Part 36 (1/2)
”About forty, sir, including those who appear dead or dying,” returned the second lieutenant
”Twenty trips will take about two hours, as the cutter o It will be ti in hiswhere Ada had been conveyed, and atte her rescue ”Mr Saltwell, I will entrust the command of the expedition to you,” continued the captain ”Mr Viall,” to the surgeon, ”we, I fear, shall want your services on board; but, Mr Farral,” to the assistant-surgeon, ”you will proceed in the cutter, and render what aid you consider immediately necessary Take, at all events, a couple of breakers of water, and a bottle or two of brandy You will find some stimulant necessary to revive the most exhausted--I should advise you, Mr Viall, to have so of that nature, boiled for the fro of a coarse nature may prove injurious”
The cutter was hoisted out, and every preparation quickly made Numbers of volunteers presented themselves, but Linton's was the only offer which was accepted, as he undertook to go on to the rock in the first trip the dinghy made, and to render what aid he could to those who appeared to be on the brink of dissolution, when even a few ht make the difference, whether they died or recovered Mr Saltwell gave the order to shove off, and away the cutter pulled up towards the rock, with the dinghy in tow, on her work of humanity
The captain and those who reress of the boats, as well as the movements on the rock, with intense interest It is scarcely possible to describe the excitement on the rock, caused by the departure of the boat If the actions had before been extravagant, they were now doubly so; they shrieked, they danced, they eestures; and, indeed, appeared entirely to have lost all control over themselves
The cutter dropped her anchor at the distance it was considered advisable fro see to their assistance, and their joy was at once turned into rage and defiance One of them leaped into the water and endeavoured to swim towards the boat Linton, who had taken the precaution before leaving the shi+p to arm himself, as had Raby, as his cohy, with the two ed her on as fast as they could to succour the unhappy wretch, slacking away at the saot near enough to see his eye-balls starting fro back, hiswith the exertion of which he himself was scarcely conscious, when, as he was alrasp, he uttered a loud shriek, and throwing up his arms, sank at once before them A few red marks rose where he had been, but they were quickly dispersed by the waves
”The poor fellow must have broken a blood-vessel, sir,” said Raby
”No, indeed,” replied Linton, ”every artery round shark has got hold of hiet capsized, or our chance of escape will be s? It is French, is it not?”
”French, sure enough, sir,” replied Jack Raby ”I thought so, before we left the cutter”
”_Sacre betes Anglais_! How dare you venture here? This is our island, far better than your miserable Malta We have taken possession of it, and will hold it against all the world Begone with you, or ill sink you, and your shi+p to the botto these words, they continued estures of defiance and conte the rock It was larger than it had appeared to be at a distance; and at the spot to which he wasthere was a little indentation where the water was coroup of her part of the rock, and these they now observed, were armed, and had thrown up a sort of fortification, with planks and chests, and spars, and other things cast on shore from the wreck, aided by the natural inequality of that part of the rock
”Good Heavens!” thought Linton ”And on so sround, could not these hy ithin two boat-hooks' length of the rock, a voice frolish,--”Take care, sir, or those felloillto do it
But if we could but get up a few drops of water here, we should soon be able to quiet them”
”I have the water for you, and I will try what I can do to pacify them,”
shouted Linton, at the top of his voice ”_A present, mes amis_” he said in French; ”we have come here as friends to aid you; we do not want to take your island, to which you are welcome; and to convince you that we do not coe boat there, where they may have as much food and water as they require”
Two of the this, shouted out,--”Food and water, that is ant--you are friends, we see--ill go”
”No, no--if any go, all shall go!” exclai down to the water; but, so blind was the eagerness of theinto the sea, and would have becoround sharks had not Linton and his cohy He was now afraid that he should be obliged to return at so so he determined to make one more attempt to join the people on the top His first care, before letting the boat again drop in, was to pour a few drops of brandy-and-water down the throats of the two Frenchmen they had rescued
This so revived them, and with their immersion in the water, so restored their senses, that they rose up in the boat and shouted out to their companions:--”Theseyou, and ill be answerable for their honesty”
”Now, messieurs, is your tiet on shore, or their e”
”Pull in,” cried Linton, and in another moment he and Raby, who carried a breaker of water on his shoulder, sprang on shore while the boat was hauled back to the cutter
There they stood for an instant confronting the s it is possible to conceive in huled, and hanging down over their shoulders, their eye-balls were starting from their heads, and their limbs were emaciated in the extreme, lacerated, and clotted with blood and dirt--scarcely any of the to cover them
”Now, my friends, allow us to proceed to a place where we may sit down and discuss our plans for the future,” said Linton, hoping thus to keep theet nearer the summit of the rock
”_Waistcoat bien, c'est bien_,” they answered ”Monsieur is a man of sense,” said one, with a maniac leer at his companion ”We will allow him to make hed, and shouted at the wit of the poor wretch
”We will proceed, then,” said Linton, who found theain the top before these ain Let us advance, messieurs”