Juno had taken the children down to the cove, and, walking out into the
water up to her knees, had dipped them in all over, as the shortest way
of washing them, and had then dressed them and left them with their
mother, while she assisted William to get the cups and saucers and
plates for breakfast. Everything was laid out nice and tidy between the
two tents, and then William proposed that he should awaken Ready.
"Yes, my boy, you may as well now--he will want his breakfast."
William went and pushed Ready on the shoulder. "Ready, have you had
sleep enough?" said William, as the old man sat up.
"Yes, William. I have had a good nap, I expect; and now I will get up,
and see what I can get for breakfast for you all."
"Do," replied William, laughing.
Ready was soon dressed, for he had only taken off his jacket when he lay
down. He put it on, and came out of the tent; when, to his
astonishment, he found the whole party (Mrs Seagrave having come out
with the children) standing round the breakfast, which was spread on the
ground.
"Good-morning, Ready!" said Mrs Seagrave, extending her hand. Mr
Seagrave also shook hands with him.
"You have had a good long sleep, Ready," said Mr Seagrave, "and I would
not waken you after your fatigue of yesterday."
"I thank you, sir; and I am glad to see that Madam is so well: and I am
not sorry to see that you can do so well without me," continued Ready,
smiling.
"Indeed, but we cannot, I'm afraid," replied Mrs Seagrave; "had it not
been for you and your kindness, where should we have been now?"
"We can get a breakfast ready without you," said Mr Seagrave; "but
without you, I think we never should have required another breakfast by
this time. But we will tell Ready all we have done while we eat our
breakfast: now, my dear, if you please." Mrs Seagrave then read a
chapter from the Bible, and afterwards they all knelt down while Mr
Seagrave offered up a prayer.
While they were at breakfast, William told Ready how they had gone on
board, and what they had brought on shore, and he also mentioned how
Juno had dipped all the children in the sea.
"But Juno must not do that again," replied Ready, "until I have made all
safe; you know that there are plenty of sharks about these islands, and
it is very dangerous to go into the water."
"Oh, what an escape they have had!" cried Mrs Seagrave, shuddering.
"It's very true," continued Ready; "but they don't keep so much to the
windward of the islands where we are at present; but still that smooth
cove is a very likely place for them to come into; so it's just as well
not to go in again, Juno, until I have time to make a place for you to
bathe in in safety. As soon as we can get as much as we want from the
ship, we must decide whether we shall stay here or not."
"Stay here or not, Ready!--what do you mean?"
"Why, we have not yet found any water, and that is the first necessary
of life--if there is no water on this side of the island, we must pitch
our tents somewhere else."
"That's very true," replied Mr Seagrave; "I wish we could find time to
explore a little."
"So we can, sir; but we must not lose this fine weather to get a few
things from the ship. We had better go now. You and William can remain
on board to collect the things, and I will land them on the beach for
Juno to bring up."
The whole day was spent in landing every variety of article which they
thought could be useful. All the small sails, cordage, twine, canvas,
small casks, saws, chisels, and large nails, and elm and oak plank, were
brought on shore before dinner. After they had taken a hearty dinner,
the cabin tables and chairs, all their clothes, some boxes of candles,
two bags of coffee, two of rice, two more of biscuits, several pieces of
beef and pork and bags of flour, some more water, the grindstone, and
Mrs Seagrave's medicine-chest were landed. When Ready came off again,
he said, "Our poor boat is getting very leaky, and will not take much
more on shore without being repaired; and Juno has not been able to get
half the things up--they are too heavy for one person. I think we shall
do pretty well now, Mr Seagrave; and we had better, before it is dark,
get all the animals on shore. I don't much like to trust them to swim
on shore, but they are awkward things in a boat. We'll try a pig, at
all events; and while I get one up, do you and William tie the legs of
the fowls, and put them into the boat; as for the cow, she cannot be
brought on shore, she is still lying down, and, I expect, won't get up
again any more; however, I have given her plenty of hay, and if she
don't rise, why I will kill her, and we can salt her down."
