Part 10 (1/2)
”July 31--Land to-day visible at a great distance on the south I know not what land it
”August 2--Land visible toward the southwest It seee of ust 5--A sail appeared on the horizon It was too distant to perceive ust 10--A series of severe gales The sea always rolls over the brig in these storust 20--Storust 25--Land again toward the west It see the islands of the Indian Archipelago
”Septeinning to recover again A faint blue streak in the north seems like land
”September 10--Open water
”Septe can stand it I can not see I reany and copper-fastened She does not appear to be ly weak from want and exposure It is with difficulty that I can move about
”October 2--Three months adrift My God haveLet all Thy waves and billows overwheled three days The brig has run aground It is a low island, with a rock about five miles away Thank God,in with tre I shall drift no more I can scarcely hold this pen These areforWhether the storm takes me or not, I must die
”Whoever finds this will take it froe hi pages of the re and for spoke of the darkest despair What agonies had thisthose three months!
Brandon folded up the manuscript reverentially, and put it into his pocket He then went back into the cabin Taking the bony skeleton hand he exclaimed, in a solemn voice, ”In the na!”
He next proceeded to perform the last offices to the reht struck his eye It was a gold locket As he tried to open it the rusty hinge broke, and the cover came off
[Illustration: ”THREE MONTHS ADRIFT”]
It was a painting on enaht as when made--the portrait of a beautiful woman, with pensive eyes, and delicate, intellectual expression; and appeared as though it hed, then putting this in his pocket with the manuscript he proceeded to his task In an hour the rerave on Coffin Island
CHAPTER VIII
THE SIGNAL OF FIRE
The wreck broke in upon the ed the current of his thoughts The revelations contained in Despard's manuscript came with perfect novelty to his mind Potts, his enemy, now stood before him in darker colors, the foulest of miscreants, one who had descended to an association with Thuggee, one who bore on his arainst such an enemy as this he would have to be wary If this enemy suspected his existence could he not readily find means to effect his destruction forever? Who could tell what ole had tracked and followed him with the patience and vindictiveness of a blood-hound
There ht be many such as he He saw plainly that if he ever escaped his first and highest necessity would be to work in secret, to conceal his true name, and to let it be supposed that Louis Brandon had been drowned, while another nae of Despard was now a sacred legacy to himself The duty which the murdered man had imposed upon his father must now be inherited by hieance under which he already lay; yet it freshened his passion and quickened his resolve
The brig was a novelty to him here, and as day succeeded to day he found occupation in searching her During the hotter part of the day he busied hi out the sand fro or evening he worked at the hatchway Here he soon reached the cargo
This cargo consisted of staves and short boards All were blackened, and showed traces of fire The fire seemed to have burned down to a depth of four feet, and two or three feet under the sides; then the water co in had quenched it
He drew out hundreds of these staves and boards, which were packed in bundles, six boards being nailed together as box-shooks, and thirty or forty staves These he threw out upon the deck and on the sand What remained he drew about and scattered loosely in the hold of the vessel
He did this with a purpose, for he looked forward to the tiht pass, and it would then be necessary to attract her attention There was no way of doing so He had no pole, and if he had it ht not be noticed A fire would be the surest way of drawing attention, and all this wood gave hi one He scattered it about on the sand, so that it ht dry in the hot sun
Yet it was also necessary to have so but a knife to ith; yet patient effort will do much, and after about a week he had cut away the rail that ran along the quarter-deck, which gave hith The nails that fastened the boards were all rusted so that they could not be used in attaching any thing to this He decided when the ti It certainly ought to be able to attract attention