark hesitated for a moment, and then took the hand his father extended,
+and they walked down the slope of the basin to where the opening gaped.
+
+As they reached it there was a puff of hot vapour sent up, followed by
+hollow roaring sounds, mingled with the gurgling of water.  Then there
+was such a furious hissing rush that they started back, and had just
+stepped clear of the basin when a fount of boiling water rushed up with
+terrific violence, maintaining the shape of the tube through which it
+had risen to the height of a hundred feet in the air, and keeping to
+that height for a minute or two, looking like a solid pillar of water.
+Then the force which had ejected it seemed to be spent, and the huge
+fountain descended slowly lower and lower, with several other
+elevations, and finally descended below the surface with a hideous
+rushing turmoil, and was gone.
+
+They were about to advance and look down again, but there was a roar,
+and the water rushed to the surface just high enough to fill the basin,
+and for a portion to run gurgling over where the rim, which seemed to be
+formed of a curious deposit, was broken away, and trickle down toward
+the valley.
+
+"I say, aren't it hot?" said Billy Widgeon, who had thrust in his hands
+before the water ran back.  "Why, you might cook in it.  I say, bo'sun,
+look ye here; why if it aren't just like the stuff as my old mother used
+to scrape out of the tea-kettle at home."
+
+Small stooped and broke off a scrap of the deposit, and examined it,
+holding it out afterwards to Mark.
+
+"Yes," said the major, who examined it in turn, after Mark had taken it
+to him, "the man is quite right.  It is a limy deposit from the boiling
+water, similar to what is found in kettles and boilers.  Shows that the
+water is very hard, eh, captain?"
+
+"Yes, I suppose that's it," replied Captain Strong.  "But all this is
+very interesting for travellers, and does not concern us.  We've come to
+find out our noisy friend, so let's get on.  Some day, when we've
+nothing to do, we may come here on a pleasure trip.  To-day we must
+work."
+
+"Stop a few minutes longer, father," said Mark, as the men went to
+another of the geysers a little lower down, one which had just thrown a
+column of water up some forty feet, and then subsided--a column not a
+third of the size of that which they had just seen.
+
+"Very well," said the captain.  "Want to see it spout again?"
+
+"I should like to, once," said Mark; and then, moved by that energetic
+spirit which is always inciting boys to do something, he ran to the
+other side of the basin, where a good-sized piece of rock lay half
+incrusted with the stony deposit of the hot spring.  It weighed about
+three-quarters of a hundredweight, but of so rounded a shape that it
+could be easily moved, and Mark rolled it over and over into the basin
+of the geyser while his father was pointing out something to the major
+across the little valley, and just as the stone was close to the
+rock-like opening the captain turned.
+
+"I wouldn't do that, Mark," he said, as he realised his son's intention;
+but his warning came too late, for the final impetus had been given, and
+the stone disappeared in the hole.
+
+Mark looked up apologetically as his father and the major came closer,
+and were listening to hear what would be the result, and expecting to
+note a tremendous hollow-sounding splash from far below.
+
+What seemed to be a long time elapsed before there was any sign, and
+then with a roar up came the volley of water again so instantaneously
+that they had only just time to flee to the other side of the basin to
+avoid a drenching, possibly a scalding, while to the surprise of all
+there was a dull thud.  The water descended with its furious hissing and
+gurgling, rose again to the top, and then, judging from the sounds, came
+up less and less distances in its vast stony pipe, and then all was
+silent once more, and they were gazing at the piece of rock Mark had
+thrown down, now lying in the basin about three feet from the well-like
+central hole.
+
+"That's the way to make it spurt," said the major, laughing.  "The hot
+water-works don't approve of stones, Master Mark."
+
+The men were delighted with the hot springs, and after the fashion of
+sailors were pretty ready at giving them names according to their
+peculiarities.  One was "The Grumbler;" another "The Bear-pit."  A
+whistling hissing spring became "The Squealer."  One that gurgled
+horribly, "The Bubbly Jock;" whilst others were, "The Lion's Den," from
+the roaring sound; "The Trumpet Major;" and the noisiest of all, from
+which a curious clattering metallic sound came up, "The Bull in the
+China-shop."
+
+All at once the investigating party were aroused by a tremendous burst
+of laughter, which came from behind a clump of bushes where the men had
+gathered to watch the action of one of the smaller geysers.
+
+The captain led the way toward the spot, for the noise was very
+boisterous, and as they approached it was to see the men rush away in
+the height of enjoyment, laughing again, for the spout of hot water,
+which seemed less steamy and hot, played up again and descended, while
+as it ran back with a low bellowing roar, the men followed quickly,
+evidently to watch its descent down the stony tube, just as so many boys
+might at play.
+
+But there was no play here, for the comedy of running away to avoid a
+wetting with the hot water, and rushing back to look down, turned into
+tragedy.  Short-legged Billy Widgeon, in his eagerness to be first,
+tried to take long strides like leaps, and bounded with a hop, skip, and
+a jump right into the wet basin, when the men set up a wild cry as, to
+the horror of all, they saw the little sailor's feet glide from under
+him, his hands thrown up wildly to clutch at something to save himself,
+and then he seemed to glide down the narrow well-like hole and was gone.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.
+
+HOW THE SULPHUR CAVERN WAS FOUND.
+
+For a few seconds every one stood still as if petrified by the horror of
+the scene.  Then with a hoarse cry the captain dashed to the opening,
+slipped, and would also have gone down, had he not made a leap and
+thrown himself headlong across to the other side.
+
+Mark stopped short, with a horrified expression on his face, for in
+those brief moments he suffered all the agony of having seen his father
+disappear, but almost before the captain had regained his legs the men
+uttered a warning shout, for there was the gurgling roaring below, a
+vibration in the earth, and the hot fountain played again to the height
+of twenty or thirty feet, descended almost as rapidly, and those on one
+side of the basin, as the water descended, saw the captain on the other
+side holding Billy Widgeon by the jacket, dragging him from the very
+edge of the hole to some half a dozen yards away.
+
+The next minute all were gathered round where the little sailor lay
+apparently lifeless.
+
+"Is he dead?" whispered Mark, catching at his father's arm.
+
+"Not he," cried Small, stooping down and shaking the prostrate man.
+"Billy, old chap; here, wake up, I say!  How goes it?"
+
+Billy Widgeon opened his eyes, stared, choked, spat out some water,
+looked round, and shook his head to get rid of some more.
+
+"Eh?" he said at last.
+
+"How are you, my man?" said the captain.
+
+Billy Widgeon stared at him, then looked all round, rubbed his eyes with
+his knuckles, stared again, rose, and trotted slowly to the basin, into
+which he stepped cautiously, and before he could be stopped peered down
+the hole.
+
+He came away directly thereafter shaking his head.
+
+"It's a rum un," he said, rubbing one ear, and slowly taking off and
+wringing his jacket to get rid of the water.
+
+"You're not hurt, then?" said the captain, anxiously.
+
+"Hurt, sir?  No, I don't know as I'm hurt, sir, but I'm precious wet."
+
+"How far did you go down?" cried Mark.
+
+"How far did I go down?" said Billy, sulkily.  "Miles!"
+
+"Was it very hot, my man?" said the major.
+
+"Hot!  Well, if tumbling down a well like that there, and then being
+shot up again like a pellet out of a pop-gun aren't getting it hot, I
+should like to know what is?"
+
+"I mean was the water very hot?" said the major, as the men, now that
+there was no danger, began to grin.
+
+"'Bout as hot as I likes it, sir; just tidy," replied Billy.
+
+"But what did it feel like?" said Mark; "I mean falling down there."
+
+"Oh, there warn't no time to feel, Mr Mark, sir.  I went down so
+quickly."
+
+"Well, what did it seem like?" said Mark.
+
+"Don't know, sir.  I was in such a hurry," said Billy.
+
+There was a laugh at this, in which Billy joined.
+
+"You can't give us any description, then?" said the captain smiling.
+
+"No, sir.  I only found out one thing--I didn't seem to be wanted down
+there, being in the way, as you may say, and likely to stop the pipes.
+And now, Mr Small, sir, I'd take it kindly if you'd come in the wood
+there with me and lend a hand while I wring all the wet I can out o' my
+things, as'll make 'em dry more handy."
+
+The boatswain nodded, and the pair went in among the trees, leaving the
+others discussing the narrow escapes and sending a stone or two down,
+and then a great dead dry stump of a tree-fern, all of which were shot
+up again, the stones after an interval, the fern stump, which was as
+long as Billy Widgeon and thicker round, coming up again directly.
+
+"Why, major," said the captain at last, "if you had told me all this
+some day after dinner back in England, I'm afraid I shouldn't have
+believed you."
+
+"I'm sure I should not have believed you," said the major laughing.  "It
+sounds like a sea-serpent story, and I don't think I shall ever venture
+to tell it unless I can produce the man."
+
+At that moment Billy came back out of the jungle, looking very
+ill-tempered, and his first act as the fount played again, was to go
+close to the edge of the basin and try the temperature of the water.
+
+"Just tidy," he said, as they descended from the level shelf where the
+geysers were clustered, and along by the little gurgling rocky stream
+which carried off their overflowings before reaching the slope of the
+mountain, and beginning to climb with fresh and unexpected wonders on
+every hand.
+
+It was nervous work, for as they climbed the earth trembled beneath
+their feet; low, muttering, thunderous sounds could be heard, while here
+and there from crevices puffs of sulphurous, throat-stinging vapour
+escaped.
+
+Then a bubbling hot spring was reached, not a geyser like those on the
+shelf across the long valley, but a little gurgling fount of the most
+beautifully pure water, but so heated that it was impossible to thrust a
+hand therein.
+
+"Are we going much higher, Mr Mark?" said Billy Widgeon at last.
+"Feels to me as if we should go through before we knowed where we was."
+
+"Going to the top, I suppose," said Mark, smiling at the man's face,
+though he could not help feeling some slight trepidation as strange
+volcanic suggestions of what was beneath them in the mountain kept
+manifesting themselves at every step.
+
+"Oh, all right!" said Billy in a tone of resignation; "but I do purtest,
+if I am to die, agin being biled."
+
+The climb up the mountain side was continued for some time, fresh
+wonders being disclosed at every step.  The jungle grew less thick, with
+the result that flowers were more plentiful, and if not more abundant
+the birds and gloriously-painted insects were easier to see.  Hot
+springs were plentiful, and formed basins surrounded by the deposit from
+the water, a petrifaction of the most delicate tints, while the water
+was of the most exquisite blue.
+
+A little higher, and in a narrow ravine among the rocks a perfect chasm,
+into which they descended till the sides almost shut out the light of
+day, so closely did they approach above their heads, Mark, who was in
+advance, made a find of a deposit of a delicate greenish yellow.
+
+"Why, here's sulphur!" he exclaimed, picking up a beautifully
+crystallised lump, while the rock above was incrusted with angular
+pieces of extreme beauty.
+
+"Yes, sulphur," said the captain; "and I don't think we'll go any
+farther here.  It may be risky."
+
+"I'll just see how soon this cleft ends," said the major, approaching
+what seemed to be the termination of the gorge--quite a jagged rift, cut
+or split in the side of the mountain.
+
+The major went on cautiously, for, as he proceeded, it grew darker, the
+rift rapidly becoming a cavern.
+
+"It runs right into the mountain!" he cried, and his voice echoed
+strangely.  "Here, Mark, my lad, if you want to see some specimens of
+sulphur, there are some worth picking here."
+
+There was something so weirdly attractive in the cavern that Mark
+followed, and in setting his feet down cautiously on the rocky floor his
+eyes soon became accustomed to the gloom, and he found that the rock
+joined about a dozen feet above their head, and was glittering as if
+composed of pale golden crystals of the most wonderful form.
+
+Before him, at the distance of a dozen feet, he could dimly make out the
+figure of the major, while behind stood the group formed by their
+companions, looking like so many silhouettes in black against the pale
+light sent down the chasm from above.
+
+"Mind what you're doing," said the captain.  "Don't go in too far."
+
+"All right!" cried the major; "there's good bottom.  It's a lovely
+sulphur cave.  Coming in?"
+
+"No," said the captain, sitting down; "I'll wait for you.  Make haste,
+and then we'll go back another way."
+
+"Can you see the sides, Mark?" said the major.
+
+"Yes, sir.  Lovely!" replied the lad.  "I should like to take a
+basketful.  I'll break a piece or two off."
+
+"Wait a bit," said the major; "there is a lovely piece here.  What's
+that?"
+
+Mark listened, as he stood close to the major, where the cavern went
+right in like a narrow triangle with curved sides.
+
+A low hissing noise saluted their ears, apparently coming from a great
+distance off.
+
+"Snakes!" whispered Mark.
+
+"Steam!" said the major.  "Why, Mark, this passage must lead right into
+the centre of the mountain.  There, listen again!  You can hear a dull
+rumbling sound."
+
+"Yes, I can hear it," said Mark in an awe-stricken whisper.
+
+"I dare say if we went on we should see some strange sights."
+
+"Without lights?" said the captain, who had approached them silently.
+
+"Perhaps we should get subterranean fire to show us the interior of the
+mountain.  What do you say?--shall we explore a little further?  One
+does not get a chance like this every day."
+
+"I'm willing to come another time with lights, but it would be madness
+to go on in the dark.  How do you know how soon you might step into some
+terrible chasm?"
+
+"Without the slightest chance of being shot out again, like Billy
+Widgeon!" said the major.  "You are quite right; it would be a terribly
+risky proceeding."
+
+They listened, and this time there came a low boom and a roar as if
+there had been an explosion somewhere in the mountain, and the roar was
+the reverberation of the noise as it ran through endless passages and
+rocky ways echoing out to the light of day.
+
+"No, it does not sound tempting," said the major.  "I don't want to go
+far.  But I must get a specimen or two of this sulphur for the ladies to
+see."
+
+He walked on cautiously.
+
+"Mind!" said the captain.
+
+"Oh, yes, I'll take care," came back out of the darkness.  "I can see my
+way yet, and the sulphur is wonderful.  These will do."
+
+A tapping noise followed from about fifty feet away; then the fall of a
+piece or two of stone, followed by a low hissing sound.
+
+"Hear the steam escaping, Mark?" said the captain.  "Ah, that's a good
+bit, as far as I can see.  Come, major."
+
+There was no answer.
+
+"O'Halloran!" cried the captain, and his voice went echoing away into
+the distance, the name being partly repeated far in, as if whispered,
+mockingly by some strange denizen of the cavern.
+
+"Major O'Halloran!" shouted Mark excitedly.  "What's that?"
+
+"What, my lad?" cried the captain.
+
+"That curious choking sour smell.  Ah!"
+
+"Back, boy, for your life!" cried the captain, snatching at his son's
+arm and half dragging him towards where the cave was open to the sky.
+"Are you all right?"
+
+"Yes, yes, father," panted Mark, who was coughing violently.  "Is--is--
+Oh, father! the major."
+
+The captain had taken a handkerchief from his pocket and loosely doubled
+it, and this he tied over his mouth and nostrils.
+
+"Hold my gun, Mark," he whispered; and then hoarsely, as if to himself,
+"I can't leave him like that, come what may."
+
+He paused for a moment to breathe hard and thoroughly inflate his lungs,
+and then, regardless of the risk of falling, he ran rapidly in, while
+Mark stood horror-stricken listening to his retiring footsteps.
+
+His next act saved the lives of the two men.
+
+"Small!--Widgeon!" he cried.  "Here, quick!"
+
+The two men ran to his side, ready to help.
+
+"My father has gone in to help the major.  As soon--as he comes--near
+enough--go and help."
+
+The men stood listening; and then, as they heard the coming steps, made
+a dart in, but returned.
+
+"You can't breathe.  It chokes you," cried Billy Widgeon.
+
+"Take a long mouthful, my lad, and hold your breath," growled the
+boatswain.  "Ha, he's down!  Come on!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.
+
+HOW MARK AND BILLY WIDGEON WENT WRONG.
+
+Mark did as the others did; inflated his lungs and rushed into the
+darkness, till they nearly fell over the captain; and then how it was
+done the lad hardly knew, but the two insensible men were dragged out to
+where there was pure air to breathe, and the rescuers sank down beside
+them, panting and exhausted.  "Too late!" groaned Mark.
+
+"Not we, my lad," growled Small.  "I know.  It's bad gas."
+
+"It's the sulphur," cried Mark piteously.
+
+"Well, aren't that bad gas?  I know.  They're just the same as if they
+was drowned, and we've got to pump their chesties full of wind till they
+begins to breathe as they ought to."
+
+Small's ideas were doubtless quite correct, and fortunately but little
+effort was needed to bring the sufferers to their senses, for the fresh
+air soon recovered them, and they sat up looking wild and confused.
+
+With the help of an arm to each they were soon able to walk back to the
+open mountain side, and after a rest declared themselves ready to
+proceed.
+
+"I think we'll go back away north of the hot springs," the captain said.
+
+"Certainly," exclaimed the major with quite a sound of contrition in his
+voice.
+
+"The jungle is dense, but I think with a little managing we can find our
+way."
