Part 11 (1/2)

”That is all right,” the sailor said; ”now I think we had better go back to the boat again till we get daylight. It would never do to walk across these rocks in the dark with naked feet. It was bad enough when it was light, but we should cut our feet to pieces if we tried it now. There is no hurry about it, as we are within half a mile of the wreck. We know that everything is pretty well smashed up that went ash.o.r.e there, so that we are far more likely to find something on the sands, and we shall see the _Tiger_ just as well from where the canoe is as from the wreck. The first thing to look for is water. I don't say that the cocoa-nuts would not supply us for another week; but if we are going to stay here long-and for my part I don't see anything better to do-we must either find another cocoa-nut grove or water.”

”I don't think we are likely to find another cocoa-nut grove,” Stephen said.

”Why not, sir? They have them mostly on all these islands.”

”That is true,” Stephen agreed; ”but I should say it is just because there are none here that there are no villages anywhere about.”

”I did not think of that, sir; yes, I expect you are right; and in that case it is still more necessary to hunt for water. If we can find it within four or five miles either side of the wreck we are all right, because the _Tiger_ could not come here without our seeing her; but I should not like to be much further away. However, most of these islands have water, especially when they are hilly; and as we have been lucky so far, it will be hard if we don't find a stream of some sort along ten miles of sh.o.r.e.”

The next morning they set out on a tour of exploration. They were not long before they came upon many relics of the wreck: planks, spars, and remains of the cargo. They lay nearly two hundred yards from the sh.o.r.e, and bore no signs of the rough usage that had marked the wreckage among the rocks.

”Hurrah! there are some tubs,” Joyce shouted, as they reached the top of a low sand-hill. They broke into a run, and were soon standing beside six casks, lying a short distance apart.

”Salt junk,” Wilc.o.x said, as they looked at the cask they first came to, ”and no bad thing either; cocoa-nuts are good for drink, but that soft, pulpy stuff inside don't go very far; and after a chap has been eating it for a week he wants to get his teeth into something more substantial. This ain't no good,” he went on, giving a kick at the next cask, ”unless the natives come up and we open trade with them. These are goods they s.h.i.+pped at Calcutta. This is better,” he went on, as he looked at the next; ”this 'ere is biscuits; and with biscuits and salt junk, and a banana now and then, no man need grumble.”

The next two were, like the second, filled with trade articles; the last was a cask of flour.

”Well, we can stop here a couple of months if we like, gentlemen, if we can but hit upon water; for that, of course, we must look beyond the line of sand; a river can cut through it, but a little stream would find its way underneath the sand to the sea.”

As they approached the rocky ground, which rose like a ridge, and could be traced far inland, the sailor said: ”This is the most likely spot. Any water that came down from the hills would run along at the foot of these rocks to the sea.”

”I think that you are right, Wilc.o.x; the foliage looks brighter along by the rocks than it does anywhere else, and I should not be surprised if we found a stream there.”

As they approached the rocks within a hundred yards, the hope became a certainty, for there was some growth of verdure. They quickened their steps and ran forward, but, to their disappointment, there was no stream, however small.

”We have got to dig for it,” Wilc.o.x said; ”there is water not far down, I will swear.”

The soil was chiefly composed of sand, and they set to work with their hands to sc.r.a.pe a hole in it. They had got but a foot down when the soil became moist, and a foot lower water began to ooze out of the sides into the hole.

”Thank G.o.d for that!” the sailor said reverently, ”that makes it safe.

This evening, when it gets cool, we will bring the paddles here, and will soon dig a hole for our well. We can't do better than roll a tub here and sink it in the hole, and bring the canoe to the edge of that rock down by the sea, then we have only got to chop some boughs and make a sort of hut, and we shall be as comfortable as if we were back home.”

”It is curious finding a rock here,” Joyce said presently, as they made their way over to it. ”For all the distance that we have gone along by the sea, it has been nothing but sand: it is rum black-looking stuff, too.”

”I expect it is lava,” Stephen said. ”There are lots of volcanoes among these islands, and I believe that high hill is one, and that if we were to climb up we should find there was a crater there. You see we are just in a line with that gap, and this rock goes exactly in that direction. I expect that in some eruption ever so long ago, the crater split there, and the lava poured down here into the sea.”

”Very likely that is it, Stephen; it must have been a long time ago anyhow, you see there are big trees growing on it.”

In ten minutes they arrived at the spot where the wreck had been; her keel remained there, but with this exception she had entirely disappeared. They took another look among the wreckage, cut off some lengths of rope and coiled them up, and also a sail, which the sailor p.r.o.nounced to be a top-gallant sail. This they rolled up, fastened it by short pieces of rope, and then, the sailor taking the middle and the lads the ends on their shoulders, they carried it to what they already called their ”well”.

”We will set to work at once to rig up a tent under the shade of these trees,” the sailor said, ”it will keep the night mists off better than branches; and we will bring another sail over to cover the ground and keep the mist from rising inside.”

”What are we going to cook our junk in?” Joyce asked suddenly.

The sailor looked at his companion in dismay. ”Dash my timbers,” he said, ”I never thought of that; that is a go. Perhaps we can manage it in the native way: they boil things by putting water into a big sh.e.l.l, and dropping hot stones into it until it boils. We have not got any sh.e.l.ls, but we might find a hollow in the rock that will hold water.”

”That is all very well, Wilc.o.x; but how are we going to heat our stones?”

”You have done me there, Master Stephen,” the sailor said, in a tone of utter disgust; ”we have not got flint or tinder.”