| Show m ahl 99 1 I 0 rr A id 3 V I 1 0 f DICK RODNEY I 1 a t ot 1 or the adventures of uit w is 0 an eton boy I 1 10 0 ap DY ORANT 0 IJ 0 s w I 1 w w r ss 1 0 e s continued I 1 looked keenly and cautiously about me on every side but taw saw only the lender and counts counti stems ot of the tall bananas aboe broad leases leef As athey they spread under or over each other interrupted the ray rays of the aun bun and formed a shade that was pleasing pleating and gloomy how ho when about to cross anal hat seemed a hole bolt or hollow in the he jungle by stepping from the tendril of one creeper to another a naked arm and great human hand iame up from amid the mas mass ot of leavell leave I 1 was visa seized by the right foot toot and in an instant found myself dra dragged sred down through the foliage and inter later twisted plants down down I knew not where anil and before I 1 had time or breath to cry or resist I 1 lay prostrate on my back in a hole lair under the matted jungle with a man above me his hi knees planted on my breast his strong hand a upon my bare throat and ills lis tierce fierce wild eye eyes blaring glaring like those of a hyena into mine then how terrible were my emotion emotions on an recognizing in the light that fell through the mau mass of foliage above as through a line ine covered trelles now overspread ad with ith hair as a beird beard and whiskers alers were all matted into a mass the dark and ferocious face of antonio antonto whom I 1 believed to be drowned and lying at the bottom of the sea antonio el 1 Sll enilo 1 ol 01 said he be in a low voice like the hiss of a serpent in my ear but the injunction was unnecessary for so completely was I 1 taken by sur our pria so utterly at his mercy and so destitute alike of breath or weapon that resistance was impossible perceiving that I 1 was almost strangled be he relaxed bis his fierce grasp a lit tie tle but still kept the sharply pricking point of bis his knife at my throat as a bint hint to remain quiet it would be impossible for me to describe the of my soul during this kimt which seemed an eternity to me utter fear was one tor for I 1 thought the fairow bad had something supernatural per natural something truly demon about him that he be could nether ne aber be dr drowned 0 nor destroyed and I 1 lay still in that dark hollow panting ID in his fierce ceres clutch without a thought of resistance si now I 1 heard beard my name shouted repeatedly peat edly rodney mr lir rodney dick rodley where are yon it was tom lambourne and others my comp com anions who bad had now attained the summit of the rock and were ere scrambling over the jungle and pushing between the stems of the bananas searching for me rather than tor for the first object of such mystery my dle disappearance appearance alarmed them can he have gone adrift ift over the bluff I 1 heard beard tom lambourne say I 1 or 13 1 3 be he only having a game with us by hiding biding hiro himself self f oh yes yea that Is it replied probart the carpenter be he cant ian t have gone aloft into one of these banania for they are as clear of branches as a spare topmast so let us sheer off to the mate and mr rodney will eoon soon come down after us 11 well uell my lads there are neither wild men nor wild beasts here said i Lambo lambourne urnel so we shall return back to matter master hislop who Is banging hanging in the wind ind halt vi nay ay down and then be off to the hut we ve earned a stiff glass of grog by this bout anyhow my emotions became almost suffocating when ben I 1 heard beard them turn away to descend and rejoin hislop without me I 1 saw and heard beard them pass and repass over us the creepers of the jungle yielding their weight eight the beg and foot toot of one named henry warren came down through the green ne network tork of leaves and actually touched me roe I 1 drew a long gasping breath and the atrocious cubano believing I 1 was about to cry aloud compressed my throat so tightly with his muscular hands tint wit a thousand thou saud lights seemed to JR in ib before my eyla cy and I 1 must beame senseless for some sonie minutes as the next incident that dwells in my memory Is seeing him sitting in a crouching attitude with bis his elbows on his knees his black bearded chin resting in the hollow of his right hand and with his knife bis his murderous albacete in his big white teeth while he sur surveyed veed me with a strange and sardonic smile in bla his deeply set black ees aich which gilt glit like those of a snake in the rays of suni that struggled through the woven root of leaves about us I 1 heard beard no more the voices of my shipmates they were gone and I 1 was vias left alone and unarmed with this man or devil as yet I 1 kne knew not which be he was but I 1 knew know that if it he bad had the will he had assuredly the power to kill and leave me in h a lair or to cast east me a mangled heap to the bottom of the cliff whereupon he lurked CHAPTER it