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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Island Queen, by R.M. Ballantyne
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Island Queen
+
+Author: R.M. Ballantyne
+
+Release Date: June 7, 2007 [EBook #21741]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ISLAND QUEEN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+THE ISLAND QUEEN, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+DETHRONED BY FIRE AND WATER--A TALE OF THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE.
+
+THE OPEN BOAT.
+
+Early one morning, in the year 18 hundred and something, the great
+Southern Ocean was in one of its calmest moods, insomuch that the
+cloudlets in the blue vault above were reflected with almost perfect
+fidelity in the blue hemisphere below, and it was barely possible to
+discern the dividing-line between water and sky.
+
+The only objects within the circle of the horizon that presented the
+appearance of solidity were an albatross sailing in the air, and a
+little boat floating on the sea.
+
+The boat rested on its own reflected image, almost motionless, save when
+a slight undulation of the water caused the lower edge of its reflection
+to break off in oily patches; but there was no dip of oars at its sides,
+no rowers on its thwarts, no guiding hand at the helm.
+
+Evidently the albatross regarded the boat with curiosity not unmixed
+with suspicion, for it sailed in wide circles round it, with
+outstretched neck, head turned on one side, and an eye bent inquiringly
+downward.  By slow degrees the circles diminished, until the giant bird
+floated almost directly over the boat.  Then, apparently, it saw more
+than enough to satisfy its curiosity, for, uttering a hoarse cry, it
+swooped aside, and, with a flap of its mighty wings, made off towards
+the horizon, where it finally disappeared.
+
+The flap and the cry seemed, however, to have put life into the little
+boat, for a human head rose slowly above the gunwale.  It was that of a
+youth, of about twenty years of age, apparently in the last stage of
+exhaustion.  He looked round slowly, with a dazed expression, like one
+who only half awakes from sleep.  Drawing his hand across his brow, and
+gazing wistfully on the calm sea, he rose on his knees with difficulty,
+and rested his arms on a thwart, while he turned his gaze with a look of
+intense anxiety on the countenance of a young girl who lay in the bottom
+of the boat close beside him, asleep or dead.
+
+"It looks like death," murmured the youth, as he bent over the pale
+face, his expression betraying sudden alarm; "and it must--it must come
+to this soon; yet I cannot bear the thought.  O God, spare her!"
+
+It seemed as if the prayer were answered at once, for a fluttering sigh
+escaped from the girl's bloodless lips, but she did not awake.
+
+"Ah! sleep on, dear sister," said the youth, "it is all the comfort that
+is left to you now.  Oh for food!  How often I have wasted it; thought
+lightly of it; grumbled because it was not quite to my taste!  What
+would I not give for a little of it now--a very little!"
+
+He turned his head away from the sleeping girl, and a wolfish glare
+seemed to shoot from his eyes as they rested on something which lay in
+the stern of the boat.
+
+There were other human beings in that boat besides the youth and his
+sister--some still living, some dead, for they had been many days on
+short allowance, and the last four days in a state of absolute
+starvation--all, save Pauline Rigonda and her little brother Otto, whose
+fair curly head rested on his sister's arm.
+
+During the last two nights, when all was still, and the starving sailors
+were slumbering, or attempting to slumber, Dominick Rigonda--the youth
+whom we have just introduced to the reader--had placed a small quantity
+of broken biscuit in the hands of his sister and little brother, with a
+stern though whispered command to eat it secretly and in silence.
+
+Obediently they ate, or rather devoured, their small portion, wondering
+where their brother had found it.  Perchance they might have relished it
+less if they had known that Dominick had saved it off his own too scant
+allowance, when he saw that the little store in the boat was drawing to
+an end--saved it in the hope of being able to prolong the lives of
+Pauline and Otto.
+
+This reserve, however, had been also exhausted, and it seemed as if the
+last ray of hope had vanished from Dominick's breast, on the calm
+morning on which our tale opens.
