{"product_id":"2940014994705","title":"Jarwin and Cuffy","description":"CHAPTER ONE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eADRIFT ON THE OCEAN.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn a certain morning, not very long ago, the sun, according to his\u003cbr\u003eancient and admirable custom, rose at a very early hour, and casting his\u003cbr\u003ebright beams far and wide over the Pacific, lighted up the yellow sands\u003cbr\u003eand the verdant hills of one of the loveliest of the islands of that\u003cbr\u003emighty sea.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was early morning, as we have said, and there was plenty of life--\u003cbr\u003eanimal as well as vegetable--to be seen on land and sea, and in the\u003cbr\u003ewarm, hazy atmosphere. But there were no indications of man's presence\u003cbr\u003ein that beautiful scene. The air was perfectly calm, yet the gentle\u003cbr\u003eswell of the ocean terminated in great waves, which came rolling in like\u003cbr\u003ewalls of glass, and fell on the coral-reef like rushing snow-wreaths\u003cbr\u003ewith a roar as loud as thunder.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThousands of sea-birds screamed and circled in the sky. Fish leaped\u003cbr\u003ehigh out of their native element into the air, as if they wished to\u003cbr\u003ecatch the gulls, while the gulls, seemingly smitten with a similar\u003cbr\u003edesire, dived into the water as if they wished to catch the fish. It\u003cbr\u003emight have been observed, however, that while the fish never succeeded\u003cbr\u003ein catching the gulls, the latter very frequently caught the fish, and,\u003cbr\u003ewithout taking the trouble to kill them, bolted them down alive.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCocoanut-palms cast the shadows of their long stems and graceful tops\u003cbr\u003eupon the beach, while, farther inland, a dense forest of tropical\u003cbr\u003eplants--bread-fruit trees, bananas, etcetera--rose up the\u003cbr\u003emountain-sides. Here and there open patches might be seen, that looked\u003cbr\u003elike fields and lawns, but there were no cottages or villas. Droves of\u003cbr\u003epigs rambled about the valleys and on the hill-sides, but they were wild\u003cbr\u003epigs. No man tended them. The bread-fruits, the cocoanuts, the\u003cbr\u003ebananas, the plantains, the plums, all were beautiful and fit for food,\u003cbr\u003ebut no man owned them or used them, for, like many other spots in that\u003cbr\u003esea of coral isles and savage men, the island was uninhabited.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn all the wide expanse of ocean that surrounded that island, there was\u003cbr\u003enothing visible save one small, solitary speck on the far-off horizon.\u003cbr\u003eIt might have been mistaken for a seagull, but it was in reality a\u003cbr\u003eraft--a mass of spars and planks rudely bound together with ropes. A\u003cbr\u003eboat's mast rose from the centre of it, on which hung a rag of sail, and\u003cbr\u003ea small red flag drooped motionless from its summit. There were a few\u003cbr\u003ecasks on the highest part of the raft, but no living soul was visible.\u003cbr\u003eNevertheless, it was not without tenants. In a hollow between two of\u003cbr\u003ethe spars, under the shadow of one of the casks, lay the form of a man.\u003cbr\u003eThe canvas trousers, cotton shirt, blue jacket, and open necktie,\u003cbr\u003ebespoke him a sailor, but it seemed as though there were nothing left\u003cbr\u003esave the dead body of the unfortunate tar, so pale and thin and ghastly\u003cbr\u003ewere his features. A terrier dog lay beside him, so shrunken that it\u003cbr\u003elooked like a mere scrap of door-matting. Both man and dog were\u003cbr\u003eapparently dead, but they were not so in reality, for, after lying about\u003cbr\u003ean hour quite motionless, the man slowly opened his eyes.","brand":"Good Reading","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47069659267312,"sku":"2940014994705","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014994705_p0.jpg?v=1763618536","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014994705","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}