look at the sky, and then I'll turn in, my friend. Wedon't know what may be in store for us to-morrow."
And away up the companion-way went Captain Halcott.
Book 3--CHAPTER TWO.
"I SEE A BEACH OF CORAL SAND, DARK FIGURES MOVING TO AND FRO."
Next morning broke bright and fair. Not a cloud in all the heaven'sblue; not a ripple on the water, just a gentle swell that broke in longlines of snow-white foam on the crescent shore--a gentle swell withsea-birds afloat on it. Ah! what would the ocean be to a sailor werethere no birds. The sea-gulls are the last to leave him, long after allother friends are gone, and the land, like a pale blue cloud far away onthe horizon, is fading from his view.
"Adieu! adieu! away! away?" they shriek or sing, and as the shades ofevening are merging into darkness they disappear. But these same birdsare the first to welcome the mariner back, and even should there be noland in sight, or should clouds envelop it, the sight of a single gullflying tack and half-tack around the ship sends a thrill of hope and joyto the sailor's heart. On the deep, lone sea, too, Jack has ay afriend, should it be but in the stormy petrel, the frigate-bird, or thatmarvellous eagle of the ocean, the albatross itself.
Those birds floating here around the _Sea Flower_ so quietly on theswell of the sea looked as happy as they were pure and lovely. Nowhiteness, hardly even snow itself, could rival the whiteness of theirchests, while under them their pink legs and feet looked like littletwigs of coral.
The morning was warm, the sun was bright; they were moving gently withthe tide, careless, happy. As he stood there gazing seawards andastern--for the ship had swung to the outgoing tide--Halcott could nothelp envying them.
"Ah!" he said half aloud, "you are at home, sweet birds; never a care tolook forward to, contentment in your breasts, beauty all around you."
Then his thoughts went somehow wandering homewards to his beautifulhouse, his house with a tower to it, and his lovely gardens. They wouldnot be neglected though. It was autumn here. It would be spring timein England, with its buds, its tender green leaves, its early flowers,and its music of birds. Then he thought of his dog. Fain would he havebrought him to sea. The honest collie had placed his muzzle in hismaster's hand on that last sad evening of parting, and glanced withloving, pleading eyes up into his face.
"Take me," he seemed to say, "and take _her_."
_Her_ was Doris. His--Halcott's--own Doris; the lovely girl for whom hehad risked so much, for whom he would lay down his life; the girl thatwould be his own fair bride, he told himself, if ever he returned. Ah!those weary "ifs!"
But he had looked into the dog's bonnie brown eyes.
"Friend," he had said, "you will stay with Doris. You will never leaveher side till I come back. You will watch her for me."
And he remembered now how Doris had at that moment thrown herself intohis arms, and strained him to her breast in a fit of convulsive weeping.
And this had been the parting.
"What, Halcott," cried Tandy's cheerful voice, "up already! and--and--why, Halcott, old man, there is moisture in your eyes!"
"I--I was thinking of home, and--well, I was thinking of my dog."
"And your Doris. Heigho! I have no Doris, no beautiful face to welcomeme home. But look yonder," he added, taking Halcott's arm.
Little Nelda stood at the top of the companion-way, the sunlight playingon her yellow hair, one hand held up to screen her face, delicate, pink,yet so shyly sweet, and her blue eyes brimful of happiness.
Just one look she gave, then, with arms outstretched, rushed gleefullytowards her father. Next moment she was poised upon his shoulder, andTandy had forgotten that there was any such thing as danger or sorrow inthe world.
The two men walked and talked together now for quite an hour. Indeed,there was very much to talk about, for although they had made the islandat last, they had no idea as yet how they should set about looking forthe gold which they were certain existed there.
They had not made up their minds as to what they should do, when Janeirarang the bell for breakfast, and with Fitz was seen staggering aft withthe covered dish.
"Jane, you look happier than ever this morning. What is the matter?Has some beautiful bird brought you a letter from home?"
"De bootiful bird, sah, is Lawd Fitzmantle, and see, sah, dat is deletter from home."
