THE DOCTOR'S PROTÉGÉE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 515, 6 November 1912, Page 2

THE DOCTOR'S PROTÉGÉE.

(All Rights Reserved.)

By ALBERT LEE, Author of "The Baronet in Corduroy," "The Key of the Holy House," King Stork of the Netherlands," " The Black Disc," &c.

Published By Special Arrangement.

CHAPTER XXVl.— {Continued). But these were things which merely served to form my first impression of the island on which I had been placed to take my chance of life or .death. After the first minutes had passed, I began to turn attention to myself. When I attempted to move I cried out with pain, and not a. single portion of my body seemed to be free from it. My head throbbed, my limbs ached ; I was as one who was bruised from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet. Then I recalled the rough treatment that had been meted out to me. when I struck Telamone for his intolerable insult as I passed him at the cabin door. Mad or sane, I -had not deserved such treatment as that, and now I lay in pain, scarce daring to rise to my feet and look around me. Yet I did so after an effort, and when I gazed about I felt to the full that sense of desolation that must needs come to one who is left alone, and has no hope remaining of escape. Under tbe immense stoo]s of naked sky, and hemmed in on every hand by the blue ocean, which seemed to tear at the rocks in anger because a paltry island was a blot on the illimitable expanse of waters, the lonesomeness was awful. Even with life teeming on this bit of land, and in the ocean which washed its cliffs eternally, there was the thought that I had none to speak to, none on whom I could rely for companionship, none with whom I could take counsel. One's voice might'travel across the waste of waters, but no response would come, save the sullen roar of breakers. Pope writes of : "Wholesome solitude, the nurse of sense "Where contemplation plumes her ruffled wings, "And the free soul looks down to pity kings." I thought of that many and many a time as I wandered along the surfbeaten shore, and I declared'bitterly that the poet found it easier to write such words than for me to feel them. He had never set foot on Damala, nor had he ever felt the curse of loneliness which comes to a man who is marooned. There had been some measure of mercy on the part of those who put me ashore, for when I turned away from watching the faint trail of smoke disperse and lose itself in the sky, I saw that a few comforts had been provided. There must have been some doubts in Telamone's or Berens's mind as to whether the island had any water springs, for there was placed not far away from where I had been lying a large cask of water, and a can which I might use as a drinking cup. A barrel of biscuits, some cans of meat and preserved fruit, a change of clothing, materials for a fire, leaving it to my ingenuity to maintain it when once made, some fishing-hooks and a rod, a few condiments to season such fish or birds as might fall to my skill, and, strangely enough, the revolver which had been taken from me, and a supply of ammunition. Doubtless this was meant, not for self-defence —for there could be small chance of fighting on an island like this—but to enable me to shoot the birds and thus replenish my larder. Other things were in the heap, and, as welcome as anything, some canvas, out of which I might construct a tent to shelter me from the sun or rain. Severity, at all events, had been tempered with mercy. Looking at my watch when I had made an inventory of the goods at my disposal, I found that the day was far advanced. " It was approaching four o'clock in the afternoon, and knowing that night would come before long, and ignorant as to its character, I looked about to find a convenient spot on which to erect my tent. Presently, after slowly moving to the west, every limb aching, and my head throbbing with each step, I found a cove in which there was a shallow scoop in the rock which would afford overhead shelter. It ran in about seven feet, and was high enough for me to stand in, provided I bent my head a little. It was a shelter to be grateful for if the wind remained in its present quarter, but were it to shift, and blow in full and rainy from the sea, it would sweep the scoop out clean, and leave me in as serious a plight as if I remained in the open. It would serve under present conditions, and having rolled the cask thither, disturbing the crawling crabs with my foot, rather than crush what might come day prove a valuable contribution to my larder, I returnc:! l'oi another load. Probably the exertion did me good, even while the p~in of moving made me feci exhausted by the time I had brought up the canvas and threw it ovcr°my belongings. The exercise had given mc an appetite, and opening one 01 the cans of meat I ate a hearty meal, and then lay down to sieep, h:;vi:ig no fear of molestation from'human beings. The fearlessness of the boobies and noddies convinced me there \vecie no animals on

the island that would give me trouble. I slept from sheer exhaustion, and jDOSsibly because of my hopelessness, knowing that no amount of thought or planning would obtain escape for me. My whole future was the care of Heaven, and on Damala I must stay until I died, unless Providence sent me some deliverance.:

