Chapter Forty.

Chapter Forty.A few mornings afterwards, Juno came in before breakfast with six eggs in her apron, which she had found in the hen-house.“Look, Missy Seagrave—fowls lay eggs—soon have plenty—plenty for Master William—make him well again—and plenty for chickens by and by.”“You haven’t taken them all out of the nests, Juno; have you?”“No; leave one in each nest for hen to see.”“Well, then, we will keep them for William, and I hope, as you say, they will make him strong again.”“I am getting quite strong now, mother,” replied William; “I think it would be better to leave the eggs for the hens to sit upon.”“No, no, William; your health is of more consequence than having early chickens.”For a few days Mr Seagrave and Ready were employed at the garden clearing away the weeds, which had begun to sprout up along with the seeds which had been sown; during which time William recovered very fast. The two first days, Juno brought in three or four eggs regularly; but on the third day there were none to be found. On the fourth day the hens appeared also not to have laid, much to the surprise of Mrs Seagrave; as when hens commence laying eggs they usually continue. On the fifth morning, when they sat down to breakfast, Master Tommy did not make his appearance, and Mrs Seagrave asked where he was.“I suspect, madam,” said Old Ready, laughing, “that Tommy will not come either to his breakfast or his dinner to-day.”“What can you mean, Ready?” said Mrs Seagrave.“Why, madam, I will tell you. I thought it very odd that there were no eggs, and I thought it probable that the hens might have laid astray; so I went about yesterday evening to search. I could not find any eggs, but I found the egg-shells, hid under some cocoa-nut leaves; and I argued, that if an animal, supposing there was any on the island, had taken the eggs, it would not have been so careful to hide the egg-shells. So, this morning, I fastened up the door of the hen-house, and only left open the little sliding door, by which the fowls go in to roost; and then, after you were up, I watched behind the trees, and saw Tommy come out, and go to the hen-house. He tried the door, and finding it fast, crept into the hen-house by the little sliding-door. As soon as he was in I let down the slide, and fastened it with a nail; so there he is, caught in his own trap.”“And there shall he remain all day, the little glutton!” said Mr Seagrave.“Yes, it will serve him right,” replied Mrs Seagrave; “and be a lesson to him.”Mr Seagrave, Ready, and William, as usual, went down to their work; Mrs Seagrave and Juno, with little Caroline, were busy indoors. Tommy remained very quiet for an hour, when he commenced roaring; but it was of no use, no one paid any attention to him. At dinner-time he began to roar again, but with as little success: it was not till the evening that the door of the hen-house was opened, and Tommy permitted to come out. He looked very foolish; and sat down in a corner without speaking.“Well, Tommy, how many eggs did you suck to-day?” said Ready.“Tommy won’t suck eggs any more,” said the urchin.“No, you had better not,” replied Mr Seagrave, “or you will find, in the end, that you will have less to eat, instead of more, as you have this day.”Tommy waited very quietly and very sulkily till supper was ready, when he made up for lost time. After which Ready continued his narrative.“I told you, William, that I was informed by the gentleman on the coach that my mother had died of a broken heart, in consequence of my supposed death. I was in agony until I arrived at Newcastle, where I could ascertain all the facts connected with her decease. When the coach stopped, the gentleman, who had remained outside, came to the coach door, and said to me, ‘If I mistake not, you are Masterman Ready, who ran away to sea; are you not?’ ‘Yes, sir,’ replied I, very sorrowfully, ‘I am.’ ‘Well, my man,’ said he, ‘cheer up; when you went away you were young and thoughtless, and certainly had no idea that you would have distressed your mother as you did. It was not your going to sea, but the report of your death, which preyed so much upon her mind; and that was not your fault. You must come with me, as I have something to say to you.’“‘I will call upon you to-morrow, sir,’ replied I; ‘I cannot do anything until I talk to the neighbours and visit my poor mother’s grave. It is very true that I did not intend to distress my mother; and that the report of my death was no fault of mine. But I cannot help feeling that, if I had not been so thoughtless, she would be still alive and happy.’ The gentleman gave me his address, and I promised to call upon him next morning. I then went to the house my mother used to live in. I knew that she was not there; yet I was disappointed and annoyed when I heard merry laughter within. I looked in, for the door was open; in the corner where my mother used to sit, there was a mangle, and two women busily at work; others were ironing at a large table; and when they cried out to me, ‘What do you want?’ and laughed at me, I turned away in disgust, and went to a neighbouring cottage, the inmates of which had been very intimate with my mother. I found the wife at home, but she did not know me; and I told her who I was. She had attended my mother during her illness, till the day of her death; and she told me all I wished to know. It was some little relief to my mind to hear that my poor mother could not have lived, as she had an incurable cancer; but at the same time the woman told me that I was ever in her thoughts, and that my name was the last word on her lips. She also said that Mr Masterman had been very kind to my mother, and that she had wanted nothing. I then asked her to show me where my mother had been buried. She put on her bonnet, and led me to the grave, and then, at my request, she left me. I seated myself down by the mound of turf which covered her, and long and bitterly did I weep her loss and pray for forgiveness.“It was quite dark when I left the spot and went back to the cottage of the kind woman who had attended my mother. I conversed with her and her husband till late, and then, as they offered me a bed, I remained with them that night. Next morning I went to keep my appointment with the gentleman whom I had met in the coach: I found by the brass plate on the door that he was a lawyer. He desired me to sit down, and then he closed the door carefully, and having asked me many questions, to ascertain if I was really Masterman Ready, he said he was the person employed at Mr Masterman’s death, and that he had found a paper which was of great consequence, as it proved that the insurance of the vessel which had belonged to my father and Mr Masterman, and which had been lost, had not been made on Mr Masterman’s share only, but upon my father’s as well, and that Mr Masterman had defrauded my mother. He said he had found the paper in a secret drawer some time after Mr Masterman’s death, and that my mother being dead, and I being supposed to be dead, he did not see any use in making known so disagreeable a circumstance; but that, now I had re-appeared, it was his duty so to do, and that he would arrange the matter for me, if I pleased, with the corporation of the town, to whom all Mr Masterman’s property had been left in trust to build an hospital and almshouses. He said that the insurance on the vessel was three thousand pounds, and that one-third of the vessel belonged to my father, so that a thousand pounds were due to him, which the interest for so many years would increase to above two thousand pounds. This was good news for me, and you may suppose I readily agreed to all he proposed. He set to work at once, and having called together the mayor and corporation of the town, and proved the document, they immediately agreed that I was entitled to the money, and that it should be paid to me without any contest. Thus you see, Master William, was a new temptation thrown in my way.”“How do you mean a temptation? It surely was very fortunate, Ready,” said William.“Yes, William, it was, as people say, fortunate, according to the ideas of the world; every one congratulated me, and I was myself so inflated with my good fortune, that I forgot all the promises of amendment, all the vows of leading a good life, which I made over my poor mother’s grave. Now do you perceive why I called it a temptation, Master William?”“My dear child,” said Mr Seagrave, “riches and prosperity in this world prove often the greatest of temptations; it is adversity that chastens and amends us, and which draws us to God.”“As soon as the money was in my own hands,” continued Ready, “I began to squander it away in all manner of folly. Fortunately, I had not received it more than ten days, when the Scotch second mate came like a guardian angel to save me. As soon as I had made known to him what had taken place, he reasoned with me, pointed out to me that I had an opportunity of establishing myself for life, and proposed that I should purchase a part of a vessel, on condition that I was captain of her. I liked this idea very much, and being convinced that I had been making a fool of myself, I resolved to take his advice; but one thing only restrained me: I was still very young, not more than twenty years old; and although I could navigate at one time, I had latterly paid no attention. I told Sanders this, and he replied, that if I would take him as my first mate, that difficulty would be got over, as he could navigate well, and that I could learn to do so in the first voyage; so all was arranged.“Fortunately, I had not spent above one hundred pounds of the money. I set off for Glasgow in company with Sanders, and he busied himself very hard in looking about for a vessel that would suit. At last, he found that there was one ready for launching, which, in consequence of the failure of the house for which it was built, was to be sold. He made inquiries, and having found who was likely to purchase her—that it was a very safe and respectable firm—he made a proposal for me that I should take one-fourth share of her, and command her. As Sanders was very respectable, and well known to be a steady man, his recommendation was attended to so far that the parties wished to see and speak to me. They were satisfied with me, young as I was, and the bargain was made. I paid down my two thousand pounds for my share, and as soon as the vessel was launched, was very busy with Sanders, whom I had chosen as first mate, in fitting her out. The house which had purchased her with me was a West India firm, and the ship was of course intended for the West India trade. I had two or three hundred pounds left, after I had paid my share of the vessel, and this I employed in purchasing a venture on my own account, and providing nautical instruments, etcetera. I also fitted myself out, for you see, William, although Sanders had persuaded me to be rational, I was still puffed up with pride at the idea of being captain of my own ship; it was too great a rise for one who had just before been a lad in the mizen-top of a man-of-war. I dressed myself very smart—wore white shirts, and rings on my fingers. Indeed, as captain and part owner of a fine vessel, I was considered as somebody, and was often invited to the table of the other owners of the vessel. I was well off, for my pay was ten pounds a month, independent of what my own venture might produce, and my quarter-share of the profits of the vessel. This may be considered as the most prosperous portion of my life; and so, if you please, we will leave off here for to-night, for I may as well tell you at once that it did not last very long.”

A few mornings afterwards, Juno came in before breakfast with six eggs in her apron, which she had found in the hen-house.

“Look, Missy Seagrave—fowls lay eggs—soon have plenty—plenty for Master William—make him well again—and plenty for chickens by and by.”

“You haven’t taken them all out of the nests, Juno; have you?”

“No; leave one in each nest for hen to see.”

