win and Cuffy | Page 4

that it
seemed as if it would fall on and overwhelm the raft. There was, indeed,
some danger of this. Glancing along its length, Jarwin saw that here
and there the edge was lipping over, while in one place, not far off, the
thunder of its fall had already begun. Another moment, and it appeared
to hang over his head; the raft was violently lifted at the stern, caught

up, and whirled onward at railway speed, like a cork in the midst of a
boiling cauldron of foam. The roar was deafening. The tumultuous
heaving almost overturned it several times. Jarwin held on firmly to the
mast with his right arm, and grasped the terrier with his left hand, for
the poor creature had not strength to resist such furious motion. It all
passed with bewildering speed. It seemed as if, in one instant, the raft
was hurled through the narrows, and launched into the calm harbour
within. An eddy, at the inner side of the opening, swept it round, and
fixed the end of one of the largest spars of which it was composed on
the beach.
There were fifty yards or so of sandy coral-reef between the beach
outside, that faced the sea, and the beach inside, which faced the land;
yet how great the difference! The one beach, buffeted for ever, day and
night, by the breakers--in calm by the grand successive rollers that, as it
were, symbolised the ocean's latent power--in storm by the mad deluge
of billows which displayed that power in all its terrible grandeur. The
other beach, a smooth, sloping circlet of fair white sand, laved only by
the ripples of the lagoon, or by its tiny wavelets, when a gale chanced
to sweep over it from the land.
Jarwin soon gained this latter beach with Cuffy in his arms, and sat
down to rest, for his strength had been so much reduced that the mere
excitement of passing through the reef had almost exhausted him.
Cuffy, however, seemed to derive new life from the touch of earth
again, for it ran about in a staggering drunken sort of way; wagged its
tail at the root,--without, however, being able to influence the
point,--and made numerous futile efforts to bark.
In the midst of its weakly gambols the terrier chanced to discover a
dead fish on the sands. Instantly it darted forward and began to devour
it with great voracity.
"Halo! Cuffy," shouted Jarwin, who observed him; "ho! hold on, you
rascal! share and share alike, you know. Here, fetch it here!"
Cuffy had learned the first great principle of a good and useful life--
whether of man or beast--namely, prompt obedience. That meek but

jovial little dog, on receiving this order, restrained its appetite, lifted the
fish in its longing jaws, and, carrying it to his master, humbly laid it at
his feet. He was rewarded with a hearty pat on the head, and a full half
of the coveted fish--for Jarwin appeared to regard the
"share-and-share-alike" principle as a point of honour between them.
The fish was not good, neither was it large, and of course it was raw,
besides being somewhat decayed; nevertheless, both man and dog ate it,
bones and all, with quiet satisfaction. Nay, reader, do not shudder! If
you were reduced to similar straits, you would certainly enjoy, with
equal gusto, a similar meal, supposing that you had the good fortune to
get it. Small though it was, it sufficed to appease the appetite of the two
friends, and to give them a feeling of strength which they had not
experienced for many a day.
Under the influence of this feeling, Jarwin remarked to Cuffy, that "a
man could eat a-most anything when hard put to it," and that "it wos
now high time to think about goin' ashore."
To which Cuffy replied with a bark, which one might imagine should
come from a dog in the last stage of whooping-cough, and with a wag
of his tail--not merely at the root thereof, but a distinct wag--that
extended obviously along its entire length to the extreme point. Jarwin
observed the successful effort, laughed feebly, and said, "Brayvo,
Cuffy," with evident delight; for it reminded him of the days when that
little shred of a door-mat, in the might of its vigour, was wont to wag
its tail so violently as to convulse its whole body, insomuch that it was
difficult to decide whether the tail wagged the body, or the body the
tail!
But, although Jarwin made light of his sufferings, his gaunt, wasted
frame would have been a sad sight to any pitiful spectator, as with
weary aspect and unsteady gait he moved about on the sandy ridge in
search of more food, or gazed with longing eyes on