"This must be looked into," said Harry, resolutely. "Who will go with me to the ledge?"
"No—no—do not go," pleaded Mary, "see how the fire rages! The peak may explode before you come down, and you be swallowed up in the flames!"
Harry however was determined to go.
"If nobody will go with me," said he, "I will go alone."
Mary advanced to his side.
"I will go with you," said she; "if you are to perish, I will die with you."
The young man, however, would not permit the girl to accompany him.
"If what was seen was mortal," said Turk, "why, then, I'd go with you; but I don't care to have anything to do with spirits and sich like, which can give you a poke in the stomach, do you see, and yet you not be able to square off to 'em."
"Very well, then, I go alone," said Harry, as he sprang away.
He had not reached the foot of the cliff, when he felt a hand on his arm, and turned to behold Turk.
"Fact is," said the latter, "I won't see ye go alone, but if there's any fightin' to do with ghosts, you mustn't expect me to help you, for when I aim at a nose, I like to hit it, which is impossible with the noses of goblins and sich like, as your fist will go right through 'em."
The two soon were at the foot of the cliff, which both now commenced to ascend. As they advanced, the rumbling beneath them seemed to increase, shaking the cliff to its foundation.
At length they arrived near the ledge, where the heat was almost unbearable. On one side of them there was a wide cleft, in which a line of fire was seen, glowing like a red hot iron. The slightest mis-step on the part of the adventurers in their endeavors to reach the ledge, must precipitate them into the cleft.
To get to their destination, they must move along a narrow ridge not more than two inches wide, with nothing at the side of the rock to clutch except a slightly rugged surface which must afford them a very insecure hold.
"This is dang'rous traveling," remarked Turk, "worse than walkin' on a railroad track over a rottin bridge."
The two kept on, carefully making progress, until finally they were close to the ledge, upon which a sudden spring carried them.
Winding round the cliff, they could now see another ledge, but no sign of the strange figure. They clambered the rocky surface, exploring it on all sides, but saw no sign of what they were after.
"To my notion," said Turk, "that goblin has gone down to take a siesta, do you see, preparatory to comin' up agin, which, I take it, is a good hint fur us to make leg-bail."
"What is this?" inquired Harry suddenly, stooping and picking up a singular object.
It was a cocoanut branch twisted into an odd shape, bearing some resemblance to a pronged fork.
"Ay, ay, now, there's the pitchfork for sartin!" exclaimed Turk; "that goblin has left his instrumental be—behind him, and we may yet come upon his tail!"
"Hark, Turk," said Harry, somewhat sternly, "you must not talk in that way. This is in fact, no time for joking. See there," pointing above them as he spoke, to where lurid flames were shooting out from crevices in the rock, thus preventing their ascent.
Gazing below them they beheld the dark tops of the trees, far beneath.
There was no means by which they could reach the ground.
The flames meanwhile burning brighter and longer, every moment, until finally they scorched the flesh of the two men, whose situation from the intense heat, was becoming intolerable.
For a moment they stood looking at each other, puzzled to know what to do.
Then a sudden thought flashed across Harry's mind.
"There are coils of rope in the schooner," said he; "we can start from here to Brand, who, probably, is watching us, telling him to bring up and lower to us one of those coils of rope."
"Ay, ay, if he ain't afraid," answered Turk.
The two men shouting with united voices, pronounced the captain's name.
"Halloa!" was the response.
"We cannot get back the way we came. Bring us a rope from the schooner's wreck, and lower it to us."
Brand shuddered and turned pale.
Mary, who was near, besought him to hurry.
"No," he answered, in husky voice, "I do not care to go aboard that schooner!"
"Then I will go!" cried Mary, and away she went.
Bad as he was, Brand was yet man enough not to permit this girl to undertake such a difficult task.
He sprang after her, and soon boarding the schooner, advanced with lighted candle into the hold, casting fearful glances around him.
He saw nothing, however, to excite alarm, and so seizing a small coil, he emerged with it on deck.
He was about climbing over the bulwarks, when, chancing to turn his head towards the schooner's bows, he fancied he saw the phantom face of the drowned passenger as it was hastily withdrawn!
"P'shaw, this is mere imagination," muttered the captain, as he sprung over the rail to the beach, where he found Mary anxiously waiting for him.
"Quick! make haste!" exclaimed the young girl.
It almost seemed to Brand, as he encountered the gaze of those wild eyes, that he beheld a second phantom, so alike were the eyes of father and daughter.