“Well, then, we will keep them for William, and I hope, as you say, they will make him strong again.”

“I am getting quite strong now, mother,” replied William; “I think it would be better to leave the eggs for the hens to sit upon.”

“No, no, William; your health is of more consequence than having early chickens.”

For a few days Mr Seagrave and Ready were employed at the garden clearing away the weeds, which had begun to sprout up along with the seeds which had been sown; during which time William recovered very fast. The two first days, Juno brought in three or four eggs regularly; but on the third day there were none to be found. On the fourth day the hens appeared also not to have laid, much to the surprise of Mrs Seagrave; as when hens commence laying eggs they usually continue. On the fifth morning, when they sat down to breakfast, Master Tommy did not make his appearance, and Mrs Seagrave asked where he was.

“I suspect, madam,” said Old Ready, laughing, “that Tommy will not come either to his breakfast or his dinner to-day.”

“What can you mean, Ready?” said Mrs Seagrave.

“Why, madam, I will tell you. I thought it very odd that there were no eggs, and I thought it probable that the hens might have laid astray; so I went about yesterday evening to search. I could not find any eggs, but I found the egg-shells, hid under some cocoa-nut leaves; and I argued, that if an animal, supposing there was any on the island, had taken the eggs, it would not have been so careful to hide the egg-shells. So, this morning, I fastened up the door of the hen-house, and only left open the little sliding door, by which the fowls go in to roost; and then, after you were up, I watched behind the trees, and saw Tommy come out, and go to the hen-house. He tried the door, and finding it fast, crept into the hen-house by the little sliding-door. As soon as he was in I let down the slide, and fastened it with a nail; so there he is, caught in his own trap.”

“And there shall he remain all day, the little glutton!” said Mr Seagrave.

“Yes, it will serve him right,” replied Mrs Seagrave; “and be a lesson to him.”

Mr Seagrave, Ready, and William, as usual, went down to their work; Mrs Seagrave and Juno, with little Caroline, were busy indoors. Tommy remained very quiet for an hour, when he commenced roaring; but it was of no use, no one paid any attention to him. At dinner-time he began to roar again, but with as little success: it was not till the evening that the door of the hen-house was opened, and Tommy permitted to come out. He looked very foolish; and sat down in a corner without speaking.

“Well, Tommy, how many eggs did you suck to-day?” said Ready.

“Tommy won’t suck eggs any more,” said the urchin.

“No, you had better not,” replied Mr Seagrave, “or you will find, in the end, that you will have less to eat, instead of more, as you have this day.”

Tommy waited very quietly and very sulkily till supper was ready, when he made up for lost time. After which Ready continued his narrative.

“I told you, William, that I was informed by the gentleman on the coach that my mother had died of a broken heart, in consequence of my supposed death. I was in agony until I arrived at Newcastle, where I could ascertain all the facts connected with her decease. When the coach stopped, the gentleman, who had remained outside, came to the coach door, and said to me, ‘If I mistake not, you are Masterman Ready, who ran away to sea; are you not?’ ‘Yes, sir,’ replied I, very sorrowfully, ‘I am.’ ‘Well, my man,’ said he, ‘cheer up; when you went away you were young and thoughtless, and certainly had no idea that you would have distressed your mother as you did. It was not your going to sea, but the report of your death, which preyed so much upon her mind; and that was not your fault. You must come with me, as I have something to say to you.’

“‘I will call upon you to-morrow, sir,’ replied I; ‘I cannot do anything until I talk to the neighbours and visit my poor mother’s grave. It is very true that I did not intend to distress my mother; and that the report of my death was no fault of mine. But I cannot help feeling that, if I had not been so thoughtless, she would be still alive and happy.’ The gentleman gave me his address, and I promised to call upon him next morning. I then went to the house my mother used to live in. I knew that she was not there; yet I was disappointed and annoyed when I heard merry laughter within. I looked in, for the door was open; in the corner where my mother used to sit, there was a mangle, and two women busily at work; others were ironing at a large table; and when they cried out to me, ‘What do you want?’ and laughed at me, I turned away in disgust, and went to a neighbouring cottage, the inmates of which had been very intimate with my mother. I found the wife at home, but she did not know me; and I told her who I was. She had attended my mother during her illness, till the day of her death; and she told me all I wished to know. It was some little relief to my mind to hear that my poor mother could not have lived, as she had an incurable cancer; but at the same time the woman told me that I was ever in her thoughts, and that my name was the last word on her lips. She also said that Mr Masterman had been very kind to my mother, and that she had wanted nothing. I then asked her to show me where my mother had been buried. She put on her bonnet, and led me to the grave, and then, at my request, she left me. I seated myself down by the mound of turf which covered her, and long and bitterly did I weep her loss and pray for forgiveness.

“It was quite dark when I left the spot and went back to the cottage of the kind woman who had attended my mother. I conversed with her and her husband till late, and then, as they offered me a bed, I remained with them that night. Next morning I went to keep my appointment with the gentleman whom I had met in the coach: I found by the brass plate on the door that he was a lawyer. He desired me to sit down, and then he closed the door carefully, and having asked me many questions, to ascertain if I was really Masterman Ready, he said he was the person employed at Mr Masterman’s death, and that he had found a paper which was of great consequence, as it proved that the insurance of the vessel which had belonged to my father and Mr Masterman, and which had been lost, had not been made on Mr Masterman’s share only, but upon my father’s as well, and that Mr Masterman had defrauded my mother. He said he had found the paper in a secret drawer some time after Mr Masterman’s death, and that my mother being dead, and I being supposed to be dead, he did not see any use in making known so disagreeable a circumstance; but that, now I had re-appeared, it was his duty so to do, and that he would arrange the matter for me, if I pleased, with the corporation of the town, to whom all Mr Masterman’s property had been left in trust to build an hospital and almshouses. He said that the insurance on the vessel was three thousand pounds, and that one-third of the vessel belonged to my father, so that a thousand pounds were due to him, which the interest for so many years would increase to above two thousand pounds. This was good news for me, and you may suppose I readily agreed to all he proposed. He set to work at once, and having called together the mayor and corporation of the town, and proved the document, they immediately agreed that I was entitled to the money, and that it should be paid to me without any contest. Thus you see, Master William, was a new temptation thrown in my way.”

“How do you mean a temptation? It surely was very fortunate, Ready,” said William.

“Yes, William, it was, as people say, fortunate, according to the ideas of the world; every one congratulated me, and I was myself so inflated with my good fortune, that I forgot all the promises of amendment, all the vows of leading a good life, which I made over my poor mother’s grave. Now do you perceive why I called it a temptation, Master William?”

“My dear child,” said Mr Seagrave, “riches and prosperity in this world prove often the greatest of temptations; it is adversity that chastens and amends us, and which draws us to God.”

“As soon as the money was in my own hands,” continued Ready, “I began to squander it away in all manner of folly. Fortunately, I had not received it more than ten days, when the Scotch second mate came like a guardian angel to save me. As soon as I had made known to him what had taken place, he reasoned with me, pointed out to me that I had an opportunity of establishing myself for life, and proposed that I should purchase a part of a vessel, on condition that I was captain of her. I liked this idea very much, and being convinced that I had been making a fool of myself, I resolved to take his advice; but one thing only restrained me: I was still very young, not more than twenty years old; and although I could navigate at one time, I had latterly paid no attention. I told Sanders this, and he replied, that if I would take him as my first mate, that difficulty would be got over, as he could navigate well, and that I could learn to do so in the first voyage; so all was arranged.

“Fortunately, I had not spent above one hundred pounds of the money. I set off for Glasgow in company with Sanders, and he busied himself very hard in looking about for a vessel that would suit. At last, he found that there was one ready for launching, which, in consequence of the failure of the house for which it was built, was to be sold. He made inquiries, and having found who was likely to purchase her—that it was a very safe and respectable firm—he made a proposal for me that I should take one-fourth share of her, and command her. As Sanders was very respectable, and well known to be a steady man, his recommendation was attended to so far that the parties wished to see and speak to me. They were satisfied with me, young as I was, and the bargain was made. I paid down my two thousand pounds for my share, and as soon as the vessel was launched, was very busy with Sanders, whom I had chosen as first mate, in fitting her out. The house which had purchased her with me was a West India firm, and the ship was of course intended for the West India trade. I had two or three hundred pounds left, after I had paid my share of the vessel, and this I employed in purchasing a venture on my own account, and providing nautical instruments, etcetera. I also fitted myself out, for you see, William, although Sanders had persuaded me to be rational, I was still puffed up with pride at the idea of being captain of my own ship; it was too great a rise for one who had just before been a lad in the mizen-top of a man-of-war. I dressed myself very smart—wore white shirts, and rings on my fingers. Indeed, as captain and part owner of a fine vessel, I was considered as somebody, and was often invited to the table of the other owners of the vessel. I was well off, for my pay was ten pounds a month, independent of what my own venture might produce, and my quarter-share of the profits of the vessel. This may be considered as the most prosperous portion of my life; and so, if you please, we will leave off here for to-night, for I may as well tell you at once that it did not last very long.”

