Page:The Wreck of a World - Grove - 1890.djvu/82

66 The tale we had to tell was of so extraordinary a character that I cannot be surprised that Lieut. Danvers, his officers, and men entirely declined to listen to us. That the Continent they had left so short a time before teeming with humanity should have been completely depopulated, and that by a horde of steam-engines, seemed to them so ridiculous a story that they were uncertain whether to tar and feather us for rogues and liars, or to clap us into irons for lunatics. At last becoming nettled at their incredulity I said, "Well, Lieutenant, come and see for yourself." After a short conference with the others he entered a boat accompanied by three or four of his crew, each of them with a revolver stuck ostentatiously into his belt, for the truth was they suspected some trick, and that we were going to take them into an ambuscade of smugglers or pirates.

We rowed towards the creek where our vessels lay. I noticed Lieut. Danvers fingering his revolver as we approached the suspicious looking spot, but when on a sudden he caught sight of our vessels between the trees that masked them, he drew it and presenting it at my head vowed he would shoot me if we rowed a