Throwing the coil over his shoulders, he hurried along to the cliff and commenced the ascent, followed by Mary, who, in her anxiety for her lover's safety, would almost have followed the man into the very flames.
In a short time they were at a point, whence the rope might be lowered to the two imperiled men upon the ledge.
Brand, therefore, uncoiling the line, lowered the end to them at a point where the flames could not come into contact with it, fastening the other part to a spur.
It was evident, however, that the two must make good speed, else the strands would become so weakened by the heat that there would be danger of their giving way.
The two men found the rope, where they lowered it over the edge of the rocky shelf, long enough to reach to the ground, about one hundred and fifty feet beneath them.
Then Turk commenced the descent, succeeding in reaching the ground safely.
By this time the strands were so weakened that Brand was obliged to haul the rope up, to prevent its parting, and secure another turn around the rocky spur.
Then Harry, grasping the lower part, commenced to descend. He had got within about one hundred and twenty feet of the ground and within a few feet of the top of one of the trees, when from the branches, the captain, whose position afforded him a good view of the trees revealed in the volcano's lurid light, uttered a sudden wild cry, that rang above the din of the roaring fire.
Protruding from the foliage of the tree, towards which Harry was being lowered, the man beheld the long, lean neck and ghastly countenance of the apparition he so dreaded.
So great was the effect of this vision upon him that he let go the rope which descended swift as a shot.
Where now was Harry Glenville?
Mary, shrieking, peered far over the edge of the rock, vainly looking for her lover.
"Killed! killed!" she wailed, wringing her hands. "My God, he is dashed to pieces on the ground, by your letting go of the rope!"
"I?" exclaimed the captain, looking wild and half bewildered.
"Ay, God! it is so!"
The vision had by this time vanished. Partially recovering his self-possession, the captain hurried down the steep cliff, following Mary, who, like a maniac, ran on.
She soon gained the foot of the precipice, and was hurrying along in the direction where she expected to find the remains of her lover all mangled from his fall of sixty feet, when suddenly, she felt some person grasp her arm, and turning, beheld Brand.
"Let me go! Why hold me?" screamed the young girl, wildly.
"See, there!" he answered, pointing towards the beach, "that is the reason!"
Looking in the indicated direction, she beheld, in the lurid glare of the volcanic fire, a long canoe, by the beach.
Evidently it was the same which had pursued them on that day when the two warriors were slain.
Bent on vengeance, the islanders had not yet given up the pursuit, but had searched for the fugitives ever since, at last coming upon their traces.
Now the forms of the fierce men were seen advancing swiftly in single file up the beach, on a course, which, had Mary kept on, must have brought her into contact with them.
"Never mind," she exclaimed; "let me go to his body! What care I if they do kill me, so long as I get a glimpse of his form?"
Brand, however, held her firmly.
He felt that he should at least partially atone for his crime by saving the daughter of the man he had sent to his death.
"Come! come with me! This is madness."
Mary struggled in vain. Brand drew her along with him into the shadow of a small cavern in the foot of the cliff.
"Hark!" he said, "you must not cry out."
Attracted probably by her cries, several natives soon presented themselves at the entrance of the cavern.
Brand, being unarmed, could do nothing. Several spears were pointed at his heart and that of his companion.
An islander—a huge fellow with great rings tattooed like bracelets all over both his arms; evidently a chief, interposed.
"No strike!" he exclaimed, in broken English, "this's too much quick death. Best take and chokee slow."
"What do you mean?" inquired Brand.
"Cussem Americanon!" said the chief, fiercely, "kill one two me men! Mus' pay for dat."
"You are mistaken," answered Brand; "I never killed a man. It wasn't me."
"All same you with," answered the islander. "Ho! ho! never get way from me—me got long canoe."
The two were dragged to the beach, bound with strong wythes, and were made to sit down upon the sand.
Then a brief conversation was held, after which, the chief said something to several of his men.
Away they went, climbing up a tree, and procuring several branches.
These they brought to the chief, who, passing them round the neck of the prisoners so tightly that both were nearly throttled, then turned again and spoke to his people.
Instantly the latter, seizing the two, dragged them up to their necks into the water, where they were firmly held with the incoming seas continually breaking over their heads.
A slow, torturing method this to make way with prisoners. It is however resorted to by many of the South Sea Island tribes.
At first the victim easily manages to catch his breath between whiles. Gradually, however, this becoming harder, and the difficulty increasing every moment, the wretches are eventually strangled to death.
