We must now turn back and ascertain what has become of our young adventurers and their rugged old companion. We left them sitting on the bow—or rather perched there in positions none too secure in case of a sudden lurch of the ship.
"I smell land," had been Ben's sudden exclamation after one of the prolonged silences which, as has been said, possessed them that night.
The boys laughed.
"Laugh away," declared Ben, "but I do. Any old sailor can tell it."
"But we are two hundred miles at sea," objected Frank.
"Don't make no difference, I smell land," stubbornly repeated the old sailor.
"Maybe the wind is off shore and that's the reason," suggested Billy.
"A sensible suggestion, youngster," approved Ben. "I guess that is the reason for there is no island in this part of the world that I ever heard tell of. But say," he broke off suddenly, "what's come over the weather. It's getting black and the stars are blotted out. There's a storm brewing and a bad one, or I'm mistaken."
The boys agreed that there did seem to be every indication of an approaching tropical disturbance of some kind. The air had suddenly grown heavy and sulphurous. There was an oppressive quality in it.
"I'm going aft to tell the captain that there's a bad blow coming on or I'm a Dutchman," exclaimed Ben, starting to scramble to his feet.
"Better hold onto that stay or you'll topple overboard," warned Frank, as Ben, balancing himself, got into a standing posture.
"What me, an old sailor topple over," shouted Ben, "Not much younker, why I—"
The sentence was never finished. At that instant the shock that had aroused Captain Hazzard and terrified the whole ship's company hurled him headlong into the night and the boys, balanced as they were on the prow of the trembling ship, were shot after him into the darkness as if they had been hurled out of catapults.
Frank's feelings as he fell through the darkness he could not afterward describe, still less his amazement when, instead of falling into the sea, fully prepared to swim for his life, he found himself instead plunged into a sticky ooze. For several seconds, in fact, he was too amazed to utter a sound or move. It seemed he must be dreaming.
Then he extended his hands and almost gave a cry so great was his amazement.
He had encountered an unmistakable tree trunk!
He was on land—not dry land—for the boy was mired to the knees in sticky mud,—but nevertheless land. Land in midocean.
Hardly had he recovered from his first shock of surprise when he heard a voice exclaim:
"Can anyone tell me am I awake or dreaming in my bunk?"
"What's the matter, Billy?" hailed Frank, overjoyed to know that one at least of his comrades was safe.
Before Billy could reply Harry's voice hailed through the darkness.
"I'm up to my neck in mud. Where are we, anyhow?"
"We're on dry land in midocean, shiver my timbers if we ain't," came a deep throated hail, which proceeded from Ben Stubbs.
"Thank heaven we are all safe anyhow," cried Frank, "this mud is mighty uncomfortable, though."
"Well, if it hadn't been here we'd have been eaten by sharks by this time," Billy assured them; an observation all felt to be true.
"Where can the ship be?" exclaimed Harry's voice suddenly.
"Miles off by this time," said Frank. "I don't suppose they have even missed us and even if they have it's so black they could never find us."
"Let's see where we are," suggested Ben, "anyhow I'm going to try to get out of this mud. It's like a pig-pen."
His observation struck the boys as a good suggestion and they all wallowed in a direction they deemed was forward and soon were rewarded for their efforts by finding themselves on real dry land. By stretching out their hands they could feel tree trunks and dense brush all about them.
"It's no dream," declared Frank, "we are really on land. But where?"
"Maybe the ship was way off her course and we are stranded on the coast of Brazil," suggested Harry.
"Not likely," corrected Ben, "and besides if we'd hit land the ship would be ashore."
"Then what can we be on?" demanded Frank.
"Give it up," said Billy.
"Anybody got a match?" asked Frank.
Luckily there were no lack of these and as the boys carried them in the waterproof boxes they had used on their previous expeditions they were dry. Some were soon struck and a bonfire built of the brush and wood they found about them.
It was a strange tropical scene the glare illuminated. All about were palm trees and tropic growth of various kinds; many of the plants bearing fruits unfamiliar to the boys. Some large birds, scared by the light, flapped screaming out of the boughs above them as the bonfire blazed up. They could now see that they had been pitched out of the ship onto a muddy beach, the ooze of which stuck to their clothes like clay. The spot in which they stood was a few feet above the sea level.
"Well, there's no use trying to do anything till daylight," said Frank, "we had better sleep as well as we can and start out to try and find a house of some sort in the morning."
All agreed this was a good plan and soon they were wrapped in slumber. Frank's sleep was restless and broken, however, and once or twice he had an uneasy feeling that something or somebody was prowling about the "camp." Once he could have sworn he saw a pair of eyes, like two flaming points of fire, glare at him out of the blackness; but as it was not repeated, he assured himself that it was only his nervous imagination and composed himself to sleep once more.
