El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-09-30
Or. The Adventures of
An Eton Boy.
BY JAMES GRANT.

passes us now; and we must be out
of the track of the Gulf-weed," con-
tinued the mate, with confidence.
and may 1 never see the More
again if that amt land now, looming
right ahead through the fog-bank!"
exclaimed Tom, starting up and shad-
ing his eyes from the sun with both
hands, as he peered intently westward.
AS the reader may imagine, we all
gaZed anxiously enough in the direc-
ton indicated by the old seaman, and
a swell Of rapture rose in the breasts
of all when something in the form of
a headland or bluff could be distinctly
seen right ahead, bearing due west,
about seven miles distant, standing
out from the bank of vapor, or loom
ing like darker shadow within it.
This appearance never changed in
outline, but remained stationary, and
every moment became more defined
and confirmed.
Explanations of joy now broke from
us, and we congratulated each other
on making the land so soon and so
unexpectedly, without enduring the
miseries which so frequently fall to
the lot Of those who are cast away,
as we were, in an open boat, at sea.
But what land is it?'' was the gen.
eral inquiry.
Another allowance Of grog was serv-
ed round; the oars were again shipped,
we bent our backs and breasts sturdily
to the task, and at every stroke al
most lifted the boat clean out of the
shining water in our eagerness to reach
this suddenly discovered shore.
This had such an effect upon Marc
Hislop that, though weak and sinking
as he had been, he begged that he
might be allowed to steer the boat a
little way, while Tom Lambourne kept
a bright lookout ahead, to watch for
any ripple or surf that might indicate
the locality of treacherous coral reef,
as such might prove dangerous to a
large and heavily laden craft like ours.
With every stroke of the bending
oars the land seemed to rise higher and
more high.
Ere long we could make out its
form clearly. 1t was bold, rocky and
mountainous. and as the mist dispers-
ed or rose upward into mid air, we
could see the dark brown of the bluff,
and some trees of strange aspect, with
dropping foliage on its summit, were
clearly defined, as they stood between
We soon made out distinctly that it
was a large island. The shore was
somewhat level to the northeast. and
in the center lowered an almost per-
pendicular mountain of vast height,
the sides of which seemed covered with
furZe, gorse and brushwood.
Elsewhere its dusky and copper-co1-
ored rocks started sheer out of the
sea, whose waters formed a zone of
snow-white surf around their base.
We headed the boat to the north
east, where the shore seemed more ap-
and as We pulled along it,
but keeping fully three miles on, we
saw high crags, deep ravines, shady
woods and dells in the interior, though |
no appearance of houses, Of wigwams,
or of Inhabitants
Many speculations were now VEN
tured as to what island this might be. |
May it not be land that has never |
before been discovered?" 1 suggested, |
with glow of pleasure, in the anti Il |
patton of being among the first to |
tread an unexplored and hitherto IN
known shore. Hislop smiled and |
shook his head.
Henry Warren, who had been an old
South Sea whaler, suggested that it
was the island Grando, but Hislop as
sured US that this was impossible. In
the first place, by the position of the
sun, he could see that we were not so
far south as the parallel of Port San
Giorgio on the Brazilian shore, and in
the second, the existence OF such an
island was doubted.
Can it be Trinidad Island-Tristan
da Cunha, OF the Rocks of Martin
Vaz?" asked Tom Lambourne
eff the latter replied Hislop, 1--WE
should now be in south latitude 20 deg.
u min, but this land in no way an
;wers to the aspect of the Martin Vaz
Rocks"
did you ever see them, sir?" asked
several
mo; but they are described by La
9errouse as appearing like five dis
met head1ands." After pausing and
for moment, he suddenly
ldded, with confidence. 1T is the
sland of Alphonso de Albuquerque"
How do you know?' inquired.
''By the appearance of that cliff, and
he mountain inland
You have been here before?" asked ,
orobart ,
Never; but 1 know it to be Alphonso ,
" that cliff on the north, and the ,
mountain, too, which were particularly ,
described in Spanish book I lost in
he Eugene. The mountain is a peak ,
which the author says resembles-did {
ny of you ever see place like it be- {
ore?'
1T is as like Tenny Reef from the =
ort of Santa Cruz as one egg is like f
nother!" exclaimed Tom Lambourne. r
Exactly, Tom, that is what the c
panish author likens it to, though he t
oesn't use the simile So if it is T