He struck out across the smoother water. He hoped the others had found it too. The storm was passing fast, and there were breaks in the clouds. The wind had gone screaming on its way.
As the scene cleared, he saw waving palms, and a stretch of golden beach. It was an island after all! With his remaining strength, he swam towards it. He did not even stop to think whether it was inhabited or not. It was a relief to feel the sand beneath his feet. He looked back and saw that the ship had completely disappeared. He plunged his way into some undergrowth and lay still.
When Skipper Dunn awoke, the sun was shining, and the whole scene looked peaceful: blue sea, blue sky and green palms. He shook down a coconut and refreshed himself with the milk. Then he heard voices. At first he thought they were native, but as he crept closer the words became intelligible. It was English, and he recognised that they belonged to his mate, "skinny Jenkins" (because he was a bony, wiry, little fellow) and big Jim Larkin, the giant of the crew, notable for his red hair.
‘Be quiet, you fools,’ Dunn said to them, and they jumped to see his face break through the undergrowth. ‘We don't yet know if this island is inhabited or not - and if it is, whether the natives are friendly. They might even be cannibals!’
‘Aw,’ answered big Jim with a lofty wave of his hand. ‘Cannibals only belong to fairy stories. This is an educated world.’
‘Education might not have got as far as these parts,’ Dunn retorted. ‘In any case, we'd better be careful. Are any of the others here?’
They both shook their heads.
‘Haven't seen anyone! Those who went first were swept into the sea. Don't think they noticed the lagoon.’
They decided to make the best of their good fortune in being saved, and set to work to make some kind of shelter. They went down to the beach at low tide and searched among the driftwood for anything that had been washed up from the wreck. They were overjoyed to find tins of provisions, and even a watertight box with revolvers and ammunition. They took one a piece and felt happier that they had some means of defence apart from their knives. Happier? - because it was then they had a suspicion that they were being watched. They were aware of dark forms on the foliage. A face would peer down and then was gone!
As it would turn out, they wouldn’t have long to worry. During the night they decided watch must be kept, so one stayed awake every two hours. Awake and alert, too. It was hard for any of them to sleep properly. There was a constant rustling and shuffling in the undergrowth, a breathing and whispering. As whoever it was, was so reluctant to show themselves it was likely that they were afraid. But it was hard to tell. The three men were more than thankful for their revolvers, although they had decided not to shoot unless they were quite sure that these people meant harm.
As it happened, they were not given the chance. Suddenly, silently, hordes of dark beings set upon them, dropping from the trees, and being a moonless night, the seamen were powerless against an enemy who blended with the darkness. They yelled, but there was no one to hear them. The sound of their voices only unleashed howls and whoops from the natives.
Jim Larkin was the one on watch, and he had his revolver knocked out of his hand when the first native dropped on him, with no chance to retrieve it. Dunn shouted to Jenkins not to shoot, but to hang on to his revolver if he could. There were too many natives, and even though the action was not friendly, the position might be worsened by any fight on the part of the seamen.
Dunn stored his revolver in his pocket before the natives bound him and advised Jenkins to do the same. They could talk easily among themselves, certain that their captors did not understand a word.
When dawn came they were marched across the island, their hands tied behind their backs, escorted by some fifty of the savages, who were dressed only in skirts of dry grass and carried spears, who did a kind of war- dance in circles around them.
The island seemed to be quite small, as they crossed it to the opposite shore in less than an hour and their progress was not fast. They emerged from the trees onto a hill, which looked down upon a beach similar to the one on the other side of the island, except that it was more open and was crowned by an enormous stone figure, obviously the god of these people, and similar to such effigies which are found on many Pacific Islands. It was carved from a single piece of stone, about 20 feet high; the face was grotesque and the body decorated with strange symbols.
Dunn and his companions noticed that a fire had been newly lit a short distance in front of the figure, and over it was a large tripod with three stakes hanging down.
‘Do you think these fellows are going to kill us?’ Jenkins asked timidly.
‘So it seems,’ Dunn replied, though he was thinking hard about any chance of escape, and felt pretty dismal about it. ‘And eat us as well!’
‘Who said cannibals were only in fairy stories?’ wailed Jenkins.
‘Never mind that now,’ growled big Jim, ‘just let me get my hands free, and I'll show a few of them a real knockout blow.’ Big Jim had once been a boxer.
‘No good if you could,’ said Dunn. ‘There are too many
