John Henry Goldfrap

“ Looking over the side, Jack could see the coral bottom as clearly as if an inch instead of many feet of water separated it from the frail canoe. It was almost as if they were floating in the air. Fish of brilliant colors darted about and once a dark, sinister shade appeared beneath the canoe. The Kanaka boys shouted and beat the water with their paddles. The dark shadow melted away.
“Him very bad shark,” said Anai. “White men call him tiger shark. Worst kind of all shark.” ”

“ Twenty days out from San Francisco in the vast, heaving desert of the sea, twenty days of storm, sunshine and calm, the Sea Gypsy, the great white yacht of Jacob Jukes, head of the big Atlantic and Pacific Shipping Combine, was making her way lazily through the dreamy South Seas. The vessel was capable of great speed, being known as one of the fastest craft of her kind. But she was bound on a mission which might take a long time to consummate, and economy of coal, which was piled even on her decks, to re-enforce the supply in the bunkers, was necessary. ”

“ Instead, he set up a cry of alarm as the prow of the canoe was hurled at the cliff at a spot where a regular curtain of lianas and other forest trailers depended from above.
Swish, whoosh, went the canoe, as it shot through the parasites and creepers. The boys instinctively ducked their heads. Instead of being dashed to destruction against the cliff, the frail craft had been guided into this singular cave, one of many along the coast, through the greenery portal. Both the Kanaka boys set up a shout of laughter at the expense of Jack and Billy, who looked rather sheepish at their late alarm. ”

“ Captain Sparhawk’s pistol spoke as the 102 shark crossed the bow of the boat which had been instantly turned to follow the creature’s new tactics.
“Missed,” he groaned.
“No,” cried Jack, an instant later. “See, the water is red behind him! You hit him.”
“Yes, but I fear not mortally. These creatures have an amazing grip on life,” was the despondent reply.
And now a fresh element entered into the scene. Round the bow of the yacht, toward which the shark, with its human burden, was dashing, there suddenly appeared a long, slender canoe with two lithe young native figures propelling it. ”

“ Jukes, though. The millionaire was stout and accustomed to his ease. After his tiring day this night march must have been cruel exertion to him. But if he lagged, the man of millions received a vicious jab in the back with the stock of a rifle.
Even in this trouble, Jack could not help reflecting on the strange turn of the wheel of fortune that had brought Jacob Jukes, man of millions, into the heart of a lonely jungle, a shirt-sleeved, perspiring prisoner, in the hands of a band of men of undoubtedly desperate character. ”

“ The ground was rapidly becoming more rugged. Close to them now towered the range known as the Kini-Balu among the wild recesses of which the tribe of that name made its home. Constant vigilance was the watchword of the hour now. Salloo would permit no fires to be lighted, and he and his followers were constantly scouting in front of the party, while additional watch was kept at the rear and on both flanks.
It was dangerous, thrilling work, but the boys, who loved adventure, relished every moment of it. But Donald Judson lived a life of misery. Every rustle in the bush made him turn pale. ”

“ But there was a yellow-painted figurehead; a stern, Roman-nosed bust of a man, apparently intended for an emperor or a warrior.
“We’ll row round the stern and take a look at her name,” decided Captain Sparhawk. “We’ll have to climb aboard from the other side anyway. There is no means of scrambling up from this.”
The boat was turned and rowed under the graceful stern of the derelict. On it, in bold, raised letters, surrounded by a fanciful design, stood out, in fading colors, the lost craft’s name.
“Centurion, San Francisco,” read out Jack, with an odd thrill. ”

“ There is one weapon with which a Malay is always armed—his kriss, a razor-edged sword about two feet long, with a “wavy” outline. This kriss Salloo now drew from under his single garment.
One instant it flashed in the sunlight and the next, during which it was impossible to follow 225 its movements, so swift were they, the python’s head was severed. But instantly, by a convulsive movement, its coils tightened and Muldoon emitted another pitiful cry. But, fortunately, the life of the snake had departed and soon its coils relaxed and its gaudily-colored body slipped in a heap to the ground. ”

“ Its whole length was launched into the air as it sprang, and for a flash its wide-opened jaws with their hideous rows of triangular teeth, appeared to engulf the red ape. But while the boys were still held spell-bound by this spectacle, such a one as perhaps no human being but a lone native hunter had ever beheld before, the red gorilla gave a mighty leap. It was partly straight up and partly to one side. As the great jaws of the saurian came together with a snap like that of a titanic steel trap, the red ape landed fair and square on the scaled monster’s back. ”

“ At last Jack got everything ready, and Raynor started to turn the hand-crank of the generator, for of course a gasoline engine for that purpose could not be carried into the jungle. When the storage batteries were charged, Jack began to 185 pump out the Sea Gypsy’s call. At the first crackle and whip-snap like explosion of the spark the natives scattered with yells. Even Salloo, who was looking on, and had to stand his ground to maintain his dignity before his men, looked uneasy and shifted about nervously. ”

“ Jack cast him a grateful look. “But what have you done with my brother, you ruffian?”
“Ah! I was coming to that,” said the rascal with an insolent smile, “but you can also have him for the very insignificant sum that I have already mentioned as being the price for you and the boy.”
“You’re worth a whole lot more than that, Jukes,” put in Judson, with an equally insolent air. “You’re a regular old money-bags, you know.”
“You’ll never get my money,” raged the millionaire.
“We won’t, eh?”
“Never.”
“Hunger makes a lot of difference, Mr. Jukes,” smiled Broom. ”

