Mother Carey's Chicken: Her Voyage to the Unknown Isle

Their way still led them along the peaceful waters which girt the island--for so they now felt that they might venture to call it--the strong barrier reef of coral keeping back...

A hot but uneventful voyage succeeded, during which the passengers were well roasted in the Suez Canal, and saturated with the steamy moisture of Ceylon, where Mark stared with...

The supply of food, supplemented by the bottles of beer, which were equitably distributed so as to give all the men a tiny cup or two, had a wonderful effect upon their spirits,...

As Mark reached the great opening in the deck it was to find that the men who had been at work below were all clustered together listening and waiting for instructions from thei...

Bruff limped up eagerly, and sometimes put down his injured paw, which he had been dressing after nature's fashion by licking it well, and trotted by their side; but it was evid...

Glorious weather with the coasts of Africa and Europe visible together as they passed the straits. Then lovely summer days with pleasant winds as they sailed along the Mediterra...

As soon as he had climbed upon his shelf he found that it was going to be one of those hot uncomfortable nights when pillow and sheet get ticklish and make the skin feel itchy....

Mark stepped softly into the saloon, which was now full of light from the stern windows, and a dull sense of horror and misery came over him as he noted the desolate aspect of t...

"And I'm so hungry that I feel like a dog with a bone," snapped the major. "I won't give 'em up without a fight. Come in here, my boy, and I'll have a good try for it. We've ple...

No one could tell what, or whence came the noise, but the terror it inspired was sufficient to chase away sleep from all. Everyone had been awakened, and the captain had at once...

The preparations were soon made, and directly after breakfast, in spite of Mr Morgan's desire to be of the company, the little band of half the occupants of the isle gathered fo...

The shock was so sudden that the half-awakened and helpless occupants of the boat made no effort to move, but clung to the thwarts of the boat, while the mast, with its heavy ra...

"It's strange," said the captain; "but we are well armed. It may be, as Mark says, some kind of monkey. They can make atrocious noises. How are the sick men?"

"There, don't turn like that, my lad," said Morgan kindly, as he clapped the lad on the shoulder. "We only fancy there may be something wrong, and I hope we have been deceived."

The birds were now stowed away in the bows and stern, the former lot being investigated with plucking views by Jack, who, however, was stopped by his master and forced to seat h...

Mark did as the others did; inflated his lungs and rushed into the darkness, till they nearly fell over the captain; and then how it was done the lad hardly knew, but the two in...

The distance was not great, and as Captain Strong gazed before him, knowing, as he did, the perils to be encountered, he hesitated, and was disposed to stay. But the first step...

"We were beginning to think you long," said the captain as they reached the cocoa-nut grove, having found that though there were signs of palm leaves and young trees having been...

Three months glided happily away, during which time there was no renewal of the earthquake, the lightning ceased to play about the cone of the beautiful mountain, and the roar f...

The man who was working so hard at the mat was a sailor of apparently about five-and-thirty, carefully dressed in his shore-going suit of navy blue, and carrying a very tightly-...

For the stowaway had been at once taken up to the hospital, as the shady spot under the cocoa-nut trees had to find him lying there looking already quite another man. Kindly han...

Poor Bruff had to be contented with a pat on the head, and then creep after his master back through the bushes to where the major was doing his best to bring his military knowle...

The night was intensely dark, not one star shining, and before many minutes had elapsed after the major's steps had died away the face of Mark's companion was invisible, and he...

The damage could not be thoroughly ascertained, for a vast deal of mischief must have been done by the water poured into the hold, water which exercised the men's patience a goo...

"This here's just what I like, mates," said Billy Widgeon, as he sat on the sand in the full light of the blazing fire with his fellow-sailor opposite to him, and a large piece...

Were you ever lost? Most probably not; and hence you will hardly be able to realise the strange sensation of loneliness, helplessness, and despair which comes over the spirit as...

It took Mark some minutes to get rid of the confused, half-stupefied sensation that remains after a very deep sleep when the sleeper is suddenly awakened; but as his head cleare...

The stowaway's news fell like a thunderbolt, and Mark felt a curious chilling sensation come over him, as he tried to keep it from his mother and Mrs O'Halloran. But the latter...

Mark was alone soon after, when Billy Widgeon came up smiling to say a few friendly words, and directly after a thin pale sailor came edging along the bulwarks to say feebly:

The peril was still great, and there was the risk that at any moment another inadvertent movement on the part of the boat, such as that made by Mr Gregory in his ignorance of th...

That was a weary watch, but, as the major said, they did not want to sleep, with the wounded men moaning and muttering in their uneasy rest. For there was so much to do, seeing...

For a few seconds every one stood still as if petrified by the horror of the scene. Then with a hoarse cry the captain dashed to the opening, slipped, and would also have gone d...

"Of course we shall, Gregory," said the captain quietly. "Morgan, I'm sorry you've had such a job as this. Divide the men into two watches. I'll take the first with some extra h...

The lad was standing watching half a dozen men who were reefing a square sail high up on the mainmast, and the process gave him a peculiar sensation of moisture in the hands and...

For a good half-hour they toiled on through cane-woven thickets, in and out of wildernesses of huge tree-trunks, many of which had great flat buttresses all round, which were di...

There was a loud rustling of palm leaves, and Mark Strong and Billy Widgeon sprang to their feet and stared at one another as the warm glow that precedes sunrise penetrated the...

"I've been having a look at that there monkey, Mr Mark, sir," said the little sailor. "He's just come out of his hole, looking scared because he thought the fellows was shouting...

"What is the great danger?" said the major quietly. "That," said the captain, pointing seaward. "The water retires like this, only to come back in force. There: it is coming back."

The prisoners had been gathered together in the cabins, of which the whole were in their possession, and were still discussing various plans for proceeding when the splash of oa...

"What shall I do? what shall I do?" groaned Mark, as he stared at the black ridge which ran down to the sea on the other side of the bay.

"Go with me, Mark? What for? To live hard, work hard, and run the risk every day of having to die hard. Get out! You're as bad as your mother."

The sand made a comfortable bed, and Mark had not lain down very close to one end of the little tent before he became aware that he had two companions in the shape of Bruff and...

The task proved more simple than Mark had anticipated, and he went on, step by step, learning how it was that the Indians tracked their prey. Every now and then he was at fault,...

Blackwall and Woolwich, Gravesend, and the vessel moored for the night. There a few preliminaries were adjusted, and the next morning, with the deck not quite in such a state of...

It was a hoarse gruff voice, which made Mark Strong turn sharply round just as he had crossed the gangway and stepped from the quay at the East India Dock on board the _Black Pe...

As the major and Captain Strong hurried into the ladies' cabin on the cessation of the fighting it was to find them all ready, even to Mary, with bandages and pieces of linen to...

Singapore was reached in due time, and after communicating with the owners of his vessel, Captain Strong chartered a large schooner, engaged some additional hands, and sailed on...