Blown to Bits

Blown to Bits, by Robert Michael Ballantyne

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Title: Blown to Bits or, The Lonely Man of Rakata
Author: Robert Michael Ballantyne
Release Date: March 13, 2005 [EBook #15348]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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[Illustration: Blown to Bits or The Lonely Man of Rakata]
[Illustration: CAME UNEXPECTEDLY ON A CAVERN."--PAGE 112.--(Frontispiece.)]

BLOWN TO BITS
OR
THE LONELY MAN OF RAKATA.
A Tale of the Malay Archipelago.
BY R.M. BALLANTYNE,
AUTHOR OF "BLUE LIGHTS, OR HOT WORK IN THE SOUDAN;" "THE FUGITIVES;" "RED ROONEY;" "THE ROVER OF THE ANDES;" "THE WILD MAN OF THE WEST;" "THE RED ERIC;" "FREAKS ON THE FELLS;" "THE YOUNG TRAWLER;" "DUSTY DIAMONDS;" "THE BATTERY AND THE BOILER;" "POST HASTE;" "BLACK IVORY;" "THE IRON HORSE;" "FIGHTING THE FLAMES;" "THE LIFEBOAT;" ETC. ETC.
With Illustrations by the Author.
EIGHTH THOUSAND.
LONDON:
JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STREET.
1894.
[All rights reserved.]

PREFACE.
The extremely violent nature of the volcanic eruption in Krakatoa in 1883, the peculiar beauty of those parts of the eastern seas where the event occurred, the wide-spread influences of the accompanying phenomena, and the tremendous devastation which resulted, have all inspired me with a desire to bring the matter, in the garb of a tale, before that portion of the juvenile world which accords me a hearing.
For most of the facts connected with the eruption which have been imported into my story, I have to acknowledge myself indebted to the recently published important and exhaustive "Report" of the Krakatoa Committee, appointed by the Royal Society to make a thorough investigation of the whole matter in all its phases.
I have also to acknowledge having obtained much interesting and useful information from the following among other works:--The Malay Archipelago, by A.R. Wallace; A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago, by H.O. Forbes; and Darwin's Journal of Researches round the world in H.M.S. "Beagle."
R.M. BALLANTYNE.
HARROW-ON-THE HILL, 1889.

CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAP. I.--THE PLAY COMMENCES, 1
II.--THE HAVEN IN THE CORAL RING, 9
III.--INTERESTING PARTICULARS OF VARIOUS KINDS, 19
IV.--NIGEL UNDERGOES SOME QUITE NEW AND INTERESTING EXPERIENCES, 33
V.--CAPTAIN ROY SURPRISES AND GRATIFIES HIS SON, WHO SURPRISES A NEGRO, AND SUDDENLY FORMS AN ASTONISHING RESOLVE, 47
VI.--THE HERMIT OF RAKATA INTRODUCED, 58
VII.--WONDERS OF THE HERMIT'S CAVE AND ISLAND, 72
VIII.--PERBOEWATAN BECOMES MODERATELY VIOLENT, 89
IX.--DESCRIBES, AMONG OTHER THINGS, A SINGULAR MEETING UNDER PECULIAR CIRCUMSTANCES, 99
X.--A CURIOUS SEA-GOING CRAFT--THE UNKNOWN VOYAGE BEGUN, 111
XI.--CANOEING ON THE SEA--A MYSTERIOUS NIGHT-SURPRISE AND SUDDEN FLIGHT, 123
XII.--WEATHERING A STORM IN THE OPEN SEA, 140
XIII.--FRIENDS ARE MET WITH, ALSO PIRATES, AND A LIFE-OR-DEATH PADDLE ENSUES, 153
XIV.--A NEW FRIEND FOUND--NEW DANGERS ENCOUNTERED AND NEW HOPES DELAYED, 173
XV.--HUNTING THE GREAT MAN-MONKEY, 189
XVI.--BEGINS WITH A TERRIBLE FIGHT AND ENDS WITH A HASTY FLIGHT, 204
XVII.--TELLS OF THE JOYS, ETC., OF THE PROFESSOR IN THE SUMATRAN FORESTS, ALSO OF A CATASTROPHE AVERTED, 217
XVIII.--A TRYING ORDEAL--DANGER THREATENS AND FLIGHT AGAIN RESOLVED ON, 230
XIX.--A TERRIBLE MURDER AND A STRANGE REVELATION, 243
XX.--NIGEL MAKES A CONFIDANT OF MOSES--UNDERTAKES A LONELY WATCH AND SEES SOMETHING WONDERFUL, 259
XXI.--IN WHICH THE PROFESSOR DISTINGUISHES HIMSELF, 276
XXII.--A PYTHON DISCOVERED AND A GEYSER INTERVIEWED, 297
XXIII.--TELLS OF VOLCANIC FIRES AND A STRANGE RETURN "HOME," 307
XXIV.--AN AWFUL NIGHT AND TERRIBLE MORNING, 324
XXV.--ADVENTURES OF THE "SUNSHINE" AND AN UNEXPECTED REUNION, 343
XXVI.--A CLIMAX, 361
XXVII.--"BLOWN TO BITS," 371
XXVIII.--THE FATE OF THE "SUNSHINE," 377
XXIX.--TELLS CHIEFLY OF THE WONDERFUL EFFECTS OF THIS ERUPTION ON THE WORLD AT LARGE, 385
XXX.--COMING EVENTS, ETC.--WONDERFUL CHANGES AMONG THE ISLANDS, 401
XXXI.--ENDS WITH A STRUGGLE BETWEEN INCLINATION AND DUTY, 414
XXXII.--THE LAST, 425

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
VIGNETTE TITLE.
"HE CAME UNEXPECTEDLY ON A CAVERN."--PAGE 112, Frontispiece.
ART ON THE KEELING ISLANDS, facing page 36
THEY DISCOVER A PIRATES' BIVOUAC, 164
"DO YOU HEAR?" SAID VERKIMIER, STERNLY, 187
BLOWN TO BITS 342

BLOWN TO BITS
A TALE OF THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO.
CHAPTER I.
THE PLAY COMMENCES.
Blown to bits; bits so inconceivably, so ineffably, so "microscopically" small that--but let us not anticipate.
About the darkest hour of a very dark night, in the year 1883, a large brig lay becalmed on the Indian Ocean, not far from that region of the Eastern world which is associated in some minds with spices, volcanoes, coffee, and piratical junks, namely, the Malay Archipelago.
Two men slowly paced the brig's quarter-deck for some time in silence, as if the elemental quietude which prevailed above and below had infected them. Both men were broad, and apparently strong. One of them was tall; the other short. More than this the feeble light of the binnacle-lamp failed to reveal.
"Father," said the tall man to the short one, "I do like to hear the gentle pattering of the reef points on the sails; it is so suggestive of peace and rest.