The Girl Crusoes: A Story of the South Seas

by Oliver Optic

  "Oh! I'm afraid they've caught him," exclaimed Elizabeth, clasping herhands in distress.

  They ran along the edge of the precipice to a spot where they had abetter view of the open ground from the cove to the site of their huts.The din was increasing in volume and fury, but as yet nothing could beseen. Suddenly, from beyond the jutting edge of a crag, they saw themissionary running with all his might, not towards them, but towardsthe sea. The girls wondered at this, for he could not have caughtsight of the steamer, owing to the trees. It dawned on them afterwardsthat the chivalrous old man, in his care for them, was leading thepursuers away from their hiding-place.

  Quivering with apprehension they watched the runner. Presently, lessthan a hundred yards behind him, a horde of savages burst into view,uttering frantic yells, as they leapt after their expected victim. Forsome moments he disappeared from the view of the anxious spectators onthe precipice, hidden by the intervening trees. Then he emerged again;he was still running at a speed amazing in a man of his years. Whatwould be the end of the race? The pursuers were gaining on him; theywere hard at his heels: it seemed impossible that he should not beovertaken.

  He was now upon the beach. A few yards of sand separated him from thesea. He stumbled, recovered himself, dashed on again, and to thegirls' horror plunged into the water. The terrifying image of hungrysharks rose in their minds. Several of the pursuers halted andlevelled their guns at the swimmer, others plunged in after him,evidently determined not to be baulked of their prey.

  All this time the attention of the girls had been divided between thisscene on the shore and the steamer's boat, which was rapidlyapproaching. They could not tell whether it had been seen either bythe pursuers or the fugitive. They watched in breathless excitement.The boat was drawing nearer to the swimmer, but the foremost of thesavages was nearer still. Suddenly there was a flash and a puff ofsmoke from the boat, followed by a report. The brown men stopped:there was a moment's hesitation, then they were seen striking outvigorously for the shore.

  "Saved! Saved!" cried Tommy, dancing for joy. "Oh, let's go and meetthem, Bess."

  "Better wait, dear," said Elizabeth, whose lips were quivering. "Letthem drive the savages away first."

  In tense excitement they watched the missionary lifted into the boat.It was too far distant as yet for them to distinguish its occupants.As soon as the missionary was aboard the sailors dipped their oarsagain and pulled lustily for the shore. The girls strained their eyes.The newcomers might be Dutch, French, English, or American; they werewhite men; the long captivity was ended.

  The boat had almost reached the beach. Suddenly Tommy gave a scream,and clutched at Mary's arm.

  "It's Uncle Ben! It's Uncle Ben!" she cried.

  CHAPTER XXIII

  THE HOME-COMING

  Who can describe the happiness of friends long parted when they meetagain! As there is a grief too deep for tears, so there is a joy toointense for words to express. Let the reader picture to herself themeeting of uncle and nieces, the sober satisfaction of Mr. Purvis, theecstasy of little Dan Whiddon, the jolly faces of Long Jimmy, Sunny Patand the rest.

  Uncle Ben's story was a simple and natural one. He had no soonerlaunched the raft with all his crew on board, than the _Elizabeth_ wentdown with a gurgle and was seen no more. The raft drifted about fordays at the mercy of every current, until it was sighted by a merchantbrig. The castaways were picked up, but in spite of Captain Barton'sentreaties the skipper would not alter his course to search for thegirls. He was bound for San Francisco with a perishable cargo, anddeclared that he could not waste time and money scouring the SouthPacific for any females, even were they princesses or queens.

  At San Francisco Captain Barton chartered a steamer. He never spoke ofthe pang this must have cost him. Those who knew the old man guessedhow bitterly he felt the necessity, at the close of his career, of thustacitly admitting the superiority of steam over sails.

