Part 9 (2/2)
”I agree with you,” said Mrs Seagrave; ”irl is looking for her thimble, another will have finished her work”
”I assure you I never should have knohat can be done by order and arrangement, if I had not been pressed on board of awas done in silence Every man was to his post; everyone had a rope to haul upon, or a rope to let go; the boatswain piped, and in a few seconds every sail was set or taken in as was required It seerave, that when there is order and discipline, everyelse on board of a man-of-war, I learnt to th which you could coht, Ready; you rave
”We have so in; yet, sir, we must work at present hoe can, and e can, until we have got things into a little better order We have done well up to the present”
”What do you think we ought to do first?”
”Well, sir, our first job will be to haul up the boat and secure her from harm; ill half-dock her in the sand, and cover her over, for I do not think it will be safe to go in her now to the other side of the island, where the sea will always be rough”
”There I perfectly agree with you Nohat is the next?”
”Why, sir, we must not leave the tents where they are, but take them down, and as soon as they are dry, stow them away, for we e outhouse for our stores and provisions, with a thatched roof, and a floor raised about four feet frooats will have a protection from the weather Then there is the fish-pond to make, and also a salt-pan to cut out of the rock Then we have two h the woods and examine the stores we have left on the other side of the island, sort and arrange the here after the rains are over; and we must also explore the island a little, and find out what it produces; for at present we know nothing of it: we reat many trees and fruits, and I hope and trust we rass for our live stock”
”I agree with you in all you say, Ready,” replied Mr Seagrave; ”no shall we divide our strength?”
”We will not divide at present, sir, if you please Juno has plenty to do indoors with Mrs Seagrave; William, and you, and I, will first secure the boat and stoay the tents and gear; after that, ill set about the outbuilding, and work at it e can If Juno has any time to spare, she had better collect the cocoa-nut leaves, and pile theo with her, and show her how to draw the on his feet
”Not just now, Tomo with you Come, sir, a few hours of weather like this is not to be lost,” continued Ready; ”we shall have o to the tent for the shovels; then I will haul the boat round to the beach and meet you there You and Williahs, sling it to the wheels, and draw it down to the beach and meet me”
Chapter xxxI
As so many cocoa-nut trees had been cut down to build the house, there were plenty of boughs lying in every direction, and Williarave had soon procured sufficient In a very short tie, which Ready said was quite sufficient; they then dug from under with their shovels until the boat was sunk about half down in the sand
Having filled in the sand all round her up to her gunnel, the boat was then carefully covered over with the boughs, which eighed doith sand that they ht not be bloay
”I don't see why you should cover the boat up in this way, Ready; the rain won't hurt her,” observed William
”No, sir, the rain won't do her any harm, but the sun will, when it bursts out occasionally; for it's very powerful when it does shi+ne, and it would split her all to pieces”
”I forgot that,” replied William ”What shall we do now?”
”Suppose, as we have two hours to dinner-time, you run for the lines, William, and we'll try for some fish”
”We cannot all three of us fish with only two lines,” said Mr Seagrave
”No, sir; and as William kno to catch theo up and collect wood and chips for Juno's fire She was hard pressed for it this , it was so wet; but, if once piled up, it will soon be dry Be careful, Mr Seagrave, not to hold the lines tight in your hands, or you rave and William were very fortunate; before the two hours were expired they had caught eight large fish, which they brought up to the house slung on the boat-hook Toht so reed that the dinner should be put off until soot ready, and they were not sorry to eat them instead of salt pork
They had hardly sat down to table, when the rain ca down on the roof, and in a quarter of an hour the stor as terrific as on the day before All outdoor labour was again suspended Mrs Seagrave, Juno, and Caroline took their work, for there was plenty to do with the needle and thread, and Ready soon found erave unlaid soht make smaller andneedles, and worked eyelet-holes in the canvas screens (which they had put up in a hurry), so that they ht be drawn to and fro as required
As soon as Ready had hung up the curtains, he looked under the bedsteads for a large bundle, and said, as he opened it, ”I shall now decorate Madaht to be handsomer than the others” The bundle was coe, square, yellow flag with the nae black letters upon it These two flags Ready festooned and tied up round the bed-place, so as to give it a very gay appearance, and also to hide the rough walls of the cottage
”Indeed, Ready, I arave, when he had finished; ”it is really quite grand for this place”
”It's the best use we can put them to now, rave, thoughtfully
”Ready,” said Williahted, ”you once half-promised me that you would tell me your history; I wish you would tell us so”
