The Golden Harpoon — page 30: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

— -~ _ ~ e. ; 98 “Tt is my opinion that all the boats are a long distance off by this time,” replied Mar- line. ‘JT didn’t even succeed in finding the one I have been looking for, for the horn sucdenly stopped blowing, and the blocks of ice have now become so closely wedged that no boat could have reached Alice soon enough to take her away before your return. No, no; she is on the ice, and if we look carefully for her, we may find her before night.” hen, with anxious faces and beating hearts, the two men moved away, threading the many intricate passages among the icy rocks with - swift steps, peering into every cavern and hol- low they encountered. But the crystal cham- bers were empty, and mockivgly echoed back their voices, as they shouted the name of Alice, They continued their search wntil the shadows of night put an end to their fruitless exertions; then, in the faint hope that the young girl might have returned to the ark during their absence, they made their way to the point from which they had first started, by means of the pocket-compass in Harry’s pos: session. But the captain’s niece had not come back, and the two men seated themselves beside the little retreat, both remaining silent for a long time under the influence of a feeling akin to despair. The harpooner was the first to speak : “T can never know a moment’s peace until Alice is found,” said he, “‘for I cannot rid my mind of the idea that she is in some position in which she‘is suffering both mental and physical] pain.” “We'll find her when the fog clears—ay, ay, we'll have her then, I'll warrant you,” returned Stump, pressing the hand of his chum. “ And now,’ he added, throwing open the side of the eanvas roof, “you had better turn in and get a nap, while I remain up and keep a sort of a watch.” “=a “No, no,” responded the young man, “ for | am confident that I could not sleep at present, and I doubt if I shall close my eyes throughout the whole night. If either of'us is to sleep, you must be the man to do so.” “T may do it, lad—ay, ay, I may do so after a while, which wouldn’t be the case, hows’ever, if I wasn’t confident that we'll find the gal in the morning. Tl even go further than that,” added Stump, thrusting his arm into the boat and drawing forth the breaker of hard bread and the chunk of salt meat, which he had care- fully wrapped in a piece of canvas. “I'll even go further, and acknowledge that JT am hopeful enough to feel hungry, and to believe that you’ll help me eat some of our allowance.” Notwithstanding his boast, however, which in reality was but a ruse to cheer the drooping spirits of his companion, the ship-keeper, while bringing his teeth together with a clicking sound, and smacking his lips as though he were enjoying his meal with a beat relish, scarcely tasted a morsel. But a half-smothered sigh es- caped him when he perceived that his well- meant trick failed to pee the intended effect; for Marline would not partake of the THE GOLDEN HARPOON. food. “Some other time,” said he; “I’m not hungry now.” And Stump rolled up the provisions again and dropped them into the boat, muttering rapidly to himself, in an undertone : “That's the way with °em—ay, ay, that’s the way with them lovers the world over. ‘Tbh-y live on moonlight when they're together, aud on grief when they are separated, ard it’s ony when they find themselves a-dying for the want of nourishinent that they pitch imto the pro- visions.” In order, however, to carry out the deception he had commenced, the shipkeeper now era vied into the boat, remarking that he should try a little nap after his meal. Accordingly, he soon began to snore; but the noises that emanated from his nostri!s were so loud and peculiar—for in his anxiety to per- form his part well, he went far beyond che limits prescribed by nature—that Marline, not- withstanding his anguish, could not fail to penetrate the ruse. : Not dreaming that such was the case, how- ever, Stump continued to snore, while thoughis something like the following passed througa his mind: “Ay, ay, I never tried to deccive anybody before—twist me if I did. But it’s in a good cause—that it is—and there’s no use for me to flinch now. Here’s this poor lad a-worrying out his life about this gal, and I am torturec about it, too, though not exactly in the same way. But he must be cheered up—ay, that he must; and if snoring can do it—why, if that can do it, there’s nothing more simple.” A peculiar noise, like that which might have been made by the rubbing of some person's hands against the outside surface of that por- tion of the tarred rcof opposite to the position occupied by the harpooner, turned the reflee- tions of the ship-keeper into another channel. His nose became silent, and raising himself” upon his elbow, he listened eagerly, wondering who the author of the disturbance could be. The scratching continued, and just as the shipkeeper was on the point of calling the at- tention of his chum to it, the edge of the tarred cloth, resting upon the gunwaie, was pushed up, and Stump beheld a pair of fierce-looking eyes gleaming upon him through the gloom. He drew quickly back, at the same time giving vent to a prolonged whistle of astonish- ment. “Who is-that?” he yelled, at length, in a voice so shrill and startling that Marline sfrang to his feet. “Ay, who are you? Not the devil, surely, for that ereatur’ never comes to disturb honest men! Speak! you infernal ghoul-eyed thing—speak, and tell me who or what you be!” But before the sailor had concluded, the mysterious orbs disappeared, like two sparks of fire that are suddenly quenched. “What is the matter, Stump?” inquired Harry, thrusting his head into the boat at the same moment. ; His friend’s explanation was short but graphio, S (C@) GCOMmIcHoo