CAUGHT ON LOST ISLAND
The sun set gloriously, and after a short twilight common to those
latitudes the full moon arose over the hills, and all the stars came out
little by little till the heavens were full of them.
The moon dimmed their brightness somewhat, but they were still very
brilliant, and the night was a glorious one, the air warm and balmy, the
breeze just enough to temper the heat of the air, and all around them sea
and shore bathed in moonlight.
After dinner, which was served in the saloon as usual, the boys went out
on deck for the most part, and enjoyed the beautiful evening, being
dispersed in little groups here and there, some seated and some walking
the decks.
"We are safe enough, anyhow," observed Jack to Percival and a few of the
boys who were seated on deck with him, "and I suppose we will not leave
here till the morning at any rate."
"We are sheltered in this bay, and even if there should be a storm outside
we will not feel it," returned Percival. "I hardly think there is one, and
it seems strange that we should have caught that cyclone at this time of
the year. Isn't it unusual?"
"You can't call anything unusual in the tropics," laughed Jack. "I believe
you are liable to catch anything at any time here from yellow fever to a
tornado. They seem to have them always on hand."
"Well, we are safe now, at any rate, and I am glad for that much. We will
make the best of this fine night, and take other things as they come."
It was late when the last of the boys went to bed, for they all wanted to
make the most of the fine night, but they were all up early the next
morning, anxious to learn where they were, and if they would stay at the
island or put to sea again.
Jack was the first of the boys on deck, and when he reached there he saw
Dr. Wise talking to the captain and the first officer, there being a
grizzled old seaman conversing with Bucephalus at a short distance.
The doctor and the officers seemed to be carrying on a very earnest
conversation, and Jack heard a little of it as he came forward, and then
suddenly stopped, fearing that he might be intruding.
"We are on the bottom, sir, and I don't know how long we may be there,"
said Captain Storms. "The next high tide may raise us, and it may not. It
is my opinion that we have been on the bottom ever since we came into the
bay, and how we are going to lighten her I don't know."
"But there are no holes, we have opened no seams, we have not taken in any
water?" asked the doctor, looking fixedly at the captain through his big
black-rimmed spectacles.
"No, there are no open seams and no water. The bottom is sandy, too, I
think, and not the sharp coral rock you find in these parts that will cut
a hole in anything that touches it. No, it is simply a case of too little
water to float us, but that, as I may say, may be remedied. Time will
tell."
"Then you do not think there is any cause for alarm, sir?"
"Not any great amount, no, sir. The moon is not quite full, although it
looked so last night, and when it fills we may get higher water. We can
tell to-night. Meanwhile, there are the boats, and your young gentlemen
may go on shore and explore the island. I don't think there are any people
on it, as it seems very small. Many of the islands hereabouts have no one
on them."
"You don't know which one it is as yet?"
"No, I don't."
The doctor walked forward, and looked over the rail, and Jack went up to
Bucephalus, and the old sailor and said:
"You don't know where we are, either of you, I suppose?"
"Ah haven't de remotest ideah, sah," replied the negro, "an' far as Ah can
make o't dis gentleman am in de same predicament. He says we am in de
tropics at a island ob not werry big size an' importance, but Ah was aware
of dese fac's mahself befo' Ah interrogated him, sah, so dat Ah am no
furder dan Ah was befo', sah."
"This here is an island in the Spanish Main, the place where the old
pirates and buccaneers used to roam," said the old sailor whose name Jack
learned later was Ben Bowline, "and that's all I know about it. You didn't
come lookin' fur Cap'n Kidd's treasure, did you?"
"No, we did not, and I don't believe we would find it if we had. Men are
foolish that go looking for such things. I don't believe that Captain Kidd
buried the hundredth part of the gold that he is reputed to have buried. I
have other things to do besides looking for buried gold."
"You're about right," said Ben, "but there's plenty who do look for it,
and spend their lives at it and don't get nothing. This here is one of
them islands, and I thought mebby you boys had come a-lookin' for
something like that. Boys haven't anymore sense."
"Thank you, but you'll find that the Hilltop boys have a good deal more
sense than that."
After breakfast two of the yacht's boats were lowered, and some of the
boys went ashore to explore the island and amuse themselves in various
ways while the captain sent a party to find the outlet of the bay, and see
what their chances for leaving the island might be.
