Part 18 (1/2)

The question of the children's clothes was beginning to vex the mind of the old sailor The climate was a suit of clothes in itself One wason Of course there were changes of teht Eternal summer, broken by torrential rains, and occasionally a storm, that was the clio about with nothing on

He took some of the striped flannel andon the sand, Ear tried on; he, with a mouthful of pins, and the houseith the scissors, needles, and thread by his side

”Turn to the lift a bit more,” he'd say, ”aisy does it Stidy so--musha! musha! where's thi till I get the stitches in behint Does that hang comfortable? well, an' you're the trouble an' all How's THAT? That's aisier, is it? Lift your fut till I see if it comes to your knees Now off with it, and lave s to it”

It was the mixture of a skirt and the idea of a sail, for it had ts of reef points; a enious idea, as it could be reefed if the child wanted to go paddling, or in windy weather

CHAPTER XVII

THE DEVIL'S CASK

One , about a week after the day on which the old sailor, to use his own expression, had bent a skirt on Eh the woods and across the sands running He had been on the hill-top

”Paddy,” he cried to the old -line, ”there's a shi+p!”

It did not take Mr button long to reach the hill-top, and there she was, beating up for the island Bluff-bowed and squab, the figure of an old Dutch woue off It was just after the rains, the sky was not yet quite clear of clouds; you could see showers away at sea, and the sea was green and foaear; there were the boats, the crow's nest, and all co her a whaler She was a shi+p, no doubt, but Paddy button would as soon have gone on board a shi+p manned by devils, and captained by Lucifer, as on board a South Sea whaleman He had been there before, and he knew

He hid the children under a large banyan, and told them not to stir or breathe till he came back, for the shi+p was ”the devil's own shi+p”; and if the ht them they'd skin them alive and all

Then he wam, and all the old truck in the shape of boots and old clothes, and stowed thehy He would have destroyed the house, if he could, but he hadn't tioon to the left, and ht over the water Then he cah the trees over the lagoon to see as to be seen

The as blowing dead on for the opening in the reef, and the old whale the sith her bluff bows, and entered the lagoon There was no leadsman in her chains She just cas by heart--as probably she did--for these whalemen know every hole and corner in the Pacific

The anchor fell with a splash, and she swung to it, h picture as she floated on the blue raceful pal to see the boats lowered, es, and the three ca the whale as a token of her visit the white sand all trawam torn to pieces

The old sailor cursed her and her crew, for the incident had brought a new exercise into his lazy life Every day now at noon he had to climb the hill, on the look-out for whaleh I doubt if he would willingly have gone on board even a Royal Mail stea years of the fo'cs'le the island was a change indeed He had tobacco enough to last him for an indefinite time, the children for companions, and food at his elbow He would have been entirely happy if the island had only been supplied by Nature with a public-house

The spirit of hilarity and good fellowshi+p, however, who suddenly discovered this error on the part of Nature, rectified it, as will be presently seen

The most disastrous result of the whaleman's visit was not the destruction of the ”house,” but the disappearance of Eh or hunt low, it could not be found Mr button in his hurry hy--at all events, it was gone Probably one of the crew of the whalemen had found it and carried it off with hione, and there was the end of the reat tribulation, that lasted Emmeline for a week

She was intensely fond of coloured things, coloured flowers especially; and she had the prettiest way ofthem into a wreath for her own or so instinct that was at work in her, perhaps; at all events, it was a feminine instinct, for dickby the old sailor engaged in stringing shells, dick carove He had just co Then he found what he was in search of--a big shell--and with it in his hand made back to the wood

Item--His dress was a piece of cocoa-nut cloth tied round his oodness knows, for he would as often as not be running about stark naked

”I've found so the trees