When I awoke the broad light of morning was about me, and the sun was shining on the sea. For a while I looked seaward before I rose, and saw the intermittent flight of the flying fishes that were seeking to escape from their foes that were chasing them through the waters. On the beach, which sloped downwards from the spot where I had spent the night, were the evercrawling crabs, stopping at times to pick at the bones of dead fish. About me were the rocks on which the green seaweed nests of the noddies were fastened, and in which the stupid creatures rested while they peered out at me, and blinked, and wondered by what earthly chance I had come to share the place with them. I felt better .after my long sleep, although I was stiff, and in pain when I began to move. Having breakfasted on some flying-fish which in their eagerness to escape some foe in the sea had leaped too far, and landed on the beach close by me, I bathed in the sea to ease my aching limbs. Then, dressing again, I began a journey of discovery. The island was reputed to be barren all the way through, and the book which Berens had shown me declared it to be entirely devoid of vegetable life, and that it offered no sustenance for man beyond the gannets' eggs and such shell fish that might be secured along the shore. I thought of that, and began to wonder whether, after all, this was not the Damala Island of the book and chart, but some other place far out in the ocean, and possibly in the track of ships. My heart leaped with hope. Regardless of my aching limbs, I climbed up to a high point of rock from whence I thought it possible I might obtain a view, and this I had. At once I felt convinced that I was not on Damala. It could not be Damala if the description Berens had read was true. For it had run thus: "The island is about a mile and a-twentieth long, by less than a mile broad; its area is thus not more than one square mile."

Whichever way I turned I saw land, undulating but desert-like as far as a small range of treeless hills, but further still I thought I saw the sea. Here was a stretch of country for miles, so that it in no way answered /to the description given. Damala lay in the Pacific, eight hundred and ten miles west of the North American coast, but I was impressed with the thought that we had not travelled so far as now to be in the Pacific Ocean. My hope rose when I thought, that, after all, I had been placed ashore on an island which might be in the track of ships; but it sank when I recalled what Telamone had said of Damala: "If we searched the Pacific through and through we could not come to a more desirable spot on which to land a man we wanted to get rid of, who, knowing so much about us, must tell no tales." Even supposing that they had abandoned the idea of going'so far as Damala, they would not have put me ashore on an island from which I might effect an escape. The more I thought the. matter over while standing on that high, bare peak among the boobies' nests, gazing in eagerness on every hand, and scanning the sea especially in hope that a ship might be within sight, the more was I assured that my case was just as desperate as if I had been landed on Damala Island. The, destined lodgment there had been changed for another more readily available, but just as effective for the purpose. Had I been aa some are I should have flung myself down on the white, guano-cov-ered rock and' grovelled in despair, while railing at my dreadful fortune. But I determined to tramp across the desert stretch and see for myself what lay beyond the hills. It was a wearisome journey, for as the day grew older the sun became powerful, and the reflection of its rays from the white rocks tortured one's eyes. Unaccustomed of late to much walking, after having been cooped up within the narrow limits of the cabin of the Vallauris, I found myself unequal to the task of walking across long stretches of sunburnt rock. My foot was strong, but, as athletes would say, I was

"out of condition," and had to rest, whereas a seasoned walker would have made light of the journey, although he would wish that it was cooler. I rested frequently on the shady side of the guano-covered rocks, then began afresh the journey to the hills. Tortured with thirst, and tormented with flies, I looked for water, but there was no spring, neither was there any sign of one. I would have given much even for the sound of a running stream, and a draught of cold water would have

been delicious in the blazing midday heat.

