Part 29 (2/2)

The boat was e people stood about, utterly incapable of thinking what to do next But Peter was not there--nor was Dorothy

CHAPTER XVI

WHAT THE TIDE BROUGHT IN

The stranded party was much in need of a leader till one of the crew volunteered the inforher up the coast there was a beche-de-et so with the rest of the world, and at least find food, of which every one was much in need Beche-de-mer fisheries are a feature of the coast, the beche-de-reat delicacy

This particular station ned by soines and Malays, aset However, they received the unhappy boatload quite civilly, proer should be dispatched across country to the nearest civilized centre, and provided a good meal of salt junk, sweet potatoes, rice, and tea

It did not matter to the exhausted men and women that they had to eat off tin plates, drink out of tin pannikins, and that the food was hly prepared and served than any they had ever tasted before

They camped under soreat caledy was to be seen In the distance there was the sail of an outgoing vessel--one of the beche-de-mer boats off on a several months' trip Besides that, there was just one tiny speck, not so far out as the sail, but much smaller

”It's a boat,” said the captain of the station, a swarthy Portuguese He had been watching the speck for soh a telescope ”So far as I canof the same build as yours”

There was instant excitement Could it be another of the shi+p's boats?

It seeh to discover that she did indeed belong to the ill-fated _Cora_ The crowd on the beach was speechless before she pulled in to shore and her worn-out occupants were disest the anxious watchers were Mrs Orban, with the fretful, feverish Becky in her arh they pressed forward and saw every man, woman, and child that landed, there was no comfort for them Miss Chase and Peter had not come

There was but one interpretation to put on this--they had never left the shi+p

”Any more boats likely to co

”No, lady,” said a sailor, shaking his head pitifully ”They only got one more out, and she was overcrowded and swa”

There is no describing the misery of the day that followed--the terrible blankness for htmare experience

The h way The sailors who had e so haerous on account of snakes and other disagreeables

Poor little Becky spent a day of weeping, for her wrist was very painful She needed all Mrs Orban's attention, which was perhaps fortunate for the poor lady--it gave her less ti over her terrible loss Nesta cried herself nearly silly, and then fell asleep in a hammock that a kindly old sailor prevailed on her to try

Eustace was too restless to settle down He spent his ti an to tell on him and make him feel sleepy he went away for a while, and paced up and down by the water's edge to rouse himself

However useless his presence, he could not bear to leave his et her and her sorrows in sleep when she could take no rest

”She , or perhaps she would like to speak,” he argued, ”or she may cry presently; and there mustn't be no one to co for herself, only water now and then to bandage Becky's wrist She took the food when it was given her, but ate very little Whatever she was thinking about, she did not speak of her trouble, but inquired after Nesta, and whether she and Eustace had had plenty of food and felt no symptoms of chill or fever

”I wish father or Bob would coood She is only thinking about taking care of us all the time; and I don't kno to look after her It would have been better if I had been drowned instead of Aunt Dorothy; she would have knohat to do”

He was doing one of his violent pacings up and down, and every turn backwards or forwards he had to change his course, for the tide was running in fast The sea fascinated hi it, especially nohen all sorts of bits of wreckage were beginning to float in--lengths of rope, a life-belt or two, and things belonging to the _Cora's_ deck Thewith the sailors and hauling things in to land

”Any bodies that went doill be carried by the under current into the next bay,” Eustace heard the beche-de- to the _Cora's_ crew

”Well, my name's not Swaine,” said an old sailor with a telescope, ”if that isn't one co now”

There was a thrill of excitement, an immediate demand for the telescope, as every one pressed forward