Poor Mary! The hardships and excitement she had lately undergone were of themselves sufficient to deprive an ordinary woman of her strength. This young girl, however, had an excellent constitution and, when occasion required, a strong will. Now the intensity of her anguish regarding her lover had so worked upon her, that, with this new torture before her, she became unconscious.
Heedless of this, however, the native having charge of her, still held her upright in the water, until the chief again interfered.
"Makee muchee now long," said he.
The two were drawn out to the beach, Brand, however, being informed that the disagreeable ceremony would before morning, be repeated, until he was drownee, drownee, drownee.
Soon after Mary came to her senses. At first somewhat bewildered, she soon remembered all.
"Dead! dead!" she moaned, "he is dead."
The natives heeded not her sufferings. On the contrary, they seemed to gloat over her distress.
An hour wore on when the prisoners were again led into water, the seas breaking high, continually went over their heads.
Mary soon drew her breath with difficulty—her brain went round and round, she felt that she was dying.
In fact, life must have deserted her in a few minutes, but for a singular interposition, the phantom-like figure which has been mentioned, appearing suddenly on the branch of a tree and waving its arms to the natives in a frantic manner.
"Berch, hounds and dogs!" it exclaimed in hollow voice; "what would ye do. I forbid this work. Terrible misfortune will attend ye, if ye keep on thus persecuting those prisoners."
Brand, hearing that voice, turned his head.
As he did so, the form suddenly vanished.
The natives stood looking at each other in surprise. Brand noticing their astonishment, thought he might turn it to good account.
No other consideration but that of saving his life could have tempted him to speak of the vision of the murdered passenger to a living soul.
"Indians," said he, "I would at once speak to your chief."
The men who held him understood him sufficiently to make known his request to their leader, who, forthwith, appeared floundering through the water.
"What want? Speak quick!"
"Well, then," said Brand, shuddering, "he whom you saw just now among the trees, was no mortal vision. It is a phantom!"
"How know you that?"
"If the chief will take me a little ways off I will tell him," said Brand, not caring to have the young girl hear what he intended to say.
The chief did as requested, when Brand explained, saying that the phantom was that of a passenger who had accidentally fallen overboard from a vessel aboard which he (Brand), was third officer.
The superstitious natives are prone to believe weird stories, and the chief was no exception to the rule.
To his awe-stricken followers he at once explained what he had learned, when it was unanimously agreed that the lives of the two prisoners should be spared, at least for the present.
No good, the natives all agreed, could come of their disobeying the injunctions of a spirit.
Mary and Brand were therefore taken and seated near a bright fire, which had been kindled for comfort by their enemies.
They were treated to cooked breadfruit, cocoanut sauce, and other delicacies of the South Sea Islanders. Brand ate heartily, but poor Mary, almost maddened by her grief, would not even look at what was proffered her.
"Harry is dead! dead!" was the continual cry of her anguished soul.
Meanwhile the whole island was rocking like a floating ship. Showers of fire, roaring thunder, flew from the volcanic peak.
The natives looked at each other. Presently the chief spoke.
"The islee will be swallowed in fire," said he; "the spirit which spoke, did not tell right. It is a bad spirit, which Islander must not mind. It said if Islander spare white men's life, no harm come. See! here is harm. The island will be lost before Islander can find all their foes."
Such was the purport of the chief's words, uttered however, in a more incomprehensible manner than we have shown.
"Yes," continued the speaker, "so we say we must killee! killee," pointing at the two prisoners; "must killee quickee, no slow now."
He held a brief consultation with some of his men, four of whom now advanced toward the girl and Brand, each of which was lifted between a couple.
"Quickee—go!" screamed the chief, when each of the pair, with their burdens commenced rapidly scaling the sides of the steep ascent.
Good need it now seemed, was there of their making swift speed.
They kept on with all possible dispatch, eventually pausing upon a lofty spire, far up on the very top of the mountain.
This spur, rising to a height of about forty feet from the edge of the volcanic crater, overlooked the chasm of fire, which, like the infernal lake itself, lay at its base, shooting its forked tongues of roaring, hissing flame high in air!
And now the prisoners comprehended the fate intended for them, for the natives driving them to and fro, preparing to fling them into that lurid, roaring, crackling sea of fire!
To repeat a previous question.
Where now was Harry Glenville?
On feeling himself descending, after Brand let go of the rope to which he was clinging, the young man, instinctively throwing out his arms, was fortunate enough to grasp the branch of the tree through which his falling form was crashing.
