Activate Javascript or update your browser for the full Digital Library experience.
Previous Page
–
Next Page
OCR
fe
550
<=eiGOLDE
N DAYS:o==.
August 5, 1882.
and dressed for hisown dinner seemed
as nice as anything, and the rescued puss
seemed to think so, too, for the inoment
he caught a scent of it he uttered a joy-
ous mew, quite unlike the yowl of pain
and fear that announced his arrival on
and,
The trembling fit speedily passed
away, and when he had greedily devour-
ed as much fish as Frank thought good
for him, puss began making his teilet,
purring gratefully the while, and show-
ing every evidence of satisfaction and
pleasure.
*‘[le’s as thankfal as evera human
being could be,” said Frank, with the
tears in his eyes, ‘and you look happy
and contented, though it’s no more than
twenty minutes since you came ashore
in as miserable a plight as ever I saw a
t in all iy life ”’—stooping to pat, ca-
ressingly, pussy’s round, wet head.
“Oh, how glad Iam that I have got you
to talk to! for it will be better than tal k-
ing to myself orto the gullsand pelicans,
I’m going to call you Spar, out of com-
pliment to the one that brought you
ashore, and teach you lots of things that
acat never before knew anything about.
I've been here since September, over
three months now, and I’m very lonely
sometimes. I wish you could tell methe
name of theship you came from. Wereall
on board lost?) Where were you going?
Who was your captain? Were you in
the fruit trade? Do you know Montes,
the wrecker, or Sagasta, the mutineer ?””
Mew! mew!” replied Spar, with a
negative kind of look in Frank’s face,
and @ momentary suspension of the
toilet-inaking.
“You can’t tell me? Well, I’m sorry,
for I'd really like to know, especially
about Montes and Sagasta.”’
Frank started up, and drew a short,
quick breath of sudden alarm.
‘ wreck be anywhere near, it will
surely bring the wreckers upon us, and
from what I know of them, they are far
more crueland relentless than the sea.
. You stay here, and I’ goand reconnoitre
a bit.”
Frank took his glass and hurried from
the cave, closing the window carefully
after him, so that Spar could not escape,
if so inclined, during his absence, for
there was no other means of exit except
by way of the channel, and puss was
_not likely to trust himself to the water
again very soon.
wreck or wreckage were to come
ashore, it must, while the wind was blow-
ing from its present quarter, make the
point where the spar had landed, and in
this direction Frank first bent his atten-
ion.
But he saw nothing, long and keenly
as his young eyes searched far and near
the troubled deep. Ile lowered the
glass with a gesture of-relief, for another
v from Montes and his gang was, of
all others, the least to be desired.
Later in the afternoon, however, a box
of oranges, in decayed and water-
soaked condition, came ashore, followed
by a hen-coop, a cabin-door, part of a gal-
ley-top, and a broken oar,
Tt was a very exciting day to Frank.
He was on the lookout for wreckage
every moment of the time, and did not
even take time to eat,
He secured the things as fast as they
came in, and carried them to his cave,
more to prevent them from being seen
by the wreckers, if they should appear,
than any value they were to him.
It was nearly dusk when he finally
returned tothe cave, tired and hungry,
and wet through and through, for secur-
ing wrecking is always damp work, and
more than once that day Frank had been
shoulders-deep in the surf, in his eager
efforts to get possession of the articles
floating near. The night promised to be
dark, with the usual rain-clouds seud-
ding over the few stars that ventured to
peep out, and a rumble of distant thun-
‘der in the threatening northeast. .
Frank was glad to gain the comfort-
‘able security of his grotto dwelling, and
when he had entered, he lit the lamp,
exchanged his wet clothing for a light
“suit that had once beldénged to the terri-
ble Sagasta, and then began to get his
supper. - -
The gray cat, that had come to him in
89 strange a way, lay sound asleep on
the bit of old sail. It was pleasant to see
itthere, and Frank could not resist the
temptation te bestow on the slumbering
feline a friendly nudge to,wake up and
tell him how he was getting on. Puss
yawned, stretched hiinself, and looked
up at the lad affectionately.