A sharp thunder storm raged above them shortly before daybreak and they were compelled to seek what shelter they could under a fallen tree trunk. The storm was the one that had blackened the sky some hours before. Luckily it was as short as it was sharp, and when the sun rose it showed them a scene of glistening tropic beauty.
But the boys had little eye for scenery.
"What are we going to do for breakfast?" was Billy's manner of voicing the general question that beset them all after they had washed off some of the mud of the night before.
"Tighten our belts," grinned Harry.
"Not much; not while them oysters is there waiting to be picked," exclaimed Ben pointing to some branches which dipped in the sea and to which bunches of the bivalves were clinging.
"I've got some biscuits in my pocket," said Frank, "I brought them on deck with me last night in case I got hungry on watch."
"Well, we'll do fine," cheerfully said Ben, as having heated some stones he set the oysters to broil on them.
Despite his cheerful tone, however, not one of the little party was there that did not think with longing regrets of the snowy linen and bountiful meals aboard the Southern Cross.
Breakfast over, Ben announced that the first thing to do was to try to find out where they could be. It was agreed for this purpose to advance along the beach for five miles or so in opposite directions, the group being formed into two parties for the purpose. Harry and Frank paired off in one party and Ben Stubbs and Billy formed the other. They were to meet at noon or as soon thereafter as possible and compare notes.
Frank and Harry tramped resolutely along the beach under a baking hot sun till they felt as if they were going to drop, but they held pluckily on, fortunately having found several springs along their line of march.
From time to time they eagerly scanned the expanse of sparkling sea that stretched before them; but it was as empty of life as a desert.
"Do you suppose the ship will make a search for us?" asked Frank.
"How can we tell," rejoined his brother, "they will have found out we are gone by this time and will naturally conclude that we fell overboard and were drowned or eaten by sharks."
Both agreed that such was probably likely to be the fact and that if the coast on which they were cast away proved to be uninhabited their situation might be very serious.
"On the other hand, the ship may have gone down after the collision," suggested Harry, "how she ever came to graze this land and then escape I can't make out."
"I've been puzzling over that, too," replied Frank, "there's a lot that's very mysterious about this whole thing. The Southern Cross is, as you know, equipped with a submarine bell which should give warning when she approaches shallow water. Why didn't it sound last night?"
"Because there must be deep water right up to this coast," was the only explanation Harry could offer.
"That's just it," argued his brother. "But what is a coast doing here at all. We are two hundred miles out in the South Atlantic, or rather, we were last night."
"The charts don't show any land out there, do they?"
"Not so much as a pin point. Some of the deepest parts of the ocean are encountered there."
"Then the ship must have been off her course."
"It seems impossible. She is in charge of experienced navigators. Her compasses and other instruments are the most perfect of their kind."
"Maybe it is a dream after all, and we'll wake up and find ourselves in our bunks," was all Harry could say.
Before Frank could find anything to reply to this extraordinary suggestion he gave a sudden tense cry of:
"Hark!"
Both boys stopped and above their quick breathing they could hear the beating of their hearts.
Human voices were coming toward them.
Luckily Frank had his revolver, having been using it the day before in shooting at huge turtles that floated lazily by. He had by a lucky oversight neglected to take it off when he had finished his target practice, merely thrusting it back into its holster. He drew the weapon now, and grasping Harry by the arm pulled him down beside him into a clump of brush.
"We'll hide here till we see who it is coming," he said.
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 BenStubbs.
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.
"Nonsense," said Frank, sharply, although he had been considerably startled by the inexplicable occurrence himself, "you know there are no such things as ghosts, Ben."
"And if there were they wouldn't throw cocoanut shells at us," went onHarry.
"Wall," said Ben, stubbornly, "what else could it have been?"
"A wild man," suggested Billy; "perhaps a whole tribe of them."
This was not a pleasant suggestion. Frank had but a few cartridges left and the others had only their knives. These would be small protection against savages if any of the forest dwellers had really gone adrift on the floating island. It was not a cheerful party that sat down to another meal of oysters and fruit that evening. Moreover the water supply of the little party was almost exhausted and without water they faced a terrible death.
Because of the unknown dangers which, it was felt, surrounded them it was decided to set a watch that night and keep the fire burning through the dark hours. Harry and Ben were to share the first watch and Frank and Billy agreed to take the second one. Nothing had occurred when Ben, at midnight, aroused Frank and the young reporter and told them it was time to go on duty.
