The Hilltop Boys on Lost Island by Cyril Burleigh

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Two days later in the middle of the afternoon, the day having been warm
with very little air stirring so that the boys were glad to seek the
shelter of the awnings spread across the decks, the breeze suddenly fell
away and the air became fairly stifling.

The captain looked anxious, and ordered the awnings taken down, and told
the boys that they had better go below.

Dr. Wise and the professors got the boys below, and none too soon, for all
of a sudden a funnel-shaped cloud appeared on the horizon, spread with
startling rapidity until it covered the entire heavens, and then from it
shot out a fierce flash of lightning, while the wind which had died out
now blew from an unexpected quarter with the greatest fury.

Being under their own steam they, of course, had no use for sails, which
would have been blown away.

For all that the waves dashed them ahead with great rapidity and the
propellers were now high out of water and now buried deep in the sea, the
yacht being almost unmanageable.

The wind was behind them, and there was no chance of going about in such a
blow and with such great waves dashing against them, so in pitch darkness
they sped on, no one knew where.

The electric lights in the cabin and the saloons were turned on so that
the boys were not in darkness, and some of the officers moved about among
them telling them that this was simply a squall, and would soon blow
itself out, and that there was nothing to be feared.

The howling of the gale, the creaking and straining of the shrouds, the
thumping and pounding and groaning of the machinery, and the tramping of
men overhead made a combination of sounds that might well terrify anyone,
and the older boys tried to reassure the younger ones that it would be
over in a short time, and that they would soon be sailing on smooth seas
again, and be laughing at their former terrors, but it took a great deal
of faith to make all this believed, and some of those who urged it had
very little confidence in its truth.

Herring, Merritt, and others of the same class were really terrified, and
took on dreadfully, predicting all sorts of dreadful things, and declared
that they were fools to have taken this voyage, and that they would never
undertake another.

Jack Sheldon, Dick Percival, Harry Dickson, and even mercurial Billy
Manners were quite different, however, and young Jesse W. Smith acted like
a man, and although he was frightened, as any one might be, and no shame
to him, did not give way to his fright, but said very wisely that he
guessed the storm had been gotten up for their especial benefit so that
they might know what sort of things they could do in these latitudes.

How long they were rushing before wind and sea they did not know, for it
seemed ages, where they were going they could not guess either as they had
come from an unexpected quarter, and so suddenly that they had not noticed
its direction, and were not where they could look at the compass.

All was bright and cheerful in the cabins, but through the portholes they
could see that all was dark outside with an occasional vivid flash of
lightning, these coming less and less frequent at length till they ceased,
and then the skies began to brighten.

Suddenly, however, before it was yet bright enough outside to make out any
objects, there was a sudden rush forward as if they had been struck by a
great wave, then a sudden upheaving as if they were mounting to the sky,
then another long rush forward, and then a shock as if they had struck
something, and for a few moments the lights went out.

When they flared up again the vessel seemed to be at anchor, and the boys
said to each other:

"What is the matter, have we struck on a rock, are we sinking, what is the
matter anyhow?"

There was no confusion on deck, as there would have been if what the boys
feared had really happened, and presently one of the officers came below
and said reassuringly:

"Well, we are all right as far as I can see, but where we are is another
story. In some landlocked bay, apparently, but where it is or how we
reached it I can't tell."

"We were struck by a cyclone, weren't we, Officer?" asked young Smith,
with a wise air.

"That's just what it was, and when those things strike you they strike
hard. Lucky for us that we happened to be going ahead of it, for if we had
been head on to it we might not have survived."

"But there is no danger, we have not struck a rock or anything, we have no
holes in our hull?"

"None that we can see. We are beached somewhere, and we may slide into
deeper water, but as far as we can tell now we are safe enough. Where we
are, however, will have to be determined when the sun comes out."

The boys were reassured by this news, and after a time some of them went
out on deck, the yacht being now almost motionless, the waves just lapping
their sides, and running lazily up a beach, which they could now just make
out at a little distance.