+
+As we have said, the youth glared at something lying in the stern of the
+boat.  It was a tarpaulin, which covered a human form.  Dominick knew
+that it was a dead body--that of the cabin-boy, who had died during the
+night with his head resting on Dominick's arm.  The two men who lay
+sleeping in the bow knew nothing of his death, and they were so weak
+from exhaustion at the time the boy died that Dominick had thought it
+unnecessary to rouse them.  The poor boy's emaciated frame could lie
+till morning, he thought, and then the sleepers would assist him to put
+it gently into the sea.
+
+But when morning came, the pangs of hunger assailed the self-denying
+youth with terrible power, and a horrible thought occurred to him.  He
+opened a large clasp-knife, and, creeping towards the body, removed the
+tarpaulin.  A faint smile rested on the dead lips--the same smile that
+had moved them when Dominick promised to carry the boy's last loving
+message to his mother if he should survive.
+
+He dropped the knife with a convulsive shudder, and turned his eyes on
+his sleeping sister and brother.  Then he thought, as he picked up the
+knife again, how small an amount of food would suffice to keep these two
+alive for a few days longer, and surely a sail _must_ come in sight at
+last; they had waited for it, expectingly, so long!
+
+Suddenly the youth flung the knife away from him with violence, and
+endeavoured with all his might to lift the body of the boy.  In the days
+of his strength he could have raised it with one hand.  Now he strove
+and energised for many minutes, before he succeeded in raising it to the
+gunwale.  At last, with a mighty effort, he thrust it overboard, and it
+fell into the sea with a heavy plunge.
+
+The noise aroused the two men in the bow, who raised themselves feebly.
+It was to them an all too familiar sound.  Day by day they had heard it,
+as one and another of their comrades had been committed to the deep.
+One of the men managed to stand up, but as he swayed about and gazed at
+Dominick inquiringly, he lost his balance, and, being too weak to
+recover himself, fell over the side.  He reappeared for a moment with
+outstretched arms and hands clutching towards the boat.  Then he sank,
+to be seen no more.  The other man, who had been his intimate friend and
+messmate, made a frantic effort to save him.  His failure to do so
+seemed to be more than the poor fellow could bear, for he sprang up with
+the wild laugh and the sudden strength of a maniac, and leaped into the
+sea.
+
+Dominick could do nothing to prevent this.  While staring at the little
+patch of foam where the two men had gone down, he was startled by the
+sound of his sister's voice.
+
+"Are they _all_ gone, brother?" she asked, in a low, horrified tone.
+
+"All--all, sister.  Only you, and Otto, and I left.  How soundly the
+poor boy sleeps!"
+
+"I wish it might please God to let him die thus," said Pauline, with a
+weary sigh that told eloquently of hope deferred.
+
+"Your wish may be granted," returned Dominick, "for the dear boy seems
+to be sinking.  It can scarcely, I think, be natural sleep that
+prevented the shout of that poor fellow from arousing him.  But lie down
+again, Pauline; sleep may do you a little good if you can obtain it, and
+I will watch."
+
+"And pray," suggested the poor girl, as she lay down again, languidly.
+
+"Yes, I will pray.  Surely a sail must appear soon!"
+
+Dominick Rigonda was strong in youthful hope even in that hour of sorest
+trial, but he was not strong in faith.  He prayed, however, and found
+his faith strengthened in the act, for he looked up immediately after
+with a feeling amounting almost to certainty, that the long-expected and
+wished-for sail would greet his eyes.  But no sail was visible in all
+the unbroken circle of his horizon.  Still the faith which had prompted
+the eager gaze did not quite evaporate.  After the first shock of
+disappointment at his prayer not being answered according to its tenor,
+his assurance that God would yet send relief returned in some degree,
+and he was not altogether disappointed, though the answer came at last
+in a way that he did not expect.
+
+After sitting in a half-sleeping condition for some time, he aroused
+himself, and crept with considerable difficulty to the bow to procure
+the blanket which had covered the two men who had just perished.  A
+corner of the blanket had caught on the end of one of the floor-planks.
+In disengaging it Dominick chanced to raise the plank which was loose,
+and observed something like a bundle lying underneath.  Curiosity
+prompted him to examine it.  He found that it was wrapped in canvas, and
+carefully tied with cord.  Opening it he discovered to his surprise and
+intense joy that it contained some ship's biscuit, a piece of boiled
+pork, and a flask of water.
