The Island of Gold: A Sailor's Yarn Read online

the darkling sea, many a tear was shed that ourfellows scarce took pains to hide.

  "`And there they'll sleep,' said a voice behind me, `till the sea givesup its dead.'

  "I turned slowly round, and the eyes of the speaker met mine. HithertoI had paid most attention to the lifeless, and scarce had noticed theliving.

  "But now a strange thrill went through me as this man, who was theskipper of the lost ship, advanced with a sad kind of smile on his faceand held out his hand.

  "`We have met before,' he said.

  "`We seem to have met before,' I answered falteringly, `but where Icannot tell. Perhaps you--'

  "`Yes, I can; I have seen you in a dream. We must both have dreamt.'

  "I staggered as if shot, and pressed my hand to my brow.

  "`You seem puzzled,' he continued, `yet I am not. I am a man who hasstudied science somewhat. I am often called a visionary on account ofmy theories, yet I am convinced that there are times when, in answer toprayer, the mind during sleep may be permitted to leave the body. You,sir, have saved the few poor fellows of my ship's crew who have escapeddeath, and I thank you. Think nothing strange, sir, in this worldsimply because you do not understand it. But you have an errand ofmercy yet to perform. Heaven grant you may be as successful in that asyou have been in taking our poor helpless men from off the ice.'

  "`Come below,' I said, `Captain--a--'

  "`Smithson,' he put in.

  "`Come below, Captain Smithson, and tell your story. James, will youbear us company?'

  "I and James sat on one side of the table, our guest, with his thin,worn face and dark eyes that seemed to pierce us with their veryearnestness, on the other. He told his story rapidly--ran over it, asit were, as a school-boy does something he has learned by heart.

  "`It is but little more than five weeks since the good yacht _Windward_cleared away from San Francisco--'

  "`James,' I said, interrupting him, `how long have we been at sea?'

  "`Wellnigh four months, sir.'

  "`How the time has flown! Pray, sir, proceed.'

  "`I have never known a quicker passage than we had. The wind was fairall the way, and our little craft appeared to fly with it. But it felldead calm about the latitude of 20 degrees south of the line. My onlypassengers--in fact, it was they who had chartered the _Windward_ totake them to Monte Video--a lady and her daughter, began to be veryuneasy now. They had heard so much about the fleetness of the_Windward_ that they never expected a hitch. No wonder they wereuneasy. Their business in Monte Video was a matter of life or death.The doctor there had assured them that if they were not out by a certaintime, the husband and father would never again be seen by them alive.

  "`But the calm was not of long duration. Worse was to come--a tornadoburst upon us with awful fury, and all but sunk us. We were carried farto the west out of our course. Fierce gales succeeded the tempest; andwhen the wind once more sank to rest we found ourselves surrounded by agroup of islands that, although I have sailed the South Pacific for manya long year, I had never seen before.

  "`That the natives of the largest and most beautiful of these islandsare savages and man-hunters I have not the slightest doubt. The kinghimself came off, evincing not the slightest fear of us; but both he andhis people remained so strangely pacific that it excited our suspicionsfor a time. We were glad, however, to be able here to repair damagesand to take on board fresh water; and the kindness of the natives was somarked that our suspicions were entirely lulled, and for days we livedalmost among them, even going on shore unarmed in the most friendly way.

  "`I must tell you, sir, that, owing to the heat and closeness of theatmosphere, a screen-berth or tent had been rigged for the ladies closeto the bulwark on the port side, and almost abreast of the main-mast.The first part of the night of the tenth was exceedingly dark, and itwas also hot and sultry. The ladies had retired early, for athunderstorm that had been threatening about sunset broke over us withtropical fury about ten by the clock, or four bells--the first watch.

  "`And now, sir, comes the mystery. The moon rose at twelve and silveredall the sea, shedding its earth light upon the green-wooded hills of themainland till everything looked ethereal. Not a sound was to be heard,except now and then the plaintive cry of a sea bird, and the dull, lowmoan of the breakers on the coral sand.

  "`As was her custom just before turning in, the ladies' maid drew asidetheir curtain to see if they wanted anything, and to say good-night.