+
+"Well, yes, perhaps so," said the major.  "It's down hill, and half our
+way will be fairly open."
+
+"If it proves too dense we can but turn to the right and go back as we
+came," said the captain.  "There, Mark, you need not look so anxious.
+There is nothing worse the matter than a bad headache.  How are you,
+major?"
+
+"Horrible!" he said.  "I have a bad headache, and a bad mental pain, for
+being so absurdly obstinate and running all that risk for the sake of a
+few crystals of sulphur."
+
+"Which, after all, you had to leave behind."
+
+"Not all," said the major; "I had put a couple of lumps in my pocket
+when that overpowering vapour struck me down.  My impression is--yes, of
+course, I remember clearly now--that where I broke the crystals away I
+must have opened a hole for the escape of the vapour."
+
+"I heard the hissing noise," said Mark eagerly.
+
+"Strong," said the major, "I know you will forgive me; but, believe me,
+it will be a long time before I forgive myself.  I can't say much to you
+about thanks," he whispered in a hoarse voice; "but I shall never forget
+this."
+
+"Nonsense, man, nonsense!" cried the captain warmly.  "You would have
+done the same for me."
+
+No more was said, for there was plenty to do to keep together, and the
+various sights and sounds as they bore away to the east of the hot
+springs set the whole party well upon the _qui vive_.
+
+For on every side there were traces of volcanic action.  Now they had to
+climb over or round some mass of lava that looked comparatively new as
+seen beside fragments that were moss-grown and fringed with orchids and
+ferns.  In one place on the steep descent all would be one tangled
+growth of creepers, while a little farther on the ground would be
+sharply inclined and as bare and burned as if fire had lately issued
+from the earth.  Every now and then they came, too, upon soft patches of
+mud firm enough to walk over and like india-rubber beneath their feet;
+but it was nervous work, and they crossed with care, feeling, as they
+did, a curious vibration going on beneath their feet.
+
+Then came an exceedingly rugged descent of quite a precipitous nature,
+but lovely in the extreme, so clothed was it with tropic verdure, though
+this was more beautiful to the eye than to the feet, for it often
+concealed treacherous crevices between blocks of scoria, and ugly cracks
+and rifts, some of which were dangerous, while others were awful from
+their depth and the low, hissing, murmuring sounds which came from their
+inmost recesses.
+
+At last the descent became so precipitous that they were brought to a
+stand-still and all progress seemed to be at an end, till, searching
+about, Mark and Billy Widgeon came upon a broad gash in the mountain
+side at the bottom of which there seemed to be a long slope of the
+smooth, hard-surfaced mud apparently running downward toward the spot
+they sought.
+
+The captain declared the descent practicable with care, and Mark took
+the lead, going down with plenty of agility, and closely followed by the
+little sailor.
+
+At the end of a quarter of an hour they were all on the stony brink of
+what seemed to be a mud-stream which at some time had flowed down from
+out of a huge yawning chasm high up above their heads, and perfectly
+inaccessible from where they stood.  According to all appearances, this
+mud in a thin state must have come down in a perfect cataract till it
+filled up the space beneath the chasm, which resembled a huge basin, as
+level as so much water, and when this had become full the stream had
+begun to form, and down this mud-stream they proposed to go, though how
+far it extended and would help them on their way experience alone could
+show.
+
+They stood just at the edge of the pool to find that a walk upon its
+surface would be dangerous in the extreme, for though the top was
+elastic a stick was easily driven through, with the result that a jet of
+steam rushed out with a noise like that of a railway whistle, but the
+surface of the stream on being tested proved firmer, and they began to
+descend.
+
+Again the same sense of insecurity was felt, the india-rubber-like film
+giving way easily and springing up again, while the old muttering and
+murmuring noises thrilled beneath their feet.
+
+But so long as it would hold it proved to be a capital road, for while
+there was a wall of dense verdure on either side, not so much as a scrap
+of moss had taken root on the surface of the smooth slope, which wound
+in and out with the ravine, acting in fact as a stream of water does
+which runs down some mountain scar, save that here there was no
+progress.  The mud had once been hot and fluid, and doubtless was still
+so, to some extent, below; but, after filling up every inequality, it
+kept to one regular level, forming what Mark at once dubbed Gutta-percha
+Lane.
+
+It was now long past mid-day, and as they walked steadily on, growing
+more confident as the toughness of the bituminous mud, for such it
+proved to be, proved itself worthy of the trust it was called upon to
+bear, the question arose where the stream would end.
+
+As far as the captain could make out, in spite of its zigzagging and
+abrupt curves, the course of the stream was decidedly towards the camp,
+but as they descended lower one thing was very plain, and that was that
+they were getting into thicker jungle, which grew taller and darker with
+every hundred feet of descent.
+
+"How do you account for it?"  Captain Strong said at last to the major,
+as they now found themselves walking down a winding road some fifteen to
+twenty feet wide, and with dense walls of verdure rising fully two
+hundred feet in height.
+
+"I think there must have been a stream here, and at some time there has
+been an eruption and the mud has flowed down it and filled it up."
+
+"If there had been a stream," the captain said, "we should have seen
+some sign of its outlet near the camp."
+
+"Then you have a theory of your own?"
+
+"Yes," said the captain; "it seems to me that first of all this was
+merely a jagged ravine, running from the mountain's shoulder right down
+to the sea."
+
+"That's what I thought.  With a stream at the bottom."
+
+"No stream," said the captain.  "Nothing but vegetation.  Down this a
+stream of red-hot lava must have flowed and burned the vegetation clean
+away, leaving a place for the mud to come down and harden as you have it
+now.  It may have been a year after the eruption--twenty, fifty, or a
+hundred years, but there it is."
+
+"If you are right, we should see traces of the burning on the trees,"
+said the major.
+
+"That does not follow.  These trees may have sprung up since, right to
+the very edge of the stream, but no farther."
+
+"Then under this mud or bitumen there ought to be lava according to your
+ideas.  How shall we prove it?"
+
+"If I am right," said the captain, "we shall find that this stream ends
+all at once, just as the lava hardened when the flow ceased, for there
+was no stream of volcanic matter right down to the shore."
+
+"And there is no stream of mud any further," said Mark laughing; "for
+there's the end."
+
+Mark was quite right, for about a couple of hundred yards below them the
+mighty walls of verdure suddenly came together and blocked out further
+progress, while, when they reached the spot, it was to find that the
+bituminous mud spread out here into a pool, further progress being, as
+it were, stopped by a dam of blackish rock which resembled so much
+solidified sponge, so full was it of air-holes and bubble-like cells.
+
+"I am no geologist," said the major, "so I give in to you, Strong.  You
+must be right."
+
+"I think I am," said the captain, quietly examining the rocky dam and
+the surface of the mud.  "Yes, I should say that here is the explanation
+of this curious stream."
+
+"Then all I can say is," said the major wiping his forehead, "that I
+wish the eruption had been a little bigger, and the lava stream had
+ended on the sands exactly one hundred yards from camp."
+
+"And the mud had flowed over it and made our road?" said Mark laughing.
+
+"That goes without saying," cried the major.  "Now, then, I propose a
+halt and food."
+
+There was plenty of shade close at hand, but unfortunately no water.
+Still, a good rest and a hearty meal proved most grateful, and as soon
+as it was done the major lit a cigar, the captain, Small, and two of the
+men seemed to be dozing, and Mark and Billy Widgeon looked at them and
+then at each other.
+
+"Going to do a bit o' hammock work, Mr Mark, sir?" said Billy.
+
+"I'm not sleepy."
+
+"More am I, sir.  Let's see if we can't get some fruit."
+
+"All right!" cried Mark, jumping up.
+
+"Don't go far, my boy," said the captain; and Mark started, for he had
+thought his father was asleep, while on looking at him he still lay back
+in the same position with his eyes closed.
+
+"No, father, I won't go far," he said.
+
+"Keep within range of a shout--well within range, for it's very easy to
+get lost in one of these jungles, and we shall be too tired to hunt for
+you now."
+
+"I won't go far," said Mark; and he and Billy Widgeon began to walk
+slowly back along the stream, looking to left and right for a way
+between the trees into the jungle.
+
+"You thought the skipper was asleep?" said Billy in a whisper.  "Never
+ketches him asleep, as we all knows.  It's always t'other.  So soon as
+one o' us as ought to be awake goes off, he finds us out, and no
+mistake."
+
+Mark did not answer, and Billy went on:
+
+"It's my belief that when the skipper shuts his eyes he sets his ears to
+work to see and hear too.  Ah, here we are!  Here's a place where we can
+go in.  I say, Mr Mark, did you eat any o' that cold treacle pooden?"
+
+"No?  Bill, I did not."
+
+"Good job, too, sir.  It was cooked in one o' they hot springs, and I'm
+blest if it didn't taste like brimstone and treacle.  Lor', how thirsty
+I am!  Wish I could find one o' them wooden-box fruit."
+
+"What? cocoa-nuts?"
+
+"No, sir: durings.  They are good after all.  Give's your hand, my lad."
+He bent down from a mass of basalt, which seemed to be the end of a
+rugged wall which penetrated the trees, and along which it was possible
+to climb more easily than to force a way through the dense growth which
+wove the trees together.
+
+"I can manage, Billy," said Mark.  "Go on."
+
+Billy turned, and, apparently as active as if he had just started, he
+climbed on, parting the bushes that grew out of the interstices and
+holding them aside for Mark to clear them, and then on and on, without
+the sign of a fruit-tree or berry-bearing bush.  The sun beat down
+through the overshadowing boughs, but the two had risen so high that the
+forest monarchs had become as it were dwarfed, and it was evident that
+they would soon be above them and able to look down on their tops.
+
+"Why, Billy," exclaimed Mark, "if we go on, we shall soon be able to see
+the sea, and the best way down to the camp."
+
+"Sure we shall, Mr Mark, sir," said the little sailor, descending a
+sudden slope and helping Mark to follow, after which they wound in and
+out for about a quarter of an hour, thoroughly eager in their quest for
+a way to simplify the descent of the rest of the party.
+
+All at once the captain's final words came to memory, and Mark
+exclaimed:
+
+"Here; we mustn't go any farther, Billy.  We'll turn back now."
+
+"All right!  Mr Mark, sir, we'll soon do that; and then we can all come
+on this way together.  We can show 'em now, eh?"
+
+"Yes," said Mark; "but let's see, which way did we come?  Along there,
+wasn't it?"
+
+"'Long there, Mr Mark, sir?  No, not it.  Why, we come this way, down
+by these rocks."
+
+"No, that couldn't be right, Billy, because the sun was on our left when
+we turned round, and you helped me down that rock."
+
+"Was it, sir?  Then it must be down here."
+
+Billy led the way and Mark followed; but at the end of a few minutes he
+called a halt.
+
+"No, no; this can't be right," he cried, as he gazed about a wilderness
+of huge rocks and trees, where bushes sprang up on every hand.
+
+"Well, do you know, Mr Mark, sir, that's just what I was a-thinking,"
+said Billy.  "I've been a-puzzling my head over that there block o'
+stone as is standing atop o' that tother one, and couldn't recollect
+seeing of 'em afore."
+
+"No; it must be this way," said Mark uneasily.  "How stupid, to be sure!
+We must find our way back."
+
+"Why, of course, Mr Mark, sir; and we will; but it aren't us as is
+stupid, it's these here rocks and trees as is all alike, just as if they
+was brothers and sisters, or peas in a pod."
+
+"Don't talk so," said Mark angrily, as he realised more fully their
+position; and a sense of confusion made him petulant.  "Let's act and
+find our way.  Now, then, which way does the mud-stream lie?"
+
+Billy scratched his head, stared about, and then said softly:
+
+"Well, sir, I'll be blest if I know."
+
+And Mark thoroughly realised the fact that they were lost.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN.
+
+HOW MARK SOUGHT THE CLUE.
+
+Were you ever lost?  Most probably not; and hence you will hardly be
+able to realise the strange sensation of loneliness, helplessness, and
+despair which comes over the spirit as the traveller finds that he
+missed his way and is probably beyond the reach of help in some
+wilderness, where he knows that he may go on tramping wearily until he
+lies down and dies.
+
+Mark Strong's case was not so bad, but he felt it painfully for many
+reasons.  Among others there was the knowledge that he had utterly
+forgotten the injunction given to him to take care and not go too far;
+while another was the dread that though they had been nominally
+searching all day for the strange beast that had caused so much alarm,
+and seen nothing, now that he and his companion were helpless they might
+possibly stumble upon its cave.
+
+"Oh, Billy, what have we been doing?" he cried impatiently.
+
+"Well, Mr Mark, sir, I don't know as we've been doing o' hanything
+pertickler."
+
+"But we've lost our way."
+
+"Well, yes, sir, I s'pose we've lost that there; but it don't much
+matter--do it?"
+
+"Matter!--of course!" cried Mark angrily; and, as if born by nature to
+lead, he at once took the command and gave his orders.  "Now, you climb
+to the top of that rock and see if you can make out the course we ought
+to take; and I'll climb that one yonder."
+
+"All right, Mr Mark, sir!" cried the little sailor, starting off.
+
+"And mind, we come back to this spot directly."
+
+"Right, sir! we will."
+
+"Then, off!"
+
+Mark slowly and painfully scaled the side of a steep sloped ravine, and
+when he reached the top, with the perspiration running down his cheeks,
+he looked round, to see trees, rocks, and the beautiful cone of the
+volcano.
+
+That was something; and he reasoned that if he turned his back to the
+mountain and walked straight down and onward, though he would not be
+able to join his party he would reach the shore.
+
+But no sooner had he arrived at this comforting assurance that he would
+have nothing to fear from starvation than all his hopes were dashed to
+the ground, as he realised the fact that, as soon as he descended from
+the giddy height at which he stood, he would lose sight of the mountain
+and have no guide; while to go straight on among the mighty moss-covered
+rocks, which were pitched helter-skelter all over the place, was as
+impossible as to go through the jungle without a gang of men with
+bill-hooks to hack a way among the dense undergrowth.
+
+Right, left, and before him he could see nothing that would suggest his
+having passed along there; and with his heart sinking he slowly climbed
+down part of the way, then reached a mossy stone which gave way beneath
+his feet and fell, while he followed, slipping down twenty feet, rolling
+another twenty; dropping sometimes into a thorny tangle of brambles, and
+dragging himself out, tattered, bleeding, and terribly out of temper, to
+walk slowly back to the spot from whence he and Billy Widgeon had
+started.
+
+"How thirsty I am!" he said to himself; and then he listened.
+
+All was horribly silent, and he called in a startled way, to be answered
+by a faint "Ahoy!"
+
+"This way, Billy!"
+
+There was again silence as Mark threw himself wearily on a mass of
+ferns; but after a time the rustling of boughs and breaking of twigs
+could be heard, and at last from apparently a long way off came Billy's
+voice again:
+
+"Mr Mark, ahoy!"
+
+"Ahoy!  This way!"
+
+Another pause, with the rustling of leaves and twigs continued, and
+Billy's voice again:
+
+"Ahoy, my lad!  Where are you?"
+
+"Here!"
+
+There was a low muttering as if Billy were talking to himself, and then
+another shout.
+
+"Here!" cried Mark again wearily.
+
+"Oh, there you are--are you?" cried the little sailor, struggling at
+last to his side.  "I thought I was never going to get back.  More you
+tries to find your way, more you loses it.  I never see such a mess in
+my life!  Why don't they keep a gardener?"
+
+Wretched as he was, hot, weary, and smarting and stinging from scratches
+and pricks, Mark could not help laughing at the little sailor's
+irritable manner.
+
+"Ah, you may laugh, my lad, a-lying all so comfortable there! but if
+you'd had such a slip as I did off a rock, and came down sitting on a
+thorn as big as a marlin'-spike, you wouldn't show your white teeth like
+that!"
+
+"But I did, Billy," cried Mark, going off into a wild roar of laughter;
+"and I'm horribly pricked and torn.  But never mind that.  Did you find
+the way back to them?"
+
+"Find your way back to 'em?--no.  I never see such a muddle as the place
+is in.  Every bit's like every other bit; and when you mark down one
+tree, meaning to come back to it, and do come back to it, why it's
+another tree just like the one you thought it was.  I say, Mr Mark,
+sir, this place aren't 'chanted--is it?"
+
+"Enchanted!--no.  Why?"
+
+"I d'know, only it's very queer like and puzzling.  I can't make it out
+a bit."
+
+"Why, how do you mean?"
+
+"Mean as you can't seem to box the compass like, and don't know which
+way to steer, sir.  I feels as if I should give it up."
+
+"Give it up!  What nonsense!  Let's rest a few minutes and start again."
+
+"Oh, I don't mind resting, sir; but I don't want to have to sleep out
+here.  Why, we've got nothing to eat, and no lights, and--no, I sha'n't
+sit down, Mr Mark, sir.  I don't want to disobey orders, but seems to
+me as we'd better get back to what you called Gutta-percha Road."
+
+"Now, look here, Billy, how can you be so stupid?" cried Mark pettishly.
+"You know I want to get back; but which way are we to go?"
