JOHN'S WONDERFUL STORY
"I was born on the Atlantic seacoast in a small New England town. My
parents were the richest people in the community, and it was their
ambition, as it was mine, to finish my education at one of the great
universities there; but shortly after my entrance as a student the
entire fortune of my parents was swept away, and I was compelled to seek
employment.
"I was provided with a place in a commercial house in which my guardian
was interested, and the only consideration shown me during the six
months I remained there was the amount of work they could get out of me.
Like many other boys I ran away, and took a position on a sailing
vessel. This was the turning point in my career.
"I was fortunate enough to fall into the hands of a captain who was,
undoubtedly, an exception to his class, but he had in early years been a
pedagogue, and seeing the disposition on my part to make a constant use
of his library, of which he had a most wonderful store, he took me from
the drudgery, which was my early lot, and made me his assistant.
"I was a good penman, and before long I was entrusted with the position
of recording and entry clerk for the ship, and I took charge of the
log, and did things of that kind under his supervision during the long
trip to Chinese waters.
"The trip among the western islands occupied two years, and I became an
expert skipper as time went on, and many, many hours he and I sat up
together and perused the wonderful books he had, and discussed a wide
range of subjects which the readings suggested. It was a feast for me,
and it was such a pleasure to him, which I know was real and unaffected.
"Three years after my sudden disappearance from New Bedford the ship
sailed into the harbor, and the first one to greet us was a beautiful
girl, the daughter of the captain, and the first most graceful act of
his was to bring her over to me, and I was presented to her.
"I do not know how I ever passed the days of the following two weeks.
Everything was a dream to me after I saw her, and I often imagined that
the captain knew what my symptoms were. One day he called me to the
cabin and said: 'John, how do you feel about signing for another term of
three years?' My heart was so full that I answered: 'Why for three
years? Make it for as long as I live.' The captain smiled and stroked
his beard for a while, and then his countenance changed, and he said,
'John, you know I am blunt and open in all my dealings, and you haven't
been treating me in that way.'
"That was the only time in the entire three years he had ever upbraided
me, or found any fault, and I was so dumbfounded that I did not know how
to answer, and when I recovered and inquired in what manner I had
offended him, he replied, 'I did not say you had offended me. But you
love Harriet, and I know you do, and you have been trying to hide it
from me.'
"How had he learned that she and I loved each other from the moment we
first met, and that we saw each other at every opportunity, and made
mutual confessions of love? I started to apologize, but he began to
smile again, and I knew it was not so serious. 'Yes,' he continued, 'I
have charged Harriet with it, and she confessed, so it will not be
necessary for you to defend yourself.'
"We were in port for three months, and Harriet told her father that she
could not bear to have us both go away, and before the ship sailed we
were married, a fine suite of rooms was set aside for our use, and I
became the first mate of the ship, as well as the first mate of the most
beautiful woman in the world.
"Thus I passed a year of the happiest days that it was ever given man to
enjoy. Together we gleaned the library for our recreation, and with
music and song, it was one continual revel of bliss. But one day we
steamed into a plague-infected port, where quarantine regulations in
those days were not the best, and before we could take the proper
precautions the captain and my wife were stricken.
"The terrible story that followed, the days of ravings, and finally the
death of my wife, are too tragic to repeat in detail. The captain
recovered, and, singularly, I escaped, and as soon as he had partially
recovered I ordered the ship to sail away from that accursed place.
"When the captain recovered he was a changed man. His daughter was the
only thing to him in the world, and her happiness had been the greatest
delight and pleasure. But now he rarely appeared at meals, and the
handling of the ship devolved on me. I could not rouse him sufficiently
to learn what course to take or what disposition to make of much of the
cargo.
"Two months after the sad event he called me to his cabin, and he was
lying down, weak and emaciated. 'I have asked you to come because there
are some things I want to place in your hands. I have no further use for
them, as the effect of the plague has never left me, and I am glad of
it.