might have been about the hour of ten and we were ere still loitering on the moonlit beach when the cry of sail tall in sight made cery heart leap wildly and with hope tom lambourne who spoke but elery eye caught the ship at once and even those who had been dozing on the wari sand or within the hut wera awake and on an the beach in a moment stretching their hands toward her with joy and exultation but the aspect of the ship gradually changed all this into suspense and utter beall derment dement she was a large square rigged vee ves sel a ship running close hauled oa on the port tack to use a man 0 war phrase and with nearly all her caa can vas set get she was about tour four miles off the reef at the rt rance ot of the bay and was bearing directly toward it it her can vas van glimmered like snow in be moon abdine hine and we lne could see the red lights of f her cabin windows fash flash at time times upon the pea ea astern and the whiteness of her long flush deck as she be careened wort the breeze A I 1 0 00 4 I 1 lei let bow how was wa it we a 11 II li asked k ed t that at there was not a breath ot of wind w with th us I 1 perhaps she be brings it with ber her suggested and how it ca came me to pass that she appeared right in the effling and out side alde the bay all at ove boet asked vom tom lambourne she must have rounded the high bluff while we were ere all palavering pa lavering aid said probart nothing thing more wa was eald said for a time but warther it was the effect of imagination or of an overstrained eyesight I 1 know not she seemed to melt as a it were in the brightness of the moon thine ihl ceto to become so indistinct that we could see the line of the horizon through her topsails and next it teemed seemed ai as if it her hull bull her para spars and rigging sere ere edged with bricht bright pris matte matle hue bues it li Is impossible for me to describe the blank astonishment or rath rather e r t the h e intense consternation of our men on the disappearance of th g vessel which aas js the object of so ra many any hope hopes and wishes some time elapsed before the poor fellows rallied sufficiently to speak on the subject and meanwhile there flashed upon my memory come some strange and weird old celtic tales which a IL highland boy at atu waa as wont to tell tin m of nhip i ahl h in the days of osslyn trai traversed erred the sleep steep hills and tho alt salt lochs of morven with equal ta fa chilt I 1 it Is a ship or rather the representation sen tation ot of a veritable hip ship which cannot be tar off the island and Is making for it at this moment said emphatically how flow tar far do you think she the Is sir asked hugh shine shute mockingly perhaps twenty miles perhaps a hundred it Is impossible to say so thoroughly were our compan comp lona seared by the recent tr ral appearance which they connected in come way with the dreadful character of antoni An tonit el cubano that they at once commenced with alacrity the pre para eions for putting to sea it may be that somewhat of the professional fess ional lonal restlessness ot of sal ors ora con their resolution they were already tired of the r try sf journ on the island and inspired by the desire of reaching tristan da cunha which Is inhabited by about eighty families millea fa of 0 portuguese english and mulattoes among whom assured them they might linger long enough before they were taken off by a passing ship quite as long as an if they remained on the isle of alphonso and where for subsistence tiey they would be forced to work ork as day laborers in the savannas and on the highways As for the island of diego alvarez our scotch mate who seemed to know everything assured them that it produced only moss and sea grass and that if cast there they would die of starvation moreover without chart cr compass how could they hope to steer with certainty in any direction they all a might perish in detail by the moat most dreadful deaths in their open boat gasping with unquenched thirst under the blaze of a tropical sun he eald said much more but they would listen to nothing eave save their own teara fears and restless impulses 1 I tuo too VMS yas weary of the island in though feeling all the despondency that follows a severe di appointment on the tha disappearance of the illusory ship I 1 in no way shared the all and ill regulated wishes of the crew though assured that I 1 would be corn com polled to follow their desperate fortunes hislop and I 1 still lingered so we were told peremptorily that if it we did not come on board at once they would shove above off without us thus com compelled belled we stepped in most mott reluctantly and seated stated ourselves la in the stern and he assumed the tiller the oars here w ere run through the rowlocks and lambourn Lambo urr rd wa was about to above off when probart Pro barl who bad had the bow oar car suddenly remembered that he had left his hatchet near our wig wigwam and asked ked me to aget