ADRIFT ON A FLOATING ISLAND.
The voices grew nearer and suddenly to his amazement Frank heard his
own name mentioned. The next moment both lads broke into a loud
exclamation of surprise.
Those approaching their place of concealment were Billy Barnes and Ben
Stubbs.
It would be difficult to say which pair of adventurers were more
astonished as they met on the beach.
"Shiver my timbers!" exclaimed Ben, "whar did you boys come from? Did
you turn back?"
"Turn back?" echoed Frank, "no, we've been keeping right on."
"Wall," drawled Ben, "then what I was afeard of at first is true."
"What's that, Ben?"
"Why, that we are on an island."
"On an island!"
"Yes, a floating island."
For a moment they were all dumb with amazement. Then Ben went on:
"I've heard old sailors tell of such things off of this yer coast.
These islands--as they are called--are nothing more or less than huge
sections of forest torn from the banks of the Amazon when it is in
flood and floated out ter sea on its current."
"But how can they keep afloat?" asked Harry.
"Why the tangled roots and tree limbs keep 'em up for a long time,"
rejoined Ben, "and then they sink."
"I hope our island isn't sinking," exclaimed Frank, anxiously looking
about him.
"Not much fear of that; but it's moving, all right," replied the old
sailor, "just fix your eyes on that cloud for a minute."
The boys did as directed, and, sure enough, the island, as they now
knew it, was moving slowly along, doubtless urged by some current of
the ocean.
"Suppose the ship never finds us," gasped Billy.
"Now, just put thoughts like that out of your head, youngster,"
exclaimed Ben sharply. "I've been in worse fixes than this and got out
of them. What we had best do now is to gather up some of those big
cocoanuts that's scattered about there and make waterholders out of
them."
"But there's plenty of water flowing from the springs. We passed
several of them," objected Harry.
"That's just the water that has soaked into the ground after the
rain," said Ben. "It will soon dry up as the day goes on."
The adventurers at once set to work gathering up cocoanuts and with
their knives scooping out their shells so as to form sort of pots out
of them. These were filled with water at the nearest of the little
springs and placed in the shade.
"Now to gather some more oysters and we'll have dinner," said Ben,
when the boys had filled what he pronounced to be a sufficient number
of the improvised pots.
The boys set to work at the task at once, stripping from the low
hanging branches the oysters that clung to them. These were roasted in
the same manner as the previous night and washed down with water and
cocoanut milk.
"Well, we shan't starve for a while, anyhow," said Ben, as they
concluded their meal. "If the worst comes to the worst I guess we can
live on cocoanuts for a while."
After some talk about their situation and the prospects of their being
rescued from it Ben announced that he was going to explore the
interior of the island and see if he could find some tree up which it
would be possible to swarm and attach a sort of signal or at any rate
obtain an extended view of the sea.
The boys, who felt tired and dispirited, said that they would remain
in the camp--if camp it could be called.
Ben had been gone perhaps half an hour, when they were aroused by a
sudden shout. At the sound they all sprang to their feet from the
restful postures they had assumed.
There was a note of terror in the cry.
"Help, boys, help!"
The sound rang through the forest and then died away, as if the
shouter had been suddenly silenced.
"It's Ben," shouted Frank.
"What can have happened?" gasped Harry.
"He is in trouble of some kind," shouted Billy Barnes.
"Come on, boys," exclaimed Frank, drawing his revolver, "get your
knives ready, we may need all the weapons we have."
They plunged into the forest in the direction from which they judged
the cries had proceeded and after a few minutes pushing through the
dense brush, which greatly hampered their progress, they heard a
tremendous noise of breaking tree limbs and a violent threshing about
as if some huge body was rushing through the woods.
"What can it be?" gasped Frank, his face pale at the sound of the
struggle.
In almost the same breath his question was answered. Pushing aside
some brush the boys saw before them a small glade or clearing.
In the midst of this stood Ben, his face transfixed with horror and
brandishing a seaman's knife.
Facing him, and seemingly about to dart forward, was the largest
serpent they had ever seen; the sunlight checkered its bright colored
folds. Its red tongue darted wickedly in and out as it faced the brave
seaman.
"Shoot, Frank. Shoot and kill it," implored Harry.
With a white, tense face the elder boy leveled his revolver. He pulled
the trigger and, before the sharp report that followed had died away,
the monstrous, snake was threshing its huge body about in agony.
But as they started to cheer the effect of the shot a cry of horror
broke from the boys. In its struggles the monster had convulsed its
folds till Frank, who was caught off his guard, was within their
reach.
In a second he was wrapped in the giant reptile's grip without having
time to utter even an outcry.
Powerless, with only their puny knives with which to give battle to
the serpent, the boys stood petrified with terror. Even Ben, to whom
his rescue and Frank's peril had been unfolded so swiftly that he was
half-dazed, seemed unable to determine what to do.
But indecision only held for a moment. Then with a cry he jumped
forward and picked up Frank's revolver, which the boy had dropped when
the serpent seized him. With a prayer on his lips the old sailor
fired.
Almost with the rapidity of a single bullet the whole contents of the
automatic's magazine poured out and every missile took effect in the
reptile's huge head. In its death agony it straightened out its folds
and Frank's senseless body dropped from them, seemingly limp and
lifeless.
The boys started to rush in, but Ben held them back with a warning
hand.
"Hold on; it may not be dead yet," he warned.
But a brief inspection proved that the great snake had succumbed to
Ben's fusillade and, this settled, they dragged Frank to a low bank,
where the extent of his injuries could be ascertained.
"No bones broken," pronounced Ben, after a careful examination. It was
not long before the boy opened his eyes and in a short time he
declared he felt as well as ever.
The serpent on being measured with Frank's pocket rule proved to be a
trifle over twenty feet long and of great girth.
"It's an anaconda," said Ben, "there are lots of 'em up along the
Amazon and they are as deadly a snake as there is. I've heard tell
they can crush a horse in their folds."
"I hope there are no more of them on the island," exclaimed Billy.
"We shall have to be careful," rejoined Ben, "there may be other
dangerous creatures here, too. This island, as I should judge, must be
all of six miles around and there's room for a lot of ugly critters in
that space."
Leaving the dead body of the snake the adventurers made their way back
to camp. The first thing that all wanted was a drink of water. They
made for the place in which the drinking fluid had been left.
As soon as his eyes fell on the row of improvised water pots Frank
gave an exclamation of dismay.
"Look here," he shouted, "there's some one on this island besides
ourselves."
"What!" was the amazed chorus.
"There must be," went on the lad, "see here, there were twenty
cocoanut shells of water when we went away, and now there are only
fifteen."
"Five gone!" exclaimed Ben in an alarmed voice, "and the spring has
already dried up."
"Hullo! What's that?" suddenly cried Billy, as something came crashing
through the branches.
The next moment one of the missing shells was rolled with great
violence into the middle of the group of adventurers. Before they had
recovered from their astonishment a strange sharp scream filled the
forest. There was a derisive note in its tones.
A strange fear filled the boys' hearts. Their faces paled.
"The island is haunted!" shouted Ben.