Page:Life and Adventures of William Buckley.djvu/127

This was the story they related, and great anxiety was expressed that I should lend a hand to decoy the people on shore, so as to get them into our power, with the vessel, boats, and cargo also. I did all possible to divert their attention, telling them that if they went to where the ship was, they would again be fired upon, and all killed. A few days after I saw the vessel still laying at anchor, and became almost nervously wild with desire to make myself known to those on board, so as at length to be released from captivity, and with that hope I went alone, taking with me merely my spears and other instruments for hunting and fishing. When I got to the beach abreast of the vessel, I made a large fire, thinking I should attract their attention, as several persons could be seen walking up and down the deck, occasionally looking attentively toward me, as I thought. All my efforts however were useless—the crew no doubt supposing, after the robbery on board by the natives, that the object was to entice them on shore for some murderous or mischievous purpose. I could not hail them, having lost all my English language. All that day and night I continued making signals—my heart ready to break with grief and anxiety, seeing all my efforts futile. About the middle of the next day, a boat put off from the side, coming in my direction; and, when distant only half a mile, my signals were repeated; but alas, when only three hundred yards off, the people in her, hoisted sail, steering away two or three miles farther up the beach, toward a small island, where they landed. Seeing this to be a chance opening up for me,