I awoke the next morning quite recovered from my illness of the day
before, and was out of the cabin before Mrs Reichardt, who still
remained behind the screen which she had put up after I had gone to
sleep. It was a beautiful morning, the water was smooth, and merely
rippled with a light breeze, and the sun shone bright. I felt well and
happy. I lighted a fire to broil the fish for breakfast, as there was a
sufficiency left, and then got my fishing-lines ready to catch some
larger fish to re-inhabit my pond at the bathing-pool. Mrs Reichardt
came out of the cabin and found me playing with Nero.
"Good morning, dear mother," said I, for I felt most kindly towards her.
"Good morning, my dear boy," replied she. "Are you quite well?"
"Quite well; and I have got my lines all ready; for I have been thinking
that until the birds come, we must live on fish altogether, and we can
only take them in fine weather like this; so we must not lose such a
day."
"Certainly not. As soon as we have breakfasted, we will go down and
fish. I can fish very well, I am used to it. We must both work now;
but first go for your Bible, that we may read a little."
I did so, and after she had read a chapter, she prayed, and I knelt by
her side; then we breakfasted, and as soon as we had breakfasted, we set
off to the bathing-pool.
"Do you know if they left anything behind them, Frank?"
"Yes," replied I, "they left some oars, I believe, and a long line, and
we have the shovel and the hammer, and the boat's small sail, up at the
cabin."
"Well, we shall see very soon," replied she, as we went down the path.
When we arrived at the bathing-pool, the first thing that met my eyes
made me leap with joy. "Oh! Mother! Mother! They've left the iron
pot; I did so long for it; and as I lay awake this morning, I thought
that if I prayed for anything, it would be for the iron pot. I was
tired of dried birds, and they ate so different when they were boiled up
in the pot with potatoes."
"I am equally glad, Frank, for I do not like victuals uncooked; but now
let us first see what else they have thrown out of the boat."
"Why, they have put on shore three of the little casks of water," said
I; "they took them all on board."
"They have so, I suppose, because the boat was too heavy, and they would
not part with the liquor. Foolish men, they will now not have more than
six days' water, and will suffer dreadfully."
We then looked round the rocks and found that they had left the iron
kettle, three breakers, five oars, and a harpoon and staffs; a
gang-board, a whale-line of 200 fathoms, an old saw, a bag of
broad-headed nails, and two large pieces of sheet-iron.
"That saw may be very useful to us," said Mrs Reichardt, "especially as
you have files in your chests. Indeed, if we want them, we may convert
one half of the saw into knives."
"Into knives! How?"
"I will show you; and these pieces of sheet-iron I could use again. You
see the sheet-iron was put on to repair any hole which might be made in
the boat, and they have thrown it out, as well as the hammer and nails.
I wonder at John Gough permitting it."
"I heard them quarrelling with him as I came out yesterday to fetch you
down; they would not mind what he said."
"No, or we should not have been left here," replied she; "John Gough was
too good a man to have allowed it, if he could have prevented it. That
sheet-iron will be very useful. Do you know what for? To broil fish
on, or anything else. We must turn up the corners with the hammer. But
now we must lose no more time, but fish all day long, and not think of
eating till supper-time."
Accordingly we threw out our lines, and the fish taking the bait freely,
we soon hauled in more than a dozen large fish, which I put into the
bathing-pool.
"What use can we make of that long line which they have left?"
"A good many; but the best use we can make of it, is to turn it into
fishing-lines, when we require new ones."
"But how can we do that, it is so thick and heavy?"
"Yes, but I will show you how to unlay it, and then make it up again.
Recollect, Frank, that I have been the wife of a Missionary, and have
followed my husband wherever he went; sometimes we have been well off,
sometimes as badly off as you and I are now--for a Missionary has to go
through great dangers, and great hardships, as you would acknowledge if
you ever heard my life, or rather that of my husband."
"Won't you tell it to me?"
"Yes, perhaps I will, some day or another; but what I wish to point out
to you now is, that being his wife, and sharing his danger and
privation, I have been often obliged to work hard and to obtain my
living as I could. In England, women do little except in the house, but
a Missionary's wife is obliged to work with the men, and as a man very
often, and therefore learns to do many things of which women in general
are ignorant. You understand now?"
"Oh yes. I have thought already that you appear to know more than
Jackson did."
"I should think not; but Jackson was not fond of work I expect, and I
am. And now, Frank, you little thought that when you so tardily went to
work the other day to plant potatoes for the benefit of any one that
might hereafter come to the island, that you were planting for yourself,
and would reap the benefit of your own kind act; for if you had not
assisted, of course I could not have done it by myself: so true it is,
that even in this world you are very often rewarded for a good action."
"But are not you always?"
"No, my child, you must not expect that; but if not rewarded in this
world, you will be rewarded in the next."
"I don't understand that."
"I suppose that you hardly can, but I will explain all that to you, if
God spare my life; but it must be at a more seasonable time."
We continued fishing till late in the afternoon, by which time had taken
twenty-eight large fish, about seven to nine pounds weight; Mrs
Reichardt then proposed that we should leave off, as we had already
provision for a fortnight.
I hauled out one more fish, which she took with her to cook for our
supper, and having coiled up my lines, I then commenced, as she had told
me to do, carrying up the articles left by the boat's crew at the
bathing-pool. The first thing I seized upon was the coveted iron
kettle; I was quite overjoyed at the possession of this article, and I
had good reason to be. In my other hand I carried the saw and the bag
of nails. As soon as I had deposited them at the cabin, I went down
again, and before supper was ready I had brought up everything except
the three breakers of water, which I left where they were, as we did not
want them for present use, whatever we might hereafter. We were both
rather tired, and were glad to go to bed after we had taken our supper.