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CHAPTER EIGHT.

HOW LITTLE JACKET AND HIS FRIENDS LEFT THE GIANT’S ISLAND.

Very soon the sailors found a nice, large, dry cave in the rocks. There they brought dry sea-weed and made it into beds, and lived on the fish and fruits, which they had not much difficulty in obtaining. They even dragged their beautiful shells into the cave, and made little closets and cupboards of them. Their cups and plates were made of smaller bivalve shells. Their drink was clear spring-water, which they discovered near by, mixed with the juice of fruits.

They lived in this way for several weeks, always hoping some good luck would happen. At last, one day, they saw a ship a few miles from the shore. They all ran to the top of a rock, and shouted and waved their hats. Soon, to their indescribable joy, they saw a boat approaching the shore. They did not wait for it to reach the land, but being all good swimmers, with one accord plunged into the sea and swam to the boat. The sailors in the boat proved to be all Americans, and the ship was the Nancy Johnson, from Portsmouth, N. H., bound to the East Indies, but being out of water had made for land to obtain a supply.

The poor fellows were glad enough to get on board ship again. As they sailed off, they fancied they saw in the twilight, the huge forms of the great Mr. and Mrs. Huggermugger on the rocks, gazing after them with open eyes and mouths.

They pointed them out to the people of the ship, as Little Jacket related his wonderful adventures: but the sailors only laughed at them, and saw nothing but huge rocks and trees; and they whispered among themselves, that the poor fellows had lived too long on tough clams and sour berries, and cold water, and that a little jolly life on board ship would soon cure their disordered imaginations.

CHAPTER NINE.

MR. NABBUM.

Little Jacket and his friends were treated very kindly by the Captain and crew of the Nancy Johnson, and as a few more sailors were wanted on board, their services were gladly accepted. They all arrived safely at Java, where the ship took in a cargo of coffee. Little Jacket often related his adventures in the giant’s island, but the sailors, though many of them were inclined to believe in marvellous stories, evidently did not give much credit to Jacky’s strange tale, but thought he must have dreamed it all.

There was, however, one man who came frequently on board the ship while at Java, who seemed not altogether incredulous. He was a tall, powerful Yankee, who went by the name of Zebedee Nabbum.

He had been employed as an agent of Barnum, to sail to the Indies and other countries in search of elephants, rhinoceroses, lions, tigers, baboons, and any wild animals he might chance to ensnare. He had been fitted out with a large ship and crew, and all the men and implements necessary for this exciting and dangerous task, and had been successful in entrapping two young elephants, a giraffe, a lion, sixteen monkeys, and a great number of parrots. He was now at Java superintending the manufacture of a very powerful net of grass-ropes, an invention of his own, with which he hoped to catch a good many more wild animals, and return to America, and make his fortune by exhibiting them for Mr. Barnum.

Now Zebedee Nabbum listened with profound attention to Little Jacket’s story, and pondered and pondered over it.

“And after all,” he said to himself, “why shouldn’t it be true? Don’t we read in Scripter that there war giants once? Then why hadn’t there ought to be some on ’em left–in some of them remote islands whar nobody never was? Grimminy! If it should be true–if we should find Jacky’s island–if we should see the big critter alive, or his wife–if we could slip a noose under his legs and throw him down–or carry along the great net and trap him while he war down on the beach arter his clams, and manage to tie him and carry him off in my ship! He’d kick, I know. He’d a kind o’ roar and struggle, and maybe swamp the biggest raft we could make to fetch him. But couldn’t we starve him into submission? Or, if we gave him plenty of clams, couldn’t we keep him quiet? Or couldn’t we give the critter Rum? –I guess he don’t know nothin’ of ardent sperets–and obfusticate his wits–and get him reglar boozy–couldn’t we do any thing we chose to, then? An’t it worth tryin’, any how? If we could catch him, and get him to Ameriky alive, or only his skeleton, my fortune’s made, I cal’late. I kind o’ can’t think that young fellow’s been a gullin’ me. He talks as though he’d seen the awful big critters with his own eyes. So do the other six fellows–they couldn’t all of ’em have been dreamin’.”