Chapter Forty One.For several days after, they were employed in clearing away the stumps of the cocoa-nut trees in the winding path to the storehouse; and as soon as that work was finished, Ready put up a lightning-conductor at the side of the storehouse, like the one which he had put up near to the cottage. They had now got through all the work that they had arranged to do during the rainy season. The ewes had lambed, but both the sheep and the goats began to suffer for want of pasture. For a week they had no rain, and the sun burst out very powerfully; and Ready was of opinion that the rainy season was now over. William had become quite strong again, and he was very impatient that they should commence the survey of the island. After a great deal of consultation, it was at last settled, that Ready and William should make the first survey to the southward, and then return and report what they had discovered. This was decided upon on the Saturday evening, and on the Monday morning they were to start. The knapsacks were got ready, and well filled with boiled salt pork, and flat cakes of bread. They were each to have a musket and ammunition, and a blanket was folded up to carry on the shoulders, that they might sleep on it at night. Ready did not forget his compass, or the small axes, for them to blaze the trees as they went through the wood.The whole of Saturday was occupied in making their preparations. After supper, Ready said, “Now, William, before we start on our travels, I think I may as well wind up my history. I haven’t a great deal more to tell, as my good fortune did not last long; and after my remaining so long in a French prison, my life was one continued chapter of from bad to worse. Our ship was soon ready, and we sailed with convoy for Barbadoes. Sanders proved a good navigator, and from him, before we arrived at Barbadoes, I gained all the knowledge which I required to enable me to command and navigate my vessel. Sanders attempted to renew our serious conversation, but my property had made me vain; and now that I felt I could do without his assistance, I not only kept him at a distance, but assumed the superior. This was a very ungrateful return for his kindness to me; but it is too often the case in this world. Sanders was very much annoyed, and on our arrival at Barbadoes, he told me that it was his intention to quit the vessel. I replied very haughtily, that he might do as he pleased; the fact is, I was anxious to get rid of him, merely because I was under obligations to him. Well, sir, Sanders left me, and I felt quite happy at his departure. My ship was soon with a full cargo of sugar on board of her, and we waited for convoy to England. When at Barbadoes, I had an opportunity to buy four brass guns, which I mounted on deck, and had a good supply of ammunition on board. I was very proud of my vessel, as she had proved in the voyage out to be a very fast sailer: indeed, she sailed better than some of the men-of-war which convoyed us; and now that I had guns on board, I considered myself quite safe from any of the enemies’ privateers. While we were waiting for convoy, which was not expected for a fortnight, it blew a very heavy gale, and my ship, as well as others, dragged their anchors, and were driven out of Carlisle Bay. We were obliged to make sail to beat into the bay again, it still blowing very fresh. What with being tired waiting so long for convoy, and the knowledge that arriving before the other West Indiamen would be very advantageous, I made up my mind that, instead of beating up into the bay again, I would run for England without protection, trusting to the fast sailing of my vessel and the guns which I had on board. I forgot at the time that the insurance on the vessel was made in England as ‘sailing with convoy,’ and that my sailing without would render the insurance void, if any misfortune occurred. Well, sir, I made sail for England, and for three weeks everything went on well. We saw very few vessels, and those which did chase us could not come up with us; but as we were running with a fair wind up channel, and I had made sure of being in port before night, a French privateer hove in sight and gave chase. We were obliged to haul our wind, and it blowing very fast, we carried away our main-top mast. This accident was fatal; the privateer came alongside of us and laid us by the board, and that night I was in a French prison, and, I may say, a pauper; for the insurance of the vessel was void, from my having sailed without convoy. I felt that I had no one to thank but myself for the unfortunate position I was in; at all events, I was severely punished, for I remained a prisoner for nearly six years. I contrived to escape with three or four others; we suffered dreadfully, and at last arrived in England, in a Swedish vessel, without money, or even clothes that would keep out the weather. Of course, I had nothing to do but to look out for a berth on board of a ship, and I tried for that of second mate, but without success; I was too ragged and looked too miserable; so I determined, as I was starving, to go before the mast. There was a fine vessel in the port; I went on board to offer myself; the mate went down to the captain, who came on deck, and who should he be but Sanders? I hoped that he would not remember me, but he did immediately, and held out his hand. I never did feel so ashamed in my life as I did then. Sanders perceived it, and asked me down into the cabin. I then told him all that had happened, and he appeared to forget that I had behaved so ill to him; he offered me a berth on board, and money in advance to fit me out. But if he would not remember my conduct, I could not forget it, and I told him so, and begged his forgiveness. Well, sir, that good man, as long as he lived, was my friend. I became his second mate before he died, and we were again very intimate. My misfortunes had humbled me, and I once more read the Bible with him; and I have, I trust, done so ever since. When he died, I continued second mate for some time, and then was displaced. Since that, I have always been as a common seaman on board of different vessels; but I have been well treated and respected, and I may add, I have not been unhappy, for I felt that property would have only led me into follies, and have made me forget, that in this world we are to live so as to prepare ourselves for another. Now, William, you have the history of Masterman Ready; and I hope that there are portions of it which may prove useful to you. To-morrow we must be off betimes, and as we are all to breakfast early together, why, I think the sooner we go to bed the better.”“Very true,” replied Mr Seagrave, “William, dear, bring me the Bible.”

For several days after, they were employed in clearing away the stumps of the cocoa-nut trees in the winding path to the storehouse; and as soon as that work was finished, Ready put up a lightning-conductor at the side of the storehouse, like the one which he had put up near to the cottage. They had now got through all the work that they had arranged to do during the rainy season. The ewes had lambed, but both the sheep and the goats began to suffer for want of pasture. For a week they had no rain, and the sun burst out very powerfully; and Ready was of opinion that the rainy season was now over. William had become quite strong again, and he was very impatient that they should commence the survey of the island. After a great deal of consultation, it was at last settled, that Ready and William should make the first survey to the southward, and then return and report what they had discovered. This was decided upon on the Saturday evening, and on the Monday morning they were to start. The knapsacks were got ready, and well filled with boiled salt pork, and flat cakes of bread. They were each to have a musket and ammunition, and a blanket was folded up to carry on the shoulders, that they might sleep on it at night. Ready did not forget his compass, or the small axes, for them to blaze the trees as they went through the wood.

The whole of Saturday was occupied in making their preparations. After supper, Ready said, “Now, William, before we start on our travels, I think I may as well wind up my history. I haven’t a great deal more to tell, as my good fortune did not last long; and after my remaining so long in a French prison, my life was one continued chapter of from bad to worse. Our ship was soon ready, and we sailed with convoy for Barbadoes. Sanders proved a good navigator, and from him, before we arrived at Barbadoes, I gained all the knowledge which I required to enable me to command and navigate my vessel. Sanders attempted to renew our serious conversation, but my property had made me vain; and now that I felt I could do without his assistance, I not only kept him at a distance, but assumed the superior. This was a very ungrateful return for his kindness to me; but it is too often the case in this world. Sanders was very much annoyed, and on our arrival at Barbadoes, he told me that it was his intention to quit the vessel. I replied very haughtily, that he might do as he pleased; the fact is, I was anxious to get rid of him, merely because I was under obligations to him. Well, sir, Sanders left me, and I felt quite happy at his departure. My ship was soon with a full cargo of sugar on board of her, and we waited for convoy to England. When at Barbadoes, I had an opportunity to buy four brass guns, which I mounted on deck, and had a good supply of ammunition on board. I was very proud of my vessel, as she had proved in the voyage out to be a very fast sailer: indeed, she sailed better than some of the men-of-war which convoyed us; and now that I had guns on board, I considered myself quite safe from any of the enemies’ privateers. While we were waiting for convoy, which was not expected for a fortnight, it blew a very heavy gale, and my ship, as well as others, dragged their anchors, and were driven out of Carlisle Bay. We were obliged to make sail to beat into the bay again, it still blowing very fresh. What with being tired waiting so long for convoy, and the knowledge that arriving before the other West Indiamen would be very advantageous, I made up my mind that, instead of beating up into the bay again, I would run for England without protection, trusting to the fast sailing of my vessel and the guns which I had on board. I forgot at the time that the insurance on the vessel was made in England as ‘sailing with convoy,’ and that my sailing without would render the insurance void, if any misfortune occurred. Well, sir, I made sail for England, and for three weeks everything went on well. We saw very few vessels, and those which did chase us could not come up with us; but as we were running with a fair wind up channel, and I had made sure of being in port before night, a French privateer hove in sight and gave chase. We were obliged to haul our wind, and it blowing very fast, we carried away our main-top mast. This accident was fatal; the privateer came alongside of us and laid us by the board, and that night I was in a French prison, and, I may say, a pauper; for the insurance of the vessel was void, from my having sailed without convoy. I felt that I had no one to thank but myself for the unfortunate position I was in; at all events, I was severely punished, for I remained a prisoner for nearly six years. I contrived to escape with three or four others; we suffered dreadfully, and at last arrived in England, in a Swedish vessel, without money, or even clothes that would keep out the weather. Of course, I had nothing to do but to look out for a berth on board of a ship, and I tried for that of second mate, but without success; I was too ragged and looked too miserable; so I determined, as I was starving, to go before the mast. There was a fine vessel in the port; I went on board to offer myself; the mate went down to the captain, who came on deck, and who should he be but Sanders? I hoped that he would not remember me, but he did immediately, and held out his hand. I never did feel so ashamed in my life as I did then. Sanders perceived it, and asked me down into the cabin. I then told him all that had happened, and he appeared to forget that I had behaved so ill to him; he offered me a berth on board, and money in advance to fit me out. But if he would not remember my conduct, I could not forget it, and I told him so, and begged his forgiveness. Well, sir, that good man, as long as he lived, was my friend. I became his second mate before he died, and we were again very intimate. My misfortunes had humbled me, and I once more read the Bible with him; and I have, I trust, done so ever since. When he died, I continued second mate for some time, and then was displaced. Since that, I have always been as a common seaman on board of different vessels; but I have been well treated and respected, and I may add, I have not been unhappy, for I felt that property would have only led me into follies, and have made me forget, that in this world we are to live so as to prepare ourselves for another. Now, William, you have the history of Masterman Ready; and I hope that there are portions of it which may prove useful to you. To-morrow we must be off betimes, and as we are all to breakfast early together, why, I think the sooner we go to bed the better.”

“Very true,” replied Mr Seagrave, “William, dear, bring me the Bible.”

