William slept as sound as if he had been on shore in England upon a soft
bed in a warm room--so did old Ready; and when they awoke the next
morning it was broad daylight. The poor dogs were suffering for want of
water, and it pained William to see them with their tongues out, panting
and whining as they looked up to him. "Now, William," said Ready,
"shall we take our breakfast before we start, or have a walk first?"
"Ready, I cannot really drink a drop of water myself, and I am thirsty,
unless you give a little to these poor dogs."
"I pity the poor dumb creatures as much as you do, Master Willy; it is
kindness to ourselves and them too, which makes me refuse it to them.
However, if you like, we will take a walk first, and see if we can find
any water. Let us first go to the little dell to the right, and if we
do not succeed, we will try farther on where the water has run down
during the rainy season." William was very glad to go, and away they
went, followed by the dogs, Ready having taken up the spade, which he
carried on his shoulder. They soon came to the dell, and the dogs put
their noses to the ground, and snuffed about. Ready watched them; at
last they lay down panting.
"Let us go on," said Ready, thoughtfully; they went on to where the run
of water appeared to have been--the dogs snuffed about more eagerly than
before.
"You see, William, these poor dogs are now so eager for water, that if
there is any, they will find it out where we never could. I don't
expect water above-ground, but there may be some below it. This beach
is hardly far enough from the water's edge, or I should try in the sand
for it."
"In the sand--but would it not be salt?" replied William.
"No, not if at a good distance from the sea-beach; for you see, William,
the sand by degrees filters the sea-water fresh, and very often when the
sand runs in a long way from the high-water mark, if you dig down, you
will find good fresh water, at other times it is a little brackish, but
still fit for use."
"Look, Ready, at Romulus and Remus--how hard they are digging with their
paws there in the hollow."
"Thanks to Heaven that they are! You don't know how happy you have made
me feel: for, to tell you the truth, I was beginning to be alarmed."
"But why do they dig?"
"Because there is water there, poor animals. Now you see the advantage
of having kept them in pain for a few hours; it is in all probability
the saving of all of us, for we must either have found water or quitted
this island. Now let us help the poor dogs with the spade, and they
shall soon be rewarded for their sufferings."
Ready walked quickly to where the dogs continued digging: they had
already got down to the moist earth, and were so eagerly at work, that
it was with difficulty he could get them out of his way to use his
spade. He had not dug two feet before the water trickled down, and in
four or five minutes the dogs had sufficient to plunge their noses in,
and to drink copiously.
"Look at them! how they enjoy it! I don't think any Israelite felt more
grateful when Moses struck the rock than I do now, William. This was
the one thing wanting, but it was the one thing indispensable. Now we
have everything we can wish for on this island, and if we are only
content, we may be happy--ay, much happier than are those who are
worrying themselves to heap up riches, not knowing who shall gather
them. See, the poor animals have had enough at last. Now, shall we go
back to breakfast?"
"Yes," replied William: "I shall enjoy it now, and have a good drink of
water myself."
"That is a plenteous spring, depend upon it," said Ready, as they walked
back to where they had slept and left their knapsacks; "but we must
clear it out further up among the trees, where the sun cannot reach it,
and then it will be cool, and not be dried up. We shall have plenty of
work for the next year at least, if we remain here. Where we are now
will be a capital spot to build our house on."
As soon as the breakfast was over, Ready said, "Now we must go down and
explore the other point, for you see, William, I have not yet found a
passage through the reef, and as our little boat must come round this
side of the island, it is at the point on this side that I must try to
find an entrance. When I was on the opposite point it did appear to me
that the water was not broken close to this point; and should there be a
passage we shall be very fortunate."
They soon arrived at the end of the point of land, and found that Ready
was not wrong in his supposition; the water was deep, and there was a
passage many yards wide. The sea was so smooth, and the water so clear,
that they could see down to the rocky bottom, and watched the fish as
they darted along. "Look there!" said Willy, pointing out about fifty
yards from the beach, "a great shark, Ready!"
"Yes, I see him, sir," replied Ready: "there's plenty of them here,
depend upon it; and you must be very careful how you get into the water:
the sharks always keep to the leeward of the island, and for one where
Juno bathed your little brother, you will find fifty here. I'm quite
satisfied now, William, we shall do very well, and all we have now to
think of is moving away from the other side of the island as fast as
possible."
"Shall we go back to-day?"
"Yes, I think so, for we shall only be idle here. It is not twelve
o'clock, I should think, and we shall have plenty of time. I think we
had better start at once; we will leave the spade and axe here, for it
is no use taking them back again. The musket I will take along. But
first let us go back and look at the spring, and see how the water
flows."
As they walked along the edge of the sandy beach they found the
sea-birds hovering close to them: all of a sudden a large shoal of fish
threw themselves high and dry on the sand, and they were followed by
several of a larger size, which also lay flapping on the beach, while
the sea-birds, darting down close to the feet of William and Ready, and
seizing up the fish, flew away with them.
"How very strange!" said William, surprised.
"Yes, sir; but you see how it is--the small fish were chased by the
larger ones, which are bonettas, and in their fright ran upon the beach.
These bonettas were so anxious to catch them, that they came on shore
also, and then the gannets picked them all up."
They found the hole which Ready had dug quite full of water, and,
tasting it, it proved very sweet and good. Overjoyed at this discovery,
they covered up the articles they agreed to leave behind them with some
boughs under the notched cocoa-nut trees, and, calling the dogs, set off
on their journey back again to the cove.