Category: Adventure
A sturdy, thick-set young fellow of seventeen was Jack, with low-hung fists of formidable size, and a love for anything in the shape of a row that constantly led him into scrapes. Hot-headed though he was, he was one of the most good-humoured, well-meaning young fellows in the...
A sturdy, thick-set young fellow of seventeen was Jack, with low-hung fists of formidable size, and a love for anything in the shape of a row that constantly led him into scrape...
2. CHAPTER II. A STROKE OF LUCK AND AN AFTER-STROKE.It was the afternoon of the day on which the shark-charmer so unwillingly walked the plank. The breeze was so light and fitful that it barely ruffled the surface of the sea abou...
3. CHAPTER III.--THE QUEST BEGINS.Jack was awake and on his feet in a twinkling. “You're dreaming, old fellow,” said he, seeing Don in his night-clothes. “You're only half awake.” Don did not argue the matter. H...
4. CHAPTER IV.--INTRODUCES BOSIN, AND TELLS HOW CAPTAIN MANGO PROVED“Why, first,” said he, “we must ascertain whether that fellow told us the truth about the shark-charmer's having gone across the Strait. If it turns out that he has, then I'm no...
5. CHAPTER V.--THE LASCAR GETS HIS KNIFE BACK.Her light sails winged to catch every breath of the light but steady breeze that chased her astern, the cutter for some hours bowled through the water merrily. In the cabin Pugg...
6. CHAPTER VI.--IN THE THICK OF IT.Either the lascar's wound had not proved as serious as Jack surmised, or the fellow was endowed with as many lives as a cat. At all events, he had reached land before them, and...
7. CHAPTER VII.--“FUN OR FIGHTING, I'M READY, ANYHOW!Shaking his fist at the howling mob, he sprang up the steep hill-path, followed closely by Don. Spottie had already made good use of his legs, but they soon caught him up, where...
8. CHAPTER VIII.--AT THE HAUNTED PAGODAS.The fire, fortunately, had gained so little headway that a few bucketfuls of water sufficed to put the _Jolly Tar_ cut of danger. Then the captain stumped up to Don, where he sa...
9. CHAPTER IX.--WAS IT JACK?What a night it was! Overhead one glorious; maze of scintillating stars; in the jungle ebon: blackness, shot with the soft glow of myriad fireflies, that flashed their tiny lamp...
10. CHAPTER X.--IN WHICH THE OLD SAW, “OUT OF THE FRYING-PAN, INTO THEBack he ran, battling with the flames and sparks that rolled in volumes up the hillside, until, half-stifled and well-nigh fainting from the heat, he was forced to turn and flee...
11. CHAPTER XI.--INTO THE HEART OF THE HILL.There was no denying the truth of the captain's disconcerting announcement. So far as concerned the ancient flight of steps, egress from the underground chamber was wholly cut o...
12. CHAPTER XII.--RELATES HOW A WRONG ROAD LED TO THE RIGHT PLACE.They had barely gained the shelter of the tunnel and extinguished the light, when the prows of the canoes grated against the rock, and a number of natives scrambled out upon the...
13. CHAPTER XIII.--CAPTAIN MANGO “GOES ALOFT.Self-preservation is the first law of life, and no sooner did Don feel that iron grip compressing his throat, and dragging him down into the depths of the creep, than he struck...
14. CHAPTER XIV.--SHROUDED IN A HAMMOCK.That was a fearful moment for Don. The quest of the golden pearl, entered upon with all the love of adventure and sanguine hope natural to young hearts, began to wear a serious...
15. CHAPTER XV.--THE CROCODILE PIT.The last melancholy duty to the captain discharged, Don threw himself heart and fist--as Jack would have said--into the work cut out for him; and by the time the _Jolly Tar_ was...
16. CHAPTER XVI.--DON SETS A DEATH-TRAP FOR THE LASCAR.To be sure, skirting the end wall on the extreme left was a ledge along which the agile monkey made his way to the opposite side of the pit with little or no difficulty; but, as...
17. CHAPTER XVII.--THE BLAST OF A CONCH-SHELL.The rest was easy. In five minutes the blacks had crawled across, with many fearful glances at the upturned snouts of the huge reptiles below; and Don, treading the springy leng...
18. CHAPTER XVIII.--BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH.Four galleries centred on the rock-chamber, and the confused, tumultuous rush of feet which followed the blast of the conch-shell like an ominous echo, proceeded from that parti...
19. CHAPTER XIX.--ONE-TO-TWENTY GIVES TWENTY-TO-ONE THE WORST OF IT.Hemmed in!” cried Don, as the desperate character of the situation flashed upon him. “Shall we try to cut our way through the gang ahead, or fall back on the pit?”
20. CHAPTER XX.--THE LAST STRAW.A glance--more he did not dare bestow whilst confronted by that treacherous throng--showed Jack what he and Don had hitherto entirely failed (and no wonder!) to observe. In the...
21. CHAPTER XXI. RIVALS FOR THE HONOURS OF DEATH.A night of dread foreboding, of weary watching for the day that seemed as if it would never come. With what tantalising slowness did the snail-like stars crawl across the black...
22. CHAPTER XXII.--A REPORT FROM THE SEA.Jack was the first to break the silence that followed the spinning of the fateful coin. He rose, stretched himself, and, pointing to a ruddy glow that had begun to light up the...
23. CHAPTER XXIII.--DON RUNS THE GAUNTLET.Instinctively he shaped his course for the Elephant's head. The precipitous cliff was there skirted by a narrow beach. He had seen it gleaming above the surf-line while rounding...
24. CHAPTER XXIV.--IN THE NICK OF TIME.Salambo, the shark-charmer, thief, and director-in-chief of the harassing attacks by which they, the party of adventurers in search of what was indisputably their own, had been...
25. CHAPTER XXV.--THE SHARK-CHARMER IS CAUGHT IN HIS OWN TRAP.After all, Jack was but human. His fortitude, strung to a tense pitch by those terrible days and nights of danger, snapped, in presence of actual safety, like an overdrawn bow.
26. CHAPTER XXV.--BRINGS THE QUEST TO AN END.Silent and pale as death, Don turned and stood for a moment facing Haunted Pagoda Hill, with head bared. His thoughts were with the captain as he had seen him on that terrible e...