At that instant, distant shouts came floating over the hills. They came from my sailing-master and his relief party.
I could not answer. But Bulger raised his head and sent forth a few sharp barks to tell them where we were.
In a short half hour they were at my side.
AS I APPEARED THE DAY AFTER MY RESCUE BY BULGER.
After my bruised face and hands had been bathed in cool water and I had swallowed a few mouthfuls of wine, I felt strong enough to get on my feet and move slowly forward.
Bulger walked proudly by my side, pausing ever and anon to look me in the face, meaning to ask:
“How goes it with thee, little master?” Once on shipboard, strengthened by good food and cheered by the comforts of my cabin, I was not long in getting my health back again. After a week’s rest, I gave orders to weigh anchor and turn our good ship’s head northward, for I was anxious, very anxious to see the elder baron and the gentle baroness, my mother, and tell them all about the wonderful things I had seen.
CHAPTER VI.
How the elder Baron and the Baroness received Bulger and me upon our return from our first voyage. I am decorated by the Emperor with the grand cross of the Crimson Cincture. The elder Baron presents me with a copy of an ancient Roman newspaper. I read of the murder of the beautiful Paula, and the banishment by Cæsar of the Seven Sculptors to a far-away island in the southern seas. I resolved to set out in search of the Island. My departure. Trouble with crew. My sailing-master loses his reason. I hear the cry, Land ho! It is the Sculptors’ Island. Description of it. I go ashore. Paula’s statue. Adventures on the Island. Bulger makes a wonderful discovery. Something about the strange people who inhabit the Island. Their habits, their pleasures, their characters. I am overtaken by an alarming melancholy. My awful dread at thought of becoming as one of the dwellers on the Sculptors’ Isle. I learn of the existence of Antonius. I seek him. Vain endeavor to grasp his hand. Our interview. The strange and moving history of the Seven Sculptors and their descendants. How they were transformed into the Slow Movers. Bulger and I propose to leave the Island. Extraordinary conduct of a bust of the great Cæsar. Our farewell to the Slow Movers. Their adieu. Our good ship sails away.