To this branch he clung, swinging a hundred feet above the ground.
Every moment he expected that the branch, which was a slender one, and which he held near the extremity, would part. He could hear it crack, every time he swung.
Above him, faintly revealed in the lurid light, he could meanwhile see a larger and stronger branch, which he hoped he might, by a sudden upward stretching of an arm, succeed in grasping. Still there was danger that he might miss his grasp, when he would certainly be precipitated upon the ground below.
Still considering whether or not to make the attempt, he suddenly heard the cheery voice of Tom Turk:
"Hold on hard, lad, and I'll be up there to help ye, in the tyin' of a square knot!"
"Make haste!" exclaimed Harry, "as I expect, every minute, that the branch I hold will give way."
"Ay, ay. Keep up a good heart. My climbin' days ain't quite over yet!"
As he spoke, Turk commenced rapidly ascending the tree, running up the trunk with the squirrel-like dexterity of a true sailor.
He had with him the end of the fallen rope, thrown over his shoulder.
In a short time, he was upon the brunch, just above the swinging form of his friend.
The latter's weight had nearly parted the branch, strips of which were already beginning to peel off.
"Make haste, Turk!" repeated the young man.
"Ay, ay, lad! here's the rope!" cried Turk, lowering to his friend the end, to which he had fastened a bowline hitch; "jest slip that over your head, and under one of your arms, and I'll have ye up in half a minute."
Harry promptly complied, not a moment too soon, for with a crash, the branch now gave way.
The young man would have gone with it, in spite of the bowline hitch, which he had not yet been able to properly secure, but for his throwing up both hands and grasping the rope.
Turk, who had taken a turn round the upper branch, was thus enabled to draw him safely up.
In a few seconds both men were on the ground, about to move in the direction of the base of the cliff to meet Mary and Brand, when they beheld the forms of the natives, stealing along from their canoe.
"Ay, ay, now!" whispered Turk, "this is calamitous."
"We must save Mary at all hazards," exclaimed Harry, impulsively, as he bounded forward.
"S—sh!" whispered Turk, "jest see there! They have got the poor gal and that Brand already," pointing to the natives, lugging of their prisoners.
Harry would have sprang onward unarmed as he was, to attack the two savages, but for the cooler and more prudent Turk.
"Hold!" he whispered, grasping his friend's jacket, "can't do anything in a hurry, which do you see, will salle all."
Even as he spoke, another party of savages were observed, approaching them.
"Now, then, fur scuddin!" said Turk, "no use stayin' here to be speared to death, which is a most uncomfortable way of dyin', 'specially when you are afterwards b'iled in a pot for the blueskins' dinner."
He drew the young man along to a clump of bushes near the base of an enormous tree.
"I've sighted this tree before," said he, "which I know is holler. It's big enough to hold you and me. Afterwards we can see to the gal, if there's any way to save her, whereas if we should try now, we'd only be killed, which sartinly would be a poor way for keepin' the lass."
Harry saw the sense of this remark at once. With the old seaman, he crouched in the bushes.
"Well have to get into the tree, mole fashion," said Turk, "see'n' as the hole leading to the inside of it, is scooped out underneath."
So saying he displaced some bushes, and bade his friend crawl into the aperture thus revealed.
Harry did so, and was soon followed by Turk.
In the hollow tree, the two now glanced up, to see through an opening in the trunk, broken half way off, the lurid gleam of the volcanic fire.
"Here we are, moles as is moles!" exclaimed Turk.
Meanwhile the shouts of the savages, who, it was evident, had now come upon the footprints of the two seamen on the ground, were heard outside of the tree.
"They will of course discover us, after all!" said Harry, "and we will have to die. Better to have fallen in defense of Mary."
Turk scratched his head. By the red gleam, shooting down into the hollow, Harry could see a troubled expression upon the old seaman's face.
"Ay, ay," he muttered, at length, "the Turks never was good at strategic p'nts. I had a grandfather, who, to save himself from a mad bull, throwed himself, in tryin' to leap over it, partly upon the creatur's horns, which, penetratin' the seat of his breeches, held him expended in that way until he was relieved by friends!"
The old tar had scarcely thus delivered himself, when, chancing to glance down, he beheld the tattooed face of a savage, thrust under the trunk of the tree, peering up at him.
Before he could utter a word, however, the face was withdrawn.
Next moment a sound, as of men busy at work piling something around the tree, was heard.
Soon after all was still.