"'You may break the seal of this when I am dead.' This was most
heartrending, coming from a man I loved better than any one in the world
excepting my wife. He died that night, in silence, and without a soul
near him.
"We were then on the broad sea, west of Australia, and before the
funeral services were to take place I opened the sealed package, and I
learned that the ship and cargo, together with all securities and funds
in the hands of his bankers, were willed to me, and I was enjoined to
commit his body to the sea.
"I changed the course of the ship to the nearest port, and sought the
United States Consul, in order to register the papers, and to establish,
by the record there, the new ownership of the vessel.
"When I returned to the ship something seemed to prevent me from going
aboard. It was such a weird and ghastly feeling that I did not rebel
against the warning. Indeed, I was relieved that the indescribable
something, which men sometimes in that condition feel, turned me away.
The only thing that remained close to my heart were the things that my
loved one wore, and those things she treasured, and the store of books.
"All those I had removed, but I could never go aboard that ship again. I
advertised the ship for sale, and it soon found a purchaser, and I was a
wanderer on the face of the earth. My parents were both dead, and I had
no brothers or sisters living.
"Where should I go, or what pursuit should I follow? I went through
India, listlessly, and from a Mediterranean port sailed for
England--anywhere. But we landed at Gibraltar. There I saw a troop of
smart English on the way to Africa. I was imbued with the spirit of
adventure, and I offered to join, but was refused, as I was not a
subject of the Queen. But later I knew how to correct that, and I sailed
with the next detachment to the south, and for two years I took part in
the Matabela campaign, where the fighting was more bitter and relentless
than in any colonial contest England had ever engaged in. I was severely
wounded, and sent to England at the close of my term of service and
received an honorable discharge. In the meantime I learned that all the
funds from the proceeds of the ship had been swallowed up in a bank
disaster, where they had been deposited, and I was left with nothing but
the little I had saved.
"My discharge finally served the purpose of securing me a position as a
tutor to a young lord, and through him I later on obtained a berth as
instructor in a well-known institution. But this was too tame for me. I
went to Greece and entered the army, and fought through two campaigns
against the Turks, and when the war ended I took the first ship and
sailed for New York.
"Within a day after landing in that city I joined the army and was sent
west, where, within six months, it landed me in a campaign under General
Crook against the Apaches of the Southwest, and was present at the
capture of Geronimo, the most bloodthirsty devil that was ever permitted
to live. From there we went to the north, and we had a repetition of the
experiences against the most skilled warriors on the American continent,
the Siouxs and the Arapahoes.
"When my enlistment expired I had earned a lieutenancy, but I had tired
of the turmoil of the past six years, and returned east and then
accepted a position as Professor of Philosophy in the college where Jim
Stratton was a student.
"I was always fond of tools, and the machine shop on board our vessel
was a constant source of enjoyment, and before I sold it I had become so
proficient in the use of tools that I could make anything in wood or
iron.
"I enjoyed teaching, but the life was not free enough for me, and after
five years of that drudging life I sailed for Europe, and again visited
India, going to all the great ruins; then to the scenes of the vast
exploring fields of the Archeological Societies, in Arabia, on the
plains of Babylon, and in Syria. From there I turned to Egypt, the land
of the greatest mysteries on earth. I went up the Nile far beyond
Khartoum, and tried to interest myself in some of the interesting things
that men are constantly bringing to light, and which go to show the
great antiquity of men. I joined a caravan to traverse the White and the
Blue Nile, and to go over the trails made by Baker and Livingstone and
Stanley.
"Here, at last, seemed to be my work. It had enough of the charm in it
on account of the hazard which accompanied us on every step, and this
for the first time put me on my mettle to learn to dig out the hidden
secrets, which caused it to be called the 'Dark Continent.'
"Am I tiring you? Well, then, in company with another adventurous spirit
we traversed the most remote parts of that vast interior and met with
adventures which may some time interest you. Thus four years were spent,
without seeing civilization, and in a region where men hunted men for
the pleasure of it.