+
+"Tell you what, sir, let's cooey," cried Billy, giving his leg a slap.
+"That's the proper thing to do when you're out in the woods."
+
+"Well, cooey, then," said Mark.  "Go on."
+
+"No, sir; you'd better do it," said Billy modestly.  "I aren't practysed
+it much."
+
+"Never mind; go on."
+
+"I'd a deal rather you would, Mr Mark, sir."
+
+"But I can't.  I never did such a thing in my life."
+
+"Well, if it comes to that, sir, more didn't I."
+
+"And you said you hadn't practised much."
+
+"Well, sir, I haven't," said Billy coolly.
+
+"Billy, you're a sham," said Mark angrily.
+
+"All right, sir!  I don't mind."
+
+"You get one into a muddle like this, and then are no use at all."
+
+"No, sir.  That's about it," said Billy coolly, and all the time as
+serious as a judge.  "I wish we'd got Jack here!"
+
+"What's the good of him?--to send up the trees after cocoa-nuts?"
+
+"Now, now, now, Mr Mark, sir, don't be hard on a fellow!  I did think
+as he'd send some down; and I believe now as he wouldn't because I give
+him a cuff o' the head that morning for sucking the end o' my hankychy."
+
+"Here, come along, and let's keep together."
+
+"All right, sir!"
+
+"Let's get up to the top of that rock first.  I think that's where we
+came down."
+
+"Nay, nay, Mr Mark, sir.  I'm sure as that wasn't the way.  It was up
+that one."
+
+"I'm certain it was not, Billy.  It was this.  Come along."
+
+"All right, Mr Mark, sir!  If you says that's right, it's quite enough
+for me.  I'll go anywheres you likes to lead; and I can't say fairer
+than that--can I?"
+
+"No, Billy," said Mark; "so come along."
+
+He led the way, and they climbed by the help of the bushes and aerial
+roots of the trees right to the top of the rugged bank of rock he had
+marked down in his mind's eye as being the way; and as soon as they were
+there they stopped and listened.
+
+"Perhaps they're looking for us," he said.
+
+"Shouldn't wonder, Mr Mark, sir."
+
+But though they listened there was no shout, no distant sound to suggest
+that a search was being made.
+
+"You talk about Jack," said Mark; "I wish we had got poor old Bruff
+here!  He would find the way home."
+
+"But you see, Mr Mark, sir, it aren't no use to wish.  Lawk a me! sir,
+the number o' things I've wished for in my life--'bacco, knives, a
+silver watch, silk hankychies, lots o' things, but I never got 'em."
+
+"Never mind them now.  Let's shout."
+
+"With a will, then, sir, and put your back into it.  One, two, three,
+and ahoy!"
+
+The peculiar duet rang out over the trees--a loud and piercing cry--and
+as it died away, Billy caught at Mark's arm, and gripped it tightly; his
+eyes staring wildly, with the pupils dilating, as from some little
+distance off on one side there came a mocking "Ha--ha--ha!" and from the
+other direction a peculiar hoarse barking croak, which can best be
+expressed by the word "Wauck!"
+
+"Let's get away from here, Mr Mark, sir," whispered Billy.  "I don't
+like this."
+
+"Get away?"
+
+"Yes, sir; they're a-making fun of us."
+
+"Who are?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know who they are, sir, but it's something.  Let's get
+away, sir, fast as we can."
+
+"Which way?"
+
+"I d'know, sir, anyways as aren't near them."
+
+"Why, it was a couple of birds of some kind."
+
+"What! them snorky bill birds?" said Billy, alluding to the hornbills.
+
+"Yes, I expect it was one of them, or a kingfisher."
+
+"Birds!" said Billy in tones of disgust.  "I never heerd no bird laugh
+at you when you was in trouble.  I'm thinking as there's things in this
+here place as it wouldn't be nice to meet."
+
+"I daresay there are, Billy; but these were birds."
+
+"Birds!  Hark at him!  Would a bird shout to you to walk?"
+
+"It didn't.  It was a sort of croak."
+
+"If we stops here I shall feel as if I'm going to croak, Mr Mark, sir.
+Why, them things made me feel cold all down my back."
+
+"Nonsense!  Come, shout again!"
+
+Billy shook his head.
+
+"Shout, I tell you.  We don't want to stop here all night."
+
+"No, Mr Mark, sir; don't, please don't.  It's like showing 'em exactly
+where we are."
+
+"Well, that's what we want to do."
+
+"No, sir, I don't mean them.  I mean _them_."
+
+"What! the birds?"
+
+"Them warn't birds, Mr Mark, sir," said Billy in a solemn whisper.
+"Don't you believe it."
+
+"What were they, then?"
+
+"Things as lives in woods, and never shows theirselves till people lies
+down and dies, and then they eats 'em."
+
+"What do you mean?  Vultures?"
+
+"No, no; not them.  I know what a wultur is.  These is different things
+to them.  Let's get away, sir, do."
+
+"What do you mean, then?" persisted Mark.  "Do you think there are
+goblins in the wood?"
+
+"Something o' that sort, sir, but don't speak out loud.  They might
+hear, and not like it."
+
+"But goblins out here wouldn't understand English," said Mark laughing;
+but all the same it was rather a forced laugh, for the little sailor's
+evident dread was infectious.
+
+"I wouldn't laugh if I was you, Mr Mark, sir.  Come along."
+
+"Shout," cried Mark, ashamed of the shadow of cowardice which had begun
+to envelop him, and he gave forth a loud "Ahoy!"
+
+Ha--ha--ha!
+
+Wauck!
+
+The same two responses, but decidedly closer; and as Billy gripped the
+lad's arm again they heard from out of the darkest part of the jungle
+close by a peculiar chuckling, as if some one were thoroughly enjoying
+their predicament.
+
+"Did yer hear that?" whispered Billy, whose sun-tanned visage was now
+quite pallid and mottled with muddy grey.
+
+"Yes, I heard it, of course," said Mark, fighting hard with his growing
+alarm, "Ahoy!"
+
+Ha--ha--ha!
+
+Wauck!
+
+And then the same peculiar low chuckle.
+
+"Mr Mark, sir, this is hard on a man," whispered Billy.  "I want to run
+away, sir, but--"
+
+"Ugh!  You coward!"
+
+"No, sir, I aren't a coward.  If I was I should run, but I can't run and
+leave you alone, and that's why it's so hard."
+
+"I tell you it's the birds, Billy.  Let's shout together."
+
+"That aren't no birds, sir.  It's things as it's best not to talk about.
+Now, look ye here, Mr Mark, sir: I'll run away with you, and fight for
+you, or do anything you like, sir, or I stands by you till I drops, so
+don't say I'm a coward."
+
+"You are, to be afraid of birds.  Ahoy!"
+
+Ha--ha--ha!
+
+Wauck!
+
+Chuckle--chuckle--chuckle!  A regular gurgle in a hoarse throat.
+
+"I won't stand it.  You come on," cried Billy, seizing Mark by the hand.
+"This way."
+
+Mark did not resist, and the little sailor hurried him along as fast as
+the nature of the ground would allow; and with the full intention of
+going right towards where they had left the others, at the end of the
+bitumen river, he went right in the opposite direction, and farther and
+farther into the wildest recesses of the jungle.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.
+
+HOW MARK AND BILLY FOUND A STRANGE BED.
+
+For a good half-hour they toiled on through cane-woven thickets, in and
+out of wildernesses of huge tree-trunks, many of which had great flat
+buttresses all round, which were difficult to climb over or round, while
+other trees seemed to be growing with their roots all above ground,
+green, snaky, twisted and involved roots, that necessitated sheer
+climbing before they could get by.  Now and then they came to an opening
+where the trees had been burned down by volcanic fires, and here all was
+light and beauty in the evening sunshine.  Again rocky crevices ran
+through the forest, giving them terribly hard work to get over, perhaps
+to come at once upon some boiling spring, whose water, where it trickled
+away and cooled, was of a filthy bitter taste that was most
+objectionable.  Then again there were blistering pools of mud ever
+rising in a high ebullition, and bursting with strange sounds.
+
+But all these were similar to those they had before encountered, and the
+hiss of steam, when they stepped upon some soft spot, ceased to alarm
+them with dread of serpents, but merely made them avoid such spots in
+favour of firmer ground.
+
+Such signs of the volcanic nature of the isle were constant, and no
+matter which way they dragged their weary steps it was to find tokens of
+the active or quiescent workings of the subterranean fires.
+
+At last, just as they were ready to drop, and the sun was rapidly
+disappearing, as the ruddy sky in the west plainly showed, they
+staggered out of a more than usually painful part of the jungle into a
+rugged stony opening, with the rock rising nearly sheer for hundreds of
+feet, and to the intense delight of both, the ruddy light of the sky was
+reflected from a rock pool, which glowed as if it were brimming with
+molten orange gold.
+
+"Water!" gasped Billy.  "Come on."
+
+"Be careful!" panted Mark; "it may be bitter or hot."
+
+As he spoke the little sailor threw himself down, and plunged his fist
+within, scooped out a little, tasted it, and then uttered a shout of
+joy.
+
+"Drink, my lad," he said hoarsely, and Mark followed his example,
+placing his lips to the surface as he lay flat down and took in long
+refreshing draughts of cool sweet water that seemed the most delicious
+thing he had ever tasted.
+
+"Talk about grog!" cried Billy, as he raised his face to take breath,
+and then he drank again; "I never had grog as come up to this," he
+continued.  "Ah!"
+
+Satisfied at length, they sat there at the edge of the pool looking up
+at the rocky scarp before them, part of which glowed in the sunlight
+reflected from the sky, while the rest down by where they sat was bathed
+in purply shadows which were rising fast.
+
+"Seems to me, my lad, as we must look out for a night's lodging.  What
+says you?"
+
+"Yes, Billy, we must get some shelter for the night.  But let's try one
+more shout."
+
+The little sailor protested, but Mark raised his voice as loudly as he
+could in a stentorian "Ahoy!" and as if the occupants of the forest had
+kept close upon their heels there came the same sneering laugh, and the
+hoarse croaking cry from among the trees.
+
+"There! see what you've done!" groaned Billy.  "Who's to go to sleep
+anywhere near here if they're arter us?"
+
+"Nonsense!" cried Mark.  "They'll go to roost directly, and we sha'n't
+hear them again."
+
+"Roost!  Nay, lad, that sort o' thing never roosts.  Let's get on."
+
+"Get on! why, it will be dark directly, and we shall be falling down
+some precipice, or getting into one of those horrible bogs.  We must get
+some shelter where we can."
+
+There seemed to be no difficulty about that, for a few feet up the face
+of the rock, and where it could easily be reached, there was a
+depression which looked as if two huge blocks of stone had fallen
+together, one leaning against the other, and as, after a great deal of
+persuasion, Billy Widgeon climbed up to it with his companion, they
+found this really to be the case, save that instead of its being two
+blocks of stone it was two beds of strata lying together, in such a
+position that they formed a cavern some ten-feet high and as many wide,
+and with a peculiarly ribbed and cracked floor.
+
+It was rapidly growing too dark to see of what this floor was composed,
+the gloom being quite deep as soon as they were inside.  Neither could
+they explore the interior, though it seemed to form a passage going in
+for some distance; but a careful searching of the floor and the
+neighbourhood of the entrance failed to show them the slightest trace of
+animal occupation.
+
+"But it's very risky work, Mr Mark, sir, coming and settling down in a
+rat's hole of a place like this."
+
+"My dear Billy, if you can show me a better place, one where we shall be
+in shelter from the rain and the heavy dew, I shall be glad to go to it.
+I don't like sleeping on stone floors."
+
+"Well, for the matter o' that, I daresay I can get enough o' them big
+leaves, nice dry uns, to make you a bed, Mr Mark, sir, and I will.  But
+hadn't we better try somewheres else?"
+
+"There will not be time, man," cried Mark angrily.
+
+"All right, Mr Mark, sir! but don't you blame me if anything happens."
+
+"No.  Come along, and let's be thankful for finding such a shelter.  We
+may as well get as many leaves as we can."
+
+They found time to collect three loads of large dry palm leaves, and as
+they carried the last armful into the rocky hole, the night was quite
+closed in, and the crescent moon shone over the trees and silvered their
+tops faintly, while a soft wind whispered among them and reached the
+nostrils of the occupants of the cave, bearing with it the peculiar salt
+strange odour of the sea.
+
+"Say," said Billy, as they sat upon their heaps of palm leaves gazing
+out of the mouth of their resting-place, "think of our being 'bliged to
+stop in a hole like this when you can smell the sea."
+
+"Not a bad place," said Mark; "and I wouldn't mind if I could feel sure
+that my father and mother were not in trouble about me."
+
+"My father and mother wouldn't trouble about me," said Billy, "even if
+they know'd.  But do you really think it was birds as made those noises,
+Mr Mark, sir?"
+
+"I feel sure it was."
+
+"I wish we was birds just now.  How we could fly right over the wood and
+get back to the camp!  Wonder what's for supper?"
+
+"Birds," said Mark, stretching himself in a comfortable position upon
+the palm leaves, and gazing at the great stars in the purple sky.
+
+"Ah, yes," said Billy, "birds! and they'll be roasting at the fire now,
+and spittering and sputtering, and smelling as nice as roast birds can
+smell.  I wish we was in camp."
+
+He sighed and stretched himself on the leaves, grunting a little as he
+felt the hard rock through.
+
+"Aren't you very hungry, Mr Mark, sir?"
+
+"No; I feel too fidgety about my father looking for us to want any
+food."
+
+"Ah, it's a bad thing to--Yah!--hah--hah--hah!"
+
+Billy finished his sentence with a tremendous yawn, and then rustled the
+leaves as he tucked some more of them beneath him.
+
+"Roast birds," he muttered; "and then there'll be some o' them big
+oyster things all cooked up in their shells!"
+
+Mark did not answer, for though in his mind's eye he saw the camp fire,
+he did not see the cooking, but the cooks, and thought of how anxious
+his mother would be.
+
+"I should have said they was mussels," said Billy, in a low voice.
+
+"What, Billy?"
+
+"Them shell-fish, sir, more like oysterses than--I mean more like muss--
+muzzles--oysters--muzzles--muzzles!"
+
+Mark raised himself upon his arm and looked at his companion, who was
+dimly-seen in the starlight.
+
+"Why, Billy, what's the matter?" he said.  "Sleeping uneasy?"
+
+"Easy it is, sir.  Eh?  Sleep.  No, Mr Mark, sir.  What say?--sleep,
+sir.  No; wide-awake as you are, sir."
+
+"That's right," said Mark, gazing out once more at the softly glowing
+stars.  The crescent moon had gone down in a bed of clouds, and all
+around the darkness seemed to grow deeper and softer, till it was as if
+it could be touched, and everything was wonderfully still, save when
+there came from the distance a sharp whistling that might have been from
+a bird, but was more probably escaping steam.
+
+Now and then Mark could see strange lights glowing, and then feel a
+tremulous motion such as would be felt at home when a vehicle was
+passing the house, and as if this might be thunder, it was generally
+after he had noticed a flashing light playing over the trees, sometimes
+bright enough to reveal their shapes, but as a rule so faint as to be
+hardly seen.
+
+He thought about his father going back wearied out with a long search.
+Then he wondered whether he had gone back, and at last the idea struck
+him as strange that the party had not fired a gun at intervals to
+attract their attention.
+
+He had just arrived at this point, and was considering whether a light
+he saw was a luminous fungus, when a strange noise saluted his ear, a
+sound that for the moment he supposed to have come from the forest.
+Then it seemed to be in the cave, and he was about to spring up, when he
+realised that the noise was made by Billy Widgeon, who was too tired to
+let his nervous and superstitious dread trouble him any more, and was
+now sleeping as heavily as if he were in his bunk on board the _Petrel_.
+
+Mark felt a curious sensation of irritation against a man who could go
+off to sleep so calmly at a time like this, but the man's words came to
+mind about his father and mother, and at last Mark was fain to say to
+himself, "If the poor fellow can sleep why shouldn't he?"
+
+For his own part he had quite come to the determination that he would
+get what rest he could as he lay awake watching, for he knew that,
+anxious as he was, it would be impossible to sleep.  Besides, he wanted
+to listen for the possibility of a signal being made.  A gun fired
+would, he knew, be heard an enormous distance, and it would give him an
+idea of the direction in which the camp lay.
+
+All this while Billy Widgeon lay snoring loudly, but by degrees, as Mark
+watched the stars that seemed to float over the jungle, the heavy
+breathing became less heavy, and by slow degrees softer and softer till
+it quite died away, and all was perfectly still to Mark Strong as he lay
+watching there.
+
+But it was only in imagination that he watched, for nature had played a
+trick upon the lad, and in spite of his determination to keep awake, in
+spite of his anxiety, had poured her drowsy medicine upon his eyes.
+
+For Mark had fallen into as deep a sleep as his companion.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY NINE.
+
+HOW THE ROARING SPOT WAS FOUND.
+
+Ha, ha, ha!  Ha, ha, ha!
+
+Wauck!  Wauck!  Wauck!
