Two Sailor Lads by Gordon Stables

They spent the afternoon dreamily wandering about in the woods or on the beach; for Fred and Frank, not being used to real hard manual labour, had hardly yet got over the fatigues of the day before. But Quambo and Magilvray were not so idle. They were busy cutting down the dead branches in the jungle, and bearing them to the beach to serve as firewood. They soon had an immense pile handy.

So all the evening, from half-past six, when it fell dark, till everybody turned in for the night, the camp fire was kept alight. Not that heat was needed by any means, but simply because, as Fred phrased it, "it looked cosy."

And now, although these marooned mariners determined to take life easy, and make themselves as happy and comfortable as circumstances would permit, they took means, nevertheless, by which it was possible that the attention of some passing ship might be arrested, and so perchance their deliverance effected. This consisted in erecting a beacon on the hill-top, and on the very next morning they set about the work.

For once in a way little Cassia-bud was left, in company with Hurricane Bob, to mind the camp, while the others betook themselves to the mountain. Under the circumstances the task of preparing and hoisting the beacon was by no means a very simple one. It was easy to find a tree long and straight and tall enough, but having no other tools but their jackknives, it took a very long time indeed to cut it down, to trim, and hoist it.

At first it was proposed by Frank, and seconded by Magilvray, to turn the beacon into a kind of flagstaff, the flag itself being a large piece of spare canvas that happened to be in the boat.

"There is this objection to your plan," said Fred, laughing, "canvas doesn't make much of a show as a flag; it doesn't dry easy after a shower; and if it once gets wound round the pole it will cling like death to a dead nigger. No, I say let it be a beacon; and I've heard Daddy Pop remark, in days of old, Frank, that there is no beacon so effective as a broom."

"All right then," said Fred, "let us hoist the broom."

So the broom-beacon was hoisted accordingly; and if the reader wants to know what it looked like when up, let him imagine a tall and sturdy flagstaff with a huge bunch of branches attached to the very summit of it.

It looked splendid, I do assure you, and was not only visible from the camp, but capable of being seen from far at sea. After it was up, and the pole firmly fixed by means of stones rammed well home by hitting them hammer-fashion with other stones, Fred took off his cap, and waving it round his head timed his companions with a "Hip, hip, hip! " to three rattling good British cheers.

"Wowff -- wowff -- wowff! " that was the sound of Hurricane Bob's voice in response to the cheers, and it was afterwards discovered that little Cassia-bud, well knowing that his own feeble cheering would not be heard, had excited the dog to bark.

"Well," said Magilvray, looking up at the broom, "I must say, young gents, as how I'd 'ave preferred seeing a flag flyin'. The broom looks Dutch, don't it?"

"Oh, yes! by-the-by," said Frank, "Mac is right, Fred. There was a great Dutch admiral, you remember who once hoisted a broom at the mainmast head, and swore he wouldn't take it down again till he had swept the British from the seas. What was his name? Von Trump, or Von Dunk, or something, wasn't it?"

"Van der Decken! " said Fred seriously.

"You're laughing at me," said Frank. "But come on, men, I'm as hungry as a tiger, and nothing to eat but cold fish and fruit when we get home."

No wonder, indeed, that all hands were hungry; for hoisting the broom had taken them nearly the whole day.

They reached the beach about two hundred yards from the camp. Cassia-bud had heard them coming along through the bush, and had run along the white soft sands to meet them, Hurricane Bob bringing up the rear. Kashie was breathless, not with running, but with fear. It must be remembered he was little more than a child. The giant Quambo took him up in his arms, and clinging to his big friend's neck he cast frightened glances seawards, looking the very picture of abject terror.

"Oh, massa! " he gasped, looking piteously at Fred, "I'se seen de debbil, and I not want to stop any more all by myse'f near the sea."

"Seen the devil, Kashie! What do you mean, boy? When did you see him? What was he like, eh?"

"Oh, sah, he like one awful big fish, bigger than a boat, sah! He jump right up out ob de sea one, two, tree time. Jump right high up in de sky; and he all black, wid awful eyes, sah, and, oh! sah, _he had nuffin on but his head_. It was de debbil, sah, fob true."

Fred and Frank both burst out laughing, but the poor child seemed really and truly scared nearly out of his wits.