"I was hunting them, too, but it was not living men, but those who had
died thousands and thousands of years ago. But that terrible sickness,
the jungle fever, took hold of us, and when we emerged from the forests,
and found our way to the nearest settlement my companion died, and I was
again thrown back on the world.
"As soon as I could travel I sailed for New York, and the first man I
met was dear Jim Stratton, who insisted that I must take a position as
archeologist in the college with which I was formerly connected, but
this I declined, and seeing me in an emaciated condition suggested that
the position of professor of philosophy in the ship training school
would be the very place to give me the benefit of sea air and
employment--the latter, particularly, because he knew how I had always
been a fiend for work, and that I must be busy at something.
"I accepted, but a month before the ship sailed I was taken down with
another serious attack, with complications of diseases, and recovered a
week after the _Investigator_ sailed. I took the train for the west,
expecting to take advantage of the mild climate of California during the
winter, and when I reached San Francisco I was greeted at the hotel by
an old acquaintance who invited me to his room for a talk on a very
important matter.
"It turned out that he and a friend, who had considerable money, were
about to purchase either a good, strong sailing vessel, or a small
steamer, which was to go in quest of buried treasure which the chart had
indicated, this treasure being the freights of many of the Castilian
ships of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and in certain places
the hoards of the buccaneers that infested the western seas.
"Here was an opportunity to recuperate, and it had plenty of action in
it to suit me, and I joined. We sailed from the port in the latter part
of December, about the time you were passing through the Straits of
Magellan.
"We had a fast sailer and a staunch boat, but my friend was unwise in
the choice of the sailing master, but this did not hamper us much during
the ordinary course of sailing, but in a short time he with several
others of the crew attacked us and attempted to capture the ship. In the
battle which followed my friend was killed, and his friend dangerously
wounded. This was the condition of affairs when the terrible monsoon
struck the vessel.
"That terrible sea and the danger to the ship settled all difficulties.
The master was too full of drink to take charge of the ship, and the
mate was not much better. I took command, and for four days we
maneuvered the ship to keep it from foundering; at the end of that time
the master recovered momentarily, and, securing possession of a
revolver, cleared the deck and prevented us from handling it.
"He resisted every effort to capture him, and as a last resort I was
compelled to shoot him. This was a signal, notwithstanding our perilous
condition, for the intimate associates of the master to range themselves
against us, for we now had only four men against the seven who were in
league.
"I did not want to take human life, and I refrained from this last step,
and as the ship was bare of sails and we were in position to control the
tiller we passed two days and a night, with only a few crackers for
food, and almost exhausted from the strain.
"Night was approaching, and with not a star in sight, and in no
condition to take any reckonings, we made up our minds that we must
somehow fight our way through one more night before giving up. The
mainmast was a wreck; the shrouds on the port side having been torn from
the gunwale the second day of the storm, and the entire deck was one
mass of debris and wreckage.
"It was a dangerous thing to move along from one part of the deck to the
other, as this loose accumulation of material, at each successive lurch,
would be tossed first one way and then the other. This was one thing
that kept the villains at bay, but it prevented us as well as themselves
from getting any food.
"In desperation I took my revolver, and, at the risk of my life, at
every step, forced my way to the pantry and found some food. Before I
reached the bridge the roar of the breakers fell upon me, but the
darkness was now too intense to enable me to see anything, and I knew
that our next great catastrophe would be the rocks.
"I never reached the bridge again, for the vessel struck, and with a
terrific grating sound it moved toward land, and then a giant hand
seemed to lift it upwardly, and I knew no more. When I awoke, which must
have been along noon of the following day, I saw one of the sailors
dead, not fifty feet away, and the master of the ship was close beside
me, with an indescribable mass of wreckage all about.
"When I had recovered sufficiently to judge of my surrounding, I went
over to the master and to the sailor, and saw that their pockets had
been rifled, and I instinctively put my hand to my pockets, to find that
everything, my watch, this match box, which was a present from my wife,
my knife and everything in my pockets were gone.