+
+Only those who have been suddenly presented with food and drink, while
+starving can appreciate the feelings that filled the heart of the poor
+youth with laughter and thanksgiving; but his joy was not selfish, for
+the prospect of immediate personal relief had but a secondary place in
+his thoughts.
+
+Hastening with the inestimable treasure to the place where his brother
+and sister lay, he carefully spread it out on a piece of sailcloth, and
+cut a few thin slices of the pork before arousing them.
+
+"Awake, sister, and eat!" he said at last, gently shaking Pauline by the
+shoulder.
+
+"O Dominick!" she exclaimed, raising herself, and gazing eagerly at the
+food.  "I was dreaming of this when you awoke me!"
+
+"That's odd, now," said little Otto, who had also been aroused, "for I
+was dreaming of eating!  And I am so hung--"
+
+He got no further, for, having clutched a handful of biscuit, he
+suddenly stopped the way of utterance.
+
+"How good of you, Dom!" said Pauline, eating with as much relish, though
+not with such voracity, as her little brother, "Where did you get this?"
+
+"No matter; eat and be thankful," said Dominick curtly, for he was
+himself eating with wolfish haste by that time.  He restrained himself,
+however, after a few minutes.
+
+"Hold!  We must not indulge too freely.  It will hurt us after fasting
+so long.  Besides, this supply is very small, and must be made to last
+as long as possible.  No, my boy, you must eat no more at this time, but
+you may drink a little."
+
+About a table-spoonful of water was measured out to each, and then the
+remainder of the food was carefully wrapped up and put away.
+
+"Do you think that this supply was hidden by one of the poor fellows who
+left us this morning?" asked Pauline.
+
+"I think so; and no doubt his motive was a good one.  You know he was
+very fond of his messmate.  I should think he saved up his allowance to
+help him; but, whatever the motive, it has proved a blessing to us--"
+
+He ceased speaking, for both sister and little brother had drooped their
+weary heads, and were again in a heavy slumber.  Dominick himself felt
+intensely the desire to follow their example, but he resisted it,
+feeling that it was his duty to watch for the long-expected sail that
+never appeared.  At first his efforts were successful, but by degrees
+the tendency to sleep became so overpowering that his struggles were
+unavailing.  Sense of duty and every other motive gave way before it;
+his head finally dropped forward, and, with a heavy sigh of contentment,
+he followed his brother and sister to the land of Nod.
+
+Profound, prolonged, and refreshing was that sweet slumber, after the
+first good meal these poor castaways had eaten for many days.  The
+weather fortunately continued bright and warm, so that they did not
+suffer so much from exposure as on previous days, and the gentle rocking
+of the boat tended to deepen and prolong their repose.
+
+Thus they floated peacefully during the greater part of that day--the
+one solitary speck on the surface of the great ocean, for the albatross
+seemed to have finally forsaken them.
+
+Towards noon a light westerly breeze sprang up.  It was not sufficient
+to raise a sea or disturb the sleepers, but, in conjunction with ocean
+currents, it drifted them to the south-east at a considerable rate, so
+that in the evening, without the aid of oar or sail, they were far from
+the spot upon the sea where we introduced them to the reader.
+
+At last Dominick awoke with a long-drawn sigh, and, raising his head,
+looked over the side of the boat.  An exclamation of surprise and joy
+broke from him, for there, like a speck, where something like a heavy
+bank of clouds rested on the horizon, was the long-expected sail.
+
+His first impulse was to awaken the sleepers, but he checked himself.
+He would look more carefully.  His eyes might be deceiving him, and the
+disappointment, if he should be mistaken, would be overwhelming.  He
+would spare them that.  Rising to his feet he shaded his eyes with one
+hand, and gazed long and earnestly.
+
+The longer he looked, however, and the more he rubbed his eyes, the more
+convinced was he that a vessel was really in sight.
+
+"Pauline," he said at length, with suppressed emotion, as he gently
+shook her arm, "see, God _has_ answered our prayers: a vessel is in
+sight!"
+
+The poor girl raised herself quickly, with an exclamation of
+thankfulness, and gazed intently in the direction pointed out.