The boys had been on sentry duty for perhaps an hour with nothing but the lapping of the waves against the shore of the floating island to break the deep stillness, when suddenly both were startled by a strange and terrible cry that rang through the forest.
With beating hearts they leaped to their feet and strained their ears to see if they could ascertain the origin of the uncanny cry, but they heard nothing more.
Hardly had they resumed their places by the fire, however, before the wild screams rang out again.
"It's some human being," cried Frank.
"They are being killed or something!" cried the affrighted BillyBarnes.
By this time Ben Stubbs and Harry had awakened and were sitting up with scared looks on their faces.
"Seems to come from near at hand," suggested Ben.
Suddenly the yell sounded quite close, and at the same instant it was echoed by the boys as a dozen or more dark forms dashed out of the dark shades of the forest and rushed toward them. Half unnerved with alarm at this sudden and inexplicable attack, Frank fired point-blank into the onrush, and two of the dark forms fell. Their comrades, with the same wild shrieks that had so alarmed the boys, instantly turned and fled, awakening the echoes of the woods with their terrifying clamor.
"A good thing I killed those two," cried Frank; "throw some wood on the fire, Ben, and we'll see who or what it is that I've shot."
In the bright blaze the adventurers bent over the two still forms that lay on the ground as they had fallen.
"Why, they're great apes!" exclaimed Frank in amazement; "what monsters!"
"Howling monkeys, that's what they call 'em," declared Ben, "I've heard of 'em. No wonder we were scared, though. Did you ever hear such cries?"
"I wonder why they attacked the camp?" asked Billy.
"I don't suppose it was an attack at all," said Frank, "most likely they smelled the food and thought they'd come and help themselves to some broiled oysters."
"I'll bet it was the monkeys that took our water and then threw the shells at us," cried Harry.
"I guess you are right, boy," said Ben; "them monkeys are terrors for mischief."
"I hope they don't take it into their heads to annoy us any more," said Harry.
"Not likely," declared Ben, "I guess the firing of the revolver and the sight of them two mates of theirs falling dead scared them out of two years' growth."
Ben's surmise was right. The adventurers passed the remainder of the night in peace.
As soon as day broke over a sea unmarred by a single ripple, there was an eager scrutiny of the horizon by all the castaways, but to their bitter disappointment not a sign of the Southern Cross, or any other vessel, could be descried.
"Looks like we'll have to spend some more time on 'Monkey Island'," said Ben with a shrug.
"We can't spend much more time," said Frank, grimly.
"Why not?" demanded Ben.
"What are we to do for water?"
Things did, indeed, look black. Breakfast was eaten in comparative silence, and after the meal was concluded, at Frank's suggestion, it was decided to explore the island for a spring that could be tapped for further water supply. The boys all admitted to themselves that the chance of finding one was remote, but they determined to try and locate one in any event. At any rate Frank felt it would keep their minds off their troubles to have something to do.
The best part of the morning was spent in the search and although they came across occasional driblets of water,—the remnants of springs started by the heavy rain that marked their first night on the island,—they found nothing that promised an available supply. At noon they sat down in the shade of a huge palm to rest and made a meal off the nuts that lay at its foot. The milk of these proved cool and refreshing and was drunk out of the shell after one end of it had been hacked off with Frank's hunting knife.
"Well, we might as well make a start back for our camp," suggestedFrank, after some moments had passed in silence.
"Camp," repeated Harry, bitterly, "that's a fine camp. Why, there's nothing there but trees and sand and howling monkeys."
Nevertheless a start was made for the resting place of the previous night, the party trudging along the narrow beach in Indian file. All at once Ben, who was in the lead, stopped short.
"Look!" he exclaimed, pointing overhead.
The boys followed his finger and gave a shout of astonishment.
"Smoke!" cried Frank.
"Hurrah," cheered Harry, "it's the Southern Cross."
He waved his hat at the dark wreaths of vapor that were blowing across the island overhead.
The smoke scudded across the sky like small fleecy clouds, but it momentarily grew thicker and blacker.
"She's smoking up all right," laughed Billy Barnes, all his fears gone now that rescue seemed at hand.
Ben alone of the party seemed troubled.
"I'm not so sure that that's steamer smoke," he said slowly.
"Why, what else can it be?" demanded Frank.
"I don't know,"—sniff,—"but it seems to me,"—sniff,—"that's a whole lot of smoke for a steamer to be making, and"—sniff—"I don't like the looks of it."
"What else could make such smoke?" demanded Harry.
For reply Ben asked what seemed a strange question.
"Did you put the fire out when we left the camp?"
In an instant they all perceived without his speaking a word, what the sailor feared.
