Читать книгу Pitcairn's Island. Sea Adventure Novel онлайн

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They toiled slowly on into the depths of the valley, making their way with difficulty through the dense forests and vine-entangled thickets. An hour had passed before they reached the ridge overlooking the western side of the island. The breeze was refreshingly cool at that height, and they seated themselves in a shady spot overlooking the wild green lands below. No sound was heard save their own laboured breathing and the gentle rustling of the wind through the trees that shaded them. Mills sat with his arms crossed on his knees, gazing morosely into the depths of the thickets beneath them.

“And this is what Christian’s brought us to!” he said. “There’s what we can see from here, and no more.”

“There’s room enough,” said McCoy.

“Room? Ye’re easy pleased,” Martin put in, gloomily. “A bloody rock, I call it!”

“Aye, Tahiti’s the place,” said Smith, scornfully. “Ye’d have us all go back there to be took by the first ship that comes out from England. Ye’re perishin’ to be choked off at a rope’s end, Isaac. None o’ that for me!”