Ready went below, and the squealing of the pig was soon heard; he came
on deck with it hanging over his back by the hind legs, and threw it
into the sea over the gunnel: the pig floundered at first; but after a
few seconds, turned its head away from the ship and swam for the shore.
"He goes ashore straight enough," said Ready, who, with Mr Seagrave and
William, was watching the animal; but a minute afterwards, Ready
exclaimed:
"I thought as much--we've lost him!"
"How?" replied Mr Seagrave.
"D'ye see that black thing above water pushing so fast to the animal?--
that's the back fin of a shark, and he will have the poor thing--there,
he's got him!" said Ready, as the pig disappeared under the water with a
heavy splash. "Well, he's gone; better the pig than your little
children, Mr Seagrave."
"Yes, indeed, God be praised!--that monster might have been close to
them at the time that Juno took them into the water."
"He was not far off; I reckon," replied Ready. "We'll go down now and
tie the legs of the other four pigs, and bring them up; with what's
already in the boat they will be a good load."
As soon as the pigs were in the boat, Ready sculled it on shore, while
Mr Seagrave and William brought up the goats and sheep ready for the
next trip. Ready soon returned. "Now this will be our last trip for
to-day, and, if I am any judge of the weather, our last trip for some
days; it is banking up very thick in the offing. This trip we'll be
able to put into the boat a bag of corn for the creatures, in case we
require it, and then we may say good-bye to the ship for a day or two at
least."
They then all got into the boat, which was very deeply laden, for the
corn was heavy, but they got safe on shore, although they leaked very
much. Having landed the goats and sheep, William led them up to the
tent, where they remained very quietly; the pigs had run away, and so
had the fowls.
"That's what I call a good day's work, Mr Seagrave," said Ready; "the
little boat has done its duty well; but we must not venture in her again
until I have put her into a little better condition."
They were not at all sorry, after their hard day's work, to find that
Juno had prepared coffee for them; and while they were drinking it, they
narrated to Mrs Seagrave the tragically death of the poor pig by the
shark. Poor Juno appeared quite frightened at the danger which the
children had been in, even now that it was all over.
"We shall have plenty to do here to-morrow," observed Mr Seagrave, "in
getting things into their places."
"We shall have plenty to do for some time, I expect," replied Ready.
"In two months, or thereabouts, we shall have the rainy season come on,
and we must be under cover before that time, if we possibly can."
"What's the first thing we must do, Ready?" inquired Mr Seagrave.
"To-morrow we had better fix up another tent or two, to stow away all
the articles we have brought on shore: that will be one good day's work;
we shall then know where to lay our hands upon everything, and see what
we want."
"That's very true; and what shall we do then?"
"Why then, sir, I think we must make a little expedition to explore the
island, and find out where we must build our house."
"Can we build a house?" said William.
"Oh, yes, sir, and with more ease than you would think. There's no tree
so valuable as the cocoa-nut tree; and the wood is so light that we can
easily move it about."
"Why, what are the great merits of the cocoa-nut tree?" said Mrs
Seagrave.
"I'll tell you, madam: in the first place, you have the wood to build
the house with; then you have the bark with which you can make ropes and
lines, and fishing-nets if you please; then you have the leaves for
thatching your house; then you have the fruit, which, as a nut, is good
to eat, and very useful in cooking; and in the young nut is the milk,
which is also very wholesome; then you have the oil to burn, and the
shell to make cups of, if you haven't any, and then you can draw toddy
from the tree, which is very pleasant to drink when fresh, but will make
you tipsy if it is kept too long. There is no tree which yields so many
useful things to man, for it supplies him with almost everything."
"At all events, we've plenty of them," said William.
"Yes, William, there's no want of them; and I am glad of it, for had
there been but few, I should not have liked to destroy them. People
might be wrecked here, as well as ourselves, and without the good
fortune that we have had in getting so many necessaries on shore; and
they might be obliged to depend wholly upon the cocoa-nut trees for
their support."