+
+"It is, surely it is a ship," she said, "but--but--don't you think there
+is something curious about its appearance?"
+
+"I have indeed been puzzled during the last few minutes," replied
+Dominick.  "It seems as if there were something strange under her, and
+her position, too, is rather odd.--Ho!  Otto, rouse up, my boy, and look
+at the vessel coming to save us.  Your eyes are sharp!  Say, d'you see
+anything strange about her?"
+
+Thus appealed to, Otto, who felt greatly refreshed by his good meal and
+long sleep, sat up and also gazed at the vessel in question.
+
+"No, Dom," he said at length; "I don't see much the matter with her,
+except that she leans over on one side a good deal, and there's
+something black under and around her."
+
+"Can it be a squall that has struck her?" said Pauline.  "Squalls, you
+know, make ships lie over very much at times, and cause the sea round
+them to look very dark."
+
+"It may be so," returned Dominick doubtfully.  "But we shall soon see,
+for a squall won't take very long to bring her down to us."
+
+They watched the approaching vessel with intense eagerness, but did not
+again speak for a considerable time.  Anxiety and doubt kept them
+silent.  There was the danger that the vessel might fail to observe
+them, and as their oars had been washed away they had no means of
+hoisting a flag of distress.  Then there was the unaccountable something
+about the vessel's appearance, which puzzled and filled them with
+uncertainty.  At last they drew so near that Dominick became all too
+well aware of what it was, and a sinking of the heart kept him still
+silent for a time.
+
+"Brother," said Pauline at last in a sad voice, as she turned her dark
+eyes on Dominick, "I fear it is only a wreck."
+
+"You are right," he replied gloomily; "a wreck on a barren shore, too.
+Not a scrap of vegetation on it, as far as I can see--a mere sandbank.
+Currents are carrying us towards it, and have led us to fancy that the
+vessel was moving."
+
+He spoke with bitterness, for the disappointment was very great, and
+physical weakness had rendered him less able to bear it than he might
+otherwise have been.
+
+"Don't get grumpy, Dom," said Otto, with a slightly humorous look that
+was peculiar to him--a look which had not lighted up his eyes for many
+days past.
+
+"I _won't_ get grumpy," returned Dominick with sudden energy, patting
+the boy's head.  "It is quite clear that a good feed and a long rest
+were all you required to set up your plucky little spirit again."
+
+"Dom," said Pauline, who had been looking intently at the wreck, "is
+there not something like a line of white close to the wreck?"
+
+"Ay, there is," replied Dominick, his countenance again becoming grave;
+"it is a line of breakers, through which it will be very difficult to
+steer our little boat."
+
+"Steer, Dom," exclaimed Otto, with a look of surprise; "how can you talk
+of steering at all, without oar or helm?"
+
+"I must make one of the floor-planks do for both," returned Dominick.
+
+"I say," continued the boy, "I'm horribly hungry.  Mayn't I have just a
+bite or two more?"
+
+"Stay, I'm thinking," replied the other.
+
+"Think fast then, please, for the wolf inside of me is howling."
+
+The result of Dominick's thinking was that he resolved to consume as
+much of their stock of provisions as possible in one meal, in order to
+secure all the strength that was available by such means, and thus fit
+them for the coming struggle with the surf.  "For," said he, "if we get
+capsized far from the shore, we have no chance of reaching it by
+swimming in our present weak condition.  Our only plan is to get up all
+the strength we can by means of food.  So here goes!"
+
+He untied the bundle as he spoke, and spread the contents on his knees.
+Otto--who was, indeed, a plucky little fellow, and either did not
+realise or did not fear the danger that lay before him--commenced to eat
+with almost jovial avidity.  Indeed, all three showed that they had
+benefited greatly by what they had already eaten, and now, for the first
+time during many days, consumed what they considered a full and
+satisfactory meal, while they drifted slowly, but steadily, towards the
+land.
+
+As they neared it, the heavy mass on the horizon, which they had taken
+for a bank of clouds, became more distinct.  A light haze cleared away
+and showed it to be an island, to which the sandbank formed a barrier
+reef; but any interest that might have been aroused by this discovery
+was absorbed by present anxiety, for the white and gleaming surf warned
+them that a serious and critical moment in their lives was fast
+approaching.  Pauline was awed into silence, and even Otto's countenance
+became gradually solemnised.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+WRECKED ON A REEF.
