Under the Ocean to the South Pole / Or, the Strange Cruise of the Submarine Wonder

Author:Roy Rockwood [Rockwood, Roy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2006-11-06T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

CHAPTER XVIII

ON LAND

"Why don't he shoot his gun at 'em?" demanded Andy, capering about on the sand. "He could soon scare 'em off!"

"I'm afraid Washington is too frightened to do anything like that," answered Professor Henderson. "He is lucky to have escaped alive."

"Wait until he gets here with that gun, an' I'll do some huntin' that will make them savages skip!" exclaimed Andy.

In a little while Washington came up to where the others from the Porpoise stood on the beach. The colored man was panting from his run.

"De most monstrous disproportionately extradition ob circumstantial occurrances dat ever transpositioned on my optical vasionariness!" he exclaimed as he laid his gun and the black box carefully down on the sand. "Ten thousand naked imps of darkness swarmin' ober de ship an' not a pusson to say what dey ought to do an' where dey ought t' go! It am suttinly terrible!"

"Why didn't you shoot some of 'em?" demanded Andy.

"Me?" exclaimed Washington. "What for I want t' shoot 'em? S'pose I want 'em t' git mad at me?"

"Well, you're a great one," went on Andy, picking up the gun. "I guess I'll have to take a few shots myself."

"Yes, sah."

From Washington the adventurers learned how the savages had silently come up in their canoes and surrounded the ship, gaining possession of it before he could make any effort at defense, even had he so desired.

"What are we to do now?" asked Mrs. Johnson, when they had retreated out of sight of the savages. "The natives have possession of the boat, and how are we to regain her when there are so many of them?"

"It certainly is a hard nut to crack," admitted the professor. "We will have to camp out on the beach for a while and see what happens. Perhaps they may leave the vessel when they find it will do them no good. They can't run her."

"But they can tear her all apart and damage the machinery," said Jack. "Then we would be in a pickle."

"Well, we won't hope for any such bad luck as that," interrupted the professor. "We will look for the best."

"When are we going to have breakfast?" asked the little girl, after a long wait. "I'm hungry, mother."

"We will have it pretty soon," replied Mrs. Johnson in order to quiet her daughter's mind.

"But I want it now," continued Nellie. "I'm very hungry."

"Hush!" said Mrs. Johnson.

"An' I had de finest brekfust what was ever invented," said Washington, rolling his big eyes. "Mud turkle eggs, ham, preserves, coffee—"

"That will do, Washington," said the professor. "It only makes our mouths water to think about such things."

At the mention of the turtle eggs Jack nudged Mark, and signalled him to walk to one side. When they were out of earshot of the others Jack said:

"What's the matter with cooking some of the eggs that are left on the sand? There are plenty of them, and there is no sense in our going hungry."

"How you going to cook 'em?" asked Mark.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.