Part 19 (2/2)
The boatswain then set to work on the for, sails, clothing, instrus would no longer be exposed to the knocking about and da preserved food and the casks of spirits were rapidly carried ashore
I worked with the captain and West at this onerous task, and Dirk Peters also turned up and lent the valuable assistance of his great strength, but he did not utter a word to anyone
Our occupation continual on the 8th, 9th, and 10th February, and our task was finished in the afternoon of the 10th The cargo was safely stowed in the interior of a large grotto, with access to it by a narrow opening We were to inhabit the adjoining grotto, and Endicott set up his kitchen in the latter, on the advice of the boatswain Thus we should profit by the heat of the stove, which was to cook our food and warhts of the austral winter
During the process of housing and storing, I observed nothing to arouse suspicion in the bearing of Hearne and the Falklands uard at the boat, which uerly, who observed his comrades closely, appeared less anxious
On that sa reassembled his people, stated that the question should be discussed on thethat, if it were decided in the affirmative, lots should be drawn immediately No reply was made
It was late, and half dark outside, for at this date the sun was on the edge of the horizon, and would very soon disappear below it
I had been asleep for so at a short distance I sprang up instantly and darted out of lhe cavern, simultaneously with the captain and West, who had also been suddenly aroused from sleep
”The boat! the boat!” cried West
The boat was no longer in its place--that place so jealously guarded by Dirk Peters
After they had pushed the boat into the sea, three ot into it with bales and casks, while ten others strove to control the half-breed
Hearne was there, and Martin Holt also; the latter, it see
These wretches, then, intended to depart before the lots were drawn; theyDirk Peters, and they would have killed hiht hard for life
In the face of thiswhether he ht count on all the old crew, Captain Len Guy re-entered the cavern with West in order to procure arms Hearne and his accomplices were ar words arrested my steps
The half-breed, overpowered by numbers, had been knocked down, and at this ratitude to theto his aid, but Hearne called out to him,-- ”Leave the fellow alone, and come with us!”
Martin Holt hesitated
”Yes, leave him alone, I say; leave Dirk Peters, the assassin of your brother, alone”
”The assassin of my brother!”
”Your brother, killed on board the Grampus--”
”Killed! by Dirk Peters?”
”Yes! Killed and eaten--eaten--eaten!” repeated Hearne, who pronounced the hateful worn froed him into the boat Hearne was instantly followed by all those who,n he had induced to join in this criround, and sprang upon one of the Falklandson the platform of the boat, lifted him up bodily, hurled hiainst a rock
In an instant the half-breed fell, shot in the shoulder by a bullet from Hearne's pistol, and the boat was pushed off
Then Captain Len Guy and West came out of the cavern--the whole scene had passed in less than a ether with the boatswain, Hardy, Francis, and Stern
The boat, which was drawn by the current, was already so rapidly
West shouldered his gun and fired; a sailor dropped into the bottorazed Hearne's breast, and the ball was lost a the ice-blocks at the
The only thing for us to do was to cross to the other side of the point The current would carry the wretches thither, no doubt, before it bore thee, and if a second shot should hit Hearne, either killing or wounding hi back to us
A quarter of an hour elapsed When the boat appeared at the other side of the point, it was so far off that our bullets could not reach it Hearne had already had the sail set, and the boat, impelled by wind and current jointly, was soon no more than a white speck on the face of thc waters, and speedily disappeared
Chapter XXIII
Found at Last
The question of our wintering on the land whereon,we had been throas settled for us But, after all, the situation was not changed for those a of the twenty-three) who should not have drawn the lot of departure Who could speculate upon the chances of the whole nine? Might not all of them have drawn the lot of ”stay”? And, when every chance was fully weighed, was that of those who had left us the best? To this question there could be no answer
When the boat had disappeared, Captain Len Guy and his companions retraced their steps towards the cavern in which we o out, in the dread darkness of the antarctic winter My first thought was of Dirk Peters, who, being wounded, could not folloe hurried to the other side of the point
On reaching the cavern I failed to find the half-breed, Was he severely wounded? Should we have to mourn the death of this man as as faithful to us as to his ”poor Py!” cried the boatswain
”We will go together,” said the captain ”Dirk Peters would never have forsaken us, and ill not forsake him”
”Would he coht was known to him and me only has come out?”
I informed my coed to that of Parker in Arthur Pym's narrative, and of the circumstances under which the half-breed had apprised ed every consideration thatin particular upon the point that if the lot had fallen to Dirk Peters, he would have been the victier
”Dirk Peters confided this secret to you only?” inquired Captain Len Guy
”To me only, captain”
”And you have kept it?”
”Absolutely”
”Then I cannot understand how it cae of Hearne”
”At first,” I replied, ”I thought Hearne ht have talked in his sleep, and that it was by chance Martin Holt learned the secret After reflection, however, I recalled to mind that when the half-breed related the scene on the Grampus to me, he was in my cabin, and the side sash was raised I have reason to think that the man at the wheel overheard our conversation Now that o the wheel, so that the Halbrane lurched--”