+
+The coral reefs, which in various shapes and sizes stud the Southern
+seas, are sometimes rendered almost unapproachable by the immense waves
+which fall upon them.  Even in the calmest weather these huge breakers
+may be seen falling with prolonged roar on the beach.  The lightest
+undulation on the sea, which might almost escape observation away from
+land, takes the form of a grand, quiet billow as it draws near to an
+islet or reef, and finally, coming majestically on, like a wall of
+rolling crystal, breaks the silence suddenly by its thunderous fall, and
+gives to the sands a temporary fringe of pure white foam.
+
+To ride in on the crest of one such roller on a piece of board and leap
+upon the shore, is a feat peculiar to South Sea islanders, who are
+trained to the water from earliest infancy.  To do the same thing in a
+small boat, without oars, without strength, without experience, almost
+without courage, is a feat that no South Sea islander would attempt, and
+the necessity for performing which might cause the hair of any
+islander's head to stand on end.
+
+That Dominick Rigonda's hair did not stand on end, as he sat there with
+pale cheeks and compressed lips, was probably due to the fact that he
+had thrust his straw hat tightly down on his brows.
+
+As the boat drew nearer to the reef, both Pauline and Otto had risen, in
+the strength of their hearty meal, and were now seated on the thwarts of
+the boat.  Their brother had selected the thickest floor-plank, and cut
+it roughly into the form of an oar with a clasp-knife.  He now sat with
+it over the stern, sculling gently--very gently, however, for he
+reserved the little strength that remained to him for the critical
+moment.
+
+The undulations of the sea, which had rocked them hitherto so softly,
+had by that time assumed a decided form and force, so that the boat rose
+on the oily back of each billow that passed under it, and slid back into
+a watery hollow, to be relifted by each successive wave.
+
+"You look very anxious," said Pauline, clasping her hands on her knee,
+and gazing earnestly in her brother's face.
+
+"I cannot help it," returned Dominick, curtly.
+
+"Is our danger then so great?"
+
+Dominick only half admitted that it was.  He did not wish to alarm her,
+and tried to smile as he said that the struggle would be brief--it would
+soon be over.
+
+"But tell me, where lies the danger?" persisted Pauline.  "I do not
+quite see it."
+
+"`Where ignorance is bliss,' dear, `'tis folly to be wise,'" returned
+Dominick, with an unsuccessful effort to look more at ease.
+
+"Nay, brother, but I am not ignorant that danger exists--only ignorant
+as to the amount and nature of it.  Surely there cannot be much risk in
+pushing our boat through that white foam that lines the shore with so
+soft a fringe."
+
+"I should think not," broke in the pert and inexperienced Otto; "why,
+Pina," (thus he abridged his sister's name), "there's as much danger, I
+should think, in pushing through a tub of soap-suds."
+
+"Come, Dom," returned the girl, "explain it to me; for if you don't
+point out where the danger really lies, if you leave me in this state of
+partial ignorance, I shall be filled with alarm instead of bliss from
+this moment till we reach the shore."
+
+"Well, well, sister," said Dominick, when thus urged; "if you must have
+it, I will explain."
+
+He went on to show that when the boat came near the shore the waves
+would grasp it, instead of letting it slip back; would carry it swiftly
+in on their crests, so that the great difficulty in such a case would be
+to keep the boat's head pointing to the land, and if he failed to do so,
+they would infallibly be overturned and have to swim ashore.
+
+"Well, that would be unpleasant, Dom," said the ignorant, as well as
+innocent, Pauline, "but it would not matter much, for we can all swim--
+thanks to you for insisting on teaching us long ago."
+
+"We will try our best," said Dominick, who thereupon relapsed into
+silence, wisely resolving to let his sister retain all the "bliss" of
+"ignorance" that was possible under the circumstances.