Chapter Forty Two.They were all up early the next morning, and breakfasted at an early hour. The knapsacks and guns, and the other requisites for the journey, were all prepared; William and Ready rose from the table, and taking an affectionate leave of Mr and Mrs Seagrave, they started on their journey. The sun was shining brilliantly, and the weather had become warm; the ocean in the distance gleamed brightly, as its waters danced, and the cocoa-nut trees moved their branches gracefully to the breeze. They set off in high spirits, and having called the two shepherd dogs, and driven back Vixen, who would have joined the party, they passed the storehouse, and ascending the hill on the other side, they got their hatchets ready to blaze the trees; and Ready having set his course by his pocket compass, they were fairly on their way. For some time they continued to cut the bark of the trees with their hatchets, without speaking, and then Ready stopped again to look at his compass.“I think the wood is thicker here than ever, Ready,” observed William.“Yes, sir, it is; but I suspect we are now in the thickest part of it, right in the middle of the island; however, we shall soon see. We must keep a little more away to the southward. We had better get on as fast as we can. We shall have less work by and by, and then we can talk better.”For half-an-hour they continued their way through the wood, and, as Ready had observed, the trees became more distant from each other; still, however, they could not see anything before them but the stems of the cocoa-nuts. It was hard work, chopping the trees every second, and their foreheads were moist with the exertion.“I think we had better pull up for a few minutes, William; you will be tired.”“I have not been so used to exercise, Ready, and therefore I feel it more,” replied William, wiping his face with his handkerchief. “I should like to stop a few minutes. How long do you think it will be before we are out of the wood?”“Not half-an-hour more, sir, I should think; even before that, perhaps.”“What do you expect to find, Ready?”“That’s a difficult question to answer. I can tell you what I hope to find, which is, a good space of clear ground between the beach and the wood, where we may pasture our sheep and goats; and perhaps we may find some other trees besides cocoa-nuts: at present, you know, we have seen only them and the castor-oil beans, that Tommy took such a dose of. You see, William, there is no saying what new seeds may have been brought here by birds, or by the winds and waves.”“But will those seeds grow?”“Yes, William; I have been told that seeds may remain hundreds of years under-ground, and come up afterwards when exposed to the heat.”They continued their way, and had not walked for more than a quarter of an hour, when William cried out, “I see the blue sky, Ready; we shall soon be out; and glad shall I be, for my arm aches with chopping.”“I dare say it does, sir. I am just as glad as you are, for I’m tired of marking the trees; however, we must continue to mark, or we shall not find our way back when we want it.”In ten minutes more they were clear of the cocoa-nut grove, and found themselves among brushwood higher than their heads; so that they could not see how far they were from the shore.“Well,” said William, throwing down his hatchet, “I’m glad that’s over; now let us sit down a little before we go any further.”“I’m of your opinion, sir,” replied Ready, sitting down by the side of William; “I feel more tired to-day than I did when we first went through the wood, after we set off from the cove. I suppose it’s the weather. Come back, dogs; lie down.”“The weather is very fine, Ready.”“Yes, now it is; but I meant to have said that the rainy season is very trying to the health, and I suppose I have not recovered from it yet. You have had a regular fever, and, of course, do not feel strong; but a man may have no fever, and yet his health suffer a great deal from it. I am an old man, William, and feel these things now.”“I think that before we go on, Ready, we had better have our dinner; that will do us good.”“Well, we will take an early dinner, and we shall get rid of one bottle of water, at all events; indeed, I think that, as we must go back by the same way we came, we may as well leave our knapsacks and everything but our guns under these trees; I dare say we shall sleep here too, for I told Mr Seagrave positively not to expect us back to-night. I did not like to say so before your mother, she is so anxious about you.”They opened their knapsacks, and made their meal, the two dogs coming in for their share; after which they again started on their discoveries. For about ten minutes they continued to force their way through the thick and high bushes, till at last they broke out clear of them, and then looked around them for a short time without speaking. The sea was about half a mile distant, and the intervening land was clear, with fresh blades of grass just bursting out of the earth, composing a fine piece of pasture of at least fifty acres, here and there broken with small patches of trees and brushwood; there was no sandy beach, but the rocks rose from the sea about twenty to thirty feet high, and were in one or two places covered with something which looked as white as snow.“Well, Ready,” said William, “there will be no want of pasture for our flock, even if it increases to ten times its number.”“No,” replied Ready, “we are very fortunate, and have great reason to be thankful; this is exactly what we required; and now let us go on a little, and examine these patches of wood, and see what they are. I see a bright green leaf out there, which, if my eyes do not fail me, I have seen many a time before.” When they arrived at the clump of trees which Ready had pointed out, he said, “Yes, I was right. Look there, this is the banana; it is just bursting out now, and will soon be ten feet high, and bearing fruit which is excellent eating; besides which the stem is capital fodder for the beasts.”“Here is a plant I never saw before,” said William, pulling off a piece of it, and showing it to Ready.“But I have, William. It is what they call the bird’s-eye pepper; they make Cayenne pepper out of it. Look, the pods are just formed; it will be useful to us in cooking, as we have no pepper left. You see, William, we must have some birds on the island; at least it is most probable, for all the seeds of these plants and trees must have been brought here by them. The banana and the pepper are the food of many birds. What a quantity of bananas are springing up in this spot; there will be a little forest of them in a few weeks.”“What is that rough-looking sort of shrub out there, Ready?”“I can’t see so well as you, William, so let us walk up to it. Oh, I know it now; it is what they call the prickly pear in the West Indies. I am very glad to have found that, for it will be very useful to us.”“Is it good eating, Ready?”“Not particularly; and the little spikes run into your fingers, and are very difficult to get rid of; but it is not bad by way of a change. No, the use it will be to us is to hedge in our garden, and protect it from the animals; it makes a capital fence, and grows very fast, and without trouble. Now let us go on to that patch of trees, and see what they are.”“What is this plant, Ready?”“I don’t know, William.”“Then I think I had better make a collection of all those you don’t know, and take them back to father; he is a good botanist.”William pulled a branch of the plant off, and carried it with him. On their arrival at the next patch of trees, Ready looked at them steadfastly for some time.“I ought to know that tree,” said he. “I have often seen it in hot countries. Yes, it’s the guava.”“What! is it the fruit they make guava jelly of?” said William.“Yes, the very same.”“Let us now walk in the direction of those five or six trees,” said William; “and from there down to the rocks; I want to find out how it is that they are so white.”“Be it so, if you wish,” replied Ready.“Why, Ready, what noise is that? Hark! such a chattering, it must be monkeys.”“No, they are not monkeys; but I’ll tell you what they are, although I cannot see them; they are parrots—I know their noise well. You see, William, it’s not very likely that monkeys should get here, but birds can, and it is the birds that we have to thank for the bananas and guavas, and other fruits we may find here.”As soon as they came under the trees, there was a great rioting and fluttering, and then away flew, screaming as loud as they could, a flock of about three hundred parrots, their beautiful green and blue feathers glistening in the beams of the sun.“I told you so; well, we’ll have some capital pies out of them, William.”“Pies! do they make good pies, Ready?”“Yes, excellent; and very often have I had a good dinner from one in the West Indies, and in South America. Stop, let us come a little this way; I see a leaf which I should like to examine.”“The ground is very swampy just here, Ready; is it not?”“Yes; there’s plenty of water below, I don’t doubt. So much the better for the animals; we must dig some pools when they come here.“Oh! I thought I was not wrong. Look! this is the best thing I have found yet—we now need not care so much about potatoes.”“Why, what are they, Ready?”“Yams, which they use instead of potatoes in the West Indies. Indeed, potatoes do not remain potatoes long, when planted in hot climates.”“How do you mean, Ready?”“They turn into what they call sweet-potatoes, after one or two crops: yams are better things, in my opinion.”At this moment the dogs dashed among the broad yam leaves, and commenced baying; there was a great rustling and snorting.“What’s that?” cried William, who had been stooping down to examine the yam plant, and who was startled at the noise.Ready laughed heartily. “It isn’t the first time that they’ve made you jump, William.”“Why, it’s our pigs, isn’t it?” replied William.“To be sure; they’re in the yam patch, very busy feeding on them, I’ll be bound.”Ready gave a shout, and a grunting and rushing were heard among the broad leaves, and, very soon, out rushed, instead of the six, about thirty pigs large and small; who, snorting and twisting their tails, galloped away at a great rate, until they gained the cocoa-nut grove.“How wild they are, Ready!” said William.“Yes, and they’ll be wilder every day; but we must fence these yams from them, or we shall get none ourselves.”“But they’ll beat down the fence before it grows up.”“We must pale it with cocoa-nut palings, and plant the prickly pears outside. Now, we’ll go down to the sea-side.”As they neared the rocks, which were bare for about fifty yards from the water’s edge, Ready said, “I can tell you now what those white patches on the rocks are, William; they are the places where the sea-birds come to every year to make their nests, and bring up their young. They always come to the same place every year, if they are not disturbed.” They soon arrived at the spot, and found it white with the feathers of birds, mixed up with dirt.“I see no nests, Ready, nor the remains of any.”“No, they do not make any nests, further than scratching a round hole, about half an inch deep, in the soil, and there they lay their eggs, sitting quite close to one another; they will soon be here, and begin to lay, and then we will come and take the eggs, if we want any, for they are not bad eating.”“Why, Ready, what a quantity of good things we have found out already! This has been a very fortunate expedition of ours.”“Yes, it has; and we may thank God for his goodness, who thus provides for us so plentifully in the wilderness.”“Do you know, Ready, I cannot help thinking that we ought to have built our house here.”“Not so, William; we have not the pure water, recollect, and we have not the advantages of the sandy beach, where we have our turtle- and fish-pond. No; we may feed our stock here; we may gather the fruit, taking our share of it with the poor birds; we may get our yams, and every other good provided for us; but our house and home must be where it is now.”“You are right, Ready; but it will be a long walk.”“Not when we are accustomed to it, and have made a beaten path; besides, we may bring the boat round, perhaps.”Then they walked along the sea-side for about a quarter of a mile, until they came to where the rocks were not so high, and there they discovered a little basin, completely formed in the rocks, with a narrow entrance.“See, William, what a nice little harbour for our boat! we may here load it with yams and take it round to the bay, provided we can find an entrance through the reefs on the southern side of it, which we have not looked for yet, because we have not required it.”“Yes, Ready—it is, indeed, a nice, smooth little place for the boat. What is that thing on the bottom, there?” said William, pointing in the direction.“That is a sea crawfish, quite as good eating as a lobster. I wonder if I could make a lobster-pot; we should catch plenty, and very good they are.”“And what are those little rough things on the rock?”“They are a very nice little sort of oyster; not like those we have in England, but much better—they are so delicate.”“Why, Ready, we have two more good things for our table, again,” replied William; “how rich we shall be!”“Yes; but we have to catch them, recollect: there is nothing to be had in this world without labour.”“Ready,” said William, “we have good three hours’ daylight; suppose we go back and tell what we have seen: my mother will be so glad to see us.”“I agree with you, William. We have done well for one day; and may safely go back again, and remain for another week. There are no fruits at present, and all I care about are the yams; I should like to protect them from the pigs. But let us go home and talk the matter over with Mr Seagrave.”They found out the spot where they had left their knapsacks and hatchets, and again took their path through the cocoa-nut trees, following the blaze which they had made in the morning. One hour before sunset they arrived at the house, where they found Mr and Mrs Seagrave sitting outside, and Juno standing on the beach with the two children, who were amusing themselves with picking up the shells which were strewed about. William gave a very clear account of all they had seen, and showed his father the specimens of the plants which he had collected.“This,” said Mr Seagrave, “is a well-known plant; and I wonder Ready did not recognise it; it is hemp.”“I never saw it except in the shape of rope,” replied Ready. “I know the seed well enough.”“Well, if we require it, I can tell you how to dress it,” replied Mr Seagrave. “Now, William, what is the next?”“This odd-looking, rough thing.”“That’s the egg-plant: it bears fruit of a blue colour. I am told they eat it in the hot countries.”“Yes, sir, they do; they fry it with pepper and salt; they call it bringal. I think it must be that.”“I do not doubt but you are right,” replied Mr Seagrave. “Why, William, you should know this.”“It is like the grape-vine.”“Yes, and it is so; it is the wild grape; we shall eat them by and bye.”“I have only one more, papa: what is this?”“You don’t know it, because it has sprung up so high, William; but it is the common mustard plant,—what we use in England, and is sold as mustard and cress. I think you have now made a famous day’s work of it; and we have much to thank God for.”As soon as they had returned to the house, a consultation was held as to their future proceedings; and, after some debate, it was agreed that it would be advisable that they should take the boat out of the sand; and, as soon as it was ready, examine the reef on the southward, to see if they could find a passage through it, as it would take a long while to go round it; and, as soon as that was accomplished, Mr Seagrave, Ready, William, and Juno should all go through the wood, carrying with them a tent to pitch on the newly-discovered piece of ground: and that they should set up a flag-staff at the little harbour, to point out its position. Of course, that would be a hard day’s work; but that they would, nevertheless, return the same night, and not leave Mrs Seagrave alone with the children. Having accomplished this, Ready and William would then put the wheels and axle in the boat, and other articles required, such as saw, hatchets, and spades, and row round to the south side of the island, to find the little harbour. As soon as they had landed them, and secured the boat, they would then return by the path through the wood.The next job would be to rail in the yam plantation to keep off the pigs, and, at the same time, to drive the sheep and goats through the wood, that they might feed on the new pasture ground. Ready and William were then to cut down cocoa-nut trees sufficient for the paling, fix up the posts, and when that was done, Mr Seagrave was to come to them and assist them in railing it in, and drawing the timber. This they expected would be all done in about a month; and during that time, as Mrs Seagrave and Juno would be, for the greatest part of it, left at the house, they were to employ themselves in clearing the garden of weeds, and making preparation for fencing it in.As soon as this important work had been completed, the boat would return to the bay with a load of prickly pears for the garden fence, and then they were to direct their attention to the stores which had been saved from the wreck, and were lying in the cove where they had first landed. When they had examined them, and brought round what were required, and secured them in the storehouse, they would then have a regular survey of the island by land and by water. But man proposes and God disposes, as will be shown by the interruption of their intended projects which we shall have to narrate in the ensuing chapter.