+
+There was a loud rustling of palm leaves, and Mark Strong and Billy
+Widgeon sprang to their feet and stared at one another as the warm glow
+that precedes sunrise penetrated the cave and lit up their faces.
+
+"What was that?"
+
+"I don't know.  Did somebody call?"
+
+"I--I thought I heered them things again," said Billy in a whisper.
+"Why, Mr Mark, sir, you've been asleep!"
+
+"I'm afraid I have.  Have you?"
+
+"Dunno, sir.  Well, I suppose I have.  I feel like it.  But I didn't
+mean to, sir."
+
+"Neither did I mean to," said Mark.  "I wonder I did go.  How chilly it
+is!"
+
+"Yes, sir, like one feels in the early watches.  Why, it's quite
+to-morrow morning!"
+
+"Or this morning, Billy."
+
+"Yes, sir, that's what I mean.  Now, then, what's the first thing, Mr
+Mark, sir?  What do you say to finding a coky-nut tree?  I'll swarm up
+and get the nuts."
+
+"Let's start at once, and try to get to camp.  That will be better than
+cocoa-nuts.  Now, then, the sun is rising on our right; then it seems to
+me if we keep it there, upon our right, and walk as straight as we can,
+we shall hit the shore somewhere near our camp."
+
+"Then you won't look for the Gutty Perchy Road, sir?"
+
+"No, no; they would not have stayed there.  We will try and get through
+the jungle--we must get through it, Billy, so come along."
+
+"Shall I go first, sir?" said the little sailor.
+
+"No, I'll go first.  I wish we had lights to look a little further into
+this hole.  Why, Billy, the floor's lava!"
+
+"Yes, sir, I thought it was."
+
+"You thought it was what?" cried Mark, staring.
+
+"What you said, sir."
+
+"Never mind, come along," said Mark; and he went to the edge of the cave
+and stood looking out like a pigeon in one of the holes of a dove-cot
+preparing to take flight.
+
+"See anything, sir?"
+
+"Trees, rocks, sky; nothing more," said Mark; "but the sea must be
+straight before us, and it cannot be many miles away."
+
+He turned and began to climb down backwards, and reached the level at
+the bottom of the steep scarp, when, looking up, he could not help
+smiling at the great care Billy displayed in descending, for he lowered
+his short legs over the edge as he held on and began feeling about in a
+most absurdly comical manner for the nearest projection which he could
+touch.
+
+He was in this position, about fifteen feet above the spot where Mark
+waited, when, with a noise that was almost deafening, the frightful roar
+which had startled the whole party burst out from just inside the cave
+where they had slept.
+
+The sound was so awful in its intensity that Mark shuddered as he stood
+there almost petrified, while at the first burst poor Billy Widgeon
+loosed his hold and dropped down shrunken up together as if he were
+trying to emulate the manner of a hedgehog, and as he fell, he just
+touched the ground, sprang up, and began to run.
+
+"Mr Mark, sir, run--run, my lad, run!"
+
+To his credit, be it said, that he stopped short and waited for Mark to
+come up, terrified as he was, and then sent him on first, while he
+covered him from behind.
+
+Neither spoke for some time, but, regardless of direction, ran where
+they could, but oftener walked, or even crept, through the dense forest,
+always with the sensation that the huge beast that had uttered that
+frightful roar was crashing through the trees on their track.
+
+By degrees though they recovered their confidence somewhat, gradually
+realising that there was no sound behind them, and at last they paused
+panting and exhausted to wipe the perspiration from their brows, and
+listen.
+
+"Hear it coming, Mr Mark, sir?"
+
+"No," said Mark after a few moments, "I can hear nothing."
+
+"Jim-a-ny!" panted Billy, "think of us a-going to sleep in his hole.
+Oh, Mr Mark, sir, what an awful beast!  I thought he'd ha' had me.  I
+was that scared I couldn't let go for a moment."
+
+"Did you hurt yourself much?"
+
+"Hurt myself!  I should think I did.  I must have half my bones broken.
+But what a roar!"
+
+"What was it like?"
+
+"Like, sir!  Oh, I can't tell you what it was like."
+
+"What! didn't you see it?"
+
+"Don't you talk so loud, my lad, or we shall have him arter us."
+
+"No, I won't, Billy; but did you see it?"
+
+"'Cause, if we gets it arter us, it's all over."
+
+"Yes, yes, I know that; but I want to know what sort of a beast it was.
+Did you see it?"
+
+"Did you hear it roar, Mr Mark, sir?" said Billy, still fencing with
+the question.
+
+"Of course I did.  What was it like?"
+
+"Well, you see, I didn't, as I may say, exactly see it, Master Mark,
+sir, so I wouldn't venture to say what it was like."
+
+"But you saw something?"
+
+"Well, I won't deceive you, Mr Mark, sir; I didn't see nothing."
+
+"I wish you had, Billy.  But what an escape!  The thing must have been
+asleep when we went there last night, and did not wake till we came
+away.  But we've found out its hole."
+
+"Yes," said Billy, dolefully, as he rubbed one leg; "we've found out its
+hole, Mr Mark, sir, only, as you may say where is it?"
+
+"Why, we could find our way back there, surely?"
+
+"I don't believe nobody could find their way.  I can't, sir.  You're
+always going where you don't want, and turning up somewhere else.  I
+feel like the needle in the bottle of hay, sir, and give it up."
+
+Mark stood listening, but all was still.
+
+"Shall we go back and try if we can see it?" he whispered.
+
+"Go back!  Now, my dear lad, don't.  Don't think about that.  Ugh! after
+such an escape!  Come along."
+
+"Wait a moment.  Where's the sun?  It should be on our right."
+
+"Well, it's on our left, now," said Billy.
+
+"Then we've been going farther away from the sea.  Well, we can't go
+back."
+
+"Go back, my dear lad! no! let's go this way, and make on till we come
+to somewhere.  Anything, so as to get right away from that horrible
+beast."
+
+In spite of his proposal to go back and try and get a glimpse of their
+enemy, Mark felt more disposed to hurry away; and for the next two hours
+they climbed and struggled on, half aware, and yet not willing to alter
+their course, that they were going farther from help.
+
+Mark said so at last.
+
+"But we don't want help so much now, sir, as miles of distance.  Let's
+get away, right away, Mr Mark, and when we feels we're safe then we'll
+talk about going for camp."
+
+Mark said no more, but trudged on, and struggled through the trees, with
+the ground growing higher and higher, till at last they came upon a
+sight which made Billy Widgeon try to throw up his cap; but he only
+struck it against a bough, and then made a dash forward in the direction
+of something which quite for the moment overmastered all his feelings of
+dread.
+
+"Food!" he shouted; and Mark saw that he was making for a tall cocoa-nut
+tree; but before he had gone many steps the report of a gun rang out on
+the morning air, and this brought both to a stand-still.
+
+"Ahoy!" they shouted as nearly as they could together, and a
+faintly-heard shout answered their call.
+
+"Hurrah!" shouted Mark, and he hailed again and went in the direction of
+the response, closely followed by Billy, who cast longing eyes on the
+cocoa-nuts.
+
+The rest was but a matter of time, and was achieved by keeping up the
+calls and answers.  Sometimes they found they were going wrong, but this
+was soon rectified, and in half an hour Mark's eyes were gladdened by
+the sight of his father's face, as he forced his way out of a
+cane-brake.
+
+"Oh, father," the lad exclaimed, "I am so sorry!"
+
+"Oh, Mark, my boy, I am so glad!" cried the captain, catching him by the
+shoulders, and then pressing him tightly to his breast.
+
+"You young dog!  Here, Strong, give me leave to thrash him, and I'm
+yours truly for ever.  Why, Mark, my dear boy, what a stew you put us
+in!  There, if you'll go and look where I lay down to sleep for half an
+hour you'll find some tears on the leaves."
+
+"I'm so sorry, Major O'Halloran."
+
+"Bedad, and it don't matter, for we've found you again.  Ugh! you ugly
+young ruffian! to go frightening your father into fits."
+
+"It was an accident, sir."
+
+"That's what your father said.  He would have it that you had gone down
+a hole to see what made the mountain burn, and couldn't get out."
+
+"If you wouldn't mind, Mr Mark, sir, I'd like to shake hands," said
+Small, "afore I punch Billy Widgeon's head."
+
+"It wasn't his fault, Small," cried Mark, shaking hands heartily with
+the boatswain before turning to the captain.
+
+"Was my mother very much frightened, father?"
+
+"I hope not, my lad."
+
+"Hope not!  What! haven't you been back to camp?"
+
+"Not likely, my boy.  We found you did not come back so we went off from
+the mud-stream path to the right and searched for you till we could not
+see, and have fired off half our ammunition for signals."
+
+"But we went off to the left, father," said Mark.
+
+"And so we got farther and farther apart, so no wonder we did not find
+you."
+
+"Did you shout?"
+
+"Shout!" cried the major, who sounded very Irish that morning.  "Why,
+can't you hear, boy, how dumb we are with yelling after you!"
+
+"Never mind, you are found, so now for camp.  They must be very anxious.
+But you are none the worse?"
+
+"No, father, not a bit; only hungry."
+
+"But did you hear that roar soon after daybreak?"
+
+"Hear it!  Yes," cried Mark; "it came out of the cave in which we
+slept;" and he related their experience.
+
+The captain looked at the major without speaking.
+
+"Oh, I'm ready," said the latter with a look of determination.  "Let's
+have the rest of what we have to eat, and then set the matter at rest."
+
+"We will," said Captain Strong, "and then we shall have a better right
+to face those in camp.  I don't like for our visit to be purposeless."
+
+Billy Widgeon's eyes glistened as they found a level place to sit down
+and make a fairly hearty meal, supplemented by some fruit picked by the
+men during the laborious search, which had only ceased on the previous
+night when they were quite exhausted.
+
+As they made their sylvan breakfast the question was discussed as to the
+possibility of finding the cave again.  Mark felt that he could not but
+express his willingness to try, and soon after, with guns loaded ready,
+they rose and set off in quest of the monster that threatened to make
+their life a penance.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY.
+
+HOW THE ROAR PROVED TO BE--A ROAR.
+
+The task proved more simple than Mark had anticipated, and he went on,
+step by step, learning how it was that the Indians tracked their prey.
+Every now and then he was at fault, but on these occasions some other
+eye detected the trampled ferns, a broken twig, or a cane dragged out of
+place, and the result was that in a couple of hours the opening was
+reached where the rocky scarp rose up high toward the mountain, and the
+mouth of the cave yawned open before them.
+
+Here there was a pause.  What to do next?
+
+"It's awkward," said the major, "supposing our friend's at home.  I
+don't want to go first, and I'm sure I don't want you to go, Strong."
+
+"Shall we send Billy Widgeon in first, sir?" said Small.  "He's a little
+un, and knows his way.  Here, Billy, where are you?"
+
+An inarticulate noise above their heads made them turn, to find that
+Billy had rapidly climbed a tree.
+
+"Well, of all the cowards!  Here, you come down," cried Small.
+
+He pointed his gun at the little sailor, and vowed so heartily that he
+would fire at his legs if he did not descend, that Billy swung himself
+reluctantly on to a thin elastic branch, and let himself swing lower
+till he could touch the ground.
+
+"I think the best way will be to get a fire, and as soon as the brands
+are well alight one of the men must go underneath and throw them in,
+while we stand ready with our guns."
+
+The plan was carried out; and eager now to show that he was not so great
+a coward as the boatswain had suggested, Billy volunteered to throw in
+the burning wood.
+
+All was ready.  The captain, major, Mark, and Small, with loaded pieces,
+and the latter with instructions to fire calmly and with good aim, and
+Billy with the burning wood, which was of a resinous nature, and burned
+fiercely.
+
+"Now, my lad," said the captain after a glance round, and finally fixing
+his eyes on the mouth of the cavern, which looked black and grim, "when
+I say `Ready!' get well under the cave mouth, climb up a little way, and
+hurl in the burning wood as far as you can."
+
+"But suppose he comes out, sir?"
+
+"If he does, you will be out of sight, and the beast will come right at
+us."
+
+"You won't shoot me, gentlemen?"
+
+"No, man, of course not."
+
+"Nor you, Mr Small," pleaded Billy.
+
+"Lookye here, Billy Widgeon," growled the boatswain, "if you don't do
+your dooty like a man, and chuck them there blazing sticks right into
+the back o' that there hole, I'm blest if I don't."
+
+Billy Widgeon said never a word, but got his wood well ablaze, while the
+captain and major stood right in front of the cave, with Small and Mark
+on their right and left.
+
+"Now, be careful," said the captain; and then Billy Widgeon crept
+cautiously under the mouth of the cave, and then began to climb, with
+the smoke rising from the fire, till he was so high that he could hold
+on with one hand and throw with the other.
+
+"Ready!" cried the captain.
+
+Whizz went the burning brands, so well aimed that they went right into
+the cave, and an unexpected result was produced.  One of these went
+right in, and the other fell upon the bed of palm leaves which Mark had
+occupied.  This began to blaze, the other caught, and in a few minutes
+the interior was full of flame and smoke, the former roaring, and the
+latter eddying out and up the face of the rock.
+
+"Not at home," said the major, as they all stood breathlessly waiting
+for the outburst of the furious monster, which Mark painted mentally as
+something between a lion and a bear, but elephantine in size.
+
+"Think not?"
+
+"No wild beast would stand that without making a run for it."
+
+Hardly had the major spoken when there was a deafening roar, accompanied
+by a rushing sound; Billy Widgeon dropped down, and rolled over, to lie
+among some ferns, crouched together like a ball; Small ran to the
+nearest tree, and peered round it, taking aim, while the other two men
+followed Small's example.  The captain, major, and Mark stood firm, but
+the latter had so hard a fight with self that he would have had but
+little for any furious beast that had charged.  For all the time nature
+kept on saying, "Run for your life!" while education whispered, "Face
+the danger like a man!"
+
+Education won, and Mark stared as he saw his father uncock his piece and
+throw it over his shoulder, while the major began to laugh.
+
+"Well, Mark, there's your wild beast," he said merrily, and he pointed
+up at the mountain.
+
+"I--I don't understand."
+
+"Steam, boy, gas, or something of that kind.  Didn't you see the smoke
+and flame come out with a puff?"
+
+"Yes, I saw that; but don't you think it is a wild beast?"
+
+"No beast could roar like that, my lad," said the captain.  "Don't you
+see that this is one of the ways into the mountain, and every now and
+then it blows off so much steam, or heated air.  It must come from a
+tremendous distance through rocky passages, and the sudden blast makes
+this roar."
+
+At that moment Billy Widgeon raised his head and looked up at them
+curiously.
+
+"Aren't you going to shoot, gen'lemen?"
+
+"Not this time," said the captain.  "There, jump up, and let's get back.
+We shall be able to live here in peace while we get our boat built.
+I'm glad we've solved the problem."
+
+"Well, I'm glad," said the major, "but it's a shabby end to the affair.
+I should have liked to get the monster's head and skin for my room."
+
+"It's a rum un," said Billy Widgeon, climbing up and staring in at the
+hole.  "That's what it is, Mr Mark, sir; it's a rum un."
+
+"What's that?" cried Mark suddenly.  "Here! hi!  Bruff!  Bruff!  Bruff!"
+
+He whistled loudly, and there was a joyous barking heard in the
+distance, and soon after the dog came bounding up from the more open
+ground at the end of the rocky scarp.
+
+"That must be our way, then," said the captain.  "Here, Mark, do you
+think he could lead us home?"
+
+"I don't know, father--let's try," cried Mark, and after the dog had
+given every one a friendly recognition, and received his due meed of
+pats and caresses, he was sent on in front, going forward quite as a
+matter of course; but before they reached the end of the rock-encumbered
+opening, there was a roar of laughter from the men, as Billy Widgeon
+struck an attitude, smiling all over his face, resting his hands upon
+his short knees, and shaking his head.
+
+"A pritty creetur!  Look at that now, Mr Mark, sir!"
+
+All joined in the roar of laughter as the "pritty creetur," to wit,
+Jack, came ambling along, and hopping from rock to rock, having followed
+the dog; and as soon as he reached Billy, leaping upon his back, and
+clinging tightly to his neck, chattering loudly the while.
+
+"Forward!" cried the captain; and, following the dog, the little party
+went on, to find that they had a couple of hours' hard struggle through
+the tangled jungle, at the end of which time a familiar whistling sound
+was heard, one of the mud-pools reached, and from that point, over known
+ground, their course was comparatively easy to the camp, where the
+anxiety of the ladies ceased, though they owned that, knowing how
+difficult travelling was, they were not very much alarmed.
+
+Judging, however, from the face of his mother, Mark rather doubted this,
+while, though as a soldier's wife she would not show it, Mrs O'Halloran
+had evidently passed a bitter night, and when Mark went up to Mary
+O'Halloran to shake hands, that young lady told him it was horribly
+cruel, that he ought to be ashamed of himself, and that she would never
+shake hands with him again.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY ONE.
+
+HOW THERE WAS NO PEACE ON THE BEAUTIFUL ISLE.