It grew lighter and lighter quite rapidly, and at length the sun appeared,
and they found themselves in a landlocked bay with a white beach in front
of them, beyond that a thick grove of palms of various kinds, green hills
on all sides and in the distance, straight ahead, a hill of considerable
size crowned with a thick growth of trees.

As the sun grew brighter the scene increased in attractiveness, and the
greater part of the boys were charmed by it, making many exclamations of
delight, as they turned from one object to another.

"It's a fine place wherever it is," said Jack. "I suppose they will locate
it to-morrow, and perhaps some one will come out to the yacht, and tell us
where we are."

"I don't see any sign of dwellings," murmured Percival. "Perhaps there are
no people on it. Not all of these little islands are inhabited, and I
suppose it is an island?"

"Probably, for I do not think we are near the South American coast. Some
one will know after a bit, doubtless. At any rate, we are safe and that is
a good deal."

One of the officers came along where the two boys were standing, and Jack
asked him if he knew where they were.

"No, I don't," was the answer. "We have not been able to get an
observation yet, and we started off at such a gait that it was impossible
to tell where we were going or at what rate. We will probably locate
ourselves in the morning, but there is no danger so you can make your
minds easy on that point, young gentlemen."

"There is a good deal in that, sir," said both boys.

CHAPTER IV

CAUGHT ON LOST ISLAND

The sun set gloriously, and after a short twilight common to those
latitudes the full moon arose over the hills, and all the stars came out
little by little till the heavens were full of them.

The moon dimmed their brightness somewhat, but they were still very
brilliant, and the night was a glorious one, the air warm and balmy, the
breeze just enough to temper the heat of the air, and all around them sea
and shore bathed in moonlight.

After dinner, which was served in the saloon as usual, the boys went out
on deck for the most part, and enjoyed the beautiful evening, being
dispersed in little groups here and there, some seated and some walking
the decks.

"We are safe enough, anyhow," observed Jack to Percival and a few of the
boys who were seated on deck with him, "and I suppose we will not leave
here till the morning at any rate."

"We are sheltered in this bay, and even if there should be a storm outside
we will not feel it," returned Percival. "I hardly think there is one, and
it seems strange that we should have caught that cyclone at this time of
the year. Isn't it unusual?"

"You can't call anything unusual in the tropics," laughed Jack. "I believe
you are liable to catch anything at any time here from yellow fever to a
tornado. They seem to have them always on hand."

"Well, we are safe now, at any rate, and I am glad for that much. We will
make the best of this fine night, and take other things as they come."

It was late when the last of the boys went to bed, for they all wanted to
make the most of the fine night, but they were all up early the next
morning, anxious to learn where they were, and if they would stay at the
island or put to sea again.

Jack was the first of the boys on deck, and when he reached there he saw
Dr. Wise talking to the captain and the first officer, there being a
grizzled old seaman conversing with Bucephalus at a short distance.

The doctor and the officers seemed to be carrying on a very earnest
conversation, and Jack heard a little of it as he came forward, and then
suddenly stopped, fearing that he might be intruding.

"We are on the bottom, sir, and I don't know how long we may be there,"
said Captain Storms. "The next high tide may raise us, and it may not. It
is my opinion that we have been on the bottom ever since we came into the
bay, and how we are going to lighten her I don't know."

"But there are no holes, we have opened no seams, we have not taken in any
water?" asked the doctor, looking fixedly at the captain through his big
black-rimmed spectacles.

"No, there are no open seams and no water. The bottom is sandy, too, I
think, and not the sharp coral rock you find in these parts that will cut
a hole in anything that touches it. No, it is simply a case of too little
water to float us, but that, as I may say, may be remedied. Time will
tell."

"Then you do not think there is any cause for alarm, sir?"

"Not any great amount, no, sir. The moon is not quite full, although it
looked so last night, and when it fills we may get higher water. We can
tell to-night. Meanwhile, there are the boats, and your young gentlemen
may go on shore and explore the island. I don't think there are any people
on it, as it seems very small. Many of the islands hereabouts have no one
on them."

"You don't know which one it is as yet?"

"No, I don't."

The doctor walked forward, and looked over the rail, and Jack went up to
Bucephalus, and the old sailor and said:

"You don't know where we are, either of you, I suppose?"