  The steamer had made for Maku's island, Captain Barton hoping to enlistthe services of Mr. Corke and the people in the search for his nieces.Learning on his arrival that Maku had disappeared, and that themissionary had been carried away to the sacred island, he at oncestarted to rescue his friend. He was distressed at the interruption ofhis primary quest, but when Mr. Corke's whereabouts was a certainty,while his nieces' very existence was doubtful, he felt that the nearerduty must be accomplished first. His delight at being able to rescuethe girls, his friend, and the old chief at the same time may beimagined.

  His action on the island was summary. On learning the state ofaffairs, he sent the steamer along the shore to the spot where thenative canoes were beached, drove off the infuriated natives with awarning shot from his brass gun, and had the canoes towed out to sea.He said he did not hold with revolutions, and meant to reinstate Makuin his old chiefdom. Since those of his disaffected subjects who hadcome to the island were the mystery men and their principal supporters,he decided to leave them there with their new chief, having learnt thatthey would have no difficulty in finding sustenance. He would carryback Maku and Fangati with the missionary to their island, and toensure that they should not be molested by the revolutionaries hedetermined to take the canoes in tow, and so leave them without themeans of crossing the sea.

  The girls left the scene of their adventures without regret. Lookingback upon their life there, they acknowledged that it had been on thewhole happy, and their terrors seemed trifling now that they were freefrom them. Tommy did not fail to seek for her parrot, which she founddisconsolate in the boat, and which, she declared, spoke to her for thefirst and last time in its life when she took it up and perched it onher shoulder. She was very reluctant to part with Fangati, and triedto persuade her uncle to take her back to England with them; but theold man assured her that the girl was happier in her own land, and putan end to the subsequent discussion with one of his crusted aphorisms.

  There is a little town in Surrey which, though not far from London,preserves a good deal of the charm of the country. Its roads areshaded with unlopped trees; its houses lie amid pleasant gardens; andbeing away from the main routes it is not devastated by motor cars.

  In the front garden of one of the houses rises a tall white mast,complete with yards and halyards. Over the entrance stands the modelof a full-rigged barque. In the hall a white parrot spends a placidbut noisy existence. These emblems of the nautical life are confinedto the front of the house; at the back there is a tennis lawn, awell-kept flower garden, with glass-houses, and an orchard.

  Captain Barton was advised to take this house by his lawyer, who wishedto let it for a client. A tramp through Deptford and Rotherhithe soonconvinced him that, however well suited those riverside suburbs mayhave been to seafaring men in the days of Queen Bess, they did notoffer much attraction nowadays to a retired mariner with three nieces.And having assured himself that the country town in question had anexcellent high school for girls, with a practising school attached, hefollowed his lawyer's advice--for once in a way, as he said.

  Elizabeth keeps house for him, spending a good deal of time in thegarden. She is assisted there by Dan Whiddon, who does not grow veryfast, although the Captain makes him climb the mast once a day for thesake of stretching his limbs. Mary is learning how to teach, and Tommyis in the fifth form at school, champion in tennis, and a dashingforward in the hockey team. Her first reports made her uncle screw uphis mouth, and rub his bald pate, and ask Elizabeth what on earth wasto be done with a minx like that. "Has good abilities, but lacksapplication," he quoted. "Much too talkative. Has lost too manyconduct marks this term." Elizabeth begged him to be patient, assuringhim that Tommy would turn out quite well in time. And as the samemistresses who penned the above remarks are all wonderfully fond ofTommy, and she is the most popular girl in the school, it is evidentthat she has at least one most enviable quality, the power of winningfriends.

  A visitor often comes to the house, at whose appearance Captain Bartonretires to hi
s den and grumps and growls over his beloved pipe. Theyoung electrical engineer whom the girls had met in Valparaiso willcertainly get on in the world, if dogged persistence has its reward.Though they had then been unable to give him any address, and had heldno communication with him since, they had not been settled more than aweek before he called. "The impudence of the fellow!" said CaptainBarton inwardly, when Elizabeth introduced the visitor. Through thewreaths of smoke from his pipe the worthy Captain sees visions ofElizabeth keeping house for some one else, and the poor man, I fear itmust be confessed, is jealous. Tommy looks on with a humorous twinklein her eye.