”Well, William, I did say so, and I shall keep my word When you have heard my story, you will say that I have been very foolish into you, it will, at all events, be of some use”
Ready then commenced his history as follows: History of Old Ready
”Of course, you wish to knoho my father and mother were: that is soon told My father was the captain of a merchant vessel, which traded fro, and hter of a half-pay e The property which the old gentleman had bequeathed to my mother was added to that which , and he then owned one-third of the vessel; the other two-thirds were the property of a very rich shi+p-builder and owner, of the name of Masterman What with the profits of the share he held of the vessel and his pay as captain, h opinion of ood e, and when I was born, about a year afterwards, he stood for me as Godfather Every one considered that this was a ratulated my father and mother; for Mr Masterman was a bachelor, of nearly sixty years, without any near relations It is true, that he was very fond of money; but that, they said, was all the better, as he could not take it aith him when he died An end, however, was soon put to all their worldly ideas, for a year after I was born, my father was drowned at sea, his vessel and the whole of her crew being lost on the Texel sands; and my mother found herself a ith a child scarcely weaned, when she was but twenty-two years of age
”It was supposed that my mother would still have sufficient to live upon, as the shi+p had been insured at two-thirds of her value; but, to the astonishment of everybody, Mr Masterman contrived to make it appear that it was his two-thirds of the vessel which had been insured”
”What is insurance?” inquired Willia a certain sum to people who are called underwriters, that in case the vessel or cargo is lost or daood to the owners of the vessel or cargo You pay in proportion to the risk incurred Supposing you wished to insure one thousand pounds on a vessel or cargo, and ten per cent was required, you would, if the vessel came home safe, pay the underwriters one hundred pounds; if, on the contrary, the vessel was lost, the underwriters would have to pay you one thousand pounds, the su your pardon for the interruption, Ready”
”No need, Mr Seagrave; we never should lose an opportunity of teaching the young Well, how far the assertion of Mr Masterman was correct or not, it was impossible at the time to say; but I do know that everybody cried out `shame', and that if he did deprive the , he had ion is to visit the fatherless and the s in their affliction, and to keep yourself unspotted in the world' The consequence was, thatto live upon; but she found friends who assisted her, and she worked eht or nine years of age”
”But did not your Godfather come forward to the assistance of your e to say, he did not; and that made people talk the more I believe it was the abuse of him, which he did not fail to hear, and which he ascribed to my mother, which turned him away from us; perhaps it was his own conscience, for ays dislike those we have injured”
”Unfortunately, there is great truth in that rerave; ”still, it is strange that he did not do soe, sir, - at least, so it appeared at the time, but he was very fond of money, and irritated at the reports and observations which were , hardy boy, and, whenever I could escape from my mother or school, was always found by the water-side or on board of the vessels In the suood swimmer My mother perceived my fondness for the profession, and tried all she could to divert ers and hardshi+ps which sailors went through, and always ended with my father's death and a flood of tears
”We certainly are of a perverse nature, as I have often heard the clergyman say, for it appears to me that ish to do that which we are told not to do Ifto sea, I really believe I ht since, how selfish and unfeeling Iupon her, all on my account Children cannot feel it; if they did, they would do otherwise, for our hearts are seldoree with you, Ready,” said Mr Seagrave ”If children really kne much their parents suffer when they behave ill, how alarmed they are at any proofs of wickedness in them, they would be much better”
”We never find that out, sir, till it is too late,” continued Ready ”Well, sir, I was little more than nine years old, when, on a very windy day, and the water rough, a hawser, by which a vessel was fast to the wharf, was carried aith a violent jerk, and the broken part, as it flew out, struck a person as at the edge of the wharf, and knocked hi out, and theropes to him, but he could not catch hold of theh I caught a rope that had been hauled in again, and leapt off the wharf
”Young as I was, I swam like a duck, and put the rope into his hands just as he was going down He clung to it as drowning , and was hauled to the piles, and soon afterwards a boat, which had been lowered from the stern of one of the vessels, picked us both up We were taken to a public-house, and put into bed till dry clothes could be sent for us; and then I found that the person I had saved was my Godfather, Mr Masterh perhaps I ought not to say it, it was a bold act for so young a boy as I was The sailors took me home to my , when she heard what I had done, e at hts of the danger I had encountered, and the probability that reater”