The Island Home

"On many a bloody field before-- Man of the dark and evil heart!-- We've met--pledged enemies of yore, But now we meet no more to part-- Till to my gracious liege and lord, By t...

"While the party hostile to us, thus stood hesitating, but to all appearance rapidly approaching a point where all hesitation would cease, Olla, with tears streaming down her ch...

"So then," said Browne, interrupting Arthur's narrative, "these two parties of savages, instead of going to work, knocking each others' brains out, as one might naturally have e...

"Keel never ploughed that lonely sea, That isle no human eye hath viewed; Around it still in tumult rude, The surges everlastingly, Burst on the coral-girded shore With mighty b...

Our failure to discover fresh water, or any indications of it, during yesterday's expedition, increased the anxiety which we felt on the subject and we determined to devote the...

"Now bend the straining rowers to their oars; Fast the light shallops leave the lessening shores, No rival crews in emulous sport contend, But life and death upon the event depe...

"They linger there while weeks and months go by, And hold their hope, tho' weeks and months are past; And still at morning round the farthest sky, And still at eve, their eager...

"Trembling, they start and glance behind At every common forest-sound-- The whispering trees, the moaning wind, The dead leaves falling to the ground; As on with stealthy steps...

The first thought that flashed through my mind with returning consciousness, in the morning, was, "This is the last day for hope-- unless relief comes to-day in some shape, we m...

It must not be inferred from the occasional bursts of holiday humour, in which we indulged, that we had become reconciled to our exile, and were now ready to subside into a stat...

"In the afternoon," resumed Arthur, "we went with our host and hostess, and our companions at dinner, to a grove on the banks of the stream--a place of general resort for the vi...

"Down in the depths of the lonely sea, I work at my mystic masonry; I've crusted the plants of the deep with stone, And given them colouring not their own; And now o'er the ocea...

"This is no Grecian fable of fountains running wine, Of hags with snaky tresses, and sailors turned to swine: On yonder teeming island, under the noon day sun, In sight of many...

"A few firm stakes they planted in the ground, Circling a narrow space, but large enow, These strongly interknit they closed around With basket-work of many a pliant bough. The...

I had climbed to the top of the bank as my look-out station, while the work of demolishing the canoe was going forward, and on perceiving that Morton had accomplished his task,...

About sunset we went down to the beach to bathe. The trees along the shore were occupied by immense crowds of exemplary sea-fowl, whose regular and primitive habits of life had...

"Another hour must pass ere day grows bright, And ere the little birds begin discourse In quick low voices, ere the streaming light Pours on their nests, just sprung from day's...

Even in open day, the distance of a few miles would be sufficient to sink the low shores of the island; and now that night had so suddenly overtaken us, it might be quite near,...

"Where'er thou wanderest, canst thou hope to go Where skies are brighter, or the earth more fair? Dost thou not love these aye-blue streams that flow, These spicy forests, and t...

During the remainder of the day the wind continued fair, and we held on our course, steering by the sun, and keeping a vigilant look-out in every direction. But the night set in...

"Reviving Nature bounds as from her birth: The sun is in the heavens, and life on earth; Flowers in the valley, splendour in the beam, Health in the breeze, and freshness in the...

At sunset every trace of the storms by which we had been so recently encompassed had vanished: the sky, except along the western horizon, was without a cloud: not a breath of wi...

Several times in the course of the night, I was awakened by confused noises, like the blowing of porpoises, or the spouting of whales; but the sky had become overcast, and it ha...

Having now brought my story down to the period of our getting into winter-quarters at Lake Laicomo, (where, during the last few weeks, the foregoing portion of this narrative ha...

Wakatta cast a half-remorseful glance at the corpse of his adversary, and, raising his powerful voice, recalled his men from the pursuit. Then wading into the brook, he began to...

A little way before us rose a smooth and gentle acclivity, crowned by a clump of majestic trees, which promised to afford a deeper and more grateful shade than any other spot in...

"A wet sheet and a flowing sea, A breeze that follows fast, That fills the white and rustling sail, And bends the gallant mast. And bends the gallant mast, my boys, Our good shi...

We had now been several months upon the island, and notwithstanding our constant watchfulness, we had not, during all this time, seen a single sail. Of the vast multitudes of ve...

"How rapidly, how rapidly, we ride along the sea! The morning is all sunshine, the wind is blowing free; The billows are all sparkling, and bounding in the light, Like creatures...

"Now my co-mates, and brothers in exile, Hath not long custom made this life more sweet Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods More free from peril than the envious cour...

Wandering along the shore, (taking care to keep in sight of Mr Frazer, under whose convoy, in virtue of his double-barrelled fowling-piece, we considered ourselves), we came to...

"Still round and round the fluid vortex flies, Scattering dun night, and horror through the skies, The swift volution and the enormous train Let sages versed in Nature's lore ex...

While lying crouched under the sail, almost gasping for breath, near the middle, as I suppose, of that terrible afternoon, I all at once became sensible of a perceptible cooling...