The Pearl Fishers (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1915. Excerpt: ... to start on; and when they reached the spot, the darned thing had gone--sunk into the sea." "Rubbish " said Floyd. "And I wish you wouldn't start those sorts of yarns just now; it's not lucky." "Oh, I am only joking. Your island is there, safe enough, with Schumer on top of it. That sort of chap never sinks into the sea; it's only the good men Davy Jones troubles about. He's a mascot, sure." Floyd did not answer him; he was staring right ahead. "When I sighted it first," said he, "I was in an open boat that gave very little horizon, and what struck me first was the sky. It was pale, just a patch of it, a sort of glittering paleness that was caused by the lagoon. Have you ever seen that mark in the sky above a lagoon island?" "Can't say I have, but then I'm not so used to the Pacific as you are. Do you see anything now?" "No," said Floyd. "I wish I did." Cardon whistled gently to himself, tapping the ashes out of his pipe against the rail and refilling it. He was just as anxious as Floyd, but his anxiety had not such a keen edge and he hid it better. There were times when he, like Floyd, almost doubted the reality of the island. He was bending in the shelter of the bulwark to light his pipe when a hail came from aloft. Floyd had stationed a lookout in the crosstrees, and it was his voice that came, high and clear, like the call of a bird. Next moment the two men were swarming up the ratlines and looking forward in the direction to which the fellow was pointing. "It's the island " said Floyd. Cardon looked. All he could see at first was a tiny mark on the sea line, a mark no larger than a pin head; then, as his eyes grew more accustomed to the dazzle, another tiny mark appeared close to the first, and then another. Then these marks became fused together, fo...