Tarzan of the Apes | Page 6

but watching an indifferent cricket match.
As the last officer went down he thought it was time that he returned to
his wife lest some members of the crew find her alone below.
Though outwardly calm and indifferent, Clayton was inwardly
apprehensive and wrought up, for he feared for his wife's safety at the
hands of these ignorant, half-brutes into whose hands fate had so
remorselessly thrown them.
As he turned to descend the ladder he was surprised to see his wife
standing on the steps almost at his side.

"How long have you been here, Alice?"
"Since the beginning," she replied. "How awful, John. Oh, how awful!
What can we hope for at the hands of such as those?"
"Breakfast, I hope," he answered, smiling bravely in an attempt to allay
her fears.
"At least," he added, "I'm going to ask them. Come with me, Alice. We
must not let them think we expect any but courteous treatment."
The men had by this time surrounded the dead and wounded officers,
and without either partiality or compassion proceeded to throw both
living and dead over the sides of the vessel. With equal heartlessness
they disposed of their own dead and dying.
Presently one of the crew spied the approaching Claytons, and with a
cry of: "Here's two more for the fishes," rushed toward them with
uplifted ax.
But Black Michael was even quicker, so that the fellow went down
with a bullet in his back before he had taken a half dozen steps.
With a loud roar, Black Michael attracted the attention of the others,
and, pointing to Lord and Lady Greystoke, cried:
"These here are my friends, and they are to be left alone. D'ye
understand?
"I'm captain of this ship now, an' what I says goes," he added, turning
to Clayton. "Just keep to yourselves, and nobody'll harm ye," and he
looked threateningly on his fellows.
The Claytons heeded Black Michael's instructions so well that they saw
but little of the crew and knew nothing of the plans the men were
making.
Occasionally they heard faint echoes of brawls and quarreling among
the mutineers, and on two occasions the vicious bark of firearms rang

out on the still air. But Black Michael was a fit leader for this band of
cutthroats, and, withal held them in fair subjection to his rule.
On the fifth day following the murder of the ship's officers, land was
sighted by the lookout. Whether island or mainland, Black Michael did
not know, but he announced to Clayton that if investigation showed
that the place was habitable he and Lady Greystoke were to be put
ashore with their belongings.
"You'll be all right there for a few months," he explained, "and by that
time we'll have been able to make an inhabited coast somewhere and
scatter a bit. Then I'll see that yer gover'ment's notified where you be
an' they'll soon send a man- o'war to fetch ye off.
"It would be a hard matter to land you in civilization without a lot o'
questions being asked, an' none o' us here has any very convincin'
answers up our sleeves."
Clayton remonstrated against the inhumanity of landing them upon an
unknown shore to be left to the mercies of savage beasts, and, possibly,
still more savage men.
But his words were of no avail, and only tended to anger Black Michael,
so he was forced to desist and make the best he could of a bad situation.
About three o'clock in the afternoon they came about off a beautiful
wooded shore opposite the mouth of what appeared to be a land-locked
harbor.
Black Michael sent a small boat filled with men to sound the entrance
in an effort to determine if the Fuwalda could be safely worked through
the entrance.
In about an hour they returned and reported deep water through the
passage as well as far into the little basin.
Before dark the barkentine lay peacefully at anchor upon the bosom of
the still, mirror-like surface of the harbor.

The surrounding shores were beautiful with semitropical verdure, while
in the distance the country rose from the ocean in hill and tableland,
almost uniformly clothed by primeval forest.
No signs of habitation were visible, but that the land might easily
support human life was evidenced by the abundant bird and animal life
of which the watchers on the Fuwalda's deck caught occasional
glimpses, as well as by the shimmer of a little river which emptied into
the harbor, insuring fresh water in plenitude.
As darkness settled upon the earth, Clayton and Lady Alice still stood
by the ship's rail in silent contemplation of their future abode. From the
dark shadows of the mighty forest came the wild calls of savage
beasts--the deep roar of the lion, and,