“We will have our supper together,
about your coming, and we will have a
good time.” .
Puss purred approvingly, and rubbed
his back against Frank’s leg, as much as
to say, “That we will. I’m as glad to
see you as youare tosee me, and if I
could, I'd tell you all about the vessel
that was wrecked last night in the hur-
ricane. It was the worst blow I was ever
in, and I’ve been to sea since I was a
kitten. ou get your supper,
and when it’s done I'll help you eat it.”
And with that, Spar curled himself upon
the sail again and dozed off to sleep.
Frank soon had his supper under way.
The fragrant smell of boiling coffee, fry-
ing tish and _ toasting sea-biscuits sharp-
ened his already pretty clamorous appe-
tite, and urged greater haste in his pre-
parations. .
. Jrrank had not been so happy since
his landing on the island as he was to-
night. He had a friend, a companion, at
last, though it was only a cat.
Spar's acute sense of smell was too
much for sleep, and he got up to person-
ally superintend the cooking.
When the food was finally placed on
the table and Frank was seated, Mr.
Spar coolly jumped on his knee, and
made himself quite at home there.
Frank laughed, sinoothed his soft,
gray coat, and fed him with bits of fish
and biscuit till Spar sensibly refused to
eat any more.
“Things do occur, even onan island
so lonely and remote from anywhere as
this,’”? mused the yy, the smile still
lingering on his lips, though his eyes
were grave and his voice low and earn-
est. “One can’t tell what a day may
bring to pass. Last night I was xs blue
as indigo, and to-night I’m as happy as
one need to be who hasn’t any one to
care much whether they are happy or
not. When the rainy season is over, it
will be jolly on the island, at least I’m
going to believe that it will.
“Tf it wasn’t for the wreckers, I’d try
to make the mainland, if there is any
mainland, i oat. I wouldn’t
mind if it didn’t happen to be Montes,
or some one of his ruffianly crew; but I
know it’s death if I fall into any of their
clutches.
“I'm young, and don’t want to die;
besides, I might as well grow here as
anywhere else. A boy must grow, and
while he’s doing that he’s always more
orless inthe way. Here I’m not, and
there’s some comfort in that, at any
rate.”’
And so bright was the picture Frank
painted of his right to grow, and the
satisfaction he felt in being in no one’s
way, that the twenty or thirty lines he
wrote in his journal, after supper, were
quite rosy-hued, not to say hilarious,
“Last night,” he wrote, “ther 3
high old storm—a regular old Caribbean
cyclone, Ineversaw the wind blow hard-
er, or never heard it, rather, for I did not
see it or feelit either, for 1 was snug in my
eave all the time, And to-daya big gra:
He was most dead,
and ha the moment he struck the
sani, je got over it pretty soon, and
now he’s all right. I call
that’s what he come on. I never wa:
pu: ny ¢ seems real home-like. I
may huve to stay here till Im g n I
hope not, but it’s nice to know I’m not in
8 Captain Thorne and the mate
d p Jack were the only ones that ever
thought I wasn’t, wh was where folks
ve.
asn’t, when $
I’m tired and sleepy, so I'll go to bed.
Ionly write when somethir
ng uncommon
happens,
It may be a long time before
And it was.
Frank’s spelling was not the most cor-
rect in the world, so we have taken the
liberty of “tixing” it, but the phraseology
is purely his own, and, if somewhat ab-
ruptand unfinished in style, it cannot
be said that facts are sacriliced to fancies,
or that the momentous events so simply
chronicled are without interest.
CHAPTER XVII.
GROWING.
It was the middle of March now, and
the beginning of the dry season.
Frank’s casks were all full of fresh
water, and securely housed in the cave,
for he might not see another drop of
rain till September, and experience had
tanght him in time of plenty to have a
and then I'll jot down in my journ:
care to atime of famine.