They were all up early the next morning, and breakfasted at an early hour. The knapsacks and guns, and the other requisites for the journey, were all prepared; William and Ready rose from the table, and taking an affectionate leave of Mr and Mrs Seagrave, they started on their journey. The sun was shining brilliantly, and the weather had become warm; the ocean in the distance gleamed brightly, as its waters danced, and the cocoa-nut trees moved their branches gracefully to the breeze. They set off in high spirits, and having called the two shepherd dogs, and driven back Vixen, who would have joined the party, they passed the storehouse, and ascending the hill on the other side, they got their hatchets ready to blaze the trees; and Ready having set his course by his pocket compass, they were fairly on their way. For some time they continued to cut the bark of the trees with their hatchets, without speaking, and then Ready stopped again to look at his compass.

“I think the wood is thicker here than ever, Ready,” observed William.

“Yes, sir, it is; but I suspect we are now in the thickest part of it, right in the middle of the island; however, we shall soon see. We must keep a little more away to the southward. We had better get on as fast as we can. We shall have less work by and by, and then we can talk better.”

For half-an-hour they continued their way through the wood, and, as Ready had observed, the trees became more distant from each other; still, however, they could not see anything before them but the stems of the cocoa-nuts. It was hard work, chopping the trees every second, and their foreheads were moist with the exertion.

“I think we had better pull up for a few minutes, William; you will be tired.”

“I have not been so used to exercise, Ready, and therefore I feel it more,” replied William, wiping his face with his handkerchief. “I should like to stop a few minutes. How long do you think it will be before we are out of the wood?”

“Not half-an-hour more, sir, I should think; even before that, perhaps.”

“What do you expect to find, Ready?”

“That’s a difficult question to answer. I can tell you what I hope to find, which is, a good space of clear ground between the beach and the wood, where we may pasture our sheep and goats; and perhaps we may find some other trees besides cocoa-nuts: at present, you know, we have seen only them and the castor-oil beans, that Tommy took such a dose of. You see, William, there is no saying what new seeds may have been brought here by birds, or by the winds and waves.”

“But will those seeds grow?”

“Yes, William; I have been told that seeds may remain hundreds of years under-ground, and come up afterwards when exposed to the heat.”

They continued their way, and had not walked for more than a quarter of an hour, when William cried out, “I see the blue sky, Ready; we shall soon be out; and glad shall I be, for my arm aches with chopping.”

“I dare say it does, sir. I am just as glad as you are, for I’m tired of marking the trees; however, we must continue to mark, or we shall not find our way back when we want it.”

In ten minutes more they were clear of the cocoa-nut grove, and found themselves among brushwood higher than their heads; so that they could not see how far they were from the shore.

“Well,” said William, throwing down his hatchet, “I’m glad that’s over; now let us sit down a little before we go any further.”

“I’m of your opinion, sir,” replied Ready, sitting down by the side of William; “I feel more tired to-day than I did when we first went through the wood, after we set off from the cove. I suppose it’s the weather. Come back, dogs; lie down.”

“The weather is very fine, Ready.”

“Yes, now it is; but I meant to have said that the rainy season is very trying to the health, and I suppose I have not recovered from it yet. You have had a regular fever, and, of course, do not feel strong; but a man may have no fever, and yet his health suffer a great deal from it. I am an old man, William, and feel these things now.”

“I think that before we go on, Ready, we had better have our dinner; that will do us good.”

“Well, we will take an early dinner, and we shall get rid of one bottle of water, at all events; indeed, I think that, as we must go back by the same way we came, we may as well leave our knapsacks and everything but our guns under these trees; I dare say we shall sleep here too, for I told Mr Seagrave positively not to expect us back to-night. I did not like to say so before your mother, she is so anxious about you.”

They opened their knapsacks, and made their meal, the two dogs coming in for their share; after which they again started on their discoveries. For about ten minutes they continued to force their way through the thick and high bushes, till at last they broke out clear of them, and then looked around them for a short time without speaking. The sea was about half a mile distant, and the intervening land was clear, with fresh blades of grass just bursting out of the earth, composing a fine piece of pasture of at least fifty acres, here and there broken with small patches of trees and brushwood; there was no sandy beach, but the rocks rose from the sea about twenty to thirty feet high, and were in one or two places covered with something which looked as white as snow.

“Well, Ready,” said William, “there will be no want of pasture for our flock, even if it increases to ten times its number.”

“No,” replied Ready, “we are very fortunate, and have great reason to be thankful; this is exactly what we required; and now let us go on a little, and examine these patches of wood, and see what they are. I see a bright green leaf out there, which, if my eyes do not fail me, I have seen many a time before.” When they arrived at the clump of trees which Ready had pointed out, he said, “Yes, I was right. Look there, this is the banana; it is just bursting out now, and will soon be ten feet high, and bearing fruit which is excellent eating; besides which the stem is capital fodder for the beasts.”

“Here is a plant I never saw before,” said William, pulling off a piece of it, and showing it to Ready.

“But I have, William. It is what they call the bird’s-eye pepper; they make Cayenne pepper out of it. Look, the pods are just formed; it will be useful to us in cooking, as we have no pepper left. You see, William, we must have some birds on the island; at least it is most probable, for all the seeds of these plants and trees must have been brought here by them. The banana and the pepper are the food of many birds. What a quantity of bananas are springing up in this spot; there will be a little forest of them in a few weeks.”

