The next morning was fine, and as soon as breakfast was over, they took
the wheels down to the turtle-pond, and Ready having speared one of the
largest by means of a pike with a barb to it, which he had made on
purpose, they hauled it on shore, slung it under the wheels, and took it
up to the house. Having killed the turtle, and cut it up, Juno, under
the directions of Ready, chose such portions as were required for the
soup; and when the pot was on the fire, Ready, Mr Seagrave, and William
set off with the cross-cut saw and hatchets, to commence felling the
cocoa-nut trees for the building of the outhouse, which was to hold
their stores, as soon as they could be brought round from the other side
of the island.
"I mean this to be our place of refuge in case of danger, sir," observed
Ready; "and therefore I have selected this thick part of the wood, as it
is not very far from the house, and by cutting the path to it in a
zigzag, it will be quite hidden from sight; and we must make the path
just wide enough to allow the wheels to pass, and stump up the roots of
the trees which we are obliged to cut down, otherwise the stumps would
attract attention."
"I agree with you, Ready," replied Mr Seagrave; "there is no saying
what may happen."
"You see, sir, it is often the custom for the natives, in this part of
the world, to come in their canoes from one island to another, merely to
get cocoa-nuts. I can't say that the other islands near us are
inhabited, but still it is probable, and we cannot tell what the
character of the people may be. I tell you this, but we had better not
say a word to Mrs Seagrave, as it may distress her."
Mr Seagrave agreed, and Ready continued:
"We are now near the spot, sir. You see, when we have got over this
hill, where the trees are so very thick, the fall in the ground will
assist in the concealment of the building. I should say we are very
near right where we now stand."
"How far are we now from the house? We must not be too distant."
"I reckon we are not 150 yards in a straight line, although the road
will, by its turning, make it double the distance."
"Then I think this spot will do very well."
"I'll just mark out the trees which are to stand, Mr Seagrave, and
those which are to be cut down, so as to leave about four feet of stump
standing."
As soon as they had planned the building, the axes and saw were in full
use, and tree after tree fell one upon the other. They worked hard till
dinner-time, and were not sorry at the prospect of sitting down to a
rich mess of turtle-soup.
"My dear William, and you too, Mr Seagrave, how very warm you are!"
said Mrs Seagrave; "you must not work so hard."
"Cutting down trees is very warm work, mother," replied William, "and
hard work will never hurt any one, especially when he dines off
turtle-soup. Why, Tommy, what's the matter with you?"
"Tommy and I are at variance," replied Mrs Seagrave. "I had my thimble
this morning, and had commenced my sewing, when I was called out by
Juno, and Caroline went with me, and Tommy was left in the house. When
I came back I found him outside, and on going back to my work, there was
no thimble to be found; I asked him if he had touched it, and his answer
was that he would look for it. He did look, and said he could not find
it; I have asked him several times if he took it away, and his only
answer is that he will find it by and by."
"Tommy, did you take the thimble?" said Mr Seagrave, gravely.
"I'll find it by and by, papa."
"That's not an answer. Did you take the thimble?"
"I'll find it by and by, papa," said Tommy, whimpering.
"That's all the answer he will give me," said Mrs Seagrave.
"Well, then, he shall have no dinner till the thimble makes its
appearance," replied Mr Seagrave.
Master Tommy began to cry at this intelligence. Juno appeared with the
turtle-soup; and Tommy cried louder when they had said grace and
commenced their dinner. They were all very hungry, and William sent his
plate for another portion, which he had not commenced long before he put
his finger in his mouth and pulled out something.
"Why, mother, here's the thimble in my soup," cried William.
"No wonder he said he would find it by and by," said Ready, smiling; "he
meant to have fished it up, I suppose, from what was left of the soup
after dinner. Well, Mrs Seagrave, I don't mean to say that Tommy is a
good boy, but still, although he would not tell where the thimble was,
he has not told a falsehood about it."
"No, he has not," replied William. "I think, now that the thimble is
found, if he begs pardon, papa will forgive him."
"Tommy, come here," said Mr Seagrave. "Tell me why you put that
thimble into the soup?"
"I wanted to taste the soup. I wanted to fill the thimble; the soup
burnt my fingers, and I let the thimble drop in."
"Well, a thimbleful wasn't much, at all events," observed Ready. "And
why didn't you tell your mamma where the thimble was?"
"I was afraid mamma throw all the soup away, and then I get none for
dinner."
"Oh! that was it, was it? Well, sir, I said you should have no dinner
till the thimble was found, so, as it is found, you may have your
dinner; but if you ever refuse to answer a question again, I shall
punish you more severely."
Tommy was glad the lecture was over, and more glad to get his
turtle-soup; he finished one plate, and, as he asked for another, he
said, "Tommy won't put thimble in again; put tin pot in next time."
After dinner they went to their work again, and did not come in again
till sunset.
"The clouds are gathering fast, sir," observed Ready; "we shall have
rain to-night."