The paroquets and yarious other birds
came back to the island in flocks, nest.
ing and singing joyously among the
trees the whole “Gay Jong, and at night
the turtles began to crawl up on the
beach, to lay their eggs in the warm, dry
sand
nd.
Frank had literally explored every
foot of the island. He knew the place
where every plant and shrub and flower
and tree on its surface grew, and ever
rock and reef and sand-bar that surround-
it. .
With his cat at his heels, he would go
over and over the same ground day after
day, seeking some new plant or insect or
shell that the winds or the waves might
have blown or washed up on the shore,
The wild flax put forth its pale-blue
flower, the dwarf pine-apple thrust its
sword-like leaves into the sunshine, and
the tall palins nodded their green fronds
to the lightsome touch of the cool ocean
breezes. ~
To Frank, after weeks of rain and
Jeaden skies, of raging winds, rattling
thunder and darting lightning, it seemed
a_perfect paradise, and once again he
pitched his tent under the palms, and
there, lying in his hammock, after. his
daily tramp or row, listening to the birds
piping among the trees or the gentle
murmur of the waves on the beach, he
would dream the hours away with no
better hope to cheer his heart than look-
ing for the sail that did not come, and
the comforting reflection that he was
growing every minute of the time, and
no particular trouble to anybody.
Early in April, Frank caught his —rst
turtle. It was a lovely moonlight night,
and when he saw the great creature
leave the sea and awkwardly scramble
up on the beach, his courage rather fail-
ed him, for it looked like a moving
house-floor; but he remembered seeing
them sprawling helplessly on their backs
on the deck of the Sea Eagle when they
were lying in Port Medina, and knew
how harmless they were in that condi-
ion.
He had been on the watch for them
for several nights, this being the season
of the year when they left the water to
dsposit their eggs in the sand; and with
the stout ash oar, which he carried for
the purpose, he soon had the turtle on
its -back, with its flippers wildly flying
toward the four quarters of the globe,
and its head wriggling from side to side
like the pendulum of a clock.
Frank feasted on turtle-soup the next
day, and while doing so the thought oc-
curred that by making what is called a
turtle-pen, he might dine on turtle-soup
every day in the year if he liked.
He had seen one of these pens at Rua-
tan, and felt quite sure he could con-
struct something similar to it, and that
would answer the purpose just as well
at ‘Grotto Island,’? as he termed his
ocean fastness. ‘
8 may be supposed, he lost no time
in setting about the task, and in a week
he had hewn out a very respectable space
in the limestone rock not far from the
eave, and in this inclosure, which was
plentifully supplied with sea-water, but
so constructed as to prevent their escape,
were eleven fine turtles, which were
eventually increased to thirty-seven.
Every night during the months of
April and May, the only time when the
turtles leave the sea, he was on the
each, oar in hand, waiting for the un-
suspecting ‘‘carapaxs”’ to appe: Ie
soon became quite skillful in the busi-
ness of overturning them, and often had
as many as five kicking vainly at space
within a rod of each other.
ile generally left them there, over-
turned till morning, when, with a rope
fastened to the flippers, he would drag
them to the pond, loosen the slip-noose,
and unceremoniously — though very
mwiuch to the turtle’s relief, no doubt—
dump them in.
The day following the capture of his
first turtle, Frank was walking on the
beach, when he sawa number of oda-
looking little holes in the sand. He im-
mediately began to examine them, and
from beneath several neatly -arranged
layers of sand, discovered, by actual
count, a hundred and fifty-seven newly-
laid turtle-eggs,
Here was the material for another feast,
and a very nice one, too. @ most per-
ishable part of his provisions Frank had
eaten first. The only kind of fruit that
grew on the island were a variety of
very small and very bitter limes, an in-
ferior kind of wild pine-apple and afew
banana-trees, which did not look much
more promising in the matter of fruit-
bearing of a palatable nature than did
the pines. .
