As soon as Ready had executed his intentions, and had fed the animals,
he went to the cabin and called Mr Seagrave and William. With their
assistance the sheers were raised, and secured in their place; the boat
was then hooked on, but, as one person was required to bear it clear of
the davits and taffrail, they could not hoist it in.
"Master William, will you run down to Juno, and tell her to come on deck
to assist us--we must all work now?"
William soon returned with Juno, who was a strong girl; and, with her
assistance, they succeeded in getting the boat in.
The boat was turned over, and Ready commenced his work; while Mr
Seagrave, at his request, put the pitch-pot on the galley fire, all
ready for pitching the canvas when it was nailed on. It was not till
dinner-time that Ready, who had worked hard, could patch up the boat; he
then payed the canvas and the seams which he had caulked with pitch both
inside and out.
"I think we shall do now, sir," said Ready; "we'll drag her to the
gangway and launch her. It's fortunate for us that they did clear away
the gunnel, as we shall have no trouble."
A rope was made fast to the boat, to hold her to the ship: she was then
launched over the gunnel by the united exertions of Mr Seagrave and
Ready, and to their great satisfaction she appeared to leak very little.
"Now, sir," said Ready, "what shall we do first--take some things on
shore, or some of the children?"
"What do you say, Ready?"
"I think as the water is as smooth as glass, and we can land anywhere,
you and I had better go first to reconnoitre,--it is not two hundred
yards to the beach, and we shall lose but little time."
"Very well, Ready, I will first run down and tell my wife."
"And, in the meanwhile, I'll put the sail into the boat, and one or two
other things."
Ready put the sail in, an axe, a musket, and some cord; then they both
got into the boat and pulled on shore.
When they landed, they found that they could see nothing of the interior
of the island, the cocoa-nut groves were so thick; but to their right
they perceived, at about a quarter of a mile off, a small sandy cove,
with brushwood growing in front of the cocoa-nut trees.
"That," said Ready, pointing to it, "must be our location. Let us get
into the boat again and pull to it."
In a few minutes they arrived at the cove; the water was shallow, and as
clear as crystal. Beneath the boat's bottom they could see beautiful
shells, and the fish darting about in every direction.
The sand extended about forty yards from the water, and then commenced
the brushwood, which ran back about forty yards further, intermingled
with single cocoa-nut trees, until it joined the cocoa-nut grove. They
pulled the boat in and landed.
"What a lovely spot this is!" exclaimed Mr Seagrave; "and perhaps
mortal man has never yet visited it till now: those cocoa-nuts have
borne their fruit year after year, have died, and others have sprung up
in their stead; and here has this spot remained, perhaps for centuries,
all ready for man to live in, and to enjoy whenever he should come to
it."
"Providence is bountiful, Mr Seagrave," replied Ready, "and supplies
our wants when we least expect it. If you please we will walk a little
way into the wood: take the gun as a precaution, sir; not that there
appears to be much occasion for it--there is seldom anything wild on
these small islands, except a pig or two has been put on shore by
considerate Christians."
"Well, now that we are in the grove, Ready, what do you think?"
"I was looking for a place to fix a tent up for the present, sir, and I
think that on that little rise would be a very good place till we can
look about us and do better; but we have no time now, sir, for we have
plenty of trips to make before nightfall. If you please, we'll haul the
sail and other articles on to the beach, and then return on board."
As they were pulling the boat back, Ready said, "I've been thinking
about what is best, Mr Seagrave. Would Mrs Seagrave mind your leaving
her?--if not, I should say we should have Juno and William on shore
first, as they can be of use."
"I do not think that she will mind being left on board with William and
the children, provided that I return for her when she is to come on
shore herself with the baby."
"Well then, let William remain on board, if you please, sir. I'll land
you and Juno, Tommy, and the dogs, this time, for they will be a
protection in case of accidents. You and Juno can be doing something
while I return by myself for the other articles we shall require."
As soon as they arrived on board, Mr Seagrave went down to cheer his
wife with the account of what they had seen. While he was down below,
Ready had cast off the lashings of the two spars which had formed the
sheers, and dragging them forward, had launched them over the gunnel,
with lines fast to them, ready for towing on shore. In a few minutes
Juno and Tommy made their appearance on deck; Ready put some tools into
the boat, and a couple of shovels, which he brought up when he went for
the dogs, and once more they landed at the sandy cove. Tommy stared
about him a great deal, but did not speak, until he saw the shells lying
on the beach, when he screamed with delight, and began to pick them up
as fast as he could; the dogs barked and galloped about, overjoyed at
being once more on shore; and Juno smiled as she looked around her,
saying to Ready, "What a nice place!"
"Now, Mr Seagrave, I'll remain on shore with you a little. First,
we'll load the musket in case of need, and then you can put it out of
the way of Tommy, who fingers everything, I observe. We will take up
the sail between us. Juno, you can carry the tools; and then we can
come back again for the spars, and the rope, and the other things.
Come, Tommy, you can carry a shovel at all events, and that will make
you of some use."
Having taken all these things to the little knoll which Ready had
pointed out before, they returned for the spars; and in two trips they
had carried everything there, Tommy with the second shovel on his
shoulder, and very proud to be employed.
"Here are two trees which will answer our purpose pretty well," said
Ready, "as they are far enough apart: we must lash the spars up to them,
and then throw the sail over, and bring it down to the ground at both
ends; that will be a beginning, at all events; and I will bring some
more canvas on shore, to set up the other tent between these other
trees, and also to shut up the two ends of both of them; then we shall
have a shelter for Madam, and Juno, and the younger children, and
another for William, Tommy, and ourselves. Now, sir, I'll just help you
to lash the spars, and then I'll leave you to finish while I go on board
again."
"But how can we reach so high, Ready?"
"Why, sir, we can manage that by first lashing a spar as high as we can
conveniently reach, and then standing on that while we lash the other in
its proper place. I shall bring another spar on shore, that we may do
the same when we set up the other tent."
Having by this plan succeeded in lashing the spar high enough, and
throwing the sail over the spar, Ready and Mr Seagrave spread it out,
and found that it made a very good-sized tent.
"Now, sir, I'll return on board; in the meantime, if you can cut pegs
from the brush-wood to fasten the sail down to the ground, and then with
the shovel cover the bottom of it with sand to keep it down, it will be
close enough when it is all finished."
"I shall do very well," replied Mr Seagrave; "Juno can help me to pull
the canvas out tight when I am ready."
"Yes; and in the meantime, Juno, take a shovel, and level the inside of
the tent nice and smooth, and throw out all those old cocoa-nut leaves,
and look if you see any vermin lurking among them. Master Tommy, you
must not run away; and you must not touch the axes, they will cut you if
you do. It may be as well to say, Mr Seagrave, that should anything
happen, and you require my assistance, you had better fire off the gun,
and I will come on shore to you immediately."