Part 32 (1/2)
Maud laughed at my crestfallen expression, and I said, ”As soon as the wind abates I intend going in the boat to explore the island There must be a station somewhere, and men And shi+ps must visit the station Some Government must protect all these seals But I wish to have you coo with you,” was all she said
”It would be better if you reh of hardshi+p It is a miracle that you have survived And it won't be co in this rainy weather What you need is rest, and I should like you to re suspiciously akin to moistness dimmed her beautiful eyes before she dropped theoing with you,” she said in a low voice, in which there was just a hint of appeal
”I ht be able to help you a-” her voice broke,-”a little And if anything should happen to you, think ofvery careful,” I answered ”And I shall not go so far but what I can get back before night Yes, all said and done, I think it vastly better for you to re”
She turned and looked , but soft
”Please, please,” she said, oh, so softly
I stiffened myself to refuse, and shook my head Still she waited and looked at lad light spring into her eyes and knew that I had lost It was impossible to say no after that
The wind died down in the afternoon, and ere prepared to start the followingthe island from our cove, for the walls rose perpendicularly from the beach, and, on either side of the cove, rose frorey, but calm, and I ake early and had the boat in readiness
”Fool! Iht it was meet to arouse Maud; but this time I shouted in merriment as I danced about the beach, bareheaded, in mock despair
Her head appeared under the flap of the sail
”What now?” she asked sleepily, and, withal, curiously
”Coffee!” I cried ”What do you say to a cup of coffee? hot coffee? piping hot?”
”My!” she murmured, ”you startledestions”
”Watch athered a few dry sticks and chips These I whittled into shavings or split into kindling Froe, and fro the wads from the latter with my knife, I emptied the powder on a flat rock Next I pried the primer, or cap, from the shell, and laid it on the rock, in the midst of the scattered powder All was ready Maud still watched fro the paper in my left hand, I sht There was a puff of white se of the paper was alight
Maud clapped her hands gleefully ”Prometheus!” she cried
But I was too occupied to acknowledge her delight The feeble flath and live I fed it, shaving by shaving, and sliver by sliver, till at last it was snapping and crackling as it laid hold of the smaller chips and sticks To be cast away on an island had not entered intoutensils of any sort; but Ithe boat, and later, as we consuoods, we accu vessels
I boiled the water, but it was Maud who ood it was! My contribution was canned beef fried with crumbled sea-biscuit and water The breakfast was a success, and we sat about the fireexplorers should have done, sipping the hot black coffee and talking over our situation
I was confident that we should find a station in so Sea were thus guarded; but Maud advanced the theory-to prepare me for disappointment, I do believe, if disappointment were to come-that we had discovered an unknown rookery She was in very good spirits, however, and rave one
”If you are right,” I said, ”then we must prepare to winter here Our food will not last, but there are the seals They go away in the fall, so I in to lay in a supply of ather Also we shall try out seal fat for lighting purposes Altogether, we'll have our hands full if we find the island uninhabited Which we shall not, I know”
But she was right We sailed with a bealasses and landing occasionally, without finding a sign of human life Yet we learned that ere not the first who had landed on Endeavour Island High up on the beach of the second cove from ours, we discovered the splintered wreck of a boat-a sealer's boat, for the rowlocks were bound in sennit, a gun-rack was on the starboard side of the bow, and in white letters was faintly visible Gazelle No 2 The boat had lain there for a long time, for it was half filled with sand, and the splintered wood had that weather-worn appearance due to long exposure to the eleun and a sailor's sheath-knife broken short across and so rusted as to be alot away,” I said cheerfully; but I felt a sinking at the heart and seemed to divine the presence of bleached bones somewhere on that beach