+
+Three months glided happily away, during which time there was no renewal
+of the earthquake, the lightning ceased to play about the cone of the
+beautiful mountain, and the roar from the lion's mouth, as Mark and Mary
+christened it, grew gradually less and less audible till it finally died
+away.
+
+It was a busy time, and seemed to pass like magic in that wonderful
+clime of sunshine, verdure, and brightly winged bird and insect.  There
+were occasional showers, such as fall with terrible violence in the
+tropics, but the mornings after were so delicious that the rains were
+welcomed.
+
+There was shooting, and fishing, and fruit gathering, climbing for
+cocoa-nuts, work in abundance, which seemed almost like play; but the
+main task was the journey round to the ship to bring stores, of which
+there were ample, and to commence building a small sailing vessel, which
+would easily convey them all to Singapore.
+
+But this part of the daily work was the only one which was distasteful
+to the men.
+
+"You see, Mr Mark, sir, it's like this here," said Billy.  "Me and my
+monkey's as happy here as the day's long, and so's my mates; for now, as
+Mr Morgan and Stowaway Jimpny and t'other chap's strong as horses
+again, what we says is this here, what call is there for us to want to
+get back to London town?"
+
+"Ah, what, indeed, Billy!" said Mark.
+
+"To smoke and fog and blacks, and black-beadles, and blackguards, and
+colds and coughs, and no sun never shining.  Let's stop here, I says."
+
+"To be sure, Billy!"
+
+"I'm glad you think so, sir.  Jack does, and so does old Bruff; and as
+for David Jimpny, `Let me live and die here,' he says, `for I didn't
+know as there was such places in the world.'  But Mr Small says `No,'
+he says, `We've got to make that there boat,' he says, and he's a
+nigger-driving all day long.  Blow the boat!  I wish as it had never
+been begun, and the gig was burned."
+
+But the making of the boat progressed, and at the end of six months from
+their landing she was finished, fitted with stores, and lay in Crater
+Bay ready for the projected voyage.
+
+This readiness was welcome and unwelcome, for though the idea of getting
+back to civilisation was gladdening for some reasons, and the captain
+longed to give an account to the owners of the _Petrel_ of his
+misfortune, and to get a vessel and men from Singapore to try and save
+all possible of her lading, there was something painful in the idea of
+giving up their deliciously calm and peaceful life.
+
+"I shall never get such shooting again," said the major.  "But duty,
+duty.  'Tention!"
+
+"It has been a pleasant life," said Morgan thoughtfully.  "I don't think
+I could have recovered from that wound any where else so soon."
+
+"Yes, it's pleasant," said Mr Gregory, "but one can't study oneself.
+I've got a wife at home, who must think me dead."
+
+"And I have someone waiting who is to be my wife," said Morgan, "and she
+must think me dead."
+
+The men could not hear these words, or several of them could have spoken
+similarly; and somehow, in spite of the beauty of the place and the
+abundance, with the sun shining constantly, England mentally seen from a
+distance began to appear more and more attractive, and the time was
+coming when the place would be wearisome.
+
+One day, while they were still halting before making a start, the
+captain wishing to make a few more additions to their vessel and then
+take her on a trial trip before venturing with all on board so far, the
+signal for starting came in a very unexpected manner.
+
+David Jimpny, who had grown to be one of the strongest and healthiest
+looking of the men there, proved still to be one of the most useless as
+far as helping in matters nautical.  But in anything relating to trips
+inland he was invaluable.  There was so much of the vagabond spirit in
+him that he liked nothing better than being sent off inland to collect
+palm tops or shoots for cooking like vegetables.  These he would get and
+bring into camp, and, what was more, try experiments on other promising
+things.  He would come back hot and scratched, but generally with an
+eager look in his eyes as he had to announce the discovery of some
+fruit-tree of which there was an abundance, but almost invariably hidden
+in the depths of the jungle.
+
+Off these trees he would bring in a splendid supply of fruit of strange
+look, but often delicious quality, and nothing delighted Mark more than
+a journey to one or other of these sylvan stores.
+
+Upon this special day Mark had to take charge of the camp, for a rule
+was made never to leave the ladies entirely alone.  The island, as far
+as they could make out, was uninhabited, the strange noises heard
+occasionally being invariably attributed to the volcano; but there was
+the possibility of danger coming from without, and it was considered
+advisable that someone should always stay to be on the watch.
+
+Mark had been wandering listlessly about for some time wishing he could
+fish, or shoot, or collect insects--though he might easily have done the
+latter, for an abundance of beautiful butterflies came from the forest
+to settle wherever the skins of fruit were thrown.  But he wanted to be
+free, and it was tiresome, he thought, to be so useless and do nothing
+better than to idle about the camp and watch the cooking--a tantalising
+matter when you could not eat.
+
+It was getting toward afternoon when Bruff, who was with him, lying on
+the sand with his eyes shut and shaking his ears to keep out the flies,
+suddenly sprang up and uttered a low growl.
+
+"What is it, old boy?" cried Mark.
+
+Another growl, and a short snapping bark, which was answered by a
+chattering noise, told that the monkey was coming, and he appeared soon
+after followed by the stowaway.
+
+Something was evidently wrong, for the man was waving his hand wildly,
+and beckoning to him to come.
+
+Mark ran to meet him, to see, as he drew nearer, that Jimpny's face and
+hands were bleeding and his shirt hanging in strips from his shoulders,
+while his staring eyes and open mouth showed him to be suffering from
+excess of terror.
+
+"Why, David, what's the matter?" cried Mark as he ran up to him, the
+stowaway sinking down upon the sand unable to answer, and his breath
+coming and going with a hoarse roaring noise that was terrible.
+
+"Can't you speak?" cried Mark.  "What is the matter?"
+
+The stowaway uttered a few words hoarsely, but nothing was
+comprehensible but "quick!" and "run."  He pointed seaward, though in
+the direction opposite to that which the party had taken that morning on
+their way round to Crater Bay, a journey which familiarity had made
+appear now comparatively short.
+
+Mark looked in the direction in which he pointed, and could see the blue
+water of the lagoon, with to his left the long line of creamy surf and
+to his right the fringe of cocoa-nut trees just beyond the sand.
+
+Jimpny pointed again, and on once more looking searchingly Mark made out
+a flock of the beautiful long-tailed parroquets which haunted the island
+groves, but nothing more.
+
+"Have you seen anything--has anyone touched you?  Oh, I say, David, do
+speak!  What is the matter?"
+
+The stowaway made signs again and pointed, striving once more to rise,
+but sinking back from utter exhaustion.
+
+"Point, then, if you can't speak," cried Mark.  "If the ladies see you
+like this they will be frightened to death."
+
+The man pointed again toward where a long low point ran out into the
+lagoon, fringed with luxuriant growth, but nothing more was visible.
+
+"There, I thought as much!" cried Mark as he saw his mother coming up,
+followed by Mrs O'Halloran, and Mary with them, the latter running on
+in advance.
+
+"What's the matter, Mark?" she cried as she came up--and then, "Oh, Mr
+Jimpny, how you have got scratched!"
+
+"There's nothing the matter, I think," said Mark laughing, for the
+stowaway's face was comical with terror.  "I think David has seen
+another noise, or found a steam snake, like I did."
+
+"No, no," panted the stowaway.  "Boats! pirates! coming!"
+
+"What! where?" cried Mark excitedly, as he looked in the direction
+pointed out; and as he did so Bruff set up the hair about his neck, and
+uttered a fierce and prolonged bark.
+
+For there, just coming into sight beyond the point, was one of the long,
+low, peculiar-looking boats which the Malays call praus, boats which
+have been famous for ages as the means by which the fierce tribesmen
+made their way from place to place, killing and destroying ship and town
+wherever plunder was to be had.
+
+"Down, Bruff! quiet, sir!" cried Mark.  "Quick, every one!  In amongst
+the trees!"
+
+Mrs Strong and the major's wife had hardly comprehended what was wrong
+before they were hurried in among the trees, Jimpny following, limping
+and still breathing hoarsely.
+
+"I was up--up the side of the mountain," he panted, "when I--I saw them
+coming.  There's three boats."
+
+"Three!" cried Mark, peering out from among the trees; and as he looked
+it was to see one prau clear of the point, and another coming slowly out
+into view.
+
+"Do you think they saw us?" said Mary in a frightened whisper.
+
+"No; not they," said Mark.  "They could not, unless they had telescopes
+and were watching; but ah! they'll see that.  Come along, quick!"
+
+He led the way, taking upon himself the guidance of the little party in
+his charge, and together they hurried on through the trees to where the
+huts were erected among the trunks of the cocoa grove.
+
+"They could not see these places unless they landed," said Mark, looking
+sharply about him, "and there is no boat nor anything that would take
+their attention, only that."
+
+"Only what, my boy?" said Mrs Strong eagerly.
+
+"That," said Mark--"the fire.  Jimpny, hold Bruff and don't let him come
+after me.  Lie down, sir.  Let no one else show outside the trees."
+
+"What are you going to do, Mark?" cried Mary.
+
+"Put out the fire," he said quickly.  "It will betray where we are."
+
+He did not hesitate, but going down upon hands and knees crept down the
+sand toward where, in the midst of the coral rocks, the fire was burning
+in what they had called the kitchen.
+
+Fortunately it was clear and glowing, the smoke having given way to
+clear flame, but there was still a faint thread rising, and unless the
+Malays took it for steam from one of the hot springs they might land
+there to see, and if they did, though nothing was visible from a
+distance, the trampled sand and litter of the camp, as well as the
+tracks left by the keel of the boat, would show plainly enough that
+there were inhabitants in the isle.
+
+Those within shelter watched intently as Mark got over the intervening
+space and disappeared behind the rocks, where, using his hands as
+shovels, he rapidly threw on quantities of sand till the fire was
+completely smothered out, and the birds roasting for their dinners
+destroyed.
+
+This task accomplished, Mark crept back, satisfied that if seen by the
+Malays he would be taken for some animal, and as soon as he reached the
+shelter of the trees, rising upright and gazing between the trunks out
+to sea.
+
+The stowaway was right; there were three praus now visible, and Bruff
+was growling angrily, as if he recognised enemies in every long low
+boat.
+
+"What are you going to do?" said Mrs Strong.  "Keep in hiding and let
+them pass?"
+
+"No," said Mark.  "I must get round to Crater Bay and warn them there."
+
+"Yes," said Mrs Strong, "that is right."
+
+"How unfortunate that every one should have gone and left us this
+morning!" said the major's wife.
+
+Mark hesitated for a moment as if making his plans.
+
+"I can't leave you all and go," he said at last.  "You must come with
+me.  It will be a long hot walk; but you must come."
+
+"I'm afraid the pirates have been round there, Mr Mark," said the
+stowaway hoarsely.
+
+"No, no," cried Mrs Strong.
+
+"Which, begging your pardon, ma'am, they seemed to come from that way as
+if they'd been round there."
+
+"You've no business to say that," cried Mark excitedly.  "It is only
+guesswork, mother--Mrs O'Halloran.  Come along, and keep well in among
+the trees.  Bruff, to heel, sir!  You, Jimpny, lead the monkey."
+
+"Yes, Mr Mark, sir; but hadn't I better get a gun?"
+
+"Yes, of course," cried Mark eagerly, and together they ran into the
+officers' quarters, to come forth again, armed to the teeth, to where
+the ladies were waiting on the sand.
+
+"Where is Mrs O'Halloran?" cried Mark, for she had disappeared.
+
+"She ran into the hut," said his mother.
+
+As the captain's wife spoke Mrs O'Halloran reappeared, laden with a bag
+and a couple of bottles.
+
+"You must help me carry all this," she said.  "We may be obliged to take
+to the jungle, and this will keep us from starving."
+
+Mark saw the wisdom of the proceeding, and the load was shared as they
+went on through the loose sand, the lad's heart sinking at the thought
+of Jimpny's words, and he wondered what would be the result if it should
+prove to be true that the pirates had landed and attacked the party in
+Crater Bay.
+
+He kept his thoughts to himself as he pressed on through the loose sand,
+giving an occasional glance through the trees to see what course the
+Malays were pursuing, and seeing clearly that their vessels were coming
+steadily along, evidently with a pleasant wind, while among the trees
+there was not a breath of air, and as they tramped on through the loose
+sand he could see that his companions were beginning to suffer.
+
+There was nothing to be done, however, but to keep on and try to get
+round to Crater Bay.  The stowaway began once about it being impossible
+that day, and Mark felt that it would be a tremendous task; but even if
+they did not, there was the prospect of their getting on past several of
+the points and well out of the sight of the Malays, so that if they only
+got far enough to encounter the boat returning to camp they could warn
+the occupants and then take to the woods.
+
+Mark explained all this to comfort his companions as they tramped
+wearily on, and he had been successful in his efforts, giving comfort to
+his own mind as well, when it was swept away at a stroke, for Jimpny
+crept close up to him and laid his hand upon his arm.
+
+"I say, Mr Mark, sir," he said in a whisper, "do you expect to meet
+them all as they comes back?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But Billy Widgeon told me this morning when they started as they was
+coming back t'other way."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY TWO.
+
+HOW THEY STRUGGLED TO CRATER BAY.
+
+The stowaway's news fell like a thunderbolt, and Mark felt a curious
+chilling sensation come over him, as he tried to keep it from his mother
+and Mrs O'Halloran.  But the latter was quick at seeing there was
+something wrong, and she stopped and asked what it was, and wrung it
+unwillingly from the lad.
+
+"That's bad," she said quietly.  "What do you propose doing?"
+
+Mark stared at her in surprise to see how calmly she took the
+announcement of what might mean destruction, certainly a temporary
+separation from their friends.
+
+"One of us must go back," said Mark, "and try to meet them that way.  I
+will go."
+
+"No," said Mrs O'Halloran; "the force is so small it cannot be divided.
+They may not be coming back that way; and if they do, we must hope and
+pray that they will be keeping a sharp look-out."
+
+"But they may come right back to the camp and find the Malays in
+possession."
+
+"If they are in possession," said Mrs O'Halloran, "it would be
+impossible for you to get along by them to give our party warning."
+
+"Do you think I could get round at the back through the jungle?" said
+Mark, addressing Jimpny.
+
+"No," said the latter.  "I've tried it lots of times.  You couldn't get
+a quarter of a mile through the woods in a day.  There's no getting in
+till you come to the little river."
+
+"And that is past the camp," said Mark sadly.  "Ah!"
+
+The ladies clung together, for at that moment they realised a sensation
+as if some monstrous roller were running slowly along beneath the sands
+and the roots of the trees.  The ground heaved like a wave of the sea,
+the cocoa-nut trees rocked and bent their heads together just as the
+ears of corn do when a breeze sweeps over a field, and then all was
+still once more, save that a low muttering sound as of thunder ran along
+over their heads, leaving them all giddy, and feeling as if the qualms
+of sea-sickness were coming on.
+
+They were to a certain extent familiar with such phenomena, and the
+minute it was over the dread it caused was swallowed up by that which
+was pursuing them, for a glance through the tree-trunks showed that the
+Malays were still coming on.
+
+Mark hesitated for a moment or two, and then feeling that Mrs
+O'Halloran's prompt soldierly advice was for the best, he accepted it,
+and led the way.
+
+Their march grew more toilsome as they kept on, the sand appearing to
+become looser and drifted up in waves among the cocoa-nut palms, while
+the presence of these was alone sufficient to keep them at work
+threading their way in and out till the peculiar growth came to an end;
+and they were stayed by the thick jungle.
+
+Their only way of progression now was by the sands, where the walking
+would be easy in the extreme by comparison, for wherever the tide rose
+and retired the sand was either level and firm or slightly rippled by
+the sinking wave.
+
+But to go along here was to place themselves in full view of the praus,
+and Mark felt that they would certainly be seen.
+
+There was nothing to be done then but risk it or wait till night, while
+to hide till then might mean destruction to the party round at Crater
+Bay.
+
+"Yes," said the major's wife, "we must risk it;" and Mark stepped boldly
+out, gazing anxiously back at the three praus.
+
+They had no means of telling whether they were seen or no; all they
+could make out was that the praus were coming steadily along, sometimes
+sailing, at others, when the wind dropped, being urged forward with long
+oars.
+
+The heat grew more painful as the fugitives kept steadily on, unable to
+select the best road on account of the necessity for keeping close in to
+the trees: but at last, worn out and exhausted, after leaving the
+sheltering rocks where Mark had rested during the storm, far behind,
+they came in sight of one of the points or angles of the island, where
+the land trended round to the north-west, and once past this the way
+would be out of sight of the praus.
+
+With this to inspire them they all exerted themselves to the utmost, and
+reaching the rocks that ran out seaward they struggled by them, for the
+dog to lie down panting, and the monkey to display his distress by
+hurrying to a tree and eagerly picking some of its harsh sour fruit.
+
+It was an example to be followed, though the party did not dare to rest,
+but gladly partook of some of the food Mrs O'Halloran's foresight had
+provided, and this and the firm sand they were now enabled to choose for
+their road, joined to the knowledge that they were screened from the
+enemies' view, gave strength to their efforts as they ate and walked on.