The island was on fire!
A few minutes later the smell of the burning trees and the crash as they fell, while the flames leaped through the brushwood beneath them, was clearly borne to them.
They were marooned on a floating island, and the island was in flames.
The dense smoke of the fire had by this time blotted out the sky and all they could see above them was a thick canopy of smoke. It rose in a huge pillar blotting out the sky and poisoning the air.
"What are we to do?" gasped Billy.
"I don't see what we can do," was Frank's reply, "our escape is cut off. We shall burn to death."
Indeed it seemed as if the boys were doomed to death in the flames. With incredible rapidity the fire, undoubtedly started by their carelessness in not extinguishing their camp fire, came leaping and roaring through the forest.
Suddenly out of the woods directly in front of them leaped a lithe spotted form, and without glancing to right or left, the creature shot into the sea. It swam quite a distance and then sank.
"A jaguar," exclaimed Ben; "a good thing it was too scared to attack us."
"Yes, I haven't got a cartridge left," said Frank, gazing ruefully at his empty revolver.
"I don't think that would do us much good if you had; we might as well die by a jaguar's teeth and claws as by being burned to death," said Harry.
The boys were now witnesses of a strange scene. Driven by the heat of the fire scores of terrified animals passed them. There were small agoutis or wild pigs, monkeys, birds of various kinds,—including huge macaws and numerous snakes. The creatures paid not the least attention to the boys, but, crazed with fear, made for the sea. The birds alone soared off and doubtless the stronger winged of them reached land.
"If we only had the Golden Eagle here," sighed Frank.
"Hurrah," suddenly shouted Ben, capering about, "hurrah, I've got a plan."
For a minute or two the boys regarded him as one might an insane person, but as he went on to explain his plan they grasped at it as a last resort. Two large tree trunks lay near to where they stood. They had fallen apparently in some tropical storm, so that their bulk rested on some smaller trees. It was as if they were on rollers.
"We will lash those together with some withes and make a raft," exclaimed Ben.
"How are you going to get them into the water?" asked Billy.
"By the natural rollers that are underneath them," replied the sailor; "come, we have no time to lose if we are to escape."
Indeed they had not. The fire was now so close that they could feel its ardent breath. Sparks were falling about them in red-hot showers and already some of the brush in their vicinity was beginning to smoke. Soon it would burst into flame and then they were doomed.
Feverishly they worked and soon had the two trunks lashed together firmly with long "lianas" or creepers of tough fibre that grew in great profusion everywhere. The work of getting the trunks into the water was, thanks to the natural rollers, not so hard as might have been anticipated. Ben and Frank managed the placing of the rollers, which were carried in front of the logs as fast as its hinder end cleared some of them. In this manner their "raft," if such it could be called, was soon afloat.
It seemed a terribly insecure contrivance with which to risk a voyage, but they had no choice. The whole island, except the spot in which they had worked, was now one raging furnace, and had their situation not been so critical, the party would have been compelled to admire the wild magnificence of the spectacle. Great red tongues of flame shot up through the blanket of dark smoke, dying it crimson. Occasionally there would be a dull crash as some huge forest monarch fell prostrate, or the dying scream of some creature overtaken by the flames rang out.
"Quick, onto the raft," shouted Frank as the clumsy craft floated at last.
It did not take the adventurers long to follow his directions. The heat from the fire was now intense and they lost no time in putting the two branches they had cut to use as paddles into action. It was hard work but they found to their delight that their raft moved when they dug into the water with their clumsy means of propulsion.
"Hurrah!" shouted Billy as they began to glide slowly over the waves, "we are saved from the floating island."
"Yes, but for how long," exclaimed Frank; "we have no provisions and no water. How long can we live without them?"
"We must hope to be picked up," said Harry.
"That is our only hope," rejoined Frank, "if we are not—-"
There was no need for him to finish the sentence, even had he been able to, for while he was still speaking a startling thing happened.
The raft was about twenty feet from the shore, but despite the distance a dusky form that had rushed out of the wood with a wild howl, shot through the air and landed fairly upon it.
[Illustration: "With a Wild Howl, Shot Through the Air."]
With its menacing eyes of green, like balls of angry flame, dull yellow hide, catlike form, and twitching tail, the boys had no difficulty in recognizing it for what it was.
A giant panther.
There was no possibility of escape. As the creature growled menacingly the boys realized that they were practically without means of protection against this new enemy.
As the panther, too, realized its position, it drew back on its haunches and, lashing its tail wickedly, prepared to spring.
It was no time for words. Almost before any of them realized just what had happened, the savage creature that had taken refuge from the flames on their frail craft, launched its yellow body at them in a great leap. But the brute miscalculated its spring this time.