She lifted the dish cover as she spoke. Beautiful broiled fish caughtonly that morning over the stern, but oh, the delicious odour would haverevived the heart of a dying epicure!
"Babs is going to be very good to-day," said Tandy to his littledaughter after breakfast.
"Better than ever, daddy?"
"Yes, much, because I'm going on shore with Captain Halcott here and twomen."
"And _me_?"
"No, not to-day, dear. We're going to climb that high hill and look allround us, and perhaps put up a flag; and Ransey will let you lookthrough a spyglass to see us, and we'll wave our hands to you. Now willyou be better than usual?"
"Ye-es, I think I'll try. And oh, I'll make the Admiral look throughthe spyglass too, and when you see him looking through, you must waveyour hand and fire your gun. Then we'll all--all be happy and nicerthan anything in the whole world."
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It was not without a feeling of misgiving that Halcott and Tandy leftthe boat that had taken them on shore, and took their way cautiouslytowards the bush. There was hard work before them and the two sturdyfellows, Chips and Tom Wilson, whom they had brought with them--hardwork to penetrate through the jungle and to effect an ascent of the hillthey had already named the Observatory--hard work and danger combined.
The crew of the boat stood gun in hand until they saw the party safeinto the bush, then, more easy in their minds now, rowed slowly back tothe ship. For if savages had been hiding under cover, the attack wouldhave been made just as the party was stepping on shore.
The exploring party kept to the extreme edge of the bush afterpenetrating and searching hither and thither for a time, but neithertrack nor trail of savages could they find. But they came acrossseveral little pathways that led here and there through the jungle, andat first they could not make out what these were. They learned beforelong, however; for Bob, who had gone on ahead a little way, camesuddenly and excitedly rushing out from a thicket. In his mouth he heldsomething that Tandy imagined was a rat, but the shrieking and yellingbehind the dog soon undeceived him, and, lo! there now rushed into theopen a beautiful little boar and a sow. The former flashed his tusks inthe sunlight. He wanted the baby back. It was his, _his_, he said, andhis wife's. He felt full of fight, and big enough to wage war againstthe whole world for that baby.
Tandy made Bob drop it, which he did, and it ran squealing back to itsmother. The boar, or king pig, said he accepted the apology, and wouldnow withdraw his forces. And he accordingly did so by scuttling offagain into the bush. These wild dwarf-pigs and a species of rock-rabbitwere, they found afterwards, about the only animals of any size theisland contained.
After this trifling adventure they fought their way through a terribleentanglement of bush, till they reached the foot of the hill.
The men had brought saws and axes with them, and were thus enabled bycutting here and whacking there to make a tolerably good road. Whenthey reached the hill they found themselves in a woodland of beautifultrees. Walking was now easy enough, and in about an hour's time theyreached the summit of the hill and sat down to luncheon.
Eager eyes were watching their progress from the ship, for the upperpart of this mount was covered only with stunted grass and beautifulheaths, among which they noticed many a charmingly-coloured lizard--green with crimson markings, or pale blue and orange--but they saw nosnakes.
Tandy turned his glass now upon the barque, and there sure enough wasNelda with the Admiral by her side. He waved his coat, and twice hefired his gun. From the hill on which they stood the view was lovelybeyond compa
re. They could see well into the highland part of theisland, with its rolling woods, on which the fingers of autumn hadalready traced beauty tints; its bosky glens; its rugged rocks andhills; its streaks of silvery streams; the lake lying down yonder in thehollow, with something like a floating garden in its centre; and afaroff the vast expanse of ocean.
Look which way they would, that sea was all before them, only dottedhere and there far to the northward with islands much smaller than theone on which they stood.
High up on the top of the volcanic hill a white cloud was resting, andits dark sides were seamed with many a waving line, the channels downwhich lava must have run during some recent eruption.
"Ha!" said Halcott presently, "now I can understand the mystery of theburned forest. At first, when we landed here, we believed that theblack-birders had been ahead of us;