"Ah haven't de remotest ideah, sah," replied the negro, "an' far as Ah can
make o't dis gentleman am in de same predicament. He says we am in de
tropics at a island ob not werry big size an' importance, but Ah was aware
of dese fac's mahself befo' Ah interrogated him, sah, so dat Ah am no
furder dan Ah was befo', sah."

"This here is an island in the Spanish Main, the place where the old
pirates and buccaneers used to roam," said the old sailor whose name Jack
learned later was Ben Bowline, "and that's all I know about it. You didn't
come lookin' fur Cap'n Kidd's treasure, did you?"

"No, we did not, and I don't believe we would find it if we had. Men are
foolish that go looking for such things. I don't believe that Captain Kidd
buried the hundredth part of the gold that he is reputed to have buried. I
have other things to do besides looking for buried gold."

"You're about right," said Ben, "but there's plenty who do look for it,
and spend their lives at it and don't get nothing. This here is one of
them islands, and I thought mebby you boys had come a-lookin' for
something like that. Boys haven't anymore sense."

"Thank you, but you'll find that the Hilltop boys have a good deal more
sense than that."

After breakfast two of the yacht's boats were lowered, and some of the
boys went ashore to explore the island and amuse themselves in various
ways while the captain sent a party to find the outlet of the bay, and see
what their chances for leaving the island might be.

Jack, Percival, Harry, Arthur and young Smith went on one boat, and were
the first to land, walking up the beach and into the woods as the other
boat came ashore.

Picking a path as they went on Jack and his companions pushed into the
deep everglade, the lush undergrowth sometimes quite impeding their
progress, and making their advance very slow.

"If we were going to be here any time," said Percival, "we should have to
make a path so that we could get about with greater rapidity. If we had
thought to bring an axe it would have been better."

After a time their progress was more rapid, as the undergrowth was less
rank, and they went on with more comfort.

Many varieties of cactus, prickly pears, plums and plants with the most
gorgeous flowers lined their path, and gave constant delight to young
Smith and some of the others, but Jack and Percival were more intent on
seeing where they would come out than in looking at plants and flowers,
and they gave the latter little attention.

"There is certainly no one on the island," said Jack at length when they
came out upon an upland glade more open to the sky than the parts already
traversed, "or we should have seen them by this time. I think we have been
going in the same general direction, Dick, so suppose we push on in the
same line, and see where we come out."

"All right, but there are hills, which we may have to climb if we keep
straight on. There they are ahead of us."

"Yes, I see them, but they do not seem to be very high nor far away. If
they want us back at the yacht they will probably blow the bugle."

They pushed on across the open space, and then through a wood where it was
not so easy to advance and at length, without noticing it, began to
descend, the way being good at times and at others very difficult so that
they were frequently obliged to halt and get breath.

"I shouldn't wonder if we were the pioneers of this island," said Harry,
"for no one seems to have been through here before. How do you stand it,
young Smith, all right?"

"Well, it is not so easy as walking along Broadway in New York," rejoined
Jesse W., "but I can manage it, I guess."

"It strikes me that we are going down instead of up," observed Arthur,
"and we thought we would have to climb the hills we saw."

"You often have to go up and down two or three times in climbing a
mountain," said Jack. "It looks all up from a distance, but there are
often intervening valleys, which have to be crossed, and then you go up
again."

"This must be a pretty deep one, then," said Harry, "for we are going down
at a pretty steep incline now."

They pushed on, passing through many great masses of rock, and still going
down at a decided angle until at length they came out upon a bare, rocky
shore with huge masses of rock to the right and left, and beyond a line of
reefs over which the surf was dashing, all being white both beyond and
inside the reefs.

"We are on the other side of the island!" exclaimed Jack, "and we have not
climbed our hills at all or else they were so slight that we did not
notice them."

"I would not like to be in a vessel driven on this side of the island,"
said Percival. "See how the surf dashes over those reefs. You would go to
pieces in a short time."

"That may be the reason why there are no people on it," said Jack. "It is
not very big, I take it, and is probably difficult of access. We seem to
have come to it without knowing it, and if we had I don't believe we would
have gone near it."