+
+At the end of a mile they reached water--clear, cold, bubbling water--
+refreshed by which they pressed on quite cheerfully till they had passed
+another of the points of land and found double shelter from their
+enemies' gaze.
+
+By this time a strange alteration had taken place in the weather.  The
+sun, which had been shining brilliantly, now gradually changed in
+appearance till it grew copper-coloured; then its light came through a
+thick haze, which gradually darkened, and they were screened from the
+burning rays by a black cloud, which grew more and more dense, and
+seemed to float only a few hundred yards above their heads.
+
+"A bad storm coming," said Mark, "but it may not break till we get to
+the bay."
+
+Judging from appearances, however, it was likely to pour out its waters
+upon them at any moment; while, to add to their excitement, from over
+the jungle there were deep thunderous noises as if the storm were raging
+right in the interior.
+
+The journey seemed interminable, but in spite of the thunder and coming
+darkness they toiled on, keeping a sharp look-out over the lagoon lest
+those they sought should have been in the gloom.
+
+By degrees, though, the obscurity grew less, and seemed to be slowly
+floating in the direction of the praus.  Once there was the wave-like
+motion of the earth again, making them catch at each other to keep
+themselves from falling, and then the sun appeared, growing momentarily
+more bright as it passed out from behind the dense black cloud which was
+gathered about the mountain, rolling along its flanks as they came to an
+opening in the jungle, and then appearing to circle slowly round and
+round.
+
+The hours crept by as they toiled on exerting themselves to the utmost,
+for one of the dreads that oppressed them, now that they were out of
+sight of the praus, was that they would not get to Crater Bay before
+their friends started to go round the other way, though, saving on their
+own account, there was a certain hopefulness about their position, since
+the last they had seen of the praus showed them that they were coming
+their way, and therefore they might not see the gig and its occupants
+after all.
+
+There was no fear of the captain passing the fugitives now, for as
+evening approached the lagoon was perfectly clear and the sky of a
+dazzling blue, but there seemed to be no end to the weary tramp over the
+hot sands, and at last Mary looked so exhausted that they were obliged
+to take shelter under a tree at the edge of the jungle.
+
+"How much farther is it, Mark?" said Mrs Strong.
+
+"About six miles," he replied.  "Look here, Jimpny, we must wait here
+now.  You go on and warn my father, and they'll come back with the
+boat."
+
+"I shall be better soon," said Mary; but there was such a look of
+exhaustion in her eyes that Mark knew she would not be able to proceed,
+and he signed to the man to go on.
+
+The stowaway looked at him blankly, and he repeated his orders.
+
+"Yes, I see," said the man, staring stupidly, as if he were in a dream;
+and starting off, he went on a dozen yards, and then reeled, threw up
+his arms, and fell heavily.
+
+Mark was at his side in an instant to find that the poor fellow was
+perfectly insensible, his face blackened with the heat, and his breath
+coming heavily and in gasps.
+
+"Over exertion," said Mrs O'Halloran as she hurried up.  "The poor
+fellow was done up before we started."
+
+"Will--will he die?" faltered Mark.
+
+"No, no," said the major's wife, "I've often seen men fall out of the
+ranks exhausted like this by hot marches in India."
+
+"But what is to be done?"
+
+"Help me," said Mrs O'Halloran.  "That's it, get your arm well under
+his, close to the shoulder.  Now together."
+
+Mark followed her instructions, and together they dragged the poor
+fellow over the sand, in spite of their exhaustion, right up under the
+trees, and then let him sink down in the shade.
+
+"Now, Mark, you go on and get help," said Mrs O'Halloran.
+
+"And the Malays?" he said.
+
+"They will not see us hidden here among the trees.  They will pass us if
+they come.  Make use of your landmarks, so as to find us, and Heaven
+give you good fortune, my dear boy!"
+
+"No, no," cried Mark.  "I cannot leave you all like this."
+
+"It is to help us," said his mother.  "Mrs O'Halloran is right.  You
+see we can get no farther."
+
+Mark saw that his duty lay in fetching help, and after a sharp look-out
+in the direction from which danger was expected, and another at the
+salient points of the shore, so as to guide him to the point where the
+ladies and the sick man were hidden, he forgot his own fatigue in the
+excitement, and leaving arms, ammunition, and everything weighty, he
+started off alone.
+
+It seemed as if he would never reach that ridge of black rocks which
+formed the eastern curve of Crater Bay, and even when it came in sight
+there was a nightmare-like feeling upon him that he was no nearer.
+
+Then, too, his despairing thoughts would keep getting the mastery, and
+asking him what he was going to do when he reached the bay and found
+that there was nothing visible but the charred hull of the ship, and
+that his friends were gone.
+
+At last, though, he could feel that he was nearing the black ridge; the
+sand began to change from its yellow and white coral look, and became
+dashed with black.  Then it grew blacker, and at last the grains were
+all jetty in colour, and there was the great black pile of basaltic
+rock, with its columns and steps rising higher and higher, and the
+question ever present:
+
+Were his father and the rest all behind there busy over the little smack
+they had built lying now in the safe anchorage of the bay?
+
+He could bear it no longer, and drawing a long breath, he started to
+run, though it was only a feeble trot, till the rocks rose up steeply,
+and he was compelled to climb slowly and painfully with many a slip, but
+always urged by the sensation that if he did not use every effort he
+would be too late.
+
+He had climbed that ridge dozens of times.  He knew the easiest way; but
+now its difficulties were terrible, and in his heated exhausted
+condition he could hardly drag himself up over the last steep block.
+The nightmare-like sensation grew more painful, and he felt that he must
+give way, but that dread of being too late spurred him on till he was on
+the very summit, where he sank down with a groan of despair, for there,
+hundreds of yards from where he lay, right on the other side of the
+western arm of the black crater, was the boat with a white sail spread,
+skimming along so rapidly that in another few moments it was hidden from
+his longing eyes.
+
+He raised himself upon his hands, his eyes staring wildly, his lips
+parting to give utterance to a hoarse cry, but so feeble, that it was
+like the querulous wail of a sea-gull, and as his cry was lost in the
+immensity around, the boat glided onward and was gone, leaving him with
+his spirit as dark as the waters at his feet where they filled up the
+crater that lay between him and the help he had come to seek.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY THREE.
+
+HOW HOPE REVIVED LIKE A SUNSHINE GLEAM.
+
+"What shall I do? what shall I do?" groaned Mark, as he stared at the
+black ridge which ran down to the sea on the other side of the bay.
+
+Then he looked down at the carefully-moored little vessel that lay near
+the old charred and well-stripped hull, and lastly with a sigh at the
+cloud-draped mountain high up to his left, beyond the head of the little
+black-beached bay.
+
+Wearied out, parched with thirst, and with his throat seeming to be
+half-closed up, he tried to give another hail, and then, knowing that
+his feeble voice would not travel across the bay, he descended slowly
+from step to step, from rift to rift.  Sometimes he missed his footing,
+and slipped or rolled down; sometimes he lay for a few moments too much
+exhausted to attempt to rise, till the thought of those who were
+awaiting his return came back to him reproachfully, and struggling to
+his feet once more he continued his descent, gazing anxiously now before
+him in search of the praus, but the calm horizon, illumined by the
+setting sun, showed no sign of enemy, and he continued his descent and
+reached the sands.
+
+"I must get back to them before it's dark," he said to himself; and this
+thought spurred him on to new efforts.
+
+"What a coward I am," he said aloud, "to be damped at such a trouble as
+this!  They will take care that the Malays don't touch them, and we can
+get round to them in the morning."
+
+Some insane idea of getting on board the little vessel that lay in
+Crater Bay came into his mind for the moment, but with only David Jimpny
+for helpmate he felt that such an attempt would be useless, and gave it
+up.
+
+He walked as fast as he could, but the pace was slow, and his feet felt
+heavy in the deep sand, which was once more growing white, and as he
+trudged on, wondering how soon he could get back to where his friends
+were waiting, and whether he would be able to make out the spot in the
+dark, the thought occurred to him that he would be able to guide his
+steps easily enough by means of the luminous rim of the sea, and make
+his presence known by uttering a low call from time to time, when his
+heart gave a tremendous bound, and he stopped as if petrified.
+
+"Mark!  Ahoy!"
+
+There it was again, and turning, trembling in every limb, it was to see
+Morgan on the top ridge of the black rocks between him and the bay,
+distinctly seen against the sky-line, while directly after another
+figure appeared--that of his father.
+
+He took off and waved his cap, for he could not speak, and then,
+suffocating with emotion, overcome by exhaustion, he reeled and sank
+half insensible upon the sands, but only to struggle up once more, and
+try to retrace his steps toward the black rocks.
+
+He was in a kind of dream for the next few minutes--a dream in which
+sea, rocks, sand, and trees were slowly gliding round him.  Then he was
+aroused by a pair of strong arms catching him by the shoulders, and a
+familiar voice crying:
+
+"Why, Mark, my lad, what's all this?"
+
+He could not speak, only stare, and as he looked in the second-mate's
+face another voice rang in his ears:
+
+"He is overcome with walking in the heat.  Hail the lads, Morgan, and
+we'll have him carried to the boat.  Why, Mark, my boy, how foolish of
+you to come--and on such a day!  Here, drink."
+
+The captain held a flask of cool fresh water to his lips, and as he
+drank with avidity the reviving liquid seemed to give clearness to his
+brain, and the troubles there came back to mind.
+
+"Let me help you toward the bay, my boy," said the captain.  "There,
+your trouble's over now.  We'll give you a ride back."
+
+"No, no!  Stop here.  Listen, father," panted the lad; and then in
+agitated tones he told of their position, and of those who were waiting
+for succour among the trees.
+
+The captain started and looked at his son half doubtingly, and as if he
+believed that this was some hallucination; but just then he raised his
+eye, and there, faintly seen in the evening haze, was the long low form
+of a prau just coming out from the projecting land.
+
+"Hah!" he ejaculated, "we have left it too long.  Morgan, go and take
+command, and send here the major, Small, and two men.  We must help them
+to the bay.  No; they are wearied out now, and there is a sick man.  Let
+the major and you get the boat round as quickly as you can.  Follow us
+along the shore--but you are too tired, Mark."
+
+"No, father; I'm better now.  I felt so miserable at seeing you go--
+that's what made me seem ill."
+
+"Luckily Small caught sight of you as we were rounding the corner there,
+and we put back directly.  But you are not strong enough to go.  Turn
+back with Morgan and come on in the boat."
+
+"I must go with you, father," said Mark desperately, "or you cannot find
+the place where they are hidden."
+
+"True," said the captain.  "There, lean on me.  Quick as you can,
+Morgan."
+
+The mate hurried back to where two or three more figures were visible
+now on the fast darkening ridge, while the black and purple clouds about
+the mountain peak seemed to grow richer in colour and to tremble as if
+there was a hidden light within.
+
+But father and son gave but a glance at this, so anxious were they to
+reach the spot where the ladies were awaiting help.
+
+The forms of two praus were now visible for a few moments and then they
+faded out, and the darkness came down as if poured out of the heavens
+upon the sands--a thick transparent darkness through which the stars
+seemed to peer and light up the sea on their left.
+
+They had gone quite half-way before the regular rhythmical beat of oars,
+and the splash and rattle of water beneath the gig's bows were heard.
+Soon after the boat was abreast of them, the waves showing up luminously
+as the oars dipped.
+
+"Now, Mark, go aboard," said the captain.  "You can halt when you think
+we are abreast of the place, and give me a hail."
+
+"No; you want me here," replied Mark.  "I'm not so tired now."
+
+The captain was so anxious that he did not press him; and after a word
+or two to the occupants of the boat, from which the major had sprung to
+join them, they went on.
+
+The walk seemed as if it would never end; but at last Mark pointed to a
+couple of particularly tall palm-trees.
+
+"It was about a hundred yards beyond these, father," said Mark; and as
+his voice was heard a sound or two came off the water, when a low angry
+bark was heard, and then a dull rushing sound of feet.
+
+"Bruff!  Bruff!--where are they, Bruff?"
+
+The dog uttered a joyous whine as he seemed to leap upon them from out
+of the transparent darkness, and five minutes later the ladies'
+anxieties were temporarily at an end.
+
+"There is nothing to mind," the captain said as he helped them down to
+the boat.  "The Malays will no doubt pass us by.  I expect that by
+morning they will be many miles away.  Still it is a bit of a scare."
+
+Neither Mark nor Mrs Strong made any reply; but the stowaway, who was
+pretty well recovered from his exhaustion, whispered to Billy Widgeon
+that he hoped it might be so; and then silence fell upon the boat as
+they rowed slowly back toward the crater, where it was the captain's
+intention to get the ladies on board the little vessel.  But this proved
+to be no easy task in the darkness, and at last it was decided to make
+the sands their couch for the night, and then see what the day would
+bring forth.
+
+Mark was so utterly wearied out, that after partaking of his share of
+the refreshments left, he lay for a few minutes gazing at the
+reflections of the flickering light from the mountain cast upon the sea,
+and then dropped fast asleep, but only to be awakened by a sound like
+thunder reverberating overhead.  It died away and all was silence and
+darkness again; and then all seemed to be nothingness as he fell into a
+dreamless sleep, hardly even conscious of whether a watch was kept.
+
+Mark was awakened by a hand being laid upon his mouth and a voice
+whispering in his ear the one word, "Hush!"
+
+It was dark still and the stars were shining, while every now and then
+there was a flash as of lightning followed by an intense blackness in
+which the pained eyes seemed to repeat the form of the flash.
+
+"What is the matter?" whispered Mark.
+
+"Don't speak, but get up and follow.  The others have gone on.  Above
+all things keep that dog from barking."
+
+"The Malays have come!" thought Mark on the instant, and as he rose he
+looked round; but there was nothing to be seen, and he was wondering
+where the danger lay as he followed his father over the black sand
+towards where the boat was always dragged over the low point beyond the
+rocks, where he had just time to catch Bruff's head and press his hands
+round his pointed muzzle; for from about a couple of hundred yards away
+there came the low muttering of voices, followed by a yawn, and by Bruff
+with a low muttering growl.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY FOUR.
+
+HOW MATTERS GOT TO THE WORST.
+
+It took Mark some minutes to get rid of the confused, half-stupefied
+sensation that remains after a very deep sleep when the sleeper is
+suddenly awakened; but as his head cleared he found himself threading
+his way among the rocks behind his father and crossing the lower part of
+the arm which separated Crater Bay from the lagoon.  Once the highest
+part was cleared and they were descending toward the black waters the
+captain caught his son's arm.
+
+"You may speak now in a whisper," he said.  "The rocks are between us
+and the Malays."
+
+"Have they come then, father?"
+
+"Yes; Morgan heard them come stealing along the lagoon in the darkest
+part of the night, and they are lying less than a quarter of a mile
+away."
+
+"Do they know we are here?"
+
+"I hope not, my boy; but when daylight comes they are sure to come over
+into the bay, and--"
+
+He stopped short, for a vivid light flashed out, and for a moment Mark
+could see the black bay, the wreck, the little cutter-like vessel lying
+by her, and a group of people down below them at the water's edge.
+
+"Lightning?" said Mark.
+
+"No; it is from the mountain."
+
+As he spoke there was a dull vibration and a low rumbling sound, as if
+some heavy body had passed heavily beneath their feet.
+
+"What are we going to do?" asked Mark eagerly.
+
+"Escape if we can," said the captain.  "We cannot take the ladies
+inland.  The jungle about here is impassable."
+
+"Then you are going to steal away?"
+
+"Yes, my lad, if we can get aboard.  We ought to have got the boat
+across last night, Mark, instead of leaving it till now."
+
+"Are they going to get it across the point now?"
+
+"Yes," replied the captain; and at that moment they were joined by
+Gregory, Morgan, Small, and the major.
+
+"Ready?" said the captain.
+
+"Yes," replied Gregory.  "Come along, my lads."
+
+Three men came up and stood waiting for orders, and the major joined the
+captain.
+
+"You understand," said the captain, "there must not be a sound.  If
+there is, we are lost."
+
+"I understand," said Gregory gruffly.
+
+"Have you got everything out?"
+
+"Everything.  She's light enough now."
+
+"Come, major, then," said the captain.  "You must be guard, Mark.  Go
+with the major, and help to take care of the ladies.  No, stop.  Perhaps
+you can help me pick out the best route for the boat, but mind only one
+person has to speak, and that is I.  Get rid of that dog."
+
+Mark hesitated for a moment, and then laying hold of Bruff's ears, the
+dog followed him eagerly to where the ladies stood together shivering
+with anxiety in the darkness.
+
+"Keep Bruff with you, mother," he whispered; and then, after a stern
+order to the dog to lie down, he hurried back over the black sand, and
+found the little party threading its way among the rocks and over the
+ridge to reach the spot where the gig lay drawn out of the water of the
+lagoon.
+
+They all halted for a few moments as Mark joined them, and just then a
+vivid glare of light shone out, showing them plainly the hulls of three
+long low boats lying out in the lagoon, whose waters quivered, and
+looked for the moment as if of molten steel.
