Part 3 (1/2)

I kept count of the long days by o in the walls of my hut I put shells side by side in a row, one for each day, until the number reached seven, and then I transferred one shell to another place, representing the weeks Another pile of shells represented thenotches on my bow My peculiar calendar was always checked by the moon

Now, I a extraordinary occurrenceany theory of my own to account for it I had been many, many months--perhaps more than a year--on that terrible little sand-spit, and on the night I a very despondent As I lay asleep inseely So extraordinarily vivid was the apparition, that I suddenly woke, tuue search In a few ain

I lay there for so about the past--for I dared not dwell on the future--when suddenly the intense stillness of the night was broken by a strangely faly, ”_Je suis avec toi Soit sans peur_ _Tu reviendras_” I can never hope to describe s at that moment

It was not the voice of my father nor of my mother, yet it was certainly the voice of soht was strangely cale that instinctively I leaped out of ain, went outside and called out several tiht, however, I never absolutely despaired, even when things looked their very worst

Two interminable years had passed ahen one day the weather suddenly changed, and a terrible gale commenced to blohich threatened al, a few days later, when the stor wildly on the beach A few seconds afterwards he ca into the hut, and would not rest until I prepared to follow hi so, however, I picked up an oar--I knew not why I then followedwhat could possibly have caused hiitated, and as it was not yet very light, I could not clearly distinguish things in the distance

On peering seawards for the third or fourth ti, black object, which I concludedup and down on the billows Then I an to share Bruno's excitement,--particularly when a few minutes later I discerned a well- prostrate upon it_!

CHAPTER IV

I try to revive my visitors--Demonstrations of amazement--A variety entertainment--Evil spirits in the mirror--”The star above my home”--”Preliminary canter” with the boat--A joyful procession--”Good-bye tothe cannibals--Sraphy--A weird audience--A nation meets me--My first palace

My state of ht, are some poor shi+pwrecked creatures like ht be the th some one to converse with filled me with unutterable joy, and I could hardly restrainout to the catamaran, which was still several hundred yards away froht, ith impatience And then, to my horror, I saw that it was closely followed by a number of sharks, which swa this, I could containnot to follow me, I waded into the waves and then swaood care, however, toin order to frighten away the sharks When eventually I did cos, I found that there were four blacks upon it--aquite prostrate through exhaustion, apparentlyon persistently, but at length I drove the the water with my oar, hich I then proceeded to paddle the catarasped when Bruno caive the alarhthe cannibals an undeniable Providence guided my every action But this will be seen fro instances I climbed aboard the cata overboard again I pulled it right up on to the beach, and carried the four blacks one by one into my hut They were in a ues were swollen and protruding out of theirdown their throats

First of all I tried to revive them with cold water, but found they could not s

Then I remembered the ru soes round their necks, and rolled them about in wet sails, in the hope that in this way their bodies ht absorb the necessary liquid You see I had an idea that they were dying from want of water All four were terribly ees of exhaustion After two or three hours' treatment, the two boys recovered consciousness, and so, but the woman did not come to until the afternoon None of them, of course, were able to walk; and in thebut drink water They seemed not to realise what had happened or where they were until the following day, and then their surprise--ht of me--was beyond all description Their first symptom was one of extreme terror, and in spite of every kind action I could think of, they held out for a long tined to the the to make them understand that I had saved theht they had died and were now in the presence of the mysterious Great Spirit! At any rate, it was not until they began to eat freely that they grew in soovernable curiosity ly, they took to feeling uttural sounds with their mouths, evidently expressive of aers

Next,excited wonderree, that I blessed Providence for sendingsociety My hut, with its curious thatched roof, excited vast interest; and it was aed respectively about twelve and fourteen, following their parents about, jabbering incessantly, and giving lances as they exaet over her fear of rew to trust me implicitly; whereas her husband never ceased to vieith inexplicable suspicion until we regained his own country He was a big, repulsive- looking savage, with a ns of open antagonis uest” on the little sand-bank! It seeed the courtesy coe of a certain e offer which he made me soon after his recovery

Ittoo much to say here that the woman was destined to play a vitally important part in the whole of htsI had ever read of, even in the wildest extravagances of sensational fiction But the ruling passion was very strong, and one of the first things I did was to take my black friends down to the beach and show theh, I had in theher botto, however, no particular object in view in doing this, except perhaps that it gaveto do The poor little ”home-made”

boat threw the blacks into a perfect frenzy of astonishment, and they concluded that I must have come from a very distant part of the world in so enormous a ”catamaran” As a matter of fact, from that moment they looked upon me as most certainly a kind of Supreme Spirit from another world; they may have had doubts before Next I showed the ork, but still plainly discernible a the coral rocks I tried to explain to theer boat that I had co to the hut I put on my clothes for their benefit, whereupon their areat that I seriously conte my list of wonders, lest they should become absolutely afraid to remain with me The clothes they considered part of myself--in fact, a kind of secondary skin! They were terribly frightened and distressed, and not one of the four dared approach me

The blacks did not build themselves any place of shelter, but ht, under the lee ofat their feet I offered the, but they refused theether for war the wo of fish (s, and sea-fowl; to which would perhaps be added some little luxury from my own stock They only had twoand the other in the afternoon Their favourite food was turtle, of which they could eat enor time before he took kindly to the new arrivals, probably because they manifested such extraordinary emotion whenever he lifted up his voice and barked

I think the only thing that roused the father of the family from his sullen moods was my extraordinary acrobatic perforer boys into hysterics of delight Father, mother, and children tried to imitate rief so desperately (once the ave it up Thea ood care not to let hiet possession of any of my weapons; and as I had also taken the precaution to break up and throw into the sea the spears he had brought with him on his catamaran, I felt pretty sure he could not doan to hold me in absolute fear, probably because he had soht be jeopardised if he did not accommodate himself to circuht perhaps soet back to his own country, and I estion roused hirateful

Gradually I acquired a slight acquaintance with the extraordinary language of the blacks, and had many a chat with the wolish froht, lithe and supple, with an intelligent face and sparkling eyes She was a very interesting coe of signs, and slaps, and clicks, I learnt fros about the habits and custoines, which proved extremely useful to me in after years Yamba--for that was her name--told me that when I rescued them they had been blown miles and miles out of their course and away fro about a fortnight previously It seeinally started out on an expedition to catch turtles on a little island between Cae Gulf and Queen's Channel, but the storm carried theth they reachedthe whole of this time was turtle, but they were entirely without water One would think that they must inevitably have died of thirst, but the blacks are wonderful people for going without water for prolonged periods Moreover, they find a

One ofexperiences with the blacks was one day when, quite accidentally, Yaht of herself for the first ti up in the hut near htlessly took it down and held it close up to her face She trelass, and then looked hurriedly on the back One long, last, lingering look she gave, and then flew screah, she overcame her fears later, and, woman-like, would co her lips all the while in wonderrimaces and contortions to try various effects Her husband, however (Gunda, as I called him), was very differently affected, for the lass he gave a terrific yell and bolted to the other end of the little island, in a state of the most abject terror He never quite overcame his terror and distrust of the mirror, which he evidently considered possessed of life, and in reality a kind of spirit to be feared and avoided