  "Poor old Nunky!" she thinks. "He's wondering what in the world he'lldo when Bess is married, and Mary's away teaching, and he's left to thetender mercies of _Me_!"

  But I have watched many girls in my time, and I shouldn't be at allsurprised if Tommy--she will have her hair up and be Miss KatherineWestmacott then--develops into a very capable housekeeper. She willcertainly be what an old lady friend of mine calls "a bit of sunshinein the home."

  _Richard Clay & Sons, Ltd., London and Bungay._

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  THE RED BOOK FOR GIRLS

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  PAULINA'S ADVENTURE. By MARY COWDEN CLARKE. ABOU CASSEM'S OLD SLIPPERS. AN IOWA HEROINE. By AMY BARNARD. ANNE ELIZABETH. By ALICE MASSIE. CATHERINE DOUGLAS. By CHARLOTTE M. YONGE. THE LAST STRAW. By ESMEE RHOADES. MAGGIE RUNS AWAY. By GEORGE ELIOT. THE DOG AND MAISIE. By MRS. HERBERT STRANG. ENID'S ADVENTURE. By BESSIE MARCHANT. THE YOUNG TOY-MAKERS. By MABEL QUILLER-COUCH. MY MONKEY JACKO. By FRANK BUCKLAND.

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  CHRISTINA GOWANS WHYTE

  Uncle Hilary's Nieces

  Illustrated in Colour by JAMES DURDEN. Crown 8vo, cloth, gilt edges.6/-.

  Until the death of their father, the course of life of Uncle Hilary'snieces had run smooth; but then the current of misfortune came uponthem, carried them, with their mother and brothers, to London, andestablished them in a fiat. Here, under the guardianship of UncleHilary, they enter into the spirit of their new situation; and when itcomes to a question of ways and means, prove that they have bothcourage and resource. Thus Bertha secretly takes a position asstock-keeper to a fashionable dressmaker; Milly tries to write, and hasthe satisfaction of seeing her name in print; Edward takes uparchitecture and becomes engrossed in the study of "cupboards andkitchen sinks"; while all the rest contribute as well to themaintenance of the household as to the interest of the story.

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  "Nina's Career" tells delightfully of a large family of girls and boys,children of Sir Christopher Howard. Friends of the Howards are NinaWentworth, who lives with three aunts, and Gertrude Mannering.Gertrude is conscious of always missing in her life that which makesthe lives of the Howards so joyous and full. They may have "careers";she must go to Court and through the wearying treadmill of the richgirls. The Howards get engaged, marry, go into hospitals, study in artschools; and in the end Gertrude also achieves happiness.

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  This story won the L100 prize in the Bookman competition. TheLeightons are a charming family. There is Mabel, the beauty, hernature strength and sweetness mingled; and Jean, the downright, blunt,uncompromising; and Elma, the sympathetic, who champions everybody, andhas a weakness for long words. And there is Cuthbert, too, the cleverbrother. Cuthbert is responsible for a good deal, for he savesAdelaide Maud from an accident, and brings the Story-Book Girls intothe story. Every girl who reads this book will become acquainted withsome of the realest, truest, best people in recent fiction.

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  Mistress Nanciebel

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  WINIFRED M. LETTS

  The Quest of The Blue Rose

  Illustrated in Colour by JAMES DURDEN. Crown 8vo, cloth, olivineedges. 5/-.

  After the death of her mother, Sylvia Sherwood has to make her own wayin the world as a telegraph clerk. The world she finds herself in is agirls' hostel in a big northern city. For a while she can only see theuncongenial side of her surroundings; but when she has made a friendand found herself a niche, she begins to realize that though the BlueRose may not be for her finding, there are still wild roses in everyhedge. In the end, however, Sylvia, contented at last with herhard-working, humdrum life, finds herself the successful writer of abook of children's poems.

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