+
+Then all was pitchy darkness, and through it came the sound of voices.
+
+"They have seen us," said Morgan excitedly.
+
+"No," said Captain Strong, "we were in the shadow.  Now, then, three on
+each side.  I'll lead.  Slowly does it.  Mark, my boy, go to the stern;
+you may keep it from touching the rock.  Every pound of help will be
+worth something now."
+
+Mark eagerly went as directed, and the next minute, with three strong
+men on either side, the gig was lifted up, and borne softly forward
+almost without a sound, the party listening intently to the loud
+jabbering going on aboard the praus.
+
+The task was fairly easy at first, for it was for some distance over the
+nearly level sand that the gig was carried, but soon rocks began to crop
+up in their path, and in spite of the care exercised the keel of the
+boat suddenly grated loudly upon a projecting piece of stone; an effort
+was made to slew her round slightly to avoid it, and this caused Mr
+Gregory to catch his foot on another block of stone, and nearly fall.
+
+The captain uttered a loud "Hist!" and all stood fast, with beating
+hearts, for a loud voice spoke in Malay, and the jabbering on board the
+boats ceased, as if all were listening to try and make out what the
+unusual noise was ashore.
+
+Just at this moment there was another vivid flash from the mountain, and
+the praus could be plainly seen, while now the little party by the boat
+realised how thoroughly they were in the shadow of the black rocks.
+
+"If there is a blaze like that when we are on the top of the ridge,"
+whispered the captain, "we shall be seen."
+
+Not another word was spoken, and for quite a quarter of an hour there
+was an ominous silence as they all waited for the talking to begin again
+on board the vessels.
+
+But there was not a sound, and it was evident that the crews were
+listening, when suddenly Morgan laid his hand upon the captain's arm,
+and pointed in the direction of the lagoon about half-way between them
+and the praus.
+
+Every one grasped the meaning, and a chill of dread ran through Mark, in
+whose mind's eye wavy krisses were flashed and razor-edged spears
+darted, for there, plainly enough, as shown by the flashing and
+undulating of the luminous creatures of the water, which they knew so
+well, two men were swimming ashore, to see what was the cause of the
+noise.
+
+"It means fighting," said the captain.
+
+"Why not leave the boat, father, and get aboard the cutter at once?"
+
+"How?" said the captain coldly.  "Wade through water five hundred feet
+deep?"
+
+Mark felt as if he could have bitten off his tongue, and then his heart
+seemed to stand still, for there suddenly arose a shriek from the
+lagoon--a shriek that was terrible in its agonising intensity; there was
+the sound of splashing, and the water became ablaze with a beautiful
+lambent phosphorescent light, while there was an outburst of yelling and
+shouting on board the praus, accompanied by tremendous splashing, as if
+the water was being beaten with the oars.
+
+"Quick!  All together!" said the captain hoarsely.  "Now, forward!"
+
+The men were so paralysed with horror as they each for himself pictured
+the fearful scene of two Malay sailors swimming ashore, and being
+attacked by the sharks, that for a few moments no one stirred.  Then
+with the hubbub and splashing increasing, and the water being, as it
+were, churned up into liquid fire, the sides of the boat were seized,
+and it was borne over and among the rocks to the very ridge, and then,
+with a feeling of relief that it is impossible to describe, down lower
+and lower, with the sounds dying out; while Mark, who was last, felt
+that if the horror had been continued much longer, it would have been
+greater than he could have borne, and he must have stopped his ears and
+run.
+
+"I don't think they can hear us now," said the captain.  "Hah!"
+
+There was a tremendous flash, accompanied by a deafening roar from the
+mountain, and the whole of the bay, with its overhanging blackened
+rocks, were for a few moments illumined by the quivering light, so that
+everything was as distinct as if it were noon.
+
+Then all was pitchy blackness again, and the thunderous roar died slowly
+away, as the thunder mutters into silence in a storm.
+
+"That was a narrow escape from being seen," said the captain, cheerily.
+"Two minutes sooner, and we should have been in full view.  All
+together, the ground is getting clearer now."
+
+"If we might only give one good hooray, Mr Mark, sir," said a familiar
+voice, "it would seem to do us good;" and the lad realised that it was
+Billy Widgeon who had been working all along close to his elbow.
+
+Mark felt with the man, for in his own breast there was an intense
+desire to cry out or shout, or give some vent to the pent-up excitement.
+But there was plenty to take up their attention, for the captain, now
+that the ridge was between them and their enemies, hastened their steps,
+in spite of the blackness, so that, after a few slips, and a narrow
+escape of breaking in the bows of the boat through a sudden fall upon an
+awkwardly-placed rock, she was safely run down to the edge of the
+crater, and the oars, mast, and sail replaced.
+
+The next proceeding was to get the ladies on board the little cutter,
+which lay some twenty fathoms from the sands, and in darkness and
+silence they were handed into the gig, and were half-way to the little
+vessel, when, without warning, a vivid light flashed out from the
+mountain, and the oars ceased to dip.
+
+But this was no lightning-like flash, but a continuous glow, which lit
+up jungle, rock, and the black waters of the bay, while every eye was
+turned in the direction of the ridge in expectation of seeing the praus
+plainly standing out in the glare.
+
+Fortunately, the ridge was sufficiently high to conceal the occupants of
+the boat, and in place of the light proving their betrayal, it aided the
+embarkation, the boat going on at the end of the next few minutes, and
+all climbing safely on board.  Then the gig was secured by a rope
+astern, and there was nothing now to be done but wait till daylight, and
+then trust to being able to escape by running southward along the lagoon
+before the praus could get round the northern arm of the little bay.
+
+"Look at that," cried Billy Widgeon suddenly, as the light flashed out
+as quickly as it had appeared, the glowing scene changing
+instantaneously to the most intense darkness, while now a peculiar odour
+began to pervade the air, a suffocating hot puff coming from the land,
+charged with sulphurous vapours.
+
+Everything was ready for a start, but there was one thing needful,
+light, for the risk was too great to attempt to get round the southern
+point in the darkness.  It was dangerous with the gig, but they had
+learned the positions of the rocks by heart, and could come round now
+with ease.  With a boat drawing so much water, however, as the cutter,
+it was different, and the course necessary so intricate, that,
+tremendously in their favour as a start would now be, the captain dared
+not run the risk.
+
+"It's death to stay," said Gregory, as they stood in a group waiting for
+day.
+
+"It's death to go," said the captain gloomily.  "One touch on a sharp
+rock, and we shall fill, or be fast."
+
+"Well, Strong," said the major, "I don't like to interfere in your
+navigating matters, but in this case, as a soldier, I say if we are to
+die, let's die like Englishmen trying our best."
+
+"We are trying our best, Major O'Halloran," said the captain coldly.
+
+"Yes, my dear fellow; but for Heaven's sake let's start."
+
+"What should you do, Mark?" said the captain, laying his hand on his
+son's shoulder.
+
+Mark was silent for a moment or two, and then said huskily:
+
+"I don't like going against your opinion, father, but I should start
+now."
+
+"In the darkness?"
+
+"Yes.  It seems to be our only chance."
+
+The captain made no verbal reply, but took out his knife, and stepping
+to where the rope passed out from the stern, mooring them to a crag of
+rock that seemed to rise from unfathomable depths, he divided the
+strands, and the rope fell with a splash in the water.  Then, going to
+the bows, where the other rope ran to one of the timbers of the
+_Petrel_, he cut that, and there was another splash.
+
+Then giving his orders, a couple of the men passed sweeps over the side
+with the greatest of care, and the head of the cutter began to turn, and
+she was moving slowly toward the mouth of the bay when once more the
+intense darkness was cut as by a knife, and the little vessel seemed to
+be destined to have a light as clear almost as day for making her way
+round into the lagoon, where she could catch the wind and escape.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY FIVE.
+
+HOW NATURE SEEMED A FOE.
+
+The distance was not great, and as Captain Strong gazed before him,
+knowing, as he did, the perils to be encountered, he hesitated, and was
+disposed to stay.  But the first step had been taken, and, giving his
+orders in a whisper, he went to the helm, while Gregory and Morgan
+prepared to hoist the sail, and the men bent steadily to their long
+oars.
+
+The light increased, and there seemed to be nothing to prevent the
+little vessel from passing safely round the southern point, for the
+water looked smoothness itself; but none knew better than the captain
+the rocks that were in his path, while away to his right over the
+northern arm of the bay lay three praus teeming with bloodthirsty savage
+men who would be ready to rush in pursuit the moment they were seen.
+
+It was a painful dilemma for the captain, who had, however, been longing
+to make his present venture, but shrank therefrom as too risky till
+opinions other than his own urged his attempt.  But there was his
+position.  If he kept to the darkness, wreck seemed certain; if to the
+light, he must be seen.
+
+And now the light was most vivid, but still he kept on, the little
+cutter gliding slowly on over water that seemed to be golden, while Mark
+held his breath as he watched the northern point till by slow degrees
+first one and then another and then the third of the praus came full
+into view with their rough rigging and cordage distinctly seen in the
+glowing light.
+
+Other eyes than Mark's watched the praus, and it was a matter of
+surprise to all that the cutter went on and on to the second passage
+through the rocks off the south point, round which, if they were
+fortunate, she would be able to pass--the first passage being only safe
+for the gig--while the praus, if they started in pursuit, would have to
+sail out quite half a mile before they could round their point, and as
+great a distance back, which would give the fugitives a good start along
+the lagoon.
+
+No one spoke as the cutter glided slowly on, the sweeps dipping
+regularly and almost without a sound.  For fully five minutes this
+continued, but to all on board, as they crouched down for the shelter of
+the low bulwark, it seemed more like five hours.  There they were in
+full sight of the praus, but not a sound reached them, and in a whisper
+the captain said to Mark, who was at his side:
+
+"They must be all asleep.  Oh for a little wind!"
+
+But there was not a breath of air nor even a hot blast from the
+mountain, and in spite of the agonising desire to escape they could only
+creep slowly over the golden water in a terribly sluggish motion, though
+two men toiled hard now at each sweep.
+
+Suddenly, and with a spontaneity which showed how suddenly they had been
+perceived, a tremendous yell arose from the occupants of the praus.
+
+"Now, Strong," cried the major, as a thrill of horror ran through the
+occupants of the little cutter, "war is declared."
+
+"Be ready with that sail," said the captain; but his words were not
+needed, for his two officers were standing with the ropes in their
+hands, and at a word the mainsail would have been hoisted.
+
+The yelling continued and the thrill increased, for from moment to
+moment the escaping party expected to hear the sharp ring of the brass
+guns of the Malays and to have their tin bullets whizzing overhead.
+
+It was a curious position, for the yelling of the Malays was as that of
+so many wild beasts unable to reach their prey, the long low spit of
+rocky sand lying between them and the bay, and near as they were now,
+they could only attack by rowing or sailing right out to where the
+current ran swiftly and tumultuously about the point, rounding it, and
+then making straight for the bay.
+
+"They are going to fire," said the captain quietly as he stood at the
+tiller; "everyone but the men at the sweeps lie down or keep below."
+
+"Which order does not apply to me, Mark," said the major coolly.  "I'm
+an officer.  Lie down, sir!  Do you want to be shot?"
+
+"Certainly not, sir," replied Mark, who, in spite of his dread and
+excitement, could not help feeling amused at the major's satisfied air,
+and the way in which he seemed to play with his gun.
+
+Bang!  A sharp ringing report from a lelah as the praus began to move,
+and the charge of tin bullets came screaming overhead as the report
+echoed from the rocks that surrounded the bay.
+
+"Bad shot at close quarters," said the major; "and they are moving off.
+Can't you whistle for the wind and let's show them our heels!"
+
+"The wind will come as soon as we get out beyond the shelter of the
+point," said the captain.  "Pull, my lads."
+
+The men tugged at the long sweeps, but the cutter was so substantial and
+heavily-built that she moved very slowly through the water, beside
+which, it was extremely nervous work to keep on pulling while at
+intervals of a few minutes there came a shot from one or other of the
+receding praus.  Still they progressed, and if once they could get over
+a few hundred yards there was a prospect of their clearing the rocks off
+the south point and getting well along the lagoon.
+
+Shot after shot, some whistling by the mast, some striking the water,
+and others going before or behind, but not one touched the cutter, and
+as the three praus rowed out and grew more distant the practice became
+more wild.
+
+"Ah!" said the major, "being shot at is very exciting; but I don't think
+I like it after all.  How are you setting on, Mark?"
+
+"I'm all right, sir."
+
+"Well, ladies, we shall not have breakfast till two hours after
+sunrise," said the major, as he bent over the entrance to the rough
+cabin where they were sheltered, "so I should advise a short nap."
+
+A sad smile was the only reply to the major's cheery remark, and he
+nodded and then sighed as he turned to the captain.
+
+"Cease firing, eh?" he said as there was a cessation.  "They must be
+near the end of the point.  Now, Strong."
+
+"In another ten minutes they will be round it, and--what's that,
+Gregory?  Did we touch on a rock?"
+
+"No," said the mate.  "It's deep water here."
+
+There was another shock as if the cutter had gone upon a rock; but she
+went slowly on.
+
+"Earthquake," said the major.  "The mountain seems uneasy."
+
+Almost as he spoke there was another shock communicated through the
+water, which suddenly boiled up and eddied about them, making the cutter
+rock to and fro and then roll heavily.
+
+"Pull, my lads!" said the captain; and the men tugged furiously as their
+commander looked anxiously out toward the north point, round which the
+praus were faintly seen in the glow from the mountain, and then gazing
+round him at the black rocks of the little bay and its uneasy waters.
+
+"No fear of their pulling," thought Mark, "if they feel as I do in this
+black hole!"
+
+In fact the men were thoroughly sharing the horror of the lad, and
+sparing no efforts to get out of the water-filled ancient crater into
+the smooth lagoon.
+
+For the black water that always lay so smooth and calm was now rapidly
+changing its character, and there was no doubt that a tremendous amount
+of volcanic action was going on beneath their feet.  The surface heaved
+and eddied; waves rose in unexpected places; huge bubbles rushed to the
+top from the terrible depths below and burst with a loud puff.  And all
+the time the cutter swayed and seemed to be receiving a succession of
+blows below water-mark, always suggesting rocks about her keel.
+
+But still with the indomitable energy of Englishmen the long oars were
+used, and the little vessel moved forward till they were so near the
+point that in another ten minutes the captain felt that they would have
+the wind and be able to sail steadily along between the rocks where he
+had mapped out and sounded his course.
+
+It was an awful piece of navigation, but he had no fear if they could
+only catch the wind.
+
+Still there was that hundred yards to clear; and now, favoured by the
+currents that played round the north point, it was evident that at least
+one of the praus had cleared it and was coming down upon them straight
+for the bay.  There was the loud rhythmical yelling of the men shouting
+together, and the slow beat of the sweeps as they rowed vigorously;
+while the two long oars of the cutter, only intended to help her out of
+harbour in a calm, hardly gave her headway.
+
+The glare from the mountain increased so that every object was plainly
+seen; and Mark could not help gazing at the wondrous aspect of the
+mountain, the top of which emitted a light of dazzling brilliancy, while
+a thin streak of red seemed to be stealing in a zigzag fashion from one
+side.
+
+Then there was a tremendous burst as if of thunder; a rushing, hissing
+noise, as if a shower of stones had been hurled into the sky; and then
+all was darkness for a few moments.
+
+"Blown out!" said the major laconically as if he were speaking of a
+candle; but the words had hardly left his lips before with a frightful
+explosion the mountain blazed forth again, with the glare far more
+intense, and showing the prau they had dimly-seen before coming on fast.
+
+"The eruption does not seem to scare them," said the captain.
+
+"Well, it does me," said the major.  "It's a kind of warfare I don't
+understand."  Then in a whisper which Mark heard: "Shall we get round
+the point, or must we fight for it?"
+
+"Unless we catch the wind," replied the captain, "they will be down upon
+us first; and then--"
+
+"We must fight for it," said the major coolly.  "Well, fortunately we
+are well prepared.  Look here, Strong, you keep on with your navigation
+as long as you like, while I have the fighting tools ready.  The moment
+retreat is useless, say the word and we'll show fight."
+
+Captain Strong gave his hand a grip, and then stood gazing straight
+before him perfectly unmoved.
+
+The position was one that would have blanched the cheek of the bravest
+man.  For there in front was the prau coming rapidly on, full of
+bloodthirsty pirates, who had ceased firing as they saw their prey
+within their grasp; while behind was the volcano, whose eruption was
+minute by minute growing more terrible, and around them the luridly
+lit-up waters of the old crater in which they were, boiling up, hissing,
+and emitting great puffs of steam, where, as the cutter rocked and
+plunged, it seemed to be only a matter of moments before she would be
+engulfed--sucked down, as it were, into the awful depths below!
