Part 16 (1/2)
”No, Williaether; for now I come to the second part of my proposition As soon as we have done our work at the ya as corave and the children in the tents, and work here, As we before agreed, let us abandon the house in which we live at present, and fit out the outhouse which is concealed in the cocoa-nut grove, as a dwelling-house, and fortify it so as to be secure against any sudden attack of the savages: for, return here we must, to live, as we cannot remain in the tents after the rainy season sets in”
”How do you propose to fortify it, Ready?” said Mr Seagrave; ”I hardly know”
”That I will explain to you by and by, sir Then, if the savages come here, at all events we should be able to defend ourselves with fire-arms; one man behind a stockade is better than twenty who have no other arms but spears and clubs; and we may, with the help of God, beat them off”
”I think your plan is excellent, Ready,” said Mr Seagrave, ”and that the sooner we begin, the better”
”That there is no doubt of, sir Now, the first job is for Williah this side of the reef with the boat, and then ill look for the little harbour which we discovered; as soon as that is done, ill return and take the tents and all we require round in the boat, and e have pitched the tents and all is arranged, Mrs Seagrave and the children can walk through the ith us, and take possession”
”Let us not lose an hour, Ready; we have lost too rave ”What shall we do to-day?”
”After breakfast, Williae You can re up the tents and such articles as must first be carried round We shall be back, I hope, by dinner-time”
They then rose, and walked towards the house; all felt relieved in their e all huer which threatened theht then put their confidence in that Providence ould, if he thought fit, protect them in their need
Chapter XLVI
The subject was introduced to Mrs Seagrave, while they were at breakfast, and as she perceived how much more secure they would be, she cheerfully consented In less than an hour afterwards, Willia the rocks of the reef to find a passage, which, after a short ti two or three cables fro
”This is very fortunate, William,” observed Ready; ”but we ain See, the large black rock is on a line with the garden point: so, if we keep them in one, we shall know that we are in the proper channel; and now for a mark abreast of us, to find out e enter it”
”Why, Ready, the corner of the turtle-pond just touches the right wall of the house,” replied William
”So it does; that will do; and now let us pull away as hard as we can, so as to be back in good time”
They soon were on the south side of the island, and pulling up along the shore
”How far do you think that it is by water, Ready?”
”I hardly know; but at least four or five ood hour's pull At all events, we shall sail back again with this wind, although there is but little of it”
”We are in very deep water now,” observed Willia silence
”Yes, on this side of the island we rows to leeward only I think that we cannot be very far from the little harbour we discovered Suppose we leave off rowing for a minute, and look about us”
”There are two rocks close to the shore, Ready,” said Willia, ”and you recollect there were two or three rocks outside of the harbour”
”Very true, William, and I should not wonder if you have hit upon the very spot Let us pull in”
They did so; and, to their satisfaction, found that they were in the harbour, where the water was as smooth as a pond
”Now, then, William, ill step the mast, and sail back at our leisure”
”Stop onebetween the clefts of the rocks”
Ready handed the boat-hook to Willia it down into the water, drove the spike of iron at the end of it into a large crayfish, which he hauled up into the boat
”That will be an addition to our dinner,” said Ready; ”we do not go back e is, we shall be more welcoain this afternoon, and with a full cargo on board”
They stepped the mast, and as soon as they had pulled the boat clear of the harbour, set sail, and in less than an hour had rejoined the party at the house
Williaht up the crayfish, which had only one claw, and Juno put on another pot of water to boil it, as an addition to the dinner, which was nearly ready Tommy at first ith his sister Caroline to look at the anian, as usual, to tease it; first he poked its eyes with a stick, then he tried to unfold his tail, but the ani to put his stick into the creature's ht hiht that Tommy screamed and danced about as the crayfish held on Fortunately for hi out of water, and had been so much hurt by the iron spike of the boat-hook, that it was more than half-dead, or he would have been severely hurt Ready ran to hihtened, that he took to his heels, and did not leave off running until he was one hundred yards fro at him till the tears came into their eyes When he saw the crayfish on the table, he appeared to be afraid of it, although it was dead
”Well, Torave, ”I suppose you won't eat any of the crayfish?”
”Won't I?” replied Tommy ”I'll eat him, for he tried to eat me”
”Why did you not leave the anirave; ”if you had not tormented it, it would not have bitten you; I don't knohether you ought to have any”
”I don't like it; I won't have any,” replied Tommy ”I like salt pork better”
”Well, then, if you don't like it, you shall not have it forced upon you, To the rest of us”
Tommy was not very well pleased at this decision, for he really did wish to have some of it, so he turned very sulky for the rest of the dinner-time, especially when old Ready told him that he had had his share of the crayfish before dinner
Chapter XLVII
As soon as the rave and Juno assisted the down the canvas and poles for the tent, with shovels to clear away, and the pegs to fix the tents up properly Before they started, Willia, if Ready and I were to take our bedding with us, and then we could fix up one tent this evening, and sleep there; to-ood deal of work over before we coht, Williaive us to eat, and then ill do as you say, for the sooner we are all there the better”
As Mr Seagrave was of the same opinion, Juno packed up a piece of salt pork and some flour-cakes, which, with three or four bottles of water, they took down to the boat Ready having thrown in a piece of rope to h the reef, and, after a sain at the ss, they made the boat fast by the rope, and then carried a portion of the canvas and tent-poles up to the first copse of trees, which were the guavas; they then returned for the re was up
”Now, William, we must see where to pitch the tent; we rove, or we shall have too far to go for water”