Page:Dick Sands the Boy Captain.djvu/55

THE SURVIVORS OF THE " WALDECK." 4I For the next ten days the negroes had subsisted upon a few scraps of food that they found in the stern cabin ; but as the store room was entirely under water, they were quite unable to obtain a drop of anything to drink, and the fresh- water tanks that had been lashed to the deck had been Steve in at the time of the catastrophe. Tortured with thirst, the poor men had suffered agonies, and having on the previous nîght entirely lost consciousness, they must soon hâve died if the " Pilgrim's " timely arrivai had not effected their rescue. Ail the outlines of Tom's narrative were fully confirmed by the other negroes ; Captain HuU could see no reason to doubt it ; indeed, the facts seemed to speak for them- selves. One other survivor of the wreck, if he had been gifted- wîth the power of speech, would doubtless hâve corroboratcd the testimony. This was the dog who seemed to hâve such an unaccountable dislike to Negoro. Dingo, as the dog was named, belonged to the fine breed of mastiffs peculiar to New Holland. It was not, however, from Australia, but from the coast of West Afrîca, near the mouth of the Congo, that the animal had come. He had been picked up there, two years previously, by the captain of the " Waldeck," who had found him wandering about and more than half starved. The initiais S. V. engraved upon his collar were the only tokens that the dog had a past history of his own. After he had been taken on board the " Waldeck," he remained quite unsociable, apparently ever pining for some lost master, whom he had failed to find in the désert land where he had been met with. Larger than the dogs of the Pyrénées, Dingo was a mag- nificent example of his kind. Standing on his hind legs, with his head thrown back, he was as tall as a man. His agility and strength would hâve made him a sure match for a panther, and he would not hâve flinched at facing a bear. His fine shaggy coat was a dark tawny colour, shading oflf soniewhat lighter round the muzzle, and his long bushy tail was as strong as a lion's. If he were