At last I reached the summit of a hill and looked around, and while I gazed I exclaimed in rapture. Although I was marooned, with none to speak to, and while in L the land on which I gazed there was no sign of human life, the whole scene was changed. Behind me were the guano covered stretches, white and blistering—a long, sun-blazing desert, over, which the- air quivered with heat. But here was a pleasant land stretching away to the sea some six or eight miles, covered'with verdure, and full of bird life : for the air was kept awake by a thousand voices. I listened, and thought I could hear the bleating of kids, and more than once while I stood and gazed I heard the flap of wings, and saw' whole clouds of sea birds sweep over the hills, out of this richer land into the intolerable desert behind me. Away to the left was a small forest towards which a tiny rivulet ran, but looking beyond it I saw a broad stream making for the sea by a winding course. There, at least, I should find water, and there, too, I cbuld bathe, and cool my aching body.

Desolate as I was, set down in a place where I had no companionship in man, I was thankful to know that I was not condemned to die a slow and torturing death in a land like that through which I had been travelling. Here would be food and water in abundance, while the sea would be as generous as it was at the spot where I had been set ashore. But what was all this if I were doomed to be alone, and had to spend my days Without hearing the sound of a human voice? I was thirty-three years old, and were I to live on this island the allotted time of. life, how could I endure forty long years, and yet retain my reason ? It was a horrible prospect, and all places are horrible—to use Selkirk's word —where a man is alone, and therefore friendless, and bereft of hope. Ignoring the beauties of the island in this hunger for companionship, I looked around for any sign of human habitation. There was no blue curling smoke to suggest the presence of someone human, no life, gaze where I would, that gave me any hope Nature woidd befriend me: but I was marooned, and alone, amid teeming life that was not human. I walked swiftly now towards the stream, eager to slake my thirst: but I had no need to go so far, for presently, while I brushed through the shrubs, I heard the squash of water at my feet, and close at hand was a pool, at the bottom of which the brown gravel lay. I went down on my knees and drank my fill. In all my days I had never drank anything so delicious ; and at last I rose, a new man, more hopeful because one intolerable condition had passed.

CHAPTER XXVII. THE DERELICT. , Among the rocks I found a score of resting-places more pleasant by a hundredfold than I had hoped to find when I first realised that I was marooned. Then, with the nicencsn which grows upon one when a choice is left to him, I looked for the be::: spot in which to fix my dwelling until such time as I should make my plans. My first idea was to seek a place where I could shelter from the sun in the blazing heat of the ,day, and be protected from the night cold. I found such a place at last: and, looking up a rocky slope which I could climb with comparative case by holding to trees and saplings at the steepest places, I attempted the task. Before long I was standing on a ledge of rock from whence I had an extensive view. Right on before me was a verdant land filled with trees, with tiny cascades glinting in the sunshine here and there, and offering in places shady retreats where it would be a keen delight to sit and rest—if one but had company, were it no more than a dog, but better still a human being with whom one could hold conversation. The boundary of it all was the sea —the great, open sea, which I scanned eagerly, in the hope that 1 might see a passing ship. But there was the empty ocean, over which the sea-birds careered, and where they swooped on the wave for prey. I low long I stood there, gazing a t the prospect in search of something to build up my hope, I cannot say : perhaps an hour, probably more. Escape was the absorbing passion with me, and beauty was ?* secondary thing. At last I turned to see what lay behind me, aud an involuntary exclamation of surprise escaped my lips. I was on the ledge of a rock which was really the doerstep of a cave which stretched far in—sufficiently far to give sleeping accommodation for a score of men, and leave space for moving about. Venturing in when I had first made sure that my revolver was in readiness for any emergency, I looked around. The floor was dry, save in one corner, where tho water, tncicling slowly down the wall, went forward in a rocky gutter towards the mouth of the cave. It came in such a sufficient quantity that if I held out my hand it would fill in a moment or two, and was pleasant to taste. (To be Continued?) D.P. — 21.