The two men held a consultation. Doubtless the savages were somewhere not far off, waiting for them to emerge.
Nevertheless, they determined to make an attempt to escape from their present retreat.
Turk was the first to stoop for the purpose of passing out, when an exclamation broke from his lips.
"What's the matter?" inquired Harry.
"Matter enough!" was the reply; "we are walled in with arth so that we can't get out!"
For a moment the two stood eyeing each other, with looks of dismay.
"Can't we burrow our way out?" queried the young man.
"I'm afraid not. Them rascals knowed what they were doin' when they fastened us up. In my opinion, we are to be left in this hollow tree to be swallered up with the island when it goes!"
Harry glanced up. The opening in the top of the trunk was about fifteen feet above them. There was no way for them to reach it!
The young man bowed his face on his hand.
"I would have been willing—would have cheerfully died," said he, "in helping poor Mary; but to perish far away from that girl without having lifted a hand in her defense is very mortifying!"
"Ay, ay," said Turk, "and this is a lesson to me never to give advice in the futur'—if there be any futur' left for me on this arth! I'm as sorry as you can be, that I got you to give up follerin' the lass at once!"
For several moments the two men stood, glancing up through the opening in the trunk, which being directly beneath the volcano, afforded them a good view of it.
The huge crater was spouting showers of flame and sparks, which seemed to increase in quantity every moment.
Meanwhile the roaring noise of the subterranean fires was becoming louder. The ground shook with the thunder in its bosom, until the very tree in which the two men were ensconced began to tremble.
"The 'castrophy' must soon take place!" exclaimed Turk; "wish you'd l'arn me to say a few prayers before we are swallered up! That is," continued the old tar, "I did l'arn my catechism, once upon a time, but it's so long ago that the idee has been blowed out of my head by the squalls and gales I've weathered, do you see!"
Harry answered not. His mind was full of bitter reflections, in the midst of which his Mary, suffering in the hands of the savages, occupied a prominent part.
"Perhaps we may burrow out of this!" he exclaimed, at length, "at all events, let us try!"
So saying, he stooped, and went to work with hands and nails.
He made some progress, but he had not dug a foot, when his hands came into contact with a hard substance, which resisted all his efforts to move it.
It was a heavy stone, almost a rock in size, which had been shoved against the opening.
"No hope!" he said, despairingly.
As he spoke, a wild yell was heard without, followed by the noise of approaching steps.
The steps drew nearer; there was a halt made alongside the tree, then followed a noise of dry branches being dragged along and piled round the trunk.
"Ay! ay!" exclaimed Turk, aghast, "them heathens ain't even goin' to give us a chance to die in them underground flames, but is agoing to pile faggots and burn us at once."
Harry shuddered.
Then the thought occurred to him that perhaps Mary had perished in a similar manner.
In a few minutes the crackling of flames, betokened that the old tar had guessed aright.
The fire was wreathing and twining around the trunk of the tree, the inside of which was every moment growing hotter.
"Ay, ay," moaned Turk, despondingly, "we are all a-goin' to be baked alive, as if we were two clams instead of humanized bein's!"
Hotter became the seamen's narrow quarters every moment. Tongues of flames were now seen creeping through crevices in the trunk.
The sap oozed with a hiss like a serpent's, while the smoke entering the hollow, almost suffocated the occupants.
Heated, almost blinded, their flesh scorched, the sufferings of the twain were becoming fearful.
In the lurid glare each could see the eyeballs of the other rolling wildly in his head, and hear his panting breath drawn with difficulty.
"This is intolerable!" gasped Harry; "would that the rascals would spear us, and thus at once put an end to our torment."
There seemed, however, no probability of their doing this.
Meanwhile there were none of the manifestations of exultation and triumph peculiar to the North American savages.
Nothing was to be heard above the din of the roaring and crackling flames, save a low, guttural croaking of quiet satisfaction, such as might have been uttered over chunks of roast beef cooking on a spit.
"Ay, ay," muttered Turk, who for some time had been dancing up and down with pain, "I feel as if the gravy was already a-oozing out of my body."
As he spoke, he chanced to glance upward, when he was startled by the apparition of a face, half concealed by a great green leaf, (protruding downward from under an old cap) thrust through the opening in the top of the trunk, while the rest of the body was screened by the thick branches around it.
"Hist! Stand by! I'll save you both if I can!" said the stranger in a shrill, penetrating whisper, "on one condition!"
For several moments the two men were so surprised that they could only stand motionless, looking up at the intruding face, without uttering a word.