With a howl of dismay it shot beyond its mark and fell into the sea.
"Quick, boys, get your knives ready," shouted Ben, "we've got a fighting chance now."
Hastily the boys, though they felt skeptical as to the effectiveness of these small weapons against such a formidable enemy, got out their hunting knives. But they were not destined to use them.
The howl of dismay which the panther had uttered as it found itself plunged into the water was quickly changed to a shrill scream of terror from its huge throat. At the same instant a number of triangular fins dashed through the water toward it.
"Sharks!" shouted Harry.
Attracted by the number of animals that had taken to the water to escape the fire the creatures had gathered in great numbers about the island and were devouring the fugitives right and left. Fully a dozen of the monsters rushed at the panther which, formidable as it was on land, was, like most of the cat tribe, at a great disadvantage in the water.
It could make no resistance but a few feeble snaps to the avalanche of sharks that rushed at it, and a few seconds after the onslaught the water was crimsoned with the blood of the panther and the boys were safe from that peril. But the sharks now offered almost as great a danger as had the land monster.
Made furious by the taste of so much food they cruised alongside the rickety raft gazing with their little eyes at its occupants till shudders ran through them. The boys tried to scare them away by flourishing the branches used as oars, but this, while it scared them at first, soon lost its effect on the sea-tigers, who seemed determined to keep alongside the raft, evidently hoping that sooner or later they would get a meal.
All the afternoon the boys took turns paddling with their branches and by this means, and impelled also by one of the ocean currents that abound in this latitude, the smoking island gradually drew further and further away. But the sharks still cruised alongside and now and again one bolder than the others would turn partly on his back and nose up against the raft, showing his cruel, saw-like teeth and monstrous mouth as he did so.
"I don't wonder they call them sea-tigers," said Frank, "more terrible looking monsters I never saw."
The tropic night soon closed and darkness shut down with great rapidity. Far off the boys could see the red glare cast by the flaming island.
"That's queer," exclaimed Frank suddenly. He had been regarding the island intensely for some time.
"What's queer?" demanded Billy.
"Why, do you see that long wavering ray of light shooting up near the island," he cried, pointing in that direction, "what can it be?"
The others looked and to their amazement, as soon as Ben's eyes fell on the strange ray of white light, the old sailor began dancing a sort of jig to the imminent danger of his tumbling in among the sharks.
"Hurray! hurray!" he shouted, "douse my topsails and keel-haul my main-jibboom, if that ain't the best sight I've seen for a long time."
"Have you gone crazy?" asked Harry.
"Not much, my boy," shouted the old tar, "that queer light—as you call it—yonder is a ship's searchlight. The Southern Cross like as not."
"She must have seen the smoke from the burning island and sailed in that direction," exclaimed Frank.
"How can we attract their attention?" cried Billy.
"Easy enough," said Ben, pulling off his shirt, "this is a good shirt, but I'd rather have my life than a whole trunk full of shirts. Now for some matches and we'll make a night signal."
The matches were soon produced and the old sailor set fire to the garment. It flared up brightly and made a fine illumination, but as the flare died out there was nothing about the movement of the searchlight to indicate that the signal had been seen.
"We must try again," said Ben.
It was Harry's turn to sacrifice a shirt this time, and he lost no time in ripping it off. As Frank prepared to light it, however, an unfortunate—or even disastrous—accident occurred.
The waterproof box of matches slipped from his fingers in his excitement, and before any of them could recover it, it was overboard. The rush of a great body through the water at the same instant told them that one of the watchful sharks had swallowed it.
"I wish they'd burn his insides out," cried Billy.
"Everybody search their pockets for a match," commanded Frank. A prolonged scrutiny resulted in yielding just one match. It came from Ben's pocket.
Frank lit it with great care. For one terrible moment, as they all hung breathless over it, it seemed as if it was going out. It finally caught, however, and flared up bravely.
"Now the shirt," cried Frank.
It was thrust into his hands and he waved the blazing garment above his head till the flames streaked out in the night.
This time a cheer went up from the castaways on the raft.
Their signal had been seen.
At least so it appeared, for the searchlight, which had been sweeping about near the island, suddenly shot its long finger of light in their direction. As the vessel bearing it neared them a bright glow enveloped the figures on the raft, who were alternately hugging each other and shaking hands over the prospect of their speedy deliverance.
A few minutes later all doubt was dissolved. The approaching vessel was the Southern Cross, and the adventurers were soon answering to excited hails from her bridge. To lower a boat and get them on board once more did not take long, and it was not till late that night that, the story of their perils having been told and retold at least twenty times, they managed to get to their old bunks.