“What is that rough-looking sort of shrub out there, Ready?”

“I can’t see so well as you, William, so let us walk up to it. Oh, I know it now; it is what they call the prickly pear in the West Indies. I am very glad to have found that, for it will be very useful to us.”

“Is it good eating, Ready?”

“Not particularly; and the little spikes run into your fingers, and are very difficult to get rid of; but it is not bad by way of a change. No, the use it will be to us is to hedge in our garden, and protect it from the animals; it makes a capital fence, and grows very fast, and without trouble. Now let us go on to that patch of trees, and see what they are.”

“What is this plant, Ready?”

“I don’t know, William.”

“Then I think I had better make a collection of all those you don’t know, and take them back to father; he is a good botanist.”

William pulled a branch of the plant off, and carried it with him. On their arrival at the next patch of trees, Ready looked at them steadfastly for some time.

“I ought to know that tree,” said he. “I have often seen it in hot countries. Yes, it’s the guava.”

“What! is it the fruit they make guava jelly of?” said William.

“Yes, the very same.”

“Let us now walk in the direction of those five or six trees,” said William; “and from there down to the rocks; I want to find out how it is that they are so white.”

“Be it so, if you wish,” replied Ready.

“Why, Ready, what noise is that? Hark! such a chattering, it must be monkeys.”

“No, they are not monkeys; but I’ll tell you what they are, although I cannot see them; they are parrots—I know their noise well. You see, William, it’s not very likely that monkeys should get here, but birds can, and it is the birds that we have to thank for the bananas and guavas, and other fruits we may find here.”

As soon as they came under the trees, there was a great rioting and fluttering, and then away flew, screaming as loud as they could, a flock of about three hundred parrots, their beautiful green and blue feathers glistening in the beams of the sun.

“I told you so; well, we’ll have some capital pies out of them, William.”

“Pies! do they make good pies, Ready?”

“Yes, excellent; and very often have I had a good dinner from one in the West Indies, and in South America. Stop, let us come a little this way; I see a leaf which I should like to examine.”

“The ground is very swampy just here, Ready; is it not?”

“Yes; there’s plenty of water below, I don’t doubt. So much the better for the animals; we must dig some pools when they come here.

“Oh! I thought I was not wrong. Look! this is the best thing I have found yet—we now need not care so much about potatoes.”

“Why, what are they, Ready?”

“Yams, which they use instead of potatoes in the West Indies. Indeed, potatoes do not remain potatoes long, when planted in hot climates.”

“How do you mean, Ready?”

“They turn into what they call sweet-potatoes, after one or two crops: yams are better things, in my opinion.”

At this moment the dogs dashed among the broad yam leaves, and commenced baying; there was a great rustling and snorting.

“What’s that?” cried William, who had been stooping down to examine the yam plant, and who was startled at the noise.

Ready laughed heartily. “It isn’t the first time that they’ve made you jump, William.”

“Why, it’s our pigs, isn’t it?” replied William.

“To be sure; they’re in the yam patch, very busy feeding on them, I’ll be bound.”

Ready gave a shout, and a grunting and rushing were heard among the broad leaves, and, very soon, out rushed, instead of the six, about thirty pigs large and small; who, snorting and twisting their tails, galloped away at a great rate, until they gained the cocoa-nut grove.

“How wild they are, Ready!” said William.

“Yes, and they’ll be wilder every day; but we must fence these yams from them, or we shall get none ourselves.”

“But they’ll beat down the fence before it grows up.”

“We must pale it with cocoa-nut palings, and plant the prickly pears outside. Now, we’ll go down to the sea-side.”

As they neared the rocks, which were bare for about fifty yards from the water’s edge, Ready said, “I can tell you now what those white patches on the rocks are, William; they are the places where the sea-birds come to every year to make their nests, and bring up their young. They always come to the same place every year, if they are not disturbed.” They soon arrived at the spot, and found it white with the feathers of birds, mixed up with dirt.

“I see no nests, Ready, nor the remains of any.”

“No, they do not make any nests, further than scratching a round hole, about half an inch deep, in the soil, and there they lay their eggs, sitting quite close to one another; they will soon be here, and begin to lay, and then we will come and take the eggs, if we want any, for they are not bad eating.”

“Why, Ready, what a quantity of good things we have found out already! This has been a very fortunate expedition of ours.”

“Yes, it has; and we may thank God for his goodness, who thus provides for us so plentifully in the wilderness.”

“Do you know, Ready, I cannot help thinking that we ought to have built our house here.”

“Not so, William; we have not the pure water, recollect, and we have not the advantages of the sandy beach, where we have our turtle- and fish-pond. No; we may feed our stock here; we may gather the fruit, taking our share of it with the poor birds; we may get our yams, and every other good provided for us; but our house and home must be where it is now.”

“You are right, Ready; but it will be a long walk.”

“Not when we are accustomed to it, and have made a beaten path; besides, we may bring the boat round, perhaps.”

Then they walked along the sea-side for about a quarter of a mile, until they came to where the rocks were not so high, and there they discovered a little basin, completely formed in the rocks, with a narrow entrance.

“See, William, what a nice little harbour for our boat! we may here load it with yams and take it round to the bay, provided we can find an entrance through the reefs on the southern side of it, which we have not looked for yet, because we have not required it.”

“Yes, Ready—it is, indeed, a nice, smooth little place for the boat. What is that thing on the bottom, there?” said William, pointing in the direction.

“That is a sea crawfish, quite as good eating as a lobster. I wonder if I could make a lobster-pot; we should catch plenty, and very good they are.”

“And what are those little rough things on the rock?”

“They are a very nice little sort of oyster; not like those we have in England, but much better—they are so delicate.”

“Why, Ready, we have two more good things for our table, again,” replied William; “how rich we shall be!”

“Yes; but we have to catch them, recollect: there is nothing to be had in this world without labour.”

“Ready,” said William, “we have good three hours’ daylight; suppose we go back and tell what we have seen: my mother will be so glad to see us.”

“I agree with you, William. We have done well for one day; and may safely go back again, and remain for another week. There are no fruits at present, and all I care about are the yams; I should like to protect them from the pigs. But let us go home and talk the matter over with Mr Seagrave.”

They found out the spot where they had left their knapsacks and hatchets, and again took their path through the cocoa-nut trees, following the blaze which they had made in the morning. One hour before sunset they arrived at the house, where they found Mr and Mrs Seagrave sitting outside, and Juno standing on the beach with the two children, who were amusing themselves with picking up the shells which were strewed about. William gave a very clear account of all they had seen, and showed his father the specimens of the plants which he had collected.

“This,” said Mr Seagrave, “is a well-known plant; and I wonder Ready did not recognise it; it is hemp.”

“I never saw it except in the shape of rope,” replied Ready. “I know the seed well enough.”

“Well, if we require it, I can tell you how to dress it,” replied Mr Seagrave. “Now, William, what is the next?”

“This odd-looking, rough thing.”

“That’s the egg-plant: it bears fruit of a blue colour. I am told they eat it in the hot countries.”

“Yes, sir, they do; they fry it with pepper and salt; they call it bringal. I think it must be that.”

“I do not doubt but you are right,” replied Mr Seagrave. “Why, William, you should know this.”

“It is like the grape-vine.”

“Yes, and it is so; it is the wild grape; we shall eat them by and bye.”

“I have only one more, papa: what is this?”

“You don’t know it, because it has sprung up so high, William; but it is the common mustard plant,—what we use in England, and is sold as mustard and cress. I think you have now made a famous day’s work of it; and we have much to thank God for.”

As soon as they had returned to the house, a consultation was held as to their future proceedings; and, after some debate, it was agreed that it would be advisable that they should take the boat out of the sand; and, as soon as it was ready, examine the reef on the southward, to see if they could find a passage through it, as it would take a long while to go round it; and, as soon as that was accomplished, Mr Seagrave, Ready, William, and Juno should all go through the wood, carrying with them a tent to pitch on the newly-discovered piece of ground: and that they should set up a flag-staff at the little harbour, to point out its position. Of course, that would be a hard day’s work; but that they would, nevertheless, return the same night, and not leave Mrs Seagrave alone with the children. Having accomplished this, Ready and William would then put the wheels and axle in the boat, and other articles required, such as saw, hatchets, and spades, and row round to the south side of the island, to find the little harbour. As soon as they had landed them, and secured the boat, they would then return by the path through the wood.

The next job would be to rail in the yam plantation to keep off the pigs, and, at the same time, to drive the sheep and goats through the wood, that they might feed on the new pasture ground. Ready and William were then to cut down cocoa-nut trees sufficient for the paling, fix up the posts, and when that was done, Mr Seagrave was to come to them and assist them in railing it in, and drawing the timber. This they expected would be all done in about a month; and during that time, as Mrs Seagrave and Juno would be, for the greatest part of it, left at the house, they were to employ themselves in clearing the garden of weeds, and making preparation for fencing it in.

As soon as this important work had been completed, the boat would return to the bay with a load of prickly pears for the garden fence, and then they were to direct their attention to the stores which had been saved from the wreck, and were lying in the cove where they had first landed. When they had examined them, and brought round what were required, and secured them in the storehouse, they would then have a regular survey of the island by land and by water. But man proposes and God disposes, as will be shown by the interruption of their intended projects which we shall have to narrate in the ensuing chapter.

