The Castaways of the Flag Read Free

unable to
refrain from smiling.
     
                "Well,"
John Block answered, "if He will drive our boat towards one of those which
exist already, it will be enough, and He need not make any islands on purpose,
although, I must say, He seems to have been a bit stingy with them
hereabouts!"
     
                ''But where
are we?"
     
                "I can't
tell you, not even within a few hundred miles,'' John Block replied. "You
know that for a whole long week we were shut up in the hold, unable to see what
course the ship was shaping, whether south or north. Anyhow, it must have been
blowing steadily, and the sea did plenty of rolling and chopping."
     
                "That is
true, John Block, and true, too, that we must have gone a long way; but in what
direction?"
     
                "About
that I don't know anything," the boatswain declared. "Did the ship go
off to the Pacific, instead of making for the Indian Ocean? On the day of the
mutiny we were off Madagascar. But since then, as the wind has blown from the
west all the time, we may have been taken hundreds of miles from there, towards
the islands of Saint Paul and Amsterdam."
     
                "Where
there are none but savages of the worst possible sort," James Wolston
remarked. "But after all, the men who cast us away are not much
better."
     
                "One
thing is certain," John Block declared; "that wretch Borupt must have
altered the Flag's course and made for waters where he will be most likely
to escape punishment, and where he and his gang will play pirates! So I think
that we were a long way out of our proper course when this boat was cut adrift.
But I wish we might strike some island in these seas—even a desert island would
do! We could live all right by hunting and fishing; we should find shelter in
some cave. Why shouldn't we make of our island what the survivors of the Landlord made of New Switzerland? With strong arms, brains, and pluck –"
     
                "Very
true," James Wolston answered, "but the Landlord did not fail
her passengers. They were able to save her cargo, while we shall never have
anything from the Flag's cargo."
     
                The
conversation was interrupted. A voice that rang with pain was heard:
     
                "Drink!
Give me something to drink!"
     
                "It's
Captain Gould," one of the passengers said. "He is eaten up with
fever. Luckily there is plenty of water, and –"
     
                "That's
my job," said the boatswain. "Do one of you take the tiller. I know
where the can is, and a few mouthfuls will give the captain ease."
     
                And John
Block left his seat aft and went forward into the bows of the boat.
     
                The three
other passengers remained in silence, awaiting his return.
     
                After being
away for two or three minutes John Block came back to his post.
     
                "Well?"
someone enquired.
     
                "Someone
got there before me," John Block answered. "One of our good angels
was with the patient already, pouring a little fresh water between his lips,
and bathing his forehead that was wet with sweat. I don't know whether Captain
Gould was conscious. He seemed to be delirious. He was talking about land. 'The
land ought to be over there,' he kept saying, and his hand was wobbling about
like the pennon on the mainmast when all winds are blowing at once. I answered:
' Ay, ay, captain, quite so. The land is somewhere! We shall reach it soon. I
can smell it, to northwards.' And that is a sure thing. We old sailors can
smell land like that. And I said too: 'Don't be uneasy, captain, everything is
all right. We have a stout boat and I will keep her course steady. There must
be more islands hereabouts than we could know what to do with. Too many to
choose from! We shall find one to suit our