+
+Gregory and Morgan stood ready to hoist the sail, but there was not a
+breath of air where the cutter lay.  It was one awful calm, with the
+glow from the volcano seeming to scorch their cheeks, though high
+overhead there was a rushing sound as of a mighty wind setting toward
+the burning mountain, which now began to hurl volleys of red-hot stones
+through the dense cloud which hung above the top, and reflected the
+light far and wide upon the sea.
+
+"Hopeless!" said the captain suddenly.  "Arm, major, and let's fight it
+out like men!  Stop!" he cried; "the boat--the shore!"
+
+"Bah!" ejaculated the major angrily.  "Are we fishes, captain, that you
+want to send us out of the frying-pan into the fire?"
+
+He pointed to the shore as he spoke, and the captain grasped the horror
+of the scene.  It would, he knew, be madness to land, for there were
+signs of fire now in place after place among the rocks; while before
+they could have crowded into the gig and tried to row to sea the Malays
+would have been upon them--shut in as they were in the bay, which was
+literally a trap.
+
+Just then, too, the water began to heave and toss, huge geyser-like
+fountains shot up and fell back with a fearful hissing sound, and, as
+the light gig was tossed on high, the madness of attempting to crowd
+into her was manifest to all.
+
+The arms were passed round, and every man's eyes glistened in the ruddy
+glare as with a furious yelling the prau came on, the water looking like
+golden foam on either side, and the glint of spears flashing out from
+her crowded bamboo deck.
+
+"Don't fire till you can make sure of your man!" said the major sternly;
+and a low murmur arose from the little group behind the cutter's
+bulwarks, which told in its fierce intensity that if stubborn
+determination could save the helpless women crouching below they had
+nought to fear.
+
+The prau was not fifty yards away now, and seemed to be glowing as if
+red-hot in the glare shed by the golden cloud above the mountain.  The
+sight of their prey so close at hand set the Malays yelling more
+fiercely than ever, and at a shout the sweeps ceased beating the water,
+and every man seized his arms, when there was a peculiar hissing sound
+heard; the cutter heeled over, then righted, and, to the wonder and
+horror of all on board, she began to turn round slowly as upon an axis,
+as if preparatory to being sucked down into a frightful whirlpool.  In
+one short minute she had turned twice, and then, as if caught in some
+mighty current, began to glide rapidly round the bay at first toward the
+burning mountain, and then outward to sea.
+
+For the moment the horror and strangeness of their position made all on
+board forget their enemies, among whom a terrible silence had fallen,
+but as the captain glanced in the direction of the praus he saw that the
+distance between them had increased, and that, caught in the same
+wondrous current, the enemy's vessel was being carried rapidly out to
+sea.
+
+The force of the current increased till they seemed to be rolling along
+the surface of some cataract, and in a few minutes, as everyone clung to
+bulwark or stay, the distance they had striven so hard to compass was
+passed again and again, for the sea was shrinking from the isle and they
+were being carried out on the retiring wave.
+
+They were now opposite the rocks that they had striven to pass, while
+the prau, lighter in construction, was a hundred yards away.  The
+hissing, rushing sound of the retiring water was terrible, and in blank
+despair in face of this awful convulsion of nature all gazed wildly
+before them, when all at once there was a sharp shock, the cutter heeled
+over a little, and this time there could be no mistake, she had struck
+upon the rocks of the north point or arm of Crater Bay, and the sea was
+retiring from them and leaving them fast.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY SIX.
+
+HOW SAFETY WAS WON.
+
+The captain recovered himself, but he was helpless in such an emergency,
+and no words passed.  There was nothing to be done but wait.
+
+"Are we in great danger, father?" whispered Mark, taking his hand.
+
+"Yes, my boy, in great danger," replied the captain in a solemn whisper.
+"I can do no more."
+
+"What is the great danger?" said the major quietly.  "That," said the
+captain, pointing seaward.  "The water retires like this, only to come
+back in force.  There: it is coming back."
+
+They needed no telling, for the awful roar of the earthquake wave
+announced its coming, and with it as they remained fixed and helpless
+upon the rock they could see the prau, after being sucked out, as it
+were, for nearly a quarter of a mile, being carried back at terrific
+speed.  There was a fascination in the scene of the others' peril that
+took away from their own, though, had they paused to think, it must have
+been to realise that the cutter would be lifted up by the coming wave
+and dashed upon the black perpendicular rocks at the head of the bay.
+
+But for the moment no one thought, for every faculty appeared to be
+concentrated upon the fate of that long low prau crowded with men, and
+now glistening in the volcanic light, as it seemed to be riding rapidly
+among so much golden foam.  The roar of the wave was terrific as the
+waters surged, and for the moment it seemed to them that the prau would
+be hurled right upon the rocks where the cutter lay careened over, but
+with her bows to the coming wave that glistened luridly like a long wall
+of ruddy water crowned with foam.
+
+"Hold fast by the bulwark, boy," whispered the captain as he passed his
+arm round Mark.  "Cling all tightly for your lives."
+
+Suddenly a low hoarse cry was uttered by all on board, for as the prau
+was borne toward them it must have caught upon the summit of some rock
+hidden by the wave, and that check was sufficient.  As that cry arose
+the prau turned right over and disappeared completely from view, while
+at that moment there was another of the tremendous explosions from the
+mountain, succeeded by instantaneous darkness.  The cutter was lifted up
+as the wave struck her, and then after a bound and a quiver she seemed
+to plunge down--down as if into hideous depths; while half suffocated by
+the broken water, drenched, shivering, and feeling as if his arms had
+been wrenched from their sockets, Mark Strong still clung to the
+bulwark, thinking of those below, and asking himself in his blank horror
+whether this was the end.
+
+He was conscious of a crash as of the vast wave striking the curved wall
+of rocks at the head of the bay; of the noise of many waters; of the
+cutter plunging and whirling round and then seeming to ride easily in
+the midst of subsiding waves; and then of hearing a low hoarse sigh
+close to his ear.
+
+"Father," he cried, "are you there?"
+
+"Yes, my boy," came out of the darkness close at hand.  "Thank God we
+are so far safe!"
+
+Then, as if rousing himself to a sense of his position, he called aloud:
+
+"Major O'Halloran!"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Gregory!"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Morgan!"
+
+All answered to their names out of the pitchy blackness.  The men, too,
+were safe, and upon crawling cautiously to the hatchway which closed in
+the cabin, Mrs Strong's voice replied, saying that all was well, only
+that they were in an agony of dread.
+
+It was a dread likely to continue for they were perfectly helpless, and
+all that the captain could make out was that the cutter had been
+uninjured by striking upon the rock, and that she was now floating upon
+an even keel, but in what direction it was impossible to say.
+
+People often talk of "dark as pitch," "black as ink," and the like; but
+if ever there was an exemplification of this darkness it was now, for a
+cloud of the most intense blackness shut them in, and the occupants of
+the cutter could only communicate by word of mouth or touch.
+
+"Surely this will lift soon!" said the major at last; and his voice
+sounded shut in and strange.  "If that light would only shine out
+again!"
+
+"To show us to our enemies, major," said Gregory in a low voice.
+
+"I don't think any light would show us to them, Gregory," said the
+captain solemnly.
+
+"No," said the major, "we have no more to fear from them."
+
+A dead silence succeeded for a few minutes as all realised how
+completely the slight prau had been engulfed while in such a chaos of
+waters no swimmer could possibly have been saved with a level sandy
+shore before him, far less among the black rocks of that walled-in bay.
+
+Hours passed away, hours of dread, for from time to time the hull of the
+cutter seemed to be struck from below, vibrating through every timber as
+earthquake shock after shock was felt.  Fearful booming sounds were
+heard from the island telling them where it lay, and again and again
+there were thunderous crashes, as if the whole of the vast globe were
+being crumpled up, and the end of all things was at hand.
+
+But in spite of all this, as from being quiescent the sea heaved, and
+the cutter was tossed here and there like a cork in some torrent, not a
+gleam of light came to her occupants, neither the glow of the eruption
+nor the rays from the sun.  It must have been day for many hours, but
+all around was a breathless calm, and the dense black cloud grew
+thicker, and they could feel that the deck of the cutter was thick with
+a soft powdery ash.
+
+The anxiety of all was so great, the care induced by their position so
+terrible, that no attempt was made to obtain food or water till quite
+twenty-four hours must have passed, and then, utterly worn out with the
+awful explosions, as of a cannonade going on, one by one all fell
+asleep, save the captain and Mark, who sat there in the darkness talking
+in whispers, and listening to the distant sounds.
+
+"We are drifting slowly in some current, Mark," said the captain at
+last.
+
+"How do you know, father?"
+
+"The reports are more distant.  If we could but have light once more."
+
+It was a weary time before the captain's desire was granted, and the
+first harbingers of that coming light were forty-eight hours after the
+first embarkation in the cutter.  They came in the shape of a pleasant
+cool breeze which it was delicious to breathe, and by slow degrees there
+was first a faint light, then a glow as if the glare of the burning
+mountains were shining through, and then a joyful shout of thankfulness
+arose from officers and crew, for the light was from the rising sun, and
+they could see blue dancing water, and then, with one bound, they were
+in broad day, with a great black curtain riding slowly away from them
+across the sea.
+
+Away south of the sun there was a huge black mountain of vapour quite
+twenty miles away, and evidently covering the island, while the cutter
+was drifting slowly farther and farther away in the light current in
+which she had been caught.
+
+As for those on board, after they had each in his own way, and then
+collectively at the captain's wish, returned thanks for their
+preservation, the first thing to be done was to remove the blackening
+ashes from their faces, while Jimpny swept pretty well half a ton of the
+curious volcanic dust from the cutter's decks.
+
+"What now?" said the major.  "Back to the island to see what damage has
+been done?"
+
+"No," said the captain; "we have a stout little well-tried vessel
+beneath our feet, and the next land I hope to tread is that at
+Singapore."
+
+There was no further difficulty in this project, for the wind was
+favourable, and the dark cloud that overhung the island soon sank below
+the horizon, though during the following night a distant sound, as of
+cannonading, told that the explosion was still going on.
+
+Captain Strong's navigation during the next few days was a good deal by
+guesswork, and consisted in making all the headway he could westward.
+At the end of the fifth day, however, a large steamer was made out going
+east, and in answer to their signals she hove to; and upon going on
+board the captain for the first time learned their position.  This
+proved to be about midway between Sumatra and Borneo, and the island lay
+to the south-east as far as could be judged, though the officers of the
+great steamer could not give it a name.
+
+Nothing could exceed the kindness of the captain and officers, and at
+their special request the major, and his wife and daughter, continued
+their voyage in the steamer, which was bound for Canton, from which
+place, if the steamer did not touch at it, the major would have no
+difficulty in reaching his original destination.
+
+It was rather a painful parting, the major gripping the hands of Captain
+Strong and Mark very firmly as he said "good-bye;" while Mrs O'Halloran
+and Mary displayed for the first time the womanly weakness that their
+education as soldier's wife and daughter taught them to hide.
+
+"Good-bye, my brave boy!" the major's wife cried.  "Someday I hope we
+shall come back to England, and then we can go over our island troubles
+all again."
+
+She kissed him very tenderly as she finished speaking; and then came
+Mark's parting from Mary--a true frank boy and girl parting, in the hope
+that some day they might meet again.
+
+An hour later Mark was standing alone on the deck of the cutter,
+fancying he could still hear the O'Hallorans' words as he watched the
+hull of the steamer growing more distant, and her dense smoke trailing
+behind for miles.
+
+"Life is made up of meetings and partings, Mark, my lad," said the
+captain.  "That has been a pleasant friendship, and some day we shall
+meet again."
+
+Mark sighed, and went to sit by his mother and watch the sunlit sea, for
+the cutter seemed to have grown dull and empty, and the gambols of
+Bruff, and the pranks of Jack fell as flat as the cheery words of Billy
+Widgeon and the stowaway.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN.
+
+HOW THEY SOUGHT MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKEN, AND SHE WAS GONE.
+
+Singapore was reached in due time, and after communicating with the
+owners of his vessel, Captain Strong chartered a large schooner, engaged
+some additional hands, and sailed once more, this time for the purpose
+of reaching the _Petrel_--"Mother Carey's Chicken," as the men would
+call her--and getting out the portion of her cargo that remained
+uninjured.
+
+There was some talk of Mrs Strong and Mark going back to England, but
+Mark was so pressing to be allowed to accompany the expedition that the
+captain gave way, and they sailed together.
+
+"I may find the cargo so damaged as to be worthless," the captain said;
+"but if it is, I shall make expeditions to the best of the deposits, and
+come back laden with sulphur."
+
+It was a pleasant voyage, one not troubled by calms, so that they had
+but little fear of being overhauled by the Malay praus.  The captain had
+worked out his course very carefully, calculating with minuteness
+exactly where the island must lie, and in due time a look-out was kept
+for the conical point of the mountain, which Mark was sailor enough to
+know would be the first to catch the eye.
+
+"No, my lad," said the mate, in answer to a question from Mark, "and I
+don't suppose we shall see it to-night.  You come and keep the morning
+watch with me, and look out for the point when the sun touches it first.
+That's the time to see an island."
+
+Mark kept the watch with the mate, but they did not see the island, and
+the captain changed their course.
+
+"It must be somewhere here," he said; and he had a consultation with the
+two mates, who both agreed that they were near the spot, though no point
+was visible.
+
+The change of course produced no good effect, and after sailing here and
+there for several days the captain decided to make for the island where
+they had landed to have the day's shooting.
+
+This was reached with the greatest of exactness, and then, after
+examining the spot where the little engagement had taken place, a fresh
+start was made, and the vessel's course laid in a direction which they
+all felt must go over the same ground as the boat had drifted, and the
+ship had been carried after the fire, and she had gone ashore.
+
+"Breakers ahead!"
+
+"Ah!  I thought we should manage it this time," said the captain
+eagerly, as, followed by Mark, he hurried on deck the next morning in
+the grey light, and there before them was a long curving reef of coral
+bending round to north-west and south-west, and inclosing smooth water
+apparently in a ring.
+
+"Why, Gregory!" exclaimed the captain.
+
+"Yes, sir; that's it!" said the mate.
+
+"Nonsense!" cried Mark, laughing at what seemed to him a joke.  "Where's
+the mountain?"
+
+Where indeed!
+
+With very little difficulty the opening in the reef was found, and a
+boat lowered and rowed into the lagoon, where the lead was lowered
+several times but no bottom found.
+
+Returning to the ship sail was made again, and they went round to the
+north-west so as to prove that this was the reef by finding the opening
+which led into Crater Bay.
+
+Sure enough the opening was found, and the boat once more lowered to
+investigate and find that the coral-reef still spread out like a
+barrier, but the coral insects were dead, and as they investigated
+farther it was to find that there was not a single shell-fish of any
+kind living in the shoal water, nor any trace of life, but on the
+highest part of the bleached white coral there were a few blocks of
+blackish-grey vesicular or cindery-looking stone.
+
+"Gone?" said Mark, as he sat in the boat, "you think it's gone?" and he
+looked down with a feeling of awe.
+
+"Yes," said the captain; "gone as rapidly as no doubt it once rose from
+the sea."
+
+"But where was Crater Bay?"
+
+"Here where you are seated," said the captain.  "Shall we try the
+depth?"
+
+"No," said Mark with a slight shiver; "it seems too awful.  But do you
+really feel sure, father, that our wonderfully beautiful island has sunk
+down here?"
+
+"I have no doubt of it, my boy," replied the captain.  "The eruption was
+awful, and the island was literally blown up, and its fragments sank
+beneath the waves.  What do you say, Gregory?"
+
+"That's it," said the mate.
+
+"And all those lovely palms and ferns, Mark," said Morgan, laying his
+hand upon Mark's arm.
+
+"And I used to feel as if I should like to live there always," said Mark
+with a sigh.  "Let's get back to the ship."
+
+The captain gave another glance round, sweeping the surface of the
+lagoon inclosed by the irregular ring of coral, and then gave orders for
+their return to the ship.
+
+While the men rowed back Mark tried to picture the scene as it last met
+his eyes; but turned from the contemplation with a shudder; and it was
+with a sigh of relief that he once more felt the firm planks of the deck
+beneath his feet.
+
+"And you mean to tell me," said Billy Widgeon, as he stroked and patted
+his monkey's head one evening during the homeward voyage--"you mean to
+tell me, Mr Small, as that there island sank outer sight and is all
+gone?"
+
+"That's it, Billy," replied the boatswain.
+
+"But it'll come up again, won't it?" said the stowaway.
+
+"That's more than anybody can tell, my lad," said Small.  "All I know is
+as she's gone, and we're going back home.  And a good job too."
+
+Mark Strong heard these words; and as he sat on the deck that night,
+beneath the clustering stars, with Bruff's head in his lap, he too began
+to think it was a good job they were going home, for his perilous
+voyaging was drawing to a close, and that solitary sunlit island that
+shone like a green jewel out of the purple sea was beginning to seem to
+him as if it had never been.
+
+"Thinking, Mark, my lad?" said a voice at his elbow.
+
+"Yes, father," said the lad, starting.
+
+"What about?"
+
+"The Island, and Mother Carey's Chicken."
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Mother Carey's Chicken, by George Manville Fenn
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