Harry was the first to speak.
"Who are you! How came you there?"
"It don't matter. I am only half human, at any rate. On one condition I said I'd save you."
"Name it, name it, my man!" cried Turk, "and you'll see how quick we'll comply. But I'd think the savages would see you up there?"
"No; the branches and leaves are too thick. The leaf over my face hides it from them while my body is in shadow."
"Name that ere condition of yours then, quick!" exclaimed Turk.
"Well, it is that you save my money!"
"Your money?"
"Yes I cannot get to it now. I beg you will save me my precious money."
"Where is it!" inquired Turk, "if you'll jist tell me that p'raps I can——"
"It's in a little cleft in the right side of the trunk in a bag. You may feel it by putting your hand there. Oh! my money—my precious money! that must not be sacrificed!"
Turk felt along the trunk until finally his hand struck a deep cleft notched in the wood, when he felt the bag and drew it forth.
It emitted a clinking sound.
"Ay, ay, that's it!" whispered the stranger; "now unfasten the cord from it, and throw the end up to me, when I will draw you safely out of the hollow!"
Turk instantly proceeded to do as directed. Unwinding the cord which, though small in thickness, was as tough as a clothes-line, he was glad to perceive that it was long enough to reach to the top of the trunk.
Meanwhile, in spite of his sufferings, he could not forbear peeping into the bag, which, he at once perceived was full of shining pieces of gold.
"What avail is all this?" said Harry; "it is likely the savages have already heard our conversation. Besides, they will certainly see us, when we are drawn up out of the top of the trunk."
"It ain't likely they've heard us," said Turk, "as there's sich an infernal din with the roarin' of the fire here and the volcano above; but as to their seein' us, I dare say that may happen."
"Throw me the cord—quick!" cried the stranger, "and let me haul you up here with my precious gold!"
Turk threw the end of the cord.
"You may go first," said Harry to the old tar.
"Not a bit of it, lad!" answered Turk; "I ain't one of that sort, do ye see! There's no hurry for me. Your life is more valuable than that of sich an old lubber as your humble servant, Tom Turk."
Harry, however was firm.
He fastened the end of the line quickly under the armpits of the sailor, and ordered the stranger to haul away.
Assisted by his own efforts and by the pulls from the man above, Turk soon was drawn through the opening.
Then a savage yell proclaimed that he was seen, and the trick to effect of his release discovered by the natives.
"Quick, my lad!" shouted Turk, throwing down the line to his friend, as several spears whizzed round his head.
"Give me my gold!" almost shrieked the stranger, as he snatched the bag from the old seaman's pocket, and thrust it into his own, "and stand by to follow me, if you'd escape the natives."
"Jist hold on a minnit!" said Turk, clutching the man by the arm; "I don't know who you be; whether you be humanized or t'otherwise, but one thing is sartin, it's playin' us a very scaly trick fur you a-tryin' to get off, when you know that the life of a feller creatur' is still to be saved."
"Quick then, quick!" screamed the stranger, "don't you perceive that the natives are going to fling more spears?"
"They can't hurt ye, if you ain't human," said Turk—then he added, eyeing the stranger curiously, "if you have what's tarmed a caudal canpendage, that is a tail, do you see, as all non-human bein's has, I wish you'd show it, so that I may know whose acquaintance I have the honor of makin."
"Whiz! whiz! buz-z-z!" came more spears, passing within a few inches of the speaker's head.
While talking, Turk had not neglected his friend, who by this time had passed the line round his breast and given the word to haul.
The two pairs of arms soon had him up, when turning, the stranger was seen running along a branch extending from the burning tree to another.
"There goes either the devil or a spook!" said Turk; "it's the queerest creatur' I ever saw, thinkin' of its gold under sarcumstances like the present."
"Follow me, follow me, if you would escape," the man was now heard screaming out at the top of his voice.
The seamen obeyed, gliding after the figure, which seemed to dart along with the speed of a squirrel.
Having gained the other tree, the strange guide descended half way, then, by a drooping branch, swung himself quickly to the ground.
Harry and his friend followed, the twain being pursued by the savages.
Every nook and corner seemed familiar to the leader.
On he went, dashing away with a speed which rapidly widened the distance between him and his followers.
By powerful efforts, however, the two men continued to keep in sight.
Finally Harry paused. The steps of the savages were heard crashing along but a short distance behind him.
"Come on!" cried Turk, seizing the other's arm.