“ Uttering loud yells, the two native boys bore down on the shark that had poor Billy in tow.
Each taking a side they dashed upon it with fury. As they gained its flanks their arms flashed up and the next instant their great iron-wood knives were buried hilt-deep in the tough skin. The watchers saw the great shark give an upward leap and the water was dyed crimson.
“They reached his vitals. Hurrah for them,” cried Captain Sparhawk. “Bear down on Billy, lads. I reckon the shark is done for.” ”

“ Jukes’ gaze. Although such spectacles had been almost nightly ones since they had steamed into the tropics, there was something wild and sinister about the present one that thrilled him.
Captain Septimus Sparhawk, the brown, gaunt captain of the yacht, whose thin face was decorated by two little dabs of grayish whiskers forward of each ear, passed by.
“Nothing to do but to look at the sky, eh?” he asked Jack, as a suspicion of a smile crept over his face.
“That’s about all, sir,” rejoined Jack, with a laugh. “I expect to see spiders spinning webs on my instruments every day. ”

“ Two days later, following the arrival at the island of the coal ship—a small, rusty tramp steamer—the boys set out for the village to meet their friends, who had swum out to the ship almost daily, despite the sharks, to see the white youths. As they left the yacht they saw Thurman, who had been put to work in the crew, laboring with the other blackened “hands” at getting the fuel on board.
“He doesn’t look as if he liked his job much,” said Jack.
“He ought to be glad he’s alive,” supplemented Billy Raynor. ”

“ This canyon 69 appeared to penetrate the centre of the island, the interior of which was hilly.
“I guess the village, if there is one, must be clear round the other side of the island,” said Billy Raynor, between bites at a banana he had picked from a bush at the side of the trail. Others of the party were munching on oranges and a fruit the captain called a “custard apple,” the latter a large, brown-colored “apple,” filled with a yellow paste that looked and tasted like custard.
“There’s one thing certain, the high cost of living need never worry these fellows,” remarked Jack. ”

“ Billy, at the order of Captain Sparhawk, brought a rifle from the camp, but so close did the bird stay to the boy that there was danger in using it. Even the most expert of shots would have been quite as likely to hit Jack as the enraged hornbill.
Salloo had sprung into the tree, and with his ever ready kriss was ascending to the rescue when Captain Sparhawk saw an opportunity. The rifle was already at his shoulder and, as the hornbill rose and hovered for an instant 279 before making another plunge at Jack’s head, his finger pressed the trigger. ”

“ The boys naturally expected to see the orang-outang beat a hasty retreat. But instead it stood its ground, merely drawing back a few inches as the crocodile’s hideous snout and scaly body were successively protruded from the water. Jack now recalled what Salloo had told him one night in camp about the orang. The Malay had said it was the king of the New Guinea forests, fearing no man, beast or reptile, and this certainly appeared to be the case in this instance.
Had it wished to beat a retreat to safety, the mias, as the natives called the red gorilla, might easily have done so. ”

“ But the atmosphere was close and feverish, with a humid heat that was very tiring. At times they encountered vines which had grown across the trail and had to be cut. Some of these were thin and wiry and could cut like a knife; others were as thick as a man’s arm and bore brilliant, though poisonous-looking blossoms of every color.
“Bad traveling,” remarked Captain Sparhawk, “still I suppose we must expect that on a seldomly frequented trail.”
“Him get velly bad further on,” was all the comfort Salloo could offer, “but not velly far to ribber once we strike udder trail.” ”

“ He issued an order for a boat to be lowered at once and then dashed into his cabin for a pistol.
“Hurry, Sparhawk, for Heaven’s sake,” urged Mr. Jukes, who had also been a witness of the accident. “The poor lad will be drowned or eaten alive by the other sharks if we don’t act promptly.”
But the captain was already out of earshot. Muldoon and two other sailors were at the oars of the boat as he tumbled into it, followed by Jack, who, in his haste, did not stop to ask permission to come. Luckily, the shark, instead of taking a straight course out to sea, was dashing round and round in circles. ”

“ There appeared to be quite a lot of trading going on.
But they were anxious to hurry on to the hotel where Mr. Jukes hoped to begin the inquiries 124 which he was sanguine would result in his finding his brother. The hostelry for which they were bound lay some squares back from the water front. It was situated, like most tropical hotels, in a park in which flowers and shrubs of all kinds grew luxuriantly, and bright colored birds flew with harsh cries, like (bright) jewels, among the brilliant foliage. ”

“ Instead of moving away before we grew worse, as we certainly would have if we had known the cause of our malady, we made ourselves worse by lying down to sleep with that poisonous breath as our only atmosphere. Salloo, your lizard is vindicated, and to show you it is, the next one you shoot I’ll volunteer to eat. ”

“ Men who are hustlers in their own country come here determined to make the dirt fly, but after a few months their energy oozes out of them like—well, say like tar out of the seams of a hot ship’s deck.”
“That’s a good comparison,” laughed Jack.
Once more everything was stirring in the adventurers’ camp, and soon they were on their way again. The Frenchman, whose “hotel” they had left, had told them that by evening they would reach another village, the last one they would 182 encounter before plunging into the really wild jungle, where there was another “hotel.” ”

“ The natives raised their voices in melancholy songs as they paddled, and from time to time cried out:
“Come back, white men.”
118Among them Jack and Raynor recognized Anai and the other young Kanaka. Both lads felt a genuine regret at leaving the brave, likeable young natives, but ahead of them they felt lay experiences which for the time being put all other emotions out of their minds. The Sea Gypsy, rushing ahead at top speed, soon left the rusty tramp, her consort, far behind. By dark only the summit of the island was visible on the horizon. ”