Chapter Forty Three.As usual, Ready was the first up on the following morning, and having greeted Juno, who followed him out of the house, he set off on his accustomed rounds, to examine into the stock and their other possessions. He was standing in the garden at the point. First he thought that it would be necessary to get ready some sticks for the peas, which were now seven or eight inches out of the ground; he had proceeded a little farther, to where the calivances, or French haricot beans, had been sown, and had decided upon the propriety of hoeing up the earth round them, as they were a very valuable article of food, that would keep, and afford many a good dish during the rainy or winter season. He had gone on to ascertain if the cucumber seeds had shown themselves above-ground, and was pleased to find that they were doing well. He said to himself, “We have no vinegar, that I know of, but we can preserve them in salt and water, as they do in Russia; it will be a change, at all events;” and then he raised his eyes and looked out to the offing, and, as usual, scanned the horizon. He thought he saw a ship to the north-east, and he applied his telescope to his eye. He was not mistaken—it was a vessel.The old man’s heart beat quick; he dropped his telescope on his arm, and fetched some heavy breaths before he could recover from the effect of this unexpected sight. After a minute, he again put his telescope to his eye, and then made her out to be a brig, under top-sails and top-gallant sails, steering directly for the island.Ready walked to the rocky point, from which they fished, and sat down to reflect. Could it be that the vessel had been sent after them, or that she had by mere chance come among the islands? He decided after a short time that it must be chance, for none could know that they were saved, much less that they were on the island. Her steering towards the island must then be either that she required water or something else; perhaps she would alter her course and pass by them. “At all events,” thought the old man, “we are in the hands of God, who will, at his own time and in his own way, do with us as he thinks fit. I will not at present say anything to Mr and Mrs Seagrave. It would be cruel to raise hopes which might end in disappointment. A few hours will decide. And yet I cannot do without help—I must trust William.”Ready rose, examined the vessel with his telescope, and then walked towards the house. William was up, and the remainder of the family were stirring.“William,” said Ready to him, as they walked away from the house, “I have a secret to tell you, which you will at once see the necessity of not telling to anyone at present. A few hours will decide the question.” William readily gave his promise. “There is a vessel off the island; she may be the means of rescuing us, or she may pass without seeing us. It would be too cruel a disappointment to your father and mother, if the latter were the case.”William stared at Ready, and for a moment could not speak, his excitement was so great.“Oh, Ready, how grateful I am! I trust that we may be taken away, for you have no idea how my poor father suffers in silence—and so does my mother.”“I know it, William, I know it, and it is natural; they do their best to control their yearnings, and they can do no more. But now we must be quick, and at work before breakfast. But stop, I will show you the vessel.”Ready caught the vessel in the field of the telescope, which he leant against the trunk of a cocoa-nut, and William put his eye to the glass.“Do you see her?”“Oh yes, Ready, and she is coming this way.”“Yes, she is steering right for the island. I will put the telescope down here, and we will go about our work.”William and Ready went to the storehouse for the axe. Ready selected a very slight cocoa-nut tree nearest to the beach, which he cut down, and as soon as the top was taken off with the assistance of William he carried it down to the point.“Now, William, go for a shovel and dig a hole here, that we may fix it up as a flag-staff. When all is ready, I will go for a small block and some rope for halyards to hoist up the flags as soon as the vessel is likely to see them. At breakfast-time, I shall propose that you and I get the boat out of the sand and examine her, and give Mr Seagrave some work indoors.”“But the flags, Ready; they are round my mother’s bed. How shall we get them?”“Suppose I say that it is time that the house should be well cleaned, and that the canvas hangings of the beds should be taken out to be aired this fine day. Ask your father to take the direction of the work while we dig out the boat; that will employ them all inside the house.”“Yes, that will do, Ready.”During breakfast-time, Ready observed that he intended to get the boat out of the sand, and that William should assist him.“And what am I to do, Ready?” said Mr Seagrave.“Why, sir, I think, now that the rains are over, it would not be a bad thing if we were to air bedding, as they say at sea; it is a fine, warm day; and if all the bedding was taken out of the house and well shaken, and then left out to air, it would be a very good job over; for you see, sir, I have thought more than once that the house does smell a little close.”“It will be a very good thing, Ready,” observed Mrs Seagrave; “and, at the same time, Juno and I will give the house a thorough cleaning and sweeping.”“Had we not better have the canvas screens down, and air them too?”“Yes,” replied Ready; “we had better air everything. We will assist in taking down the screens and flags, and spread them out to air, and then, if Mr Seagrave has no objection, we will leave him to superintend and assist Madam and Juno.”“With all my heart,” replied Mr Seagrave. “We have done breakfast, and will begin as soon as you please.”Ready and William took down the canvas screens and flags, and went out of the cottage with them; they spread out the canvas at some distance from the house, and then William went down to the beach with the flags, while Ready procured the block and small rope to hoist them up with.Ready’s stratagem answered well. Without being perceived by those in the cottage, the flag-staff was raised, and fixed in the ground, and the flags all ready for hoisting; then Ready and William returned to the fuel-stack, and each carried down as much stuff as they could hold, that they might make a smoke to attract the notice of those on board of the vessel. All this did not occupy much more than an hour, during which the brig continued her course steadily towards the island. When Ready first saw her the wind was light, but latterly the breeze had increased very much, and at last the brig took in her top-gallant sails. The horizon behind the vessel, which had been quite clear, was now banked up with clouds, and the waves curled in white foam over the reefs of rocks extending from the island.“The breeze is getting up strong, William,” said Ready, “and she will soon be down, if she is not frightened at the reefs, which she can see plainer now the water is rough, than she could before.”“I trust she will not be afraid,” replied William. “How far do you think she is off now?”“About five miles; not more. The wind has hauled round more to the southward, and it is banking up fast, I see. I fear that we shall have another smart gale; however, it won’t last long. Come, let us hoist the flags; we must not lose a chance; the flags will blow nice and clear for them to see them.”William and Ready hoisted up the ensign first, and below it the flag, with the ship’s name, Pacific, in large letters upon it. “Now then,” said Ready, as he made fast the halyards, “let us strike a light and make a smoke; that will attract their notice.”As soon as the cocoa-nut leaves were lighted, Ready and William threw water upon them, so as to damp them and procure a heavy column of smoke. The vessel approached rapidly, and they were watching her in silent suspense, when they perceived Mr and Mrs Seagrave, Juno carrying Albert, with Tommy and Caroline running down as fast as they could to the beach. The fact was, that Tommy, tired of work, had gone out of the house and walked towards the beach; there he perceived, first, the flags hoisted, and then he detected the vessel off the island. He immediately ran back to the house, crying out, “Papa! Mamma! Captain Osborn come back—come back in a big ship.” At this announcement, Mr and Mrs Seagrave ran out of the house, perceived the vessel and the flags flying, and ran as fast as they could down to where William and Ready were standing by the flag-staff.“Oh! Ready, why did you not tell us this before?” exclaimed Mr Seagrave.“I wish you had not known it now, sir,” replied Ready; “but, however, it can’t be helped; it was done out of kindness, Mr Seagrave.”“Yes, indeed it was, papa.”Mrs Seagrave dropped down on the rock, and burst into tears. Mr Seagrave was equally excited.“Does she see us, Ready?” exclaimed he at last.“No, sir, not yet, and I waited till she did, before I made it known to you,” replied Ready.“She is altering her course, Ready,” said William.“Yes, sir, she has hauled to the wind; she is afraid of coming too near to the reefs.”“Surely she is not leaving us!” exclaimed Mrs Seagrave.“No, madam; but she does not see us yet.”“She does! she does!” cried William, throwing up his hat; “see, she hoists her ensign.”“Very true, sir; she does see us. Thanks be to God!”Mr Seagrave embraced his wife, who threw herself sobbing into his arms, kissed his children with rapture, and wrung old Ready’s hand. He was almost frantic with joy. William was equally delighted.As soon as they were a little more composed, Ready observed: “Mr Seagrave, that they have seen us is certain, and what we must now do is to get our own boat out of the sand. We know the passage through the reefs, and they do not. I doubt if they will, however, venture to send a boat on shore, until the wind moderates a little. You see, sir, it is blowing up very strong just now.”“But you don’t think it will blow harder, Ready?”“I am sorry to say, sir, that I do. It looks very threatening to the southward, and until the gale is over, they will not venture near an island so surrounded with rocks. It would be very imprudent if they did. However, sir, a few hours will decide.”“But, surely,” said Mrs Seagrave, “even if it does blow, they will not leave the island without taking us off. They will come after the gale is over.”“Yes, madam, if they can, I do think they will; but God knows, some men have hard hearts, and feel little for the misery of others.”The brig had, in the meantime, kept away again, as if she was running in; but very soon afterwards she hauled to the wind, with her head to the northward, and stood away from the island.“She is leaving us,” exclaimed William, mournfully.“Hard-hearted wretches!” said Mr Seagrave, with indignation.“You are wrong to say that, sir,” replied Ready: “excuse me, Mr Seagrave, for being so bold; but the fact is, that if I was in command of that vessel, I should do just as they have done. The gale rises fast, and it would be very dangerous for them to remain where they now are. It does not at all prove that they intend to leave us; they but consult their own safety, and, when the gale is over, we shall, I trust, see them again.”No reply was made to Ready’s judicious remarks. The Seagraves only saw that the vessel was leaving them, and their hearts sank. They watched her in silence, and as she gradually diminished to the view, so did their hopes depart from them. The wind was now fierce, and a heavy squall, with rain, obscured the offing, and the vessel was no longer to be distinguished. Mr Seagrave turned to his wife, and mournfully offered her his arm. They walked away from the beach without speaking; the remainder of the party, with the exception of old Ready, followed them. Ready remained some time with his eyes in the direction where the vessel was last seen. At last he hauled down the ensign and flag, and, throwing them over his shoulder, followed the disconsolate party to the house.