Never had the mattresses seemed so soft or the sheets so comfortable as they did to the tired boys. Their heads had hardly touched the pillows before they were off in dreamland—a region in which, on that night at least, fires, panthers and sharks raged in inextricable confusion.
Before they retired they heard from the lips of Captain Hazzard the puzzle their disappearance from the ship had proved. The Southern Cross, it appeared, on the day following her collision with the floating island, had cruised in the vicinity in the hope of finding some trace of the castaways. Her search was kept up until hope had been about abandoned. The sight of the glare of the blazing island had, however, determined her commander to ascertain its cause, with the result that while her searchlight was centered on the strange phenomenon the boys' tiny fire signal had been seen by a lookout in the crow's nest and the ship at once headed for the little point of light.
For his part the commander was much interested in hearing of the floating island. It cleared up what had been a great mystery, namely, the nature of the obstruction they had struck, and proved interesting from a scientific point of view. Captain Hazzard told the boys that these great tracts of land were, as Ben had said, not uncommon off the mouth of the Amazon, but that it was rarely one ever got so far out to sea.
Two weeks later, after an uneventful voyage through tropic waters, during which the boys had had the interesting experience of crossing the equator, and had been initiated by being ducked in a huge canvas pool full of salt water placed on the fore deck, the Southern Cross steamed into the harbor of Monte Video, where she was to meet her consort, the Brutus, which vessel was to tow her down into the polar regions.
A few interesting days were spent in Monte Video and the boys sent many letters home and Captain Hazzard forwarded his log books and data as obtained up to date. Professor Sandburr spent his time among the natives collecting memoranda about their habits while the boys roamed at their leisure about the city. They saw a bull fight, a spectacle that speedily disgusted them, and witnessed the driving into the stock-yards of a huge herd of cattle rounded up by wild and savage-looking gauchos on wiry ponies.
One day, while they were walking through a back street leading to some handsome buildings, they heard terrible cries coming from a small hut in unmistakably American tones.
"Come on, let's see what is the matter?" shouted Frank.
Followed by Billy and Harry, the lad ran toward the mud hut from which the cries had issued. As they neared it a terrible-looking figure dashed out. Its white duck suit was streaming with red and the same color was daubed all over its face and head.
"Oh, boys, save me!" it cried as it ran towards the three lads.
"Why, it's Professor Sandburr!" exclaimed Harry, gazing at the crimson-daubed figure; "whatever is the matter?"
"Oh-oh-oh-oh," howled the professor, dancing about, "it's a woman in that hut. She threw some stinging stuff all over me."
"Why, it's chile con-carne!" exclaimed Frank, examining the red stuff that daubed the unfortunate professor from head to foot; "good gracious, what a scare you gave us; we thought you had been attacked with knives and terribly cut."
There was a trough of water near by and to it the boys conducted the professor, who was half-blinded by the stinging Spanish dish, which is a sort of pepper stew. It took a long time to clean him, during which quite a crowd gathered and laughed and jeered, but at last they had the luckless scientist looking more presentable.
"Now tell us what happened?" asked Frank, as they started back toward the city in a hired "volante," or native carriage, that had been passing, by good luck, as they finished their cleaning process.
"Well, my dear boys, it's an outrage. I will see the mayor or the president about it, or whoever is in charge of those things in this land. I saw a fine looking specimen of a hopping sand-toad going into that house and I dashed in after it with my net extended. As soon as I rushed in I upset a sort of baby carriage that stood by the door. Two children, who were in it, started howling in a terrible manner. I know a little Spanish and I tried to explain, but before I could do so the mother threw a whole pot of that hot stuff over me and called me a kidnapper, a robber, a thief. Upon my word I think I may be considered lucky that she didn't shoot me."
"I think you may, indeed," agreed the boys, who could hardly keep from laughing at the comical sight the professor presented with his head cocked on one side and all daubed with the traces of his "hot bath."
Early the next day the Brutus passed a steel hawser to the SouthernCross and the two vessels proceeded out of the harbor of Monte Video.
"Well, we're really off for the pole at last," exclaimed Frank, as the shores grew dim behind them and the long ocean swell made itself felt.
"Yes," rejoined the professor, who was busy getting specimens of jelly-fish in a bucket he lowered overboard by a line. "I wonder what sort of creatures I can catch in the ice there. I don't care so much about the pole, but I do want to get a 'Pollywoginisius Polaris.'"
"Whatever is that?" asked Frank.
"It's a sort of large pollywog with fur on it like seal," replied the professor gravely.
"A sort of fur overcoat," suggested Billy, nudging Frank mischievously.
