"Heave away!" yelled Jack. The rope's-end came snaking out over the water, and Jack, leaving his life-buoy, made a dive after it. "Who'll go first?" he asked quickly, on getting hold of the line. "Can't we-alls go in a bunch," inquired Broncho. "It would be a safer play that-away. I ain't hankerin' on playin' a lone hand agin them two tiger-lilies. Where's the rest of the band? The deal seems some queer to me." "We must go one at a time. Which is it, quick?" asked Jack shortly. "Pass me," returned Broncho distrustfully. "You take the first deal, Jack; you've been acquainted with them tattooed gents before, an' mebbe will make a better play of it, breakin' the ice, than either Jim or me." "Yes, go ahead, Jack--if you think it's all right," added the boy uneasily. "Well, here goes then," and watching his chance as the barque rolled, he shouted, "Haul away!" and at the same time kicked out lustily towards the ship. The sea swung him right up to the rail, and catching hold quickly, with the aid of the Kanaka he managed to scramble aboard, and a few seconds later Broncho and Jim were likewise hauled over the bulwark into safety. And as they lay on the deck rubbing their cramped and chilled limbs to restore the circulation, they gazed around anxiously; but except for the two Kanakas, who stood regarding them silently, the decks seemed to be deserted. CHAPTER II "THE _OCMULGEE_" "Where are the rest of the crew?" inquired Jack of the Kanaka who hove the rope, as he looked round the empty decks. "All gone dead!" responded the South Sea Islander laconically. "All dead?" burst out the former with a start. "All dead!" repeated the Polynesian mournfully. "De coral him splead, de palm him g'ow big, but man him die all-e-time!" The speaker was a magnificent specimen of manhood, standing six foot, with limbs of perfect proportions. He was dressed in the dungarees of the sailor, with leather sea-boots. The clothes hung loosely on his emaciated form, and he had the appearance of a strong man worn out by long hardship and privation. A gigantic harpoon in his right hand and the hideous tattooed gridiron on his face gave him a look of ferocity directly at variance with the expression in his big brown Polynesian eyes, which contained that wonderful liquid softness shown chiefly in the eyes of deer. The other Kanaka had resumed his squatting position on the deck in front of a little ebony image, which he gazed at with a fixed stare. The _Ocmulgee_ was a regularly old-timer, and her decks were ornamented with various trophies of the whale-hunt.