The Hilltop Boys on Lost Island | Page 3

was in much pleasanter waters, and the air
was quite warm and balmy, the boys going around in lighter clothing
than before, wearing mostly white flannel or duck, canvas shoes and
caps, and no waistcoats, some wearing only white trousers and shirts,
and belts around their waists, so as to get the most comfort they could.
They were among the islands now, and expected to make a landing in a
day or so, when they were farther down the Spanish main than they
were at that time, the islands in the lower latitudes being more
interesting in the doctor's opinion than the larger and better known
ones.
It was a pleasant afternoon; none of the boys felt any touches of
seasickness now, and many of them were walking up and down the

deck, some taking their comfort under awnings spread aft near the
cabin companion, and some being on the bridge watching the
steersman or looking out to sea in search of sails or noting the flight of
the gulls and other seabirds or studying the movements of the dolphins
playing around the bow, there being many of these lively creatures
about.
Dick and Jack were on the bridge whence they could obtain a full view
of the deck and look all about them, ahead and astern, and on all sides,
Jack greatly enjoying gazing out upon the wide expanse and searching
the horizon for sails or a hazy view of some distant island.
Below, on the quarter deck, which was guarded by a low rail only, was
young Jesse W. Smith, who took great pride in his full name and
always insisted upon being called by it, for whom primarily this
expedition had been gotten up, strutting up and down in sailor's trousers
and shirt, seeming to feel as if he were the commander of the entire
southern fleet.
"There's young Jesse, enjoying himself and seeming ready to say with
the fellow in the poem that he is monarch of all he sees," laughed Dick.
"That was supposed to be Alexander Selkirk, the original Robinson
Crusoe, Dick," said Jack. "The line is 'I am monarch of all I survey.'
You must have recited it more than once in your younger days. That is
not altogether a safe place for young Jesse W., though. That rail is not
very high, and if we should happen to give a roll----"
"You don't think there is any danger, Jack! Hadn't you better warn
him!"
"No, but I will go down and----" and Jack started to go to the main deck
and speak quietly to the boy. But before he had hardly said the words
there was a sudden startled cry and Jack, looking down quickly, saw
that the very thing he had feared had taken place.
How it came about no one knew, but all of a sudden there was a loud
cry of "man overboard!" and Jack saw the boy just going down in the

water.
He was on the lower deck in a moment, and in another had thrown
aside his coat and kicked off his shoes, running to the rail as he did so.
The cook had just been killing chickens on the forward deck, and was
going aft with two or three fowls in one hand, a knife in the other.
As Jack reached the rail he saw something out on the water, just where
the boy had gone down that made him turn icy cold in a moment.
Snatching the knife from the cook's hand, he sprang to the rail and
leaped overboard, taking neither rope nor life preserver with him.
"By George! that's just what Jack feared, and there he is going to the
rescue before any one has shouted, almost!" exclaimed Percival, as he
hurried below.
"H'm! pretty clever of Sheldon," sneered a stout, unprepossessing boy,
who seemed to be always scowling. "Knocks the kid overboard, and
then goes to his rescue to make himself solid with the father. Very
clever stroke, that, and just like him!"
"If you say anything like that of Jack Sheldon, Pete Herring," stormed
Dick, who had heard the ill-natured remark, "I'll knock you overboard!"
Herring, who was by no means a favorite in the Academy, quite the
reverse, in fact, had not supposed that Percival had heard his uncalled
for and utterly false assertion, and now hurried away with a snarl,
evidently fearing that Dick would carry out his threat.
The captain, as soon as possible, gave orders to stop the engines, and to
hold the yacht near to the place where the boys had gone down, being
ready to turn and go to their assistance when they should appear again.
All was excitement on board, for, until now, nothing had happened out
of the ordinary, and no one thought of