As usual, Ready was the first up on the following morning, and having greeted Juno, who followed him out of the house, he set off on his accustomed rounds, to examine into the stock and their other possessions. He was standing in the garden at the point. First he thought that it would be necessary to get ready some sticks for the peas, which were now seven or eight inches out of the ground; he had proceeded a little farther, to where the calivances, or French haricot beans, had been sown, and had decided upon the propriety of hoeing up the earth round them, as they were a very valuable article of food, that would keep, and afford many a good dish during the rainy or winter season. He had gone on to ascertain if the cucumber seeds had shown themselves above-ground, and was pleased to find that they were doing well. He said to himself, “We have no vinegar, that I know of, but we can preserve them in salt and water, as they do in Russia; it will be a change, at all events;” and then he raised his eyes and looked out to the offing, and, as usual, scanned the horizon. He thought he saw a ship to the north-east, and he applied his telescope to his eye. He was not mistaken—it was a vessel.

The old man’s heart beat quick; he dropped his telescope on his arm, and fetched some heavy breaths before he could recover from the effect of this unexpected sight. After a minute, he again put his telescope to his eye, and then made her out to be a brig, under top-sails and top-gallant sails, steering directly for the island.

Ready walked to the rocky point, from which they fished, and sat down to reflect. Could it be that the vessel had been sent after them, or that she had by mere chance come among the islands? He decided after a short time that it must be chance, for none could know that they were saved, much less that they were on the island. Her steering towards the island must then be either that she required water or something else; perhaps she would alter her course and pass by them. “At all events,” thought the old man, “we are in the hands of God, who will, at his own time and in his own way, do with us as he thinks fit. I will not at present say anything to Mr and Mrs Seagrave. It would be cruel to raise hopes which might end in disappointment. A few hours will decide. And yet I cannot do without help—I must trust William.”

Ready rose, examined the vessel with his telescope, and then walked towards the house. William was up, and the remainder of the family were stirring.

“William,” said Ready to him, as they walked away from the house, “I have a secret to tell you, which you will at once see the necessity of not telling to anyone at present. A few hours will decide the question.” William readily gave his promise. “There is a vessel off the island; she may be the means of rescuing us, or she may pass without seeing us. It would be too cruel a disappointment to your father and mother, if the latter were the case.”

William stared at Ready, and for a moment could not speak, his excitement was so great.

“Oh, Ready, how grateful I am! I trust that we may be taken away, for you have no idea how my poor father suffers in silence—and so does my mother.”

“I know it, William, I know it, and it is natural; they do their best to control their yearnings, and they can do no more. But now we must be quick, and at work before breakfast. But stop, I will show you the vessel.”

Ready caught the vessel in the field of the telescope, which he leant against the trunk of a cocoa-nut, and William put his eye to the glass.

“Do you see her?”

“Oh yes, Ready, and she is coming this way.”

“Yes, she is steering right for the island. I will put the telescope down here, and we will go about our work.”

William and Ready went to the storehouse for the axe. Ready selected a very slight cocoa-nut tree nearest to the beach, which he cut down, and as soon as the top was taken off with the assistance of William he carried it down to the point.

“Now, William, go for a shovel and dig a hole here, that we may fix it up as a flag-staff. When all is ready, I will go for a small block and some rope for halyards to hoist up the flags as soon as the vessel is likely to see them. At breakfast-time, I shall propose that you and I get the boat out of the sand and examine her, and give Mr Seagrave some work indoors.”

“But the flags, Ready; they are round my mother’s bed. How shall we get them?”

“Suppose I say that it is time that the house should be well cleaned, and that the canvas hangings of the beds should be taken out to be aired this fine day. Ask your father to take the direction of the work while we dig out the boat; that will employ them all inside the house.”

“Yes, that will do, Ready.”

During breakfast-time, Ready observed that he intended to get the boat out of the sand, and that William should assist him.

“And what am I to do, Ready?” said Mr Seagrave.

“Why, sir, I think, now that the rains are over, it would not be a bad thing if we were to air bedding, as they say at sea; it is a fine, warm day; and if all the bedding was taken out of the house and well shaken, and then left out to air, it would be a very good job over; for you see, sir, I have thought more than once that the house does smell a little close.”

“It will be a very good thing, Ready,” observed Mrs Seagrave; “and, at the same time, Juno and I will give the house a thorough cleaning and sweeping.”

“Had we not better have the canvas screens down, and air them too?”

“Yes,” replied Ready; “we had better air everything. We will assist in taking down the screens and flags, and spread them out to air, and then, if Mr Seagrave has no objection, we will leave him to superintend and assist Madam and Juno.”

“With all my heart,” replied Mr Seagrave. “We have done breakfast, and will begin as soon as you please.”

Ready and William took down the canvas screens and flags, and went out of the cottage with them; they spread out the canvas at some distance from the house, and then William went down to the beach with the flags, while Ready procured the block and small rope to hoist them up with.

Ready’s stratagem answered well. Without being perceived by those in the cottage, the flag-staff was raised, and fixed in the ground, and the flags all ready for hoisting; then Ready and William returned to the fuel-stack, and each carried down as much stuff as they could hold, that they might make a smoke to attract the notice of those on board of the vessel. All this did not occupy much more than an hour, during which the brig continued her course steadily towards the island. When Ready first saw her the wind was light, but latterly the breeze had increased very much, and at last the brig took in her top-gallant sails. The horizon behind the vessel, which had been quite clear, was now banked up with clouds, and the waves curled in white foam over the reefs of rocks extending from the island.

“The breeze is getting up strong, William,” said Ready, “and she will soon be down, if she is not frightened at the reefs, which she can see plainer now the water is rough, than she could before.”

“I trust she will not be afraid,” replied William. “How far do you think she is off now?”

“About five miles; not more. The wind has hauled round more to the southward, and it is banking up fast, I see. I fear that we shall have another smart gale; however, it won’t last long. Come, let us hoist the flags; we must not lose a chance; the flags will blow nice and clear for them to see them.”

William and Ready hoisted up the ensign first, and below it the flag, with the ship’s name, Pacific, in large letters upon it. “Now then,” said Ready, as he made fast the halyards, “let us strike a light and make a smoke; that will attract their notice.”

As soon as the cocoa-nut leaves were lighted, Ready and William threw water upon them, so as to damp them and procure a heavy column of smoke. The vessel approached rapidly, and they were watching her in silent suspense, when they perceived Mr and Mrs Seagrave, Juno carrying Albert, with Tommy and Caroline running down as fast as they could to the beach. The fact was, that Tommy, tired of work, had gone out of the house and walked towards the beach; there he perceived, first, the flags hoisted, and then he detected the vessel off the island. He immediately ran back to the house, crying out, “Papa! Mamma! Captain Osborn come back—come back in a big ship.” At this announcement, Mr and Mrs Seagrave ran out of the house, perceived the vessel and the flags flying, and ran as fast as they could down to where William and Ready were standing by the flag-staff.

“Oh! Ready, why did you not tell us this before?” exclaimed Mr Seagrave.

“I wish you had not known it now, sir,” replied Ready; “but, however, it can’t be helped; it was done out of kindness, Mr Seagrave.”

“Yes, indeed it was, papa.”

Mrs Seagrave dropped down on the rock, and burst into tears. Mr Seagrave was equally excited.

“Does she see us, Ready?” exclaimed he at last.

“No, sir, not yet, and I waited till she did, before I made it known to you,” replied Ready.

“She is altering her course, Ready,” said William.

“Yes, sir, she has hauled to the wind; she is afraid of coming too near to the reefs.”

“Surely she is not leaving us!” exclaimed Mrs Seagrave.

“No, madam; but she does not see us yet.”

“She does! she does!” cried William, throwing up his hat; “see, she hoists her ensign.”

“Very true, sir; she does see us. Thanks be to God!”

Mr Seagrave embraced his wife, who threw herself sobbing into his arms, kissed his children with rapture, and wrung old Ready’s hand. He was almost frantic with joy. William was equally delighted.

As soon as they were a little more composed, Ready observed: “Mr Seagrave, that they have seen us is certain, and what we must now do is to get our own boat out of the sand. We know the passage through the reefs, and they do not. I doubt if they will, however, venture to send a boat on shore, until the wind moderates a little. You see, sir, it is blowing up very strong just now.”

“But you don’t think it will blow harder, Ready?”

“I am sorry to say, sir, that I do. It looks very threatening to the southward, and until the gale is over, they will not venture near an island so surrounded with rocks. It would be very imprudent if they did. However, sir, a few hours will decide.”

“But, surely,” said Mrs Seagrave, “even if it does blow, they will not leave the island without taking us off. They will come after the gale is over.”

“Yes, madam, if they can, I do think they will; but God knows, some men have hard hearts, and feel little for the misery of others.”

The brig had, in the meantime, kept away again, as if she was running in; but very soon afterwards she hauled to the wind, with her head to the northward, and stood away from the island.

“She is leaving us,” exclaimed William, mournfully.

“Hard-hearted wretches!” said Mr Seagrave, with indignation.

“You are wrong to say that, sir,” replied Ready: “excuse me, Mr Seagrave, for being so bold; but the fact is, that if I was in command of that vessel, I should do just as they have done. The gale rises fast, and it would be very dangerous for them to remain where they now are. It does not at all prove that they intend to leave us; they but consult their own safety, and, when the gale is over, we shall, I trust, see them again.”

No reply was made to Ready’s judicious remarks. The Seagraves only saw that the vessel was leaving them, and their hearts sank. They watched her in silence, and as she gradually diminished to the view, so did their hopes depart from them. The wind was now fierce, and a heavy squall, with rain, obscured the offing, and the vessel was no longer to be distinguished. Mr Seagrave turned to his wife, and mournfully offered her his arm. They walked away from the beach without speaking; the remainder of the party, with the exception of old Ready, followed them. Ready remained some time with his eyes in the direction where the vessel was last seen. At last he hauled down the ensign and flag, and, throwing them over his shoulder, followed the disconsolate party to the house.

Back to IndexNext