United States or Wallis and Futuna ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The launch led again, her sails having been set as soon as the reef was swept, and she now made another discharge on the deck of the ship, which, inclining towards the gun, offered no shelter. The effect was to bring every Arab, in the twinkling of an eye, down upon the bank. "Hurrah!" shouted Captain Truck; "that grist has purified the old bark! And now to see who is to own her!
He heaved a deep sigh, and sat silent and sad for some time. Then he recollected that he was going to fish. He got up, and again worked his way towards the end of the reef. He cast in his line, and had hooked a fish, when, just as he landed it, on looking up for an instant, he saw the canoe gliding towards the island.
One day when rain was falling in sheets and torrents, as it did sometimes upon the Rocas Reef, Percival turned into the log hut for shelter. Mackay was there, too; his leg had been so painful that he had not left the rude bed, which his comrades had made for him, even to be carried out into the fresh air and sunshine, for two or three days.
In either case the schooner must have been within the reef at the time, and there has been little wind since the squall blew itself out yesterday." "Quite enough, how ever, to blow such a light craft pretty far out to sea in a few hours," said Henry, shaking his head.
Dane nodded vigorously in agreement and the tough strands swung out in a skillful cast which engulfed the motionless creature on the reef. But it was so protected by its scales that there was no opening for the claw knife. They had made a capture but they could not make a kill. However, the Salariki were highly delighted.
"Yes, I do, Mr Blackburn," protested the boy; "and you wouldn't be surprised if you had heard as I did the tremendous seas that swept the ship when she first hit the reef. I shouldn't have been a bit surprised if she had gone to pieces right then. It's no wonder that the decks were clean swept." "No wonder, indeed," I agreed. "You say that we are ashore on a reef, Billy.
This again and again, but all was silent; and a curious feeling of awe crept over me as I gazed at the barque lying there on the reef as if it were dead, while the column of smoke, which now looked much bigger, twisted and writhed as it rolled over and over up from just abaft the broken foremast. "Steady," cried the lieutenant; "the water's getting shoal. Keep a good look-out forward, Jones."
There was a reef outside it, and, floating in a corner of the smooth water within the reef, was a heap of sea-weed, and entangled in that sea-weed was this bottle." Here the captain took his hand from the bottle for a moment, that the young fisherman might direct a wondering glance at it; and then replaced his band and went on:
He might ascertain, by direct observation, the action of a mountain torrent, as well as of a marine current; might compare the products of volcanos poured out upon the land with those ejected beneath the waters; and might mark, on the one hand, the growth of the forest, and, on the other, that of the coral reef.
She was close down upon the reef; doomed herself, it might yet be possible to save a portion of her crew; and for this end Captain Fritze placed his reliance on the very hugeness of the seas that threatened him. The moment was watched for with the anxiety of despair, but the coolness of disciplined courage.
Word Of The Day