+
+Indeed, there was not much more time for conversation, for the power of
+the waves was beginning to be felt by the little craft, and the clumsy
+oar did not act with as much precision or force as was desirable, while
+Dominick's weakness rendered the steering difficult.  Pauline now began
+to realise the danger somewhat more clearly from experience, and even
+Otto showed symptoms of surprise that amounted very nearly to alarm, as
+the boat at one point made a sudden rush on a wave-top as if it meant to
+try a race with it, and then as suddenly slipped back into the hollow
+behind, as if it had been disheartened, feeling that there was no
+chance.
+
+At last they reached the point of greatest danger.  The huge waves, as
+we have said, commenced out at sea in long, gentle undulations.  Nearer
+the shore they advanced in the shape of glassy walls, one after another,
+like successive lines of indomitable infantry in time of war.  Further
+in, the tops of these waves began to gurgle and foam, and gather real,
+instead of seeming, motion, as they rushed towards their fall.  It was
+here that the boat showed symptoms of becoming unmanageable.
+
+"Why, the water's beginning to boil!" exclaimed Otto, in some anxiety.
+
+"Hold on, boy, and keep quiet," said his brother.
+
+As he spoke, the water gurgled up, so that it seemed as if about to pour
+inboard all round.  At the same time the boat made a rush shoreward as
+if suddenly endowed with life.  Dominick struggled manfully to keep the
+stern to the sea.  He succeeded, but in another moment the boat slipped
+back.  It had not been fairly caught, and the wave passed on to fall
+with a roar like thunder a hundred yards or so ahead.
+
+"The next will do it," said Dominick, with an anxious glance behind,
+where a crystal wall was coming grandly on--unnaturally high, it seemed
+to them, owing to their position in the hollow.
+
+No need to tell Otto now to hold on!  No need to explain difficulty or
+danger to Pauline!  As her brother stood at the oar, quivering as much
+from weakness as exertion, she understood it all.  But she was brave,
+and she could swim.  This latter fact lent her additional confidence.
+Best of all, she had faith in God, and her spirit was calmed, for,
+whether life or death lay before her, she knew that her soul was "safe."
+
+As Dominick had prophesied, the next wave took them fairly in its grasp.
+For a few moments the water hissed and gurgled round them.  The
+steersman seemed to lose control for a second or two, but quickly
+recovered.  Then there was a bound, as if the boat had been shot from a
+catapult, and the billow fell.  A tremendous roar, tumultuous foam all
+round, increasing speed!  The land appeared to be rushing at them, when
+Dominick's oar snapped suddenly, and he went overboard.  A shriek from
+Pauline and a shout from Otto rose high above the din of raging water,
+as the boat broached-to and hurled its remaining occupants into the sea.
+
+Even in that trying moment Dominick did not lose presence of mind.  He
+could swim and dive like a water-rat.  Pushing towards his brother and
+sister, who were heading bravely for the shore, he shouted, "Dig your
+fingers and toes deep into the sand, and hold on for life, if--" (he
+corrected himself) "_when_ you gain the beach."
+
+It was well they were forewarned, and that they were constitutionally
+obedient.  A few minutes later, and they were all swept up high on the
+beach in a wilderness of foam.  The return of that wilderness was like
+the rushing of a millrace.  Sand, stones, sticks, and seaweed went back
+with it in dire confusion.  Prone on their knees, with fingers and toes
+fixed, and heads down, the brothers and sister met the rush.  It was
+almost too much for them.  A moment more, and strength as well as breath
+would have failed; but the danger passed, and Dominick sprang to his
+feet.
+
+"Up, up! and run!" he shouted, as he caught Pauline round the waist and
+dragged her on.  Otto needed no help.  They were barely in time.  The
+succeeding wave roared after them as if maddened at having lost its
+prey, and the foaming water was up with them, and almost round their
+knees, ere its fury was quite spent.
+
+"Safe!" exclaimed Dominick.
+
+"Thank God!" murmured Pauline, as she sank exhausted on the sand.
+
+Otto, who had never seen his sister in such a state before, ran to her,
+and, kneeling down, anxiously seized one of her hands.
+
+"Never fear, lad," said his brother in reassuring tones, "she'll soon
+come round.  Lend a hand to lift her."