They stood watching the surf, and taking in various parts of the shore,
seeing a great mass of rocks higher than those at hand, to the east of the
larger mass close in to land, and at length Jack suggested that they
return to the other side.

"We ought to be able to follow the path we made coming across," he said,
"and in any event, we know the general direction, and if we do go astray a
bit it won't matter."

They set out upon their return, and came out not far from where they had
started, finding Billy Manners and three or four of the boys on shore
waiting for them.

"We thought you might be along soon," said Billy. "Would you believe it,
they don't know what this island is after all, don't know the name of it,
I mean."

"How is that?" asked Harry. "Isn't it charted?"

"Yes, it is charted all right, but there is no name given to it. The
captain says it is a sort of lost island, and they never thought enough of
it to give it a name or if it had one they didn't think it was good enough
to put on the chart."

"Lost Island is a good enough name for us," observed Jack. "Suppose we
call it that while we are here. That will not be long, I suppose."

"H'm! I don't know about that," Billy returned. "They have the yacht
afloat all right. They started the engines, and backed her off a sand bank
or whatever it was we were on, and are now in fairly deep water, but as to
leaving the island that is another matter."

"How is it?" asked all the boys in a breath.

"Because there is a line of reefs stretching right across the mouth of the
bay, and there seems to be no way of getting beyond them. There seem to be
openings here and there, but they are so narrow that the captain does not
think it wise to try to go through them."

"Then we are lost on Lost Island, and are lost ourselves," said Jack.

CHAPTER V

EXPLORING THE ISLAND

The boys returned to the yacht in time for dinner, and here their
situation was talked over by the doctor and the captain, the former
assuring the boys that there was no great danger, for the yacht was
equipped with a wireless service, and the captain could easily make his
predicament known, and vessels would doubtless be sent to his relief.

"We may pursue our studies as usual," the doctor continued, whereupon
there were wry looks upon the faces of many of the boys, "and as soon as
we get away from here we will pursue our voyage. It is simply an incident,
not an accident in our plans as arranged."

After dinner Jack got one of the yacht's boats, and took Dick and young
Smith with him to the mouth of the bay to get a view of the reefs.

For some little distance they could not see the opening of the bay on
account of its windings, the hills preventing them from getting a view of
the sea, but at length in rounding a wooded point they came in sight of
it.

There were reefs in front of them, at some little distance, and points of
rocks on both sides, the outer bay being of considerable size, but
generally exposed to the weather, which they were not in the inner bay.

They pushed on for some little distance, but not too near the reefs, where
they would be exposed to the force of the surf that dashed over the latter
and Jack presently pointed out a strange looking object on his right and
at some little distance.

"I should say that that was a flagstaff sticking out of the rocks," he
said, "if it were not the most unlikely thing in the world that there
should be one there. If any one wanted to plant a flag-pole they would go
up higher on the rocks, I should think."

"See if you can get a little nearer to it, Jack," said Dick. "It looks too
big for a flagstaff, but it might be the stump of a mast."

"Which is much more likely," replied Jack. "A vessel might have gone
ashore there, and show the stump of a mast above water. It is a wonder to
me that we were not in the same predicament."

"The only way that I account for it is that we were hit by a tidal wave or
the end of one, and carried right over the reefs without scratching, and
then the force of the water carried us to the inner bay where it left us
stranded for a time."

"That sounds reasonable, and in the absence of any other explanation may
as well be received as the right one. I think you are correct about its
being the stump of a mast, Dick."

Jack rowed as close to the point of rocks as he dared, not caring to be
dashed upon them, the landing being bad, and the boys got a better view of
the object that Jack had noticed.

It was out in the water, and projected about five feet, and, being broken
off apparently about half way to the crosstrees, should be at least that
distance under water.

"I should say there was five or six feet of water there," said Jack, "and
you can see from the marks on it that this broken end is still below high
water mark. I don't see any sign of a bowsprit but maybe that was broken
off when she struck."

"And we can't tell whether this is the fore, main or mizzen," observed
Dick; "or whether she had more than two masts. There must be some of her
hull left, but it is all under water and maybe deeper than you think."