"No," answered the latter, "the man is evidently carrying us further and further from Mary. For my part, I shall endeavor to ascertain the fate of the girl, if I die for it."
All efforts of his friend to persuade him to keep on proved unavailing.
"Well, one thing is sartin," said the old tar, "where you go, there, sir, Tom Turk, who never yet deserted a chum, goes too!"
"Thank you," answered Glenville, squeezing the arm of his friend.
Stepping to one side, and crouching in the shrubbery, Turk persuaded Harry to do the same.
At this time, these two men were concealed from the savages by a high rock, round the angle of which they had passed.
The natives, when they made the turn, believing that the two had kept on, continued the pursuit in a straight line, seeing the form of the strange guide, faintly visible in the far distance.
When the savages had passed, making straight for the burning peak, Harry and his companion rose.
"Which way now?" inquired Turk.
"Towards the beach. There we may find Mary, either dead or alive, as there, it would seem, the greater number of the savages are gathered."
Accordingly, they moved toward the beach, cautiously keeping in the shadow of the shrubbery, when they finally found themselves within about fifteen feet of a spot occupied by a dozen warriors, all of whom stood upright, their glances bent upon the steep sides of the volcanic cliff.
"What is that?" inquired Harry, suddenly, trembling in every limb.
"There are savages speeding up the cliff, and if I mistake not, I just saw the gleam of a light dress, as if the rascals were bearing a female between them."
"Ay, ay," said Turk. "I saw it too, and it was sartinly a most melancholy sight."
"That woman that we saw could of course be none other than Mary Manton," said Harry. "Come, we will at least die fighting for the girl."
Before his friend could say a word, he was speeding along toward the cliff, still keeping in the shadow of the shrubbery, so that the natives could not see him.
Now he and his companion eventually arrived at the base of the cliff.
The natives in pursuit of the guide had, of course got there before them, and were now seen speeding up the steep ascent in hot pursuit of the strange man.
"Come," said Harry; "come!"
As he spoke, he sped straight up the cliff.
"Well," muttered Turk, as he panted for breath, "this is hot work for sich old timbers as I be. The lad won't give me a chance to breathe. I may as well make up my mind to go to etarnity, the road to which is where we are now goin'; so I'll jist make one chaw of this plug," pulling from his pocket a great piece of tobacco, the whole of which he at once thrust into his right cheek.
On he went, until suddenly he uttered a loud cry, as Harry disappeared from his sight.
Believing that the young man had fallen into some one of the deep chasms with which the cliff abounded, he hurried on, and was somewhat relieved to perceive that the object of his fears had merely fallen into a small rocky pit, with the exception of a few slight bruises, hurting himself but little.
Springing into the pit, the old tar assisted his prostrate friend to his feet.
At the same moment, clapping his hand to his brow, and uttering a wild cry, the young man pointed far above him.
Gazing in the indicated direction, Turk uttered a sort of despairing grunt, and sat down on a flat, protruding shelf of rock, as if completely overcome at the spectacle which now met his gaze.
This spectacle, which has already been described, was none other than that of the young girl and Captain Brand, far above the two adventurers, distinctly revealed in the lurid gleam of the fire-spouting crater, being swung back and forth for a fling into the red-flaming jaw of the horrible chasm!
The fearful situation in which she now found herself was enough to appal a stouter hear than that of Mary Manton.
Poor girl! after all the hardships she had undergone, to find herself about to meet such a frightful doom, was, indeed, a trying ordeal for her delicate nerves.
Shriek after shriek passing her lips, mingled with the hoarsest cries of Captain Brand, and the triumphant screams of the savages, who, their forms and faces lighted by the volcanic fire, might well have been compared to the demons of the infernal regions!
Twenty times at least, as if to torture them by the fearful suspense, the natives swung their victims before they made the final one to throw them into the yawning chasm!
Meanwhile, Turk and his friend had started afresh, and were fast scaling the sides of the cliff.
The mountain was now fairly reeling with the inner convulsions. The lava had swollen on one side to a broad stream, rushing, hissing and streaming down the side of the steep cliff.
In fact the two men as they mounted, were constantly obliged to dodge to one side, to escape contact with some of the diverging rivulets.
On they went, now tottering on the verge of some deep gorge, and now scaling a narrow passage between enormous rocks, which reeled as if about to fall upon and crush them.
Meanwhile the air was full of strange noises.
Hissing, roaring and booming, the report of bursting deluges of fire came out from the bosom of the mountain.