"I fear we shall; but we must expect it now, Ready."
"Yes, sir; and by and by we shall have it for days together."
"Ready," said Mrs Seagrave, "if you are not too tired, perhaps you will
go on with your history."
"Certainly, ma'am, if you wish it," replied Ready. "When I left off, I
was on board of the collier, bound to London. We had a very fair wind,
and a quick passage. I was very sick until we arrived in the Nore, and
then I recovered, and, as you may suppose, was astonished at the busy
scene, and the quantity of vessels which were going up and down the
river. But I did not like my captain; he was very severe and brutal to
the men; and the apprentice who was on board told me to run away, and
get into another vessel, and not to bind myself apprentice to this
captain, or I should be beat all day long, and be treated as bad as he
was. I knew this was the case, as the captain kicked and cuffed him
twenty times a day. The men said that he did not do so to me, for fear
I should refuse to be his apprentice; but that, as soon as my indentures
were signed, he would treat me in the same way.
"Well, I made up my mind that I would not remain in the collier; and, as
the captain had gone on shore, I had plenty of time to look about me.
There was a large ship, which was ready to sail, lying in the stream; I
spoke to two boys who were at the stairs in her boat, and they told me
that they were very comfortable on board, and that the captain wanted
two or three apprentices. I went on board with them, and offered
myself. The captain asked me a great many questions, and I told him the
truth, and why I did not like to remain in the collier. He agreed to
take me; and I went on shore with him, signed my indentures, and
received from him a sufficient supply of clothes; and, two days
afterwards, we sailed for Bombay and China."
"But you wrote to your mother, Ready, did you not?" said William.
"Yes, I did; for the captain desired me to do so, and he put a few lines
at the bottom to comfort her; but, unfortunately, the letter, which was
sent on shore by the cook, never arrived. Whether he dropped it, or
forgot it till after the ship sailed, and then tore it up, I do not
know; but, as I found out afterwards, it never did get to her hands."
"It was not your fault that the letter did not arrive safe," said Mrs
Seagrave.
"No, madam, that was not my fault; the fault had been committed before."
"Don't dwell any more upon that portion of your history, Ready; but tell
us what took place after you sailed for the East Indies."
"Be it so, if you please. I certainly was very smart and active for my
age, and soon became a great favourite on board, especially with the
lady passengers, because I was such a little fellow. We arrived safely
at Bombay, where our passengers went on shore, and in three weeks
afterwards we sailed down the straits for China. It was war time, and
we were very often chased by French privateers; but as we had a good
crew and plenty of guns, none of them ventured to attack us, and we got
safe to Macao, where we unloaded our cargo and took in teas. We had to
wait some time for a convoy, and then sailed for England. When we were
off the Isle of France, the convoy was dispersed in a gale; and three
days afterwards, a French frigate bore down upon us, and after
exchanging a few broadsides, we were compelled to haul down our colours.
A lieutenant was sent on board with forty men to take charge of us, for
we were a very rich prize to them. The captain and most of the crew
were taken on board of the frigate, but ten Lascars and the boys were
left in the Indiaman, to assist in taking her into the Isle of France,
which was at that time in the hands of the French. I thought it hard
that I was to go to prison at twelve years old; but I did not care much
about it, and very soon I was as gay and merry as ever. We had made the
island, and were on a wind beating up to the port, when a vessel was
seen to windward, and although I could not understand what the Frenchmen
said, I perceived that they were in a great fluster and very busy with
their spy-glasses, and Jack Romer, one of my brother 'prentices who had
been three years at sea, said to me, `I don't think we'll go to prison
after all, Ready, for that vessel is an English man-of-war, if I'm not
mistaken.' At last she came down within three miles of us, and hoisted
English colours and fired a gun. The Frenchmen put the ship before the
wind, but it was of no use; the man-of-war came up with us very fast,
and then the Frenchmen began to pack up their clothes, together with all
the other things which they had collected out of the property of our
captain and crew; a shot was fired which went clean over our heads, and
then they left the helm, and Jack Romer went to it, and, with my help,
hove the ship up in the wind; a boat came on board and took possession,
and so there was one escape, at all events.
"They sent a midshipman as prize-master on board of the vessel, and left
all us, who had been taken prisoners by the French, in the vessel, to
help to work her into port, as the captain did not wish to part with any
more men of his own than was necessary. We soon made sail for England,
quite delighted at having escaped a French prison, but, after all, we
only exchanged it for a Dutch one."
"How do you mean?"
"I mean that, two days afterwards, as we were rounding the Cape, another
French vessel bore down upon us, and captured us. This time we did not
find any friend in need, and were taken into Table Bay; for at that time
the Cape of Good Hope was in the possession of the Dutch, who, as well
as the French, were at war with England."
"How very unfortunate you were, Ready!" said Mrs Seagrave.
"Yes, madam, we were, and I can't say much in favour of a Dutch prison.
However, I was very young at that time, and did not care much--I had a
light heart."