+
+They bore the fainting girl up the beach, and laid her on a grassy spot
+under a bush.  And now Dominick was glad to find that he had been
+mistaken in supposing that the coral reef was a mere sandbank, destitute
+of vegetation.  Indeed, before landing, he had observed that there were
+a few trees on the highest part of it.  He now perceived that there was
+quite a little grove of cocoa-nut palms, with a thicket of underwood
+around them, which, if not extensive, was at all events comparatively
+dense.  He pointed out the fact to Otto, who was chafing his sister's
+hands.
+
+"Ay," responded Otto, "and the island on the other side must be a
+goodish big one, for I got a glimpse of it through the trees as we came
+rushing in on that monstrous wave."
+
+In a short time Pauline recovered, and Dominick returned to the water's
+edge with Otto.
+
+"Our first care must be," he said, "to save our little boat if we can,
+for it is the only means we have of escaping from this island."
+
+"Escaping!" repeated Otto, in surprise.  "I don't want to escape from
+it, Dom."
+
+"Indeed! why not?"
+
+"Why, because I've dreamed about being cast on a desolate island
+hundreds of times, and I've read about Robinson Crusoe, and all the
+other Crusoes, and I've longed to be cast on one, and now I am cast on
+one, so I don't want to escape.  It'll be the greatest fun in the world.
+I only hope I won't wake up, as usual, to find that it's all a dream!"
+
+Dominick laughed (not scornfully, by any means) at the boy's enthusiasm;
+nevertheless he had strong sympathy with him, for the period had not
+passed so long ago when he himself entertained a very vivid impression
+of the romance of such a situation, and he did not trouble his mind
+about the stern realities.
+
+"I sincerely hope it may come up to your expectations, Otto, my boy;
+nevertheless we must secure the boat for fishing purposes, even though
+we don't try to escape in it."
+
+"For fishing! why, we have neither hooks nor lines."
+
+"True, lad; but we have got fingers and brains.  It strikes me that we
+shall have occasion to use all our powers and possessions if we are not
+to starve here, for the reef seems to have very little vegetation on it,
+and there is sure to be a lagoon of water on the other side, separating
+it from the island beyond."
+
+"I wonder if there is fresh water on the reef," said Otto, with a very
+sudden look of solemnity and pursing of the mouth.
+
+"You may well ask that.  I hope there is.  We will go and settle the
+point the moment we have secured the boat, if--"
+
+He stopped, for he saw at that moment that the sea had taken good care
+to secure the boat to itself as a plaything.  Having dashed it into
+small pieces, it was by that time busily engaged in tossing these about
+among the foam, now hurling the splinters high upon the shore, anon
+sending up long watery tongues to lick them back, and then casting them
+under the incoming rollers, to be further reduced into what is usually
+styled matchwood.
+
+There was a small bay close at hand, where the sandy beach was strewn
+with rocks, in which the sea appeared to play this game with unusual
+vigour.  It was a sort of hospital for marine incurables, into which the
+sea cast its broken toys when tired of smashing them up, and left them
+there to rot.
+
+Regarding this spot with a thoughtful look, Dominick remarked that the
+wreck which lay on the rocks off the tail of the island was by no means
+the first that had taken place there.
+
+"And won't be the last, I fancy," said Otto.
+
+"Probably not.  Indeed, from the appearance of this bay, and the fact
+that an ocean current drifted us towards the spot, I should think that
+the island is a particularly dangerous one for vessels.  But come, we'll
+go see how Pina gets on, and then proceed to examine our new home."
+
+Returning to the place where Pauline had been left, they found the poor
+girl wringing the water out of her dress.  The news of the fate of the
+little boat did not seem to affect her much, she did not fully
+appreciate the loss, and was more taken up with the idea of thankfulness
+for deliverance from death.
+
+"May I not go with you?" she asked, on hearing that her brothers were
+going to search for water.
+
+"Certainly.  I thought you might perhaps prefer to rest, and dry your
+clothes in the sun," replied Dominick.
+
+"Walking will dry them better," said Pina.  "Besides, I have quite
+recovered."
+
+"You're a plucky little woman," said Otto, as they set off.  "Isn't it
+nice to be here all by ourselves, on a real uninhabited island, quite
+fit for Robinson himself?  Who knows but we may find Friday in the
+bushes!"
