Author: Basil Lubbock

Publisher: Theclassics.Us

Published: 2013-09

Total Pages: 74

ISBN-13: 9781230342504

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1910 edition. Excerpt: ... chapter vii the fight At the earliest signs of daybreak, when I had scarce been in bed an hour, we were roused out to heave up; and we gained the deck just in time to see the sun appear, like a gigantic red beacon, looming through the white mist. Almost immediately the air, which had been miasmatic and chilly, began to grow warmer, until at last the temperature became that of a hothouse. And, as the sun put forth his strength, the wreaths of vapour overhead gradually thinned away. Our first sight of the outer world was the tugboat's top hamper; then, here and there, a few of the highest palms ashore began to show. Slowly the view opened; the jungle seeming to rise out of the grey thickness abeam as if it had suddenly started to grow, like Jack's beanstalk. Meanwhile there was something closer at hand, something aboard, which drew everyone's attention and wonder. For, in the grey morning light, the Benares appeared as if transformed into a gigantic cobweb, which, with a fairylike beauty, sparkled with countless tiny globules of moisture. During the night millions of invisible spiders must have been at work, weaving their gossamer threads over everything, till the vessel showed like a phantom barque, covered from deck to truck with a silken netting. As the sun burst through the fog-bank these threads, with their clinging beads of water, underwent a wonderful transformation, for every ray and beam of light became reflected, until the whole fabric of the Benares glowed a warm pink, as if her rigging had been suddenly painted a brilliant rose-madder by a multitude of unseen spirits. Beautiful as the sight was, it did not please Zack Slaughter, for I heard him telling the bosun that both the fairy cobwebs and the vivid colouring of the sunrise...