{"product_id":"2940016070452","title":"The Pirate Island","description":"THE PIRATE ISLAND\u003cbr\u003eA STORY OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBY HARRY COLLINGWOOD\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA STORY OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER ONE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE WRECK ON THE \"GUNFLEET.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was emphatically \"a dirty night.\"  The barometer had been slowly but\u003cbr\u003epersistently falling during the two previous days; the dawn had been red\u003cbr\u003eand threatening, with a strong breeze from S.E.; and as the short dreary\u003cbr\u003eNovember day waxed and waned this strong breeze had steadily increased\u003cbr\u003ein strength until by nightfall it had become a regular \"November gale,\"\u003cbr\u003ewith frequent squalls of arrowy rain and sleet, which, impelled by the\u003cbr\u003efurious gusts, smote and stung like hail, and cleared the streets almost\u003cbr\u003eas effectually as a volley of musketry would have done.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was not fit for a dog to be out of doors.  So said Ned Anger as he\u003cbr\u003eentered the snug bar-parlour of the \"Anchor\" at Brightlingsea, and\u003cbr\u003edrawing a chair close up to the blazing fire of wreck-wood which roared\u003cbr\u003eup the ample chimney, flung himself heavily down thereon to await the\u003cbr\u003earrival of the \"pint\" which he had ordered as he passed the bar.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"And yet there's a many poor souls as _has_ to be out in it, and as _is_\u003cbr\u003eout in it,\" returned the buxom hostess, entering at the moment with the\u003cbr\u003eaforesaid pint upon a small tray.  \"It's to be hoped as none of 'em\u003cbr\u003ewon't meet their deaths out there among the sands this fearful night,\"\u003cbr\u003eshe added, as Ned took the glass from her, and deposited his \"tuppence\"\u003cbr\u003ein the tray in payment therefor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA sympathetic murmur of concurrence went round the room in response to\u003cbr\u003ethis philanthropic wish, accompanied in some instances by doubtful\u003cbr\u003eshakes of the head.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Ay, ay, we all hope that,\" remarked Dick Bird--\"Dicky Bird\" was the\u003cbr\u003ename which had been playfully bestowed upon him by his chums, and by\u003cbr\u003ewhich he was generally known--\"we all hopes that; but I, for one, feels\u003cbr\u003euncommon duberous about it.  There's hardly a capful of wind as blows\u003cbr\u003ebut what some poor unfort'nate craft leaves her bones out there,\"--with\u003cbr\u003ea jerk of the thumb over his shoulder to seaward,--\"and mostly with\u003cbr\u003eevery wreck there's _some_ lives lost.  I say, mates, I s'pose there's\u003cbr\u003esomebody on the look-out?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Ay, ay,\" responded old Bill Maskell from his favourite corner under the\u003cbr\u003etall old-fashioned clock-case, \"Bob's gone across the creek and up to\u003cbr\u003ethe tower, as usual.  The boy _will_ go; always says as how it's his\u003cbr\u003e_duty_ to go up there and keep a look-out in bad weather; so, as his\u003cbr\u003eeyes is as sharp as needles, and since one is as good as a hundred for\u003cbr\u003ethat sort of work, I thought I'd just look in here for a hour or two,\u003cbr\u003eso's to be on the spot if in case any of us should be wanted.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I've often wondered how it is that it _always_ falls to Bob's lot to go\u003cbr\u003eupon the look-out in bad weather.  How is it?\" asked an individual in\u003cbr\u003esemi-nautical costume at the far end of the room, whose bearing and\u003cbr\u003emanner conveyed the impression that he regarded himself, as indeed he\u003cbr\u003ewas, somewhat of an intruder.  He was a ship-chandler's shopman, with an\u003cbr\u003eambition to be mistaken for a genuine \"salt,\" and had not been many\u003cbr\u003emonths in the place.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Well, you see, mister, the way of it is just this,\" explained old\u003cbr\u003eMaskell, who considered the question as addressed more especially to\u003cbr\u003ehim: \"Bob was took off a wrack on the Maplin when he was a mere babby,\u003cbr\u003ethe only one saved; found him wrapped up warm and snug in one of the\u003cbr\u003ebunks on the weather side of the cabin with the water surging up to\u003cbr\u003ewithin three inches of him; so ever since he's been old enough to\u003cbr\u003eunderstand he've always insisted as it was his duty, by way of returning\u003cbr\u003ethanks, like, to take the look-out when a wrack may be expected.  And,\u003cbr\u003edon't you make no mistake, there ain't an eye so sharp as his for a\u003cbr\u003esignal-rocket in the whole place, see's 'em almost afore they be fired--\u003cbr\u003ehe do.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"And did you ever try to find his relatives?\" asked the shopman.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Well, no; I can't say as we did, exactly,\" answered old Bill, \"'cause\u003cbr\u003eyou see we didn't rightly know how to set to work at the job.  The ship\u003cbr\u003eas he was took off of was a passenger-ship, the _Lightning_ of London,\u003cbr\u003eand, as I said afore, he was the only one saved.  There were nobody else\u003cbr\u003eas we could axe any questions of, and, the ship hailing from London,\u003cbr\u003ethere was no telling _where_ his friends might have come from.  There\u003cbr\u003ewas R.L. marked on his little clothes, and that was all.  So we was\u003cbr\u003eobliged to content ourselves with having that fact tacked on to the yarn\u003cbr\u003eof the wrack in all the papers, in the hope that some of his friends or\u003cbr\u003erelations might get to see it.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47101077946608,"sku":"2940016070452","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940016070452","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}