get it I 1 I 1 jumped ashore and ai as proceed ing along the be beach h tor for it when suddenly con leron I 1 was confronted ted by antonio who from a thicket had been watching our operations and departure his ills tawney skin for he hb wae war naked to the waist his ferocious apece his ibeal I 1 head of matted hair bis his colossal j strength and atrocious character har acter were n not ot mit without bolit a due effect upon the boat boats s crew at this crisis shove ott off shavo off I 1 heard beard sev ev eral voices cry in the boat here comes that dog of a cubano I 1 struggled led with antonio but he laughed loudly and drew his pistol with the air of one who would enforce obedience besides his eyes which the tangled masses of bis big hair over hung were hushing with mat I 1 fire as all the slumbering devil was roused within him the whole crew aw saw this and I 1 per celled that marc made an attempt to rise up and spring overboard to my succor but a as all 11 their hopes of reaching tristan da cunha depended entirely upon his skill and k ki of navigation he was seized by wren ren chute and others roughly thrust throat down in the stern sheets and forcibly I 1 held there 1 I 1 I saw now flow that the fear ard elfish I 1 nesa ness ot of the rest prevailed art balled over oer all that HI ill OP and carlton could urge tor for amid a torm of contending tongues I 1 perceived the oars dipping in the water again and again and flashing like silver blades in the moon light as they ere feathered and the longboat with all my companions hot shot from the creek into the bay and bore bors away to seaward bout two in the morning leaving me on the beach alone marooned with the fiendish cubano had not antonio held me fast and menaced rae me with bis his pistol I 1 would have sprang into the water and tj tin deterred by the sharks that were Z forever gliding gilding stealthily about the th bay would have warn swam A d fitl it tho the boat tar for op desperate thoun r e of 0 taj who were vier there I 1 would would rather h a sh sharil 1 red it than live on the h island ot of all alphonso p bonso with ucb such a I 1 iiii I 1 Is fierce laugh grate harshly in my car r butt but I 1 heeded III hia I 1 not and to iaze after th h boat and the lessening forms ormi of tho thou who had abandoned me not vilt witheat hout a fond and desperate do lippe that the th would return for me li cry o 0 expected to see ee her put about but not no she ib hell bell steadily on till tilt hull bull and wj o 0 and crew were blended into one dark pot spot which ere long could ocard ly ly be on the moonlit morn mort ing AS sea her coune course vies as tri mined northeast nort heaxt tor for where they supposed the jai lile of ot tristan da cunha lay she bad caught a breeze and before four 0 clock in the morning the lust last vetle of he ahti had disappeared still I 1 did not entirely desp despairs dee pair airi the idea of swimming wimm loc to one of th adjacent isles occurred to me but tb abi straits between ere full of foaming brejla brej lr rad sharks the rocki rocks u over were inaccessible and wherever I 1 might go antonio could easily follow the sun un was now letting setting beyond the tb iea sea and the shadow of a great moan tain trin waa was falling failing eastward over the Is land ae an we began to descend from ih th bluff where I 1 had lingered 90 long b by 1 one of the narrow and winding track made through the he gorse ly the will golts ae As it wai was alike dangerous dang cron aad and on un comfortable to deep sleep under the dew that descended after aati r unset sunset for two tights after the Jep arturo of the boat I 1 vias as compelled it tj hare share the with Aul Aut onlo but did so with dread a and n d colim loathing thin g pi and n kept ept as tar far away f from r 0 m him R AS s possible 0 ills dream dreams which were mere full of oitis ejaculations and frequently cries ct of el ej apar el ea p CC tro I 1 caule on bl tin ai 23 at of old and or at sleep t to W auy ie iw caule u I 1 resolved resil ved ta to leave him to hia his wn devices certain ly the inland island wa was large enough for ui us both moreover he had become so spanial of bis his ten charges of powder that he b not ore a single shot at either bird or goat or wild boar I 1 have dicu believed that he them with the th resolution of defending himell to the th last it liti llop ever returned to arr aart st him and now being lord lard aad and master of the whole A hole island ani an I 1 of me nit tw too he exhibited a new phate of character he became too daiy to procure food and forced me to find it for him under threats of shooing me thug thus tor for two lay days after the departure of the boy boa being totally incapable of catching one of the fleet goats alone and lang ing in no may ay to encounter counter eu jingly one of the lid ild boars I 1 had to climb the steep rocks above the break ere and teal steal the sea birds birde eggs to be continued |