"From this I knew that such of my companions as had been saved had gone
off, without making any attempt to ascertain whether I was alive or not,
and had taken my things besides.
"I had my clothing, which was still wet, but I was glad to be alive.
That seems singular, doesn't it, when I had thrown myself time and again
right into the jaws of death! I saw a barren shore, but found plenty to
eat as I advanced into the interior. I went to the south and southeast
for the first day, and soon saw the first signs of human habitations.
"Then I came across a tribe of savages who were sacrificing some human
victims. It dawned on me that it might have been some of my companions,
and a spirit of revenge possessed me. But I had no weapons, but relying
on my experience in eluding savages, I crawled up to the village, during
the height of the orgy, and slew one of the warriors, and took his
weapons, as well as his headdress.
"But I was discovered and brought the entire tribe down on me. I avoided
them, doubled on my tracks, and ran into another branch of what proved
to be the same tribe, as the headdress plainly showed me. I again
avoided capture, and in going through the hills discovered a cave, in
which I took refuge.
"To my surprise the cave was tenanted by a certain class of savages, and
I had reason to believe that it was the abode of the medicine men of
the tribe, or the Hoodoos, because the warriors avoided it as they would
a pestilence. I found some wonderful things in that cave, in which I
secluded myself as best I could to avoid detection from those within.
"But I needed food, and one night stole out, only to learn that they had
known of my entrance into the cave, and was driven back again, and
making my way into the interior, how far I do not know, lay down
exhausted, and, on awakening, not knowing which way to go, heard the
voices of the savages, and in going in the opposite direction was
surprised to see a streak of light ahead.
"Approaching near the entrance, waiting there for hours, and not seeing
or hearing them, cautiously crept out, and found that the sun had risen
several hours before, but that the opening was to the western side of
the hill and I had entered it on the eastern side."
"Won't you tell us, John, how you knew it was to the west, and that it
was morning?" The boys looked at George a little queerly, and so did the
Professor, and he quickly divined the reason, and continued: "Pardon me,
Mr. Varney, but we have been in habit of calling you John so long that I
forgot myself."
"You have been calling me John? How did you find out my name?"
"We simply took that as the most convenient name; but please go on and
forgive me for interrupting."
"No apology is necessary. I hope you will know me as John only. But you
asked me a question. I examined the moss, which in the southern
hemisphere grows more abundantly on the south side of the tree; just as
in the north it grows only on the north side. As to the sun, if it had
been afternoon it would have been to the west of the hill and not to
east of it.
"Having emerged from the cave in the vicinity of the last village
another flight was necessary, and I turned to the south, reaching a
large stream in my wanderings, and, in order to avoid capture, swam it
in the night. I still had the bows and a dozen arrows, together with a
crude hatchet, which was taken from the warrior.
"The flight was continued to the south, and thus I lived from day to day
for over three months, occasionally seeing the various tribes. Then for
a period of two months more I was hunted over the entire southern
portion of the island, and finally driven into the mountain. Between six
and seven months after the shipwreck, in a moment of carelessness, I was
taken by a tribe in the south, and held in confinement for over a month,
when I was to be offered up as a sacrifice.
"On the day appointed there was a terrible uproar in camp, and I could
see that a neighboring tribe had attacked, and escaped, only to be
captured by the successful invaders. This was the tribe that Osaga,
here, was a member of. Again escaping I secured one of their spears and
a bow with some arrows, and fought my first captors with such
determination that Osaga's people became my friends and I was given
limited liberty, and began to learn the language.
"Before long the two most powerful tribes united and attacked us, and
defeated Osaga's people, and I escaped to the mountains. This was fully
eleven or twelve months after being cast ashore, and on the last day
they were in sight I can remember going down a steep precipice. The only
recollection of my former self came day before yesterday when I awoke
from a refreshing sleep."