Part 12 (1/2)
”It must have been soly
”But how did you get here, and how long have you been here?”
Brandon had long since decided on the part he was to play His story was all ready
”My nao_, with a cargo of hogshead staves and box shooks from London to Manilla
On the 16th of September last we encountered a tremendous storm and struck on this sand-bank It is not down on any of the charts The vessel stuck hard and fast, and the sea made a clean breach over us
The captain and crew put out the boat, and tried to get away, but were swa The vessel stood the storly built, and the sand formed rapidly all about her The storm lasted for several days, and by the end of that time a shoal had formed Several storms have occurred since, and have heaped the sand all over her I have lived here ever since in great nal on the rock over there, which she did not notice In despair I set fire to the brig, which was loaded ood and burned easily I watched till , and then fell asleep You foundthis story nothing could exceed the kindness and sympathy of these honest-hearted seaized for having to carry hiland, and finally hurried him off to the boat Before two hours Brandon stood on the deck of the _Falcon_
CHAPTER IX
THE MALAY PIRATE
Two days had passed since Brandon's rescue The light hich had brought up the _Falcon_ soon died out, and before the island had been left far behind a cal left but to drift
A calm in other seas is stillness; here on the Indian Ocean it is stagnation The calnation of the waters seeh to destroy all life there
The air is thick, oppressive, feverish; there is not a breath or a , here approaches as near as possible to an end The ocean rolled but slightly, but the light undulations gave a lazy, listless motion to the shi+p, the span creaked reat sails napped idly in the air
At such a time the cal which s still ; not alike those of the North Atlantic, but a sultry, dense, dry fog; a fog which gave greater e it, made it more oppressive
It was so thick that it was not possible while standing at the wheel to see the forecastle Aloft, all the heavens were hidden in a canopy of sickly gray; beneath, the sea showed the salassy surface exhibited not a ripple A ss were lost to view
The sailors were scattered about the shi+p in groups Soflat on their faces on the forecastle; others had sought those places which were under the sails where the occasional flap of the broad canvas sent down a slight current of air
The Captain was standing on the quarter-deck, while Brandon was seated on a stool near the wheel He had been treated by the Captain with unbounded hospitality, and supplied with every thing that he could wish
”The fact is,” said the Captain, who had been conversing with Brandon, ”I don't like cals, and least of all, calms off these infernal islands”
”Why?”
”Because to the north'ard is the Strait of Sunda, and the Malay pirates are always cruising about, often as far as this Did you ever happen to hear of Zangorri?”
”Yes”
”Well, all I can say is, if you hadn't been wrecked, you'd have probably had your throat cut by that devil”
”Can't any body catch him?”
”They don't catch him at any rate Whether they can or not is another question”
”Have you arorri a pleasanter reception than he usually gets from a merchant-shi+p; and my lads are the boys that can use them”
”I wonder what has become of that other shi+p that passed me on the island,” said Brandon, after a pause