was a dangerous thing to move along from one part of the deck to the
other, as this loose accumulation of material, at each successive lurch,
would be tossed first one way and then the other. This was one thing
that kept the villains at bay, but it prevented us as well as themselves
from getting any food.

"In desperation I took my revolver, and, at the risk of my life, at
every step, forced my way to the pantry and found some food. Before I
reached the bridge the roar of the breakers fell upon me, but the
darkness was now too intense to enable me to see anything, and I knew
that our next great catastrophe would be the rocks.

"I never reached the bridge again, for the vessel struck, and with a
terrific grating sound it moved toward land, and then a giant hand
seemed to lift it upwardly, and I knew no more. When I awoke, which must
have been along noon of the following day, I saw one of the sailors
dead, not fifty feet away, and the master of the ship was close beside
me, with an indescribable mass of wreckage all about.

"When I had recovered sufficiently to judge of my surrounding, I went
over to the master and to the sailor, and saw that their pockets had
been rifled, and I instinctively put my hand to my pockets, to find that
everything, my watch, this match box, which was a present from my wife,
my knife and everything in my pockets were gone.

"From this I knew that such of my companions as had been saved had gone
off, without making any attempt to ascertain whether I was alive or not,
and had taken my things besides.

"I had my clothing, which was still wet, but I was glad to be alive.
That seems singular, doesn't it, when I had thrown myself time and again
right into the jaws of death! I saw a barren shore, but found plenty to
eat as I advanced into the interior. I went to the south and southeast
for the first day, and soon saw the first signs of human habitations.

"Then I came across a tribe of savages who were sacrificing some human
victims. It dawned on me that it might have been some of my companions,
and a spirit of revenge possessed me. But I had no weapons, but relying
on my experience in eluding savages, I crawled up to the village, during
the height of the orgy, and slew one of the warriors, and took his
weapons, as well as his headdress.

"But I was discovered and brought the entire tribe down on me. I avoided
them, doubled on my tracks, and ran into another branch of what proved
to be the same