Mr Seagrave and Ready then continued their way along the beach, until
they arrived at the point which the latter had considered as a
convenient place to make the garden. They found a sufficiency of mould;
and as the point was narrow at its joining on to the mainland, no great
length of enclosure would be required.
"You see, sir," said Ready, "we can wait till after the rainy season is
over before we put up the fence, and we can prepare it in the meantime,
when the weather will permit us to work. The seeds and potatoes will
not come up until after the rains are finished; so all we have to do is
to dig up the ground, and put them in as fast as we can. We cannot make
a large garden this year; but our potatoes we must contrive to get in,
if we cannot manage anything else."
"If we have no fence to make," replied Mr Seagrave, "I think we shall
be able to clear away quite enough ground in a week to put in all that
we require."
"The first job will be to pull up the small brushwood," said Ready, "and
turn up the ground; the larger plants we must leave, if we have not
time. Tommy might be of some use here in taking away the shrubs as you
pull them up; but we had better now go on to the grove, and choose the
spot for cutting down the trees. I have made my mark."
Ready and Mr Seagrave proceeded in the direction which the former had
pointed out, until they arrived at a spot on a rising ground, where the
trees were so thick that it was not very easy to pass through them.
"There is the place," said Ready. "I propose to cut all the timber we
want for the houses out of this part of the grove, and to leave an open
square place, in the centre of which we will build our storerooms. You
see, sir, if necessary, with a very little trouble we might turn it into
a place of protection and defence, as a few palisades here and there
between the trees would make it, what they call in the East Indies, a
stockade."
"Very true, but I trust we shall not require it for such a purpose."
"I hope so too, but there is nothing like being prepared; however, we
have plenty to do before we can think of that. Now, sir, as dinner is
ready, suppose we return, and after dinner we will both commence our
tasks."
Juno and William returned to the dinner which Mrs Seagrave had
prepared. They were both very warm with their work, which was very
hard, but very eager to finish their task. After dinner was over, Mrs
Seagrave requested her husband, as he was about to go down to the point,
with the spade and a small hatchet in his hand, to take Tommy with him,
as she had a great deal to do, and could not watch him as well as the
baby and Caroline. So Mr Seagrave took Tommy by the hand, and led him
to the point, and made him sit down close to him while he cleared away
the brushwood.
Mr Seagrave worked very hard, and when he had cut down and cleared a
portion of the ground, he made Tommy carry away to a little distance,
and pile in a heap, the bushes which he had cleared away. When Mr
Seagrave had cleared away a large piece of ground with his hatchet, he
then took his spade to dig at the roots and turn up the mould, leaving
Tommy to amuse himself. What Tommy did for about an hour, during which
Mr Seagrave worked very diligently, his father did not observe; but all
of a sudden he began to cry; and when his father asked him the reason,
he did not answer, but only cried the more, until at last he put his
hands to his stomach, and roared most lustily. As he appeared to be in
very great pain, his father left off work, and led him up to the tent,
when Mrs Seagrave came out, alarmed at his cries. Ready, who had heard
Tommy screaming for so long a while, thought that there might be
something serious, and left his work to ascertain the cause. When he
heard what had passed, he said:
"Depend upon it, the child has eaten something which has made him ill.
Tell me, Tommy, what did you eat when you were down there?"
"Berries," roared Tommy.
"I thought as much, ma'am," said Ready. "I must go and see what the
berries were." And the old man hastened down to the place where Mr
Seagrave had been at work. In the meantime Mrs Seagrave was much
alarmed lest the child should have poisoned himself, and Mr Seagrave
went to search among the medicines for some castor-oil.
Ready returned just as he came back to the tent with the bottle of
castor-oil, and he told Ready that he was about to give Tommy a dose.
"Well, sir," replied Ready, who had a plant in his hand, "I don't think
you should give him any, for it appears to me that he has taken too much
already. This is, if I recollect right, the castor-oil plant, and here
are some of the castor-oil beans which Master Tommy has been eating.
Tell me, Tommy, did you eat them?"
"Yes," cried Tommy.
"I thought so: give him a little warm drink, ma'am, and he'll soon be
better: it will teach him not to eat berries or beans again."
What Ready said was true; nevertheless Master Tommy was very ill for the
whole of the day, and was put early to bed.