Jack, Percival, Harry, Arthur and young Smith went on one boat, and were
the first to land, walking up the beach and into the woods as the other
boat came ashore.
Picking a path as they went on Jack and his companions pushed into the
deep everglade, the lush undergrowth sometimes quite impeding their
progress, and making their advance very slow.
"If we were going to be here any time," said Percival, "we should have to
make a path so that we could get about with greater rapidity. If we had
thought to bring an axe it would have been better."
After a time their progress was more rapid, as the undergrowth was less
rank, and they went on with more comfort.
Many varieties of cactus, prickly pears, plums and plants with the most
gorgeous flowers lined their path, and gave constant delight to young
Smith and some of the others, but Jack and Percival were more intent on
seeing where they would come out than in looking at plants and flowers,
and they gave the latter little attention.
"There is certainly no one on the island," said Jack at length when they
came out upon an upland glade more open to the sky than the parts already
traversed, "or we should have seen them by this time. I think we have been
going in the same general direction, Dick, so suppose we push on in the
same line, and see where we come out."
"All right, but there are hills, which we may have to climb if we keep
straight on. There they are ahead of us."
"Yes, I see them, but they do not seem to be very high nor far away. If
they want us back at the yacht they will probably blow the bugle."
They pushed on across the open space, and then through a wood where it was
not so easy to advance and at length, without noticing it, began to
descend, the way being good at times and at others very difficult so that
they were frequently obliged to halt and get breath.
"I shouldn't wonder if we were the pioneers of this island," said Harry,
"for no one seems to have been through here before. How do you stand it,
young Smith, all right?"
"Well, it is not so easy as walking along Broadway in New York," rejoined
Jesse W., "but I can manage it, I guess."
"It strikes me that we are going down instead of up," observed Arthur,
"and we thought we would have to climb the hills we saw."
"You often have to go up and down two or three times in climbing a
mountain," said Jack. "It looks all up from a distance, but there are
often intervening valleys, which have to be crossed, and then you go up
again."
"This must be a pretty deep one, then," said Harry, "for we are going down
at a pretty steep incline now."
They pushed on, passing through many great masses of rock, and still going
down at a decided angle until at length they came out upon a bare, rocky
shore with huge masses of rock to the right and left, and beyond a line of
reefs over which the surf was dashing, all being white both beyond and
inside the reefs.
"We are on the other side of the island!" exclaimed Jack, "and we have not
climbed our hills at all or else they were so slight that we did not
notice them."
"I would not like to be in a vessel driven on this side of the island,"
said Percival. "See how the surf dashes over those reefs. You would go to
pieces in a short time."
"That may be the reason why there are no people on it," said Jack. "It is
not very big, I take it, and is probably difficult of access. We seem to
have come to it without knowing it, and if we had I don't believe we would
have gone near it."
They stood watching the surf, and taking in various parts of the shore,
seeing a great mass of rocks higher than those at hand, to the east of the
larger mass close in to land, and at length Jack suggested that they
return to the other side.
"We ought to be able to follow the path we made coming across," he said,
"and in any event, we know the general direction, and if we do go astray a
bit it won't matter."
They set out upon their return, and came out not far from where they had
started, finding Billy Manners and three or four of the boys on shore
waiting for them.
"We thought you might be along soon," said Billy. "Would you believe it,
they don't know what this island is after all, don't know the name of it,
I mean."
"How is that?" asked Harry. "Isn't it charted?"
"Yes, it is charted all right, but there is no name given to it. The
captain says it is a sort of lost island, and they never thought enough of
it to give it a name or if it had one they didn't think it was good enough
to put on the chart."
"Lost Island is a good enough name for us," observed Jack. "Suppose we
call it that while we are here. That will not be long, I suppose."
"H'm! I don't know about that," Billy returned. "They have the yacht
afloat all right. They started the engines, and backed her off a sand bank
or whatever it was we were on, and are now in fairly deep water, but as to
leaving the island that is another matter."
"How is it?" asked all the boys in a breath.
"Because there is a line of reefs stretching right across the mouth of the
bay, and there seems to be no way of getting beyond them. There seem to be
openings here and there, but they are so narrow that the captain does not
think it wise to try to go through them."
"Then we are lost on Lost Island, and are lost ourselves," said Jack.