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"I'm talking about the Gladiator," Scaggs muttered. "I lied about her."
"She sank in a typhoon," Carlisle said. "What was there to lie about?"
"She sank in a typhoon all right, but the passengers and crew didn't go down to the bottom with her."
Carlisle was silent for several moments, then he said carefully, "Charles Bully Scaggs, you're the most honest man I have ever known. In the half-century we've known each other you've never betrayed a trust. Are you sure it isn't the sickness that's making you say crazy things?"
"Trust me now when I say I've lived a lie for twenty years in repayment of a debt."
Carlisle stared at him curiously. "What is it you wish to tell me?"
"A story I've told no one." Scaggs leaned back on his pillow and stared beyond Carlisle, far into the distance at something only he could see. "The story of the raft of the Gladiator."
Jenny returned half an hour later with tea. It was dusk, and she lit the oil lamps in the bedroom.
"Father, you must try to eat something. I've made your favorite fish chowder."
"I've no appetite, Daughter."
"Abner must be starved, listening to you all afternoon. I'll wager he'll eat something."
"Give us another hour," ordered Scaggs. "Then make us eat what you will."
As soon as she was gone, Scaggs continued with the saga of the raft.
"When we finally got ashore there were eight of us left. Of the Gladiator's crew, only myself, Thomas Cochran, the ship's carpenter, and Alfred Reed, an able seaman, survived. Among the convicts there was Jess Dorsett, Betsy Fletcher, Marion Adams, George Pryor and John Winkleman. Eight out of the 231
souls who set sail from England."
"You'll have to excuse me, dear old friend," said Carlisle, "if I appear skeptical. Scores of men murdering each other on a raft in the middle of the ocean, the survivors subsisting on human flesh and then being saved from being devoured by a man-eating shark through the divine intervention of a sea serpent that kills the shark. An unbelievable tale to say the least."
"You are not listening to the ravings of a dying man," Scaggs assured him weakly. "The account is true, every word of it."
Carlisle did not want to unduly upset Scaggs. The wealthy old merchant patted the arm of the sea captain who in no small way had helped to build the shipping empire of Carlisle & Dunhill and reassured him. "Go on. I'm anxious to hear the ending. What happened after the eight of you set foot on the island?"
For the next half hour, Scaggs told of how they drank their fill in a stream with sweet and pleasant water that ran from one of the small volcanic mountains. He described the large turtles that were caught in the lagoon, thrown on their backs and butchered with Dorsett's knife, the only tool among them. Then using a hard stone found at the water's edge and the knife as flint, they built a fire and cooked the turtle meat. Five different kinds of fruit that Scaggs had never seen before were picked from trees in the forest.
The vegetation seemed oddly different from the plants he'd seen in Australia. He recounted how the survivors passed the next few days gorging themselves until they regained their strength.
"With our bodies on the mend, we set out to explore the island," Scaggs said, continuing his narration.
"It was shaped like a fishhook, five miles in length and a little less than one wide. Two massive volcanic peaks, each about twelve to fifteen hundred feet high, stood at the extreme ends. The lagoon measured about three quarters of a mile long and was sheltered by a thick reef to seaward. The rest of the island was buttressed by high cliffs."
"Did you find it deserted?" asked Carlisle.
"Not a living soul did we see, nor animal. Only birds. We saw signs that Aborigines had once inhabited the island, but it appeared they had been gone a long time."
"Any evidence of shipwrecks?"
"Not at that time."
"After the calamity on the raft, the island must have seemed like paradise," said Carlisle.
"She was the most beautiful island I've seen in my many years at sea," Scaggs agreed, referring to his place of refuge in the feminine. "A magnificent emerald on a sapphire sea, she was." He hesitated as if envisioning the jewel rising out of the Pacific. "We soon settled into an idyllic way of life. I designated those to be in charge of certain services and appointed times for fishing, the construction and repair of shelter, the harvesting of fruit and other edibles, and the maintenance of a constant fire for cooking as well as to signal any ship that might pass by. In this manner we lived together in peace for several months."
"I'm keen to guess," said Carlisle. "Trouble flared between the women."
Scaggs shook his head feebly. "More like among the men over the women."