"Exactly," said the professor gravely; "if you see one will you catch it for me?"
"I certainly will," replied Billy gravely.
For several days the Brutus and the vessel she was towing kept on down the coast. At last one morning the captain announced that they were off the coast of Patagonia, where the famous giant tribes of aborigines and a kind of ostrich are to be found. The professor was greatly excited at this and begged to have the ships stopped and be allowed to go ashore.
"I am afraid that will be impossible," rejoined Captain Hazzard; "we must get into the Polar regions before the winter sets in, and if we delay we shall not be able to do so. No, we must keep on, I am afraid."
The Brutus was making good speed at the moment, and her tow was cutting obediently through the water after her. Sail had been set on all the masts, as there was a favoring breeze. Suddenly there came a jarring shock that threw everybody from their feet. The tow-line parted under the strain with a report like that of a gun.
"We have struck something," shouted the captain.
"A sunken wreck, probably," said the professor, who did not seem at all disturbed.
"Is there any danger?" asked Billy with rather a white face.
"We cannot tell yet till the ship has been examined," replied the captain. He gave orders to sound the well and sent some men forward to examine the vessel's bow.
Soon the ship's carpenter and Ben Stubbs came hurrying aft with scared faces.
"What is it?" demanded the captain, "are we seriously damaged?"
"We have sprung a leak forward and the water is pouring in," was the alarming reply.
The faces of all grew grave. A leak at sea is a serious menace. The point at which the water was entering the Southern Cross was soon found to be through a sprained plank a little below the water line. Captain Hazzard ordered canvas weighted and dropped overboard around the leak so that the pressure of water would hold it there. The carpenter's gang then set to work to calk the hole temporarily.
In the meantime the Brutus had put back, blowing her whistle inquiringly.
"Send them a wireless message telling them what has happened," the commander ordered Frank, who hastened to obey.
The captain of the Brutus ordered out his boat as soon as Frank's message had been conveyed to him and came aboard the Southern Cross. He agreed, after a consultation with Captain Hazzard, that it would be necessary to put in somewhere to refit.
"We are now off the mouth of the Santa Cruz river in Patagonia," said Captain Barrington, "it is a good place to lie to. I was there once on a passenger steamer that met with an accident. We can shift the cargo to the stern till we have raised the bow of the Southern Cross, and then we can patch up her prow easily," he said.
All agreed that this was a good plan. There was only one objection, and that was the so-called giants of Patagonia, who are hostile to all strangers. In view of the large force of men on board the two ships, however, and the numerous weapons carried, it was agreed that there was not much to be feared from the Patagonians.
The broken steel hawser was at once detached and a new one put in place and the two vessels headed for the shore, about one hundred and fifty miles distant. They arrived off the mouth of the Santa Cruz river the next day and the boys, who had been up before dawn in their anxiety to get their first glimpse of "The Land of the Giants," were rather disappointed to see stretched before them a dreary looking coast with a few bare hills rising a short distance inland. There were no trees or grass ashore, but a sort of dull-colored bush grew abundantly.
"I thought the giants lived in dense forests," said Billy, disgustedly; "this place is a desert."
"It was a fortunate accident though that brought us to this shore," said a voice behind them and Professor Sandburr's bony, spectacled face was thrust forward. "I would not have missed it for a great deal. I would like to capture a specimen of a Patagonian alive and take him home in a cage. The Patagonian dog-flea, too, I understand, is very curious."
The boys all laughed at this, but the professor was perfectly serious. There is no doubt that he would have liked to have done so and caged up a Patagonian where he could have studied him at his leisure.
The Brutus, with leadsmen stationed in her bows to test the depth of the water, proceeded cautiously up the river and finally came to anchor with her tow behind her about two miles from its mouth. The work of shifting some of the cargo of the Southern Cross to the stern so as to elevate her bow, was begun at once; as time was an important consideration. Soon all was declared ready for the carpenters to start work and they were lowered on stages over the side and at once began to rectify the trouble. Some of them worked from a boat secured to the bow.
"Do you think you can persuade the captain to let us go ashore with you?" asked Frank of the professor, who was busy at once getting out all his paraphernalia in anticipation of going on what Billy called "a bug hunt."
"Certainly," declared the scientist confidently, "come along. I should like above all things to have you boys go ashore with me. Besides, I may teach you all to become faunal naturalists."
The delighted boys followed the old man to Captain Hazzard's cabin, but, to their disappointment, he forbade the expedition peremptorily.
"The Patagonians are dangerous savages," he said, "and I will not assume the responsibility of allowing you to risk your lives."