So the eggs and the turtles—with now
and then a brace of teal and a fish when-
desired —agreeably diversified
Frank’s gradually narrowing bill of fare,
lie was returning to the cave with as
pany eggs as he could conveniently
carry in the plantain-leaf that he had put
them in, in eu of anything better, when
he was startled by a harsh scream, com-
ing from the top of a bay-tree under
which he was passing.
e looked up and saw, hanging head
downward from the topmost: limb, a
fiery-plumaged juacamalla—a species of
the macaw. It was the first and only
one he ever saw on the island, and
whence it came or whither it went he
never knew.
The little incident, however, went far
tostrengthen his belief that there was
another and large island—or, at least,
one with fresh water upon it—not very
far from the one on which he had so long
been risoner, for the juacamalla,
though it seldom leaves the coast, never
remains long where there is not fresh
water; andon Frank’s island there was
not a drop other than that which the
rain and the dew deposited at certain
times of the-year. Forthe rest, it was
all black, bitter brine, that neither man
nor bird could drink, though dying of
thirst.
e
4
CHAPTER XVIII.
A WATER-SPOUT AND AN EARTHQUAKE.
The 5th of May was Frank’s birthday,
and an event of sufficient importance to
be noted in his journal.
1am fifteen years old to-day,” he wrote.
not without a feeling of satisfaction, “and
I've been cight months on the island.
There’s a big hole made in my stock of pro-
isi y corn-nieal is gone,
hey was g-gettin’
ere’s some salt pork. anid~
d barley left yet, but the sait beet
and vermicelli is gone atter the
corn-meal. ve one can of ©
maining, which I'm saving for long nights
and the rainy season.
“The fuel taken from the schooner was
used uplong ago,and nowlI 1 to de-
pend on the pulms and bays.
em down, but I must, or go without a fire—
one orthe other. To-day 1 shall dine on
turtle soup, boiled fish, and the last of my
2 ft pre:
ce erved fruit, They wouldn't
kee ver another hot season, and so I
might as well eat'em as to have ’em spoil
I must take stock of my stores and see
where Iam, for it Jooks now asif I’d have
to stay here all my life,
So ran Frank’s journal on this his
birthday, and when he had finished he
read what he had written aloud to Spar,
who loudly purred his approbation.
Then they had their dinner, after which
they went for a row around the reef, and
it was nearly dark when they returned.
The next day, about noon, Frank’s at-
tention was directed to a strange, funnel-
shaped cloud some half-mile
southward of the island, the smaller end
of which seemed to rest on the water,
and to rise to a great height. He fancied
at first it might be a whale blowing, but
a closer look soon showed him that it
was much too large for that,
While he gazed, spell-bound, at the
curious sight, the great aqueous columin
suddenly collapsed at_the base and fell,
with a roar like mutiled thunder, into
the sea,
“A water-spout,” said Frank, in a con-
sidering tone, ‘and ugly things they
are, too, for a vessel to encounter,
though it looked so beautiful at this dis-
tance. If I had happened to have been
so far out in my boat, it would have
swamped her in ‘a twinkling. I think
I'd better stick close to the island, for it
seems to me the safest and best place for
one to— My goodness! what’s that ?”
Frank clutched the tree near which he
was standing to steady himself, and for
a moment was so startled and confused
that he not only forgot what_he was go-
ing to say, but had some doubts as to
whether the earth was sinking frou
under his feet or his feet rising from
the earth.
. The island appeared to oscillate from
east to. west, in a strange, vibratory man-
ner, as if some huge monster were try-
ing to rise beneath it, or a yoJeano were
awaking into life in the vast unknown
depths below. .
The strange, silent, sickening motion
did not last ten seconds, but Frank
afterward put it down in his journal as
being a very remarkable and extremely
unpleasant sensation. It haunted him
all day, and he was not sure now that he
could even count on the stability of his
sland.
If beneath him were a’slumbering vol-
| cano, that might at any moment open its