Adrift in the Wilds | Page 5

moment the three were spinning down through the air, and struck the water. They went below the surface, the boys sinking quite a distance; but almost instantly they arose and struck bravely out.
"Tim, where are you?" called out Elwood, not seeing his friend.
"Here, to the left," responded the Irishman, as he rose on a huge swell. "Can ye swim to me?"
"I hope so, but my clothes bother me like creation."
Strange! that not one of the three had once thought of removing their superfluous clothing before jumping into the ocean. But Elwood was a fine swimmer, and he struggled bravely, although at a great disadvantage, until his outstretched hand was seized by the Irishman, and he then caught hold of the settee and rested himself.
"Where is Howard?" he asked, panting from his exertions.
"Here he is," responded Howard himself. "I struck the water so close that when I came up my hand hit the settee."
"I tell you what it is," said Elwood. "We ought to have brought something else with us beside this. We have got to keep all of our bodies underwater for this to bear us."
"And what of it?"
"Suppose some poor fellow claims a part. Gracious! here comes a man this minute!"
"We can't turn him off," said Tim, "but this owld horse has all the grist he can carry."
A dark body could be seen struggling and rapidly approaching them.
"Whoever he is, he is a good swimmer," remarked Howard, watching the stranger.
"Of course he is, for it comes natural; don't you see it isn't a man, but old Terror."
"Thank heaven for that! we never thought about him. I am glad he is with us."
The next moment the Newfoundland placed his paw on the settee and gave a low bark to announce his joy at being among his friends. The sagacious brute seemed to understand how frail the tenure was that held them all suspended over eternity; for he did nothing more than rest the top of his paw on the precious raft.
CHAPTER IV.
A PASSENGER.
By this time our friends were a quarter of a mile in the rear of the burning steamer. The furious pulsations of the engines had stopped, and from stern to stern the great ship was one mass of soothing flame. The light threw a glare upon the clouds above, and made it so bright where our friends were floating in the water that they could have read the pages of a printed book. The illumination must have been seen for many and many a mile in every direction upon the Pacific.
"Yes, the steamer has stopped," said Howard; "the fire has reached the engines, and now they must do as we have done."
"But they have boats and may escape."
"Not half enough of them; and then what they have got will be seized by the crew, as they always do at such times."
"Look! you can see them jumping over. The poor wretches hang fast till they are so scorched that they have to let go."
"It's mighty lucky yees are here," said Tim, "for every mother's son that can swim will be hugged by a half-dozen that can't, which would be bad for me."
"Why so; can't you swim?"
"Not a bit of it."
"And nothing but this bench to keep us from sinking."
"And be the same towken isn't that good enough, if it only kaaps us afloat? Can't ye be satisfied?"
"Look! how grand!"
It was indeed a fearful sight, the steamer being one pyramid of roaring, blazing fire, sweeping upward in great fan-like rifts, then blowing outward, horizontally across the deep, as if greedy for the poor beings who had sprung in agony from its embrace. Millions of sparks were floating and drifting overhead and falling all around. The shrieks of the despairing passengers, as with their clothes all aflame they sprung blindly into the ocean, could be heard by our friends, and must indeed have extended a far greater distance.
For an hour the conflagration raged with apparently unabated violence, the wreck drifting quite rapidly; but the fire soon tired of its work, large pieces of burning timber could be seen floating in the water, and finally the charred hull made a plunge downward into the sea, and our friends were left alone upon their frail support.
"Now, it's time to decide what we are going to do," said Howard.
"You are right, and what shall it be? Shall we drift about here until morning, when some vessel will pick us up? I have no doubt this fire has drawn a half-dozen toward it."
"No; let's make for shore."
"That is the best plan," said Tim.
"But it is a good way off," remarked Howard; "and I have little hope of reaching it."
"Never mind; it, will keep us busy, and that will make the time pass faster than if we do nothing but float."
"We may need our strength; but