Nor did any persuasion of which the boys or the professor could make have any effect in causing the commander to change his mind. He was firm as adamant and reluctantly the boys made their way forward and watched the carpenters fix the leak, and when that palled they were compelled to fall back on fishing for an amusement.
The professor joined ardently in this sport despite his disappointment at not being allowed to go ashore. He managed to fix up a net attached to an iron ring with which he scooped up all kinds of queer fish out of the river, many of which were so ugly as to be repulsive to the boys. But the professor seemed to be delighted with them all.
"Ah, there, my beautiful 'Piscatorius Animata Catfisio,'" he would say, as he seized a struggling sea monster with a firm grip and plunged it into one of his tin tanks. "I'll dissect you to-night. You are the finest specimen of your kind I have ever seen."
The boys were suddenly interrupted in their fishing by blood-curdling yells from the old scientist. Looking up in alarm they saw him dancing about on the deck holding his arm as if in great pain, while in front of him on the deck a queer-looking, flat fish with a long barbed tail flopped about, its great goggle eyes projecting hideously.
Frank ran forward to pick up the creature and throw it overboard, but as he grasped it he experienced a shock that knocked him head over heels. As he fell backward he collided with the professor and the two sprawled on the deck with the professor howling louder than ever.
"No wonder they're hurt," shouted Ben Stubbs, coming up with a long boat-hook, "that's an electric ray."
"An electric what?" asked Billy.
"An electric ray. They carry enough electricity in them to run a small lamp, and when they wish they can give you a powerful shock. They kill their prey that way."
"Ouch—," exclaimed the professor, who had by this time got up, "the ray nearly killed me. Let me look at the brute so that I'll know one of them again."
"Why don't you put him in your collection?" asked Frank with a smile, although his arm still hurt him where the electric ray had shocked it.
"I want no such fish as that round me, sir," said the professor indignantly, and ordered Ben to throw the creature overboard with his boat-hook.
After supper that night the boys hung about the decks till bedtime. The hours passed slowly and they amused themselves by watching the moonlit shores and speculating on the whereabouts of the Patagonians.
Suddenly Billy seized Frank's arm.
"Look," he exclaimed, pointing to a low ridge that stood out blackly in the moonlight.
Behind the low eminence Frank could distinctly see a head cautiously moving about, seemingly reconnoitering the two ships. In a few seconds it vanished as the apparent spy retreated behind the ridge.
"That must have been a Patagonian," said Frank.
"Just think, they are so near to us and we cannot go ashore," sighed the professor, who was one of the group. "I wonder if they have any dogs with them?"
"I have a good mind to go, anyway," said the old man, suddenly, "I would like to write a paper on the habits of the Patagonians and how can I if I don't study them at first hand?"
"What if they chopped your head off?" asked Billy.
"They would not do that," rejoined the scientist, with a superior smile. "I have a friend who lived with them for a time and then wrote a book about them. According to him Captain Hazzard is wrong; they are not hostile, but, on the contrary, are friendly to white men."
"Then you think that Captain Hazzard doesn't know much about them?" asked Billy.
"I did not say that," replied the professor; "but he may be mistaken just like I was about the electric ray, which I thought was a South Atlantic skate. Just the same, I mean to find out for myself," he went on. "To-night when everyone is asleep but the man on duty, I am going to watch my opportunity and go ashore in the boat the carpenters left at the bow this afternoon. There are ropes hanging from the prow down which I can climb."
Soon after this the boys determined to turn in and, naturally, the professor's decision occupied a great deal of their conversation.
"Do you think we ought to tell the captain about what ProfessorSandburr means to do?" asked Frank of the others.
"I don't think so," said Billy. "He is much older than we are and doubtless he knows what he is about. At the same time, though, I think we should watch and if he gets into trouble should try and help him out of it."
"Very well, then we will all be out on deck at midnight," said Frank, "and if we find that the professor is really serious in his intention to go ashore in the boat we will try and stop him. If he still persists we shall have to tell the captain."
The others agreed that the course that Frank recommended was the best one, and they all decided to adopt his plan.
But the boys were heavy sleepers and besides were tired out when they sought their bunks, so that when Frank, who was the first to wake, opened his eyes it was past one in the morning. With a start the boy jumped out of bed and hastily called the others.
"We may not be too late yet," he said, as he hastily slipped into trousers, shirt and slippers.
But the boys WERE too late. When they reached the bow they could see by peering over that the boat had gone and that the professor had penetrated alone into the country of the Patagonians.
Suddenly there came a shot from the shore and a loud cry of:
"Help!"
"It's the professor!" exclaimed Frank; "he's in serious trouble this time."