[Nautilus by Laura E. Richards]@TWC D-Link book
Nautilus

CHAPTER I
2/5

Seizing a pole, he lay down on his stomach and carefully drew the log toward him, murmuring words of cheer the while.
"They are almost starved to death!" he said, pitifully.

"The captain is tied to the mast, and they have not had anything to eat but boots and a puppy for three weeks.

The mate and some of the sailors took all the boats and ran away,--at least, not ran, but went off and left the rest of 'em; and they have all said their prayers, for they are very good folks, and the captain didn't _want_ to kill the puppy one bit, but he had to, or else they would all be dead now.

And--and the reckoning was dead,--I wonder what that means, and why it is dead so often,--and so they couldn't tell where they were, but they knew that there were cannibals on _almost_ all the islands, and this was the hungriest time of the year for cannibals." Here followed a few breathless moments, during which the captain, his wife and child, and the faithful members of the crew, were pulled up to the wharf by the unaided arm of the boy John.

He wrapped them in hot blankets and gave them brandy and peanut taffy: the first because it was what they always did in books; the second because it was the best thing in the world, and would take away the nasty taste of the brandy.
Leaving them in safety, and in floods of grateful tears, the rescuer bent over the side of the wharf once more, intent on saving the gallant ship from her fate; but at this moment came a strong swirl of tide, the log swung round once more and floated off, and the rescuer fell "all along" into the water.


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