"Yes," said Jack musingly, "and I am very glad that we are above it and
safe, even if we are on a lost island. The tide is coming in steadily now,
and there will be more surf, so I think it just as well not to be too near
the reefs."

"We might get ashore at some other point farther back, and examine this
part of the coast," suggested Percival.

"That woody point which we rounded and so came in sight of the outer bay
might be a good place," added young Smith, who seemed a boy of ideas,
although he was a little fellow and younger than the others. "We could go
ashore there, I think, Jack."

"Yes, so we might," said Jack, as he began to row back. "There is time
now, I think. We have not got to go right back."

He pulled on till he reached the point of woods and then looked for a good
place to land, finally finding one where there was a narrow white beach
and a bank which sloped gradually up to a distance of twenty feet to a
ledge whence there was another rise of about twenty feet to another grassy
bank.

"This seems to be a good place," he said, as he pulled in to the little
beach. "Here is an old stump to which we can tie the boat so that it may
not drift away from us when the tide comes in if it reaches this point."

Making the boat fast with plenty of slack to the rope in case the tide
should rise high, he got out and then he and Percival ascended the first
slope, helping Jesse W. between them.

There was room enough for all of them on the bank, but it did not appear
to extend very far, and after taking a rest of a few minutes they set out
to ascend to the next landing place where they again rested.

Here there was more room than before, but it was farther to the next
stopping place, and there was still more room when that would be reached.

From this point they could see much of the inner bay, and make out the
yacht at anchor, but could not see much beyond that, and Jack suggested
that they go to a still higher point, and get another observation.

There were trees, big and little, and rough rocks here and there, which
would aid them in making the ascent, and they kept on till they reached
another good stopping place of greater extent whence they could see much
more than before.

Jack and Dick helped young Jesse W. up the bank, as, otherwise, it would
have been hard for the little fellow, who was under the average size for
boys of his age, and he felt quite proud of being with the older boys, and
said as he looked around on the water and the island and the yacht lying
at anchor:

"When I tell the other fellows that I came up here they won't believe me.
I tell you, it is something to have two such big fellows to look after a
little shrimp like me."

"Never mind, J.W., you will grow if you will only wait," laughed Jack. "We
were all little fellows once."

"What sort of place is this, anyhow?" asked the smaller boy, looking about
him. "There are woods and rocks, and down there I can see that stump of a
mast. I wonder if we could see more of her by----"

He was walking on, looking at the mast sticking out of water more than at
the ground at his feet when suddenly Jack noticed that he was right on the
edge of a hole just discernible in the tall grass.

He darted forward, and caught the boy's arm just as he was about to step
into this hole without seeing it, and pulled him back.

"Look out, Jesse W., or you'll go in!" he cried. "You don't know how deep
that place is nor where it will land you."

"H'm! I never noticed it. It does seem deep, doesn't it? I wonder how far
down it goes, and what's at the end? Water, do you suppose?"

"I don't know, I'm sure," said Jack, "but you might have had a bad fall,
my boy. You don't want to go star-gazing like that in strange places. You
never know what may be in the way. Always look where you are going."

"Yes, that's good advice, but I wonder if there is anything down there
anyhow? Do you suppose we could get down?"

"Possibly," returned Jack thoughtfully, "but I imagine it is a pretty good
job to get down there and a bigger one to get back, and nothing down there
anyhow."

"You can't tell without going down," said the younger boy wisely, as he
knelt on the edge of the hole, and looked down. "Have you got a pocket
light with you? We might tell something with that."

Jack parted the tall grass, and just then the sun shone out brightly, as
the breeze blew aside the branches, and a broad track of sunlight was let
into the hole.

"It does not go straight down," said Dick, who was now at Jack's side. "In
fact, I don't think it is as steep as the path we came up. We might go
down and investigate."

"Yes, but what would there be there when we got down?" asked the other
half impatiently. "We ran the risk of breaking a leg or an arm just for
the sake of exploring a hole in the ground, and get nothing out of it. If
there was anything there, now----"

"Yon don't know till you look, as Jesse W. just remarked, and there might
be something there after all. Some of Captain Kidd's treasure, for
instance."

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