The Project Gutenberg EBook of Jarwin and Cuffy, by R.M. Ballantyne

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Title: Jarwin and Cuffy

Author: R.M. Ballantyne

Release Date: June 7, 2007 [EBook #21742]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JARWIN AND CUFFY ***

Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

JARWIN AND CUFFY, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE.

CHAPTER ONE.

ADRIFT ON THE OCEAN.

On a certain morning, not very long ago, the sun, according to his
ancient and admirable custom, rose at a very early hour, and casting his
bright beams far and wide over the Pacific, lighted up the yellow sands
and the verdant hills of one of the loveliest of the islands of that
mighty sea.

It was early morning, as we have said, and there was plenty of life--
animal as well as vegetable--to be seen on land and sea, and in the
warm, hazy atmosphere. But there were no indications of man's presence
in that beautiful scene. The air was perfectly calm, yet the gentle
swell of the ocean terminated in great waves, which came rolling in like
walls of glass, and fell on the coral-reef like rushing snow-wreaths
with a roar as loud as thunder.

Thousands of sea-birds screamed and circled in the sky. Fish leaped
high out of their native element into the air, as if they wished to
catch the gulls, while the gulls, seemingly smitten with a similar
desire, dived into the water as if they wished to catch the fish. It
might have been observed, however, that while the fish never succeeded
in catching the gulls, the latter very frequently caught the fish, and,
without taking the trouble to kill them, bolted them down alive.

Cocoanut-palms cast the shadows of their long stems and graceful tops
upon the beach, while, farther inland, a dense forest of tropical
plants--bread-fruit trees, bananas, etcetera--rose up the
mountain-sides. Here and there open patches might be seen, that looked
like fields and lawns, but there were no cottages or villas. Droves of
pigs rambled about the valleys and on the hill-sides, but they were wild
pigs. No man tended them. The bread-fruits, the cocoanuts, the
bananas, the plantains, the plums, all were beautiful and fit for food,
b