The fire spread fast—the sky itself seemed aflame with the warning of impending destruction.
"This is sartinly the most excitin' moment in my life," said Turk, who now gasped at every step. "I'm afraid that even when we git up to the summit where that poor gal is, there won't be any strength left in my bones to help the poor creature!"
"Come on!" answered Harry, in ringing tones. "On! on!"
And on they went, scaling the burning mountain with almost incredible speed.
At one time the view of the forms upon the summit was hidden by an intruding rock.
"Do you see her, now?" Harry anxiously inquired.
"No!" answered Turk, as he vainly endeavored to catch a glimpse of the fire-lighted forms.
"Alas! It was a bad day for poor Mary, when she set out in search of her lost father," exclaimed Harry; "poor girl! brave girl!"
"Ay, and a wild-goose chase, it has proved so far, and will prove a wild-gooser before its over."
Continuing on, the two men finally came to a point, where two paths, diverging between high rocks, met their gaze.
They were undecided which of these to take.
"My God! the girl will meet her fate, before we can get to her!" exclaimed Harry, as he dashed into the path on the right. "Come on, Turk! This path ascends and must be the right one, as the other seems to incline!"
Turk shook his head.
"P'raps you're right, and p'raps not!" he said. "If it hadn't been for them lava-streams, we might have kept straight ahead, and been at the end of our cruise in more senses than one, before the present moment."
The two kept on, but the further they went, the more puzzled they became, as the path they pursued soon led them among a perfect labyrinth of rocks, some of them overarched so that, with the exception of a lurid gleam of light, here and there, they were left in total darkness.
The labyrinth became more difficult.
Tangled bushes, vines, shrubs, and the roots of decayed trees impeded their way every moment.
Meanwhile the agony of the young man, searching hither and thither for some way out of his difficulty, was terrible. The sweat came out upon his brow, his veins seemed on fire with feverish excitement.
He knew all the time he was thus searching that Mary's doom must soon be sealed, if already she had not been hurled into the whirlpool of fire!
Turk also vainly exerted himself; but the more the two endeavored to find a way out of the labyrinth, the more hopelessly they became entangled.
At length they found themselves at the mouth of a cavern. The floor of this cave seemed to extend downward, while far ahead of them, they beheld the fiery gleam of the volcano.
"This is our way," shouted Turk. "Come, lad, come!"
He dove into the cavern, followed by his friend, both believing that when they should arrive at the terminus of this sloping tunnel, they would find a way to the top of the cliff!
Encouraged by this hope, Harry sped on with a swiftness, which soon carried him far beyond his friend.
In a few minutes he had gained the further end of the cavern, when Turk heard his wild despairing cry ringing out like that of a wounded wolf.
In a moment he was by the young man, who pointed upward.
When Turk also perceived that they had made their way to this point, only to be aggravated by another sight of the tatooed forms of the savages and their intended victims, so far above them that they could not hope to reach the spot.
In fact they now found themselves in one of those deep gorges, whose sides were too steep to be ascended, but which commanded a view of the raging fire.
Yes, there was the girl and Brand, still being swung hither and thither that their torments might yet be prolonged.
The sight almost drove Harry mad. He clenched his fists, and compressed his lips, as if, by the exertion of a strong will alone, he hoped to prevent the accomplishment of the fearful deed.
As to Turk, he danced about in his excitement performing a sort of fantastic hornpipe, while all the time the tears streamed down his wrinkled cheeks.
"Ay, ay," he moaned, "it is too bad. If I could lay down my life a thousand times for that poor gal, God knows I would willingly do it."
The scream of the imperiled one now rang down the cliff penetrating the hearts of the two men like a knife.
"Good God!" cried Harry; "oh, Turk! Turk! let us see if we cannot yet get to her, before the demons do their foul work."
The increased thunder of the volcano seemed to mock his voice. The air and sky reddened by the lurid gleam, seemed filled with a crimson mist rolling in clouds round the swaying forms, and shrouding them from sight.
As Harry spoke, Turk pressed his forehead against the rocky side of the gorge, while he pointed upward at the girl, whose hair, catching the red gleam, seemed another shower of fire.
"No use, Harry. See, they are giving the last swing! I know by the voice of that native who has jist howled out the order."
In fact so shrill and piercing and savage was the islander's cry that its import could not well be mistaken.
Like the croaking shriek of a ravenous sea-bird, it came grating down the sides of the rock.
"My God! there she goes!" screamed Harry; "Mary! Mary!"