  "`I was walking the quarterdeck smoking, when pale and scared she rushedtoward me.

  "`Oh!' she almost screamed, `they are gone! The ladies have gone!'

  "`No one thought of turning in that dreadful night; and when in themorning the sun, red and flaming, leapt out of the sea, arming a boat aswell as I could, I rowed on shore and demanded audience of the king.

  "`But we were not allowed to land. The savages had assumed a verydifferent attitude now, and a shower of spears was our welcome. Onepoor fellow was killed outright, another died of his wounds only an hourafterwards. In fact, we were beaten off; and in an hour's time,observing a whole fleet of boats coming off to attack our vessel, wewere forced to hoist sail and fly.

  "`That is my story, and a sad one it is. I was on my way to the nearesttown to seek assistance, when our vessel was crushed in the ice and sankin less than twenty minutes, with all on board except those you haveseen.'

  "Smithson was silent now. With his chin resting on his hand he satthere looking downwards at the deck, but apparently seeing nothing. Formany minutes not a word was spoken by any one. The vessel rose and fellon the long, rolling seas; there was the creak of the rudder chains;there was occasionally the flapping of a sail; all else was still.

  "James Malone was the first to speak.

  "`Charles Halcott,' he said--and I think I hear the earnest, manly tonesof his voice at this moment--`Charles Halcott, we have a duty toperform, and it leads us to the northward and west.'

  "I stood up now, and our hands met and clasped.

  "`James Malone,' I replied, `Heaven helping us, we will perform thatduty faithfully and well.'

  "`Amen, sir! Amen!'"

  Book 2--CHAPTER SIX.

  "O MY FRIEND, MY BROTHER," I CRY.

  "That same forenoon," continued Halcott, "the wind went veering round tothe southward and east. The sea was darkly, intensely blue all day.The sky was intensely blue at night, and the stars so big and bright andnear they seemed almost to touch the topmasts. But here and there inthe darkness, on every side of us, loomed white icebergs like sheetedghosts, and every now and then there rolled along our beam--thuddingagainst the timbers as they swept aft--the smaller bergs or `bilts' wecould not avoid.

  "James was on deck, and determined to remain there till morning, inorder, as he said, to give me the quiet and rest my health so muchrequired.

  "In two days' time we had weathered the stormy Cape, bidden farewell tothe ice, and, with every stitch of canvas set which it was possible tocarry safely, were sailing westward and north, away towards the distantislands of the South Pacific.

  "In a few days we got into higher latitudes, and the weather becamedelightfully warm and pleasant. The sky was more than Italian in itsclear and cloudless azure; the rippling waves were all a-sparkle withlight; they kissed the bows of our bonnie barque, and came lapping andlaughing aft along our counter, their merry voices seeming to talk to usand bid us welcome to these sunny seas.

  "Birds, too, came wheeling around our ship--strange, swift gulls, thelonesome frigate-bird, and the wondrous albatross, king of storms, greateagle of the ocean wave.

  "Had we not been upon the strange mission on which we were now bound,and the outcome of which we could not even guess, both James and I wouldhave enjoyed this delightful cruise; for, like myself, he was every incha sailor, and loved his ship as a landsman may love his bride.

  "`In five days' time,' said Captain Smithson to me one forenoon, `if itholds like this, we ought to reach the Unfortunate Islands.' />
  "`Is that what you call them, captain?' I said, smiling; `well, myfirst mate and I mean to change their name.'

  "`Heaven grant you may,' he answered. `O sir, the loss of this yacht,clipper though she was, and a beauty to boot, is nothing to mourn for--she was well insured; even the death of my poor men is but an accidentthat we sailors are liable to at any moment; but the fate of those twoinnocent ladies--the mother so good and gentle, the daughter sochildlike and beautiful--is one that, if it is to remain a mystery, willcloud my whole life. Think of it, sir. The savages must have crept onboard in the midst of the thick darkness and the storm, crept on boardlike wet and slimy snakes, gagged their poor victims, and borne themsilently away--to what?'

  "`It is all very