The Greatest Sea Adventure Novels: 30+ Maritime Novels, Pirate Tales & Seafaring Stories. R. M. Ballantyne
life, but never one so sweet, or for which I was so thankful, as that meal of raw birds, devoured on the cliffs of Greenland!
“That night we reached the Eskimo village, where we now lie. We find that it is only two days’ journey from this place to the Danish settlements. There we mean to get on board the first ship that is bound for Europe—no matter what port she sails for. Meanwhile we rest our weary limbs in peace, for our dangers are past, and—thanks be to God—we are saved.”
* * * * *
Reader, my tale is told. A little book cannot be made to contain a long story, else would I have narrated many more of the strange and interesting events that befell our adventurers during that voyage. But enough has been written to give some idea of what is done and suffered by those daring men who attempt to navigate the Polar seas.
Gascoyne
CHAPTER II: Bumpus Is Fiery and Philosophical—Murderous Designs Frustrated
CHAPTER III: A Bough Walk Enlivened by Rambling Talk—Bumpus Is "Agreeable."
CHAPTER IV: The Missionary—Suspicions, Surprises, and Surmises
CHAPTER V: The Pastor's Household—Preparations for War
CHAPTER VI: Suspicions Allayed and Reawakened
CHAPTER VII: Master Corrie Caught Napping—Snakes in the Grass
CHAPTER VIII: A Surprise—A Battle and a Fire
CHAPTER IX: Baffled and Perplexed—Plans for a Rescue
CHAPTER X: The Pursuit—Poopy, Led on by Love and Hate, Rushes to the Rescue
CHAPTER XI: A Ghost—A Terrible Combat Ending in a Dreadful Plunge
CHAPTER XII: Dangerous Navigation and Doubtful Pilotage—Montague Is Hot, Gascoyne Sarcastic
CHAPTER XIII: Doings on Board the "Foam."
CHAPTER XIV: Greater Mysteries Than Ever—A Bold Move and a Narrow Escape
CHAPTER XV: Remarkable Doings of Poopy—Extraordinary Case of Resuscitation
CHAPTER XVIII: The Goat's Pass—An Attack, a Bloodless Victory, and a Sermon
CHAPTER XIX: Sorrow and Sympathy—The Widow Becomes a Pleader and Her Son Engages in a Single Combat
CHAPTER XXI: A Terrible Doom for an Innocent Man
CHAPTER XXII: The Rendezvous—An Episode—Peculiar Circumstances—Other Matters
CHAPTER XXIII: Plans Partially Carried Out—The Cutter's Fate—And a Serious Misfortune
CHAPTER XXIV: An Unexpected Meeting—Doings on the Isle of Palms—Gascoyne's Despair
CHAPTER XXV: Surly Dick the Rescue
CHAPTER XXVI: The Capture and the Fire
CHAPTER XXVII: Pleading for Life
CHAPTER XXVIII: A Peculiar Confidant—More Difficulties, and Various Plans to Overcome Them
CHAPTER XXIX: Bumpus Is Perplexed—Mysterious Communings, and a Curious Leave-Taking
CHAPTER XXX: More Leaving—Deep Designs—Bumpus in a New Capacity
CHAPTER XXXI: The Ambush—The Escape—Retributive Justice—And Conclusion
CHAPTER I.
The Schooner
The great Pacific is the scene of our story. On a beautiful morning, many years ago, a little schooner might have been seen floating, light and graceful as a seamew, on the breast of the slumbering ocean. She was one of those low, black-hulled vessels, with raking, taper masts, trimly-cut sails, and elegant form, which we are accustomed to associate with the idea of a yacht or a pirate.
She might have been the former, as far as appearance went; for the sails and deck were white as snow, and every portion of brass and copper above her water-line shone in the hot sun with dazzling brilliancy. But pleasure-seekers were not wont, in those days, to take such distant flights, or to venture into such dangerous seas,—dangerous alike from the savage character of the islanders, and the numerous coral reefs that lie hidden a few feet below the surface of the waves.
Still less probable did it seem that the vessel in question could belong to the lawless class of craft to which we have referred; for, although she had what may be styled a wicked aspect, and was evidently adapted for swift sailing, neither large guns nor small arms of any kind were visible.
Whatever her nature or her object, she was reduced, at the time we introduce her to the reader, to a state of inaction by the dead calm which prevailed. The sea resembled a sheet of clear glass. Not a cloud broke the softness of the sky, in which the sun glowed hotter and hotter as it rose towards the zenith. The sails of the schooner hung idly from the yards; her