+
+"Wouldn't that spoil it as an uninhabited isle?"
+
+"A little, but not much."
+
+"The thicket is too small to contain anything with life, I fear," said
+Dominick, whose anxiety as to food and drink prevented his sympathising
+much with the small-talk of the other two.  "Luckily the weather is
+warm," he added, "and we won't require better shelter at present than
+the bushes afford, unless a storm comes.--Ho what have we here?--a
+path!"
+
+They had reached the entrance to the thicket, and discovered what
+appeared to be an opening into it, made apparently by the hand of man.
+
+"Nothing more likely," said Pauline.  "If so many wrecks have taken
+place here--as you seem to think--some of the crews must have landed,
+and perhaps lived here."
+
+"Ay, and died here," returned Dominick, in a grave, low tone, as he
+pointed to a skeleton lying on a spot which had once been cleared of
+bushes, but so long ago that the vegetation had partially grown up
+again.  The man whose bleached bones lay before them had evidently
+perished many years before.  On examination, nothing was found to afford
+any information about him, but when they had advanced a dozen yards
+further they came upon six little mounds, which showed that a party--
+probably a wrecked crew--had sojourned there for a time, and finally
+perished: so far their story was clear enough.  One by one they must
+have sunk, until the last man had lain down to die and remain unburied.
+
+Pushing past these sad evidences of former suffering, and feeling that
+the same fate might await themselves, they came to a sight which tended
+slightly to restore their spirits.  It was a pool of water of
+considerable size, whether a spring or a rain-pool they could not tell.
+Neither did they care at that time, for the sudden feeling of relieved
+anxiety was so great, that they ran forward, as if under one impulse,
+and, lying down on their breasts, took a long refreshing draught.  So
+powerful was the influence of this refreshment and discovery on their
+spirits that they became totally regardless and forgetful for the moment
+about food--all the more that, having so recently had a good meal, they
+were not hungry.
+
+"I was sure we would find water," said Otto, as they continued to
+explore the thicket, "and I've no doubt that we shall find yams and
+plantains and breadfruits, and--aren't these the sort of things that
+grow wild on coral islands, Dom?"
+
+"Yes, but I fear not on such a little scrap of reef as this.  However,
+we shall not be quite destitute, for there are cocoa-nuts, you see--
+though not many of them.  Come, our prospects are brightening, and as
+the sun is beginning to sink, we will look out for a suitable
+camping-ground."
+
+"As far away from the skeleton, please, as possible," said Otto.
+
+"Surely you don't suppose it can hurt you?" said Pauline.
+
+"N-no, of course not, but it would be unpleasant to have it for a
+bedfellow, you know; so, the further away from it the better."
+
+As he spoke they emerged from the thicket, at the end opposite to the
+spot where they had entered, and had their spirits again powerfully
+cheered by coming suddenly into a blaze of sunshine, for the bright orb
+of day was descending at that side of the islet, and his red,
+resplendent rays were glowing on the reef and on the palm-trees.
+
+They also came in full view of the islet beyond, which, they now
+perceived, was of considerable size, and covered with vegetation, but,
+as Dominick had suspected, separated completely from the reef or outer
+isle on which they stood by a deep lagoon.
+
+"Splendid!" exclaimed Pauline.
+
+"As I feared," muttered Dominick, "and no means of reaching it."
+
+"Pooh!  Didn't Robinson Crusoe make rafts?" said Otto; "at least if he
+didn't, somebody else did, and anyhow _we_ can."
+
+"Come, let us continue our walk," said Dominick.  "You don't fully
+appreciate the loss of our boat Otto.  Don't you see that, even if we do
+build a raft, it will at best be a clumsy thing to manage, and heavy to
+pull, slow to sail, and bad to steer, and if we should chance to be on
+it when a stiff breeze springs up from the land, we should probably be
+driven out to sea and lost--or separated, if Pina should chance to have
+been left on shore at the time."
+
+"What a fellow you are, Dom, for supposing chances and difficulties, and
+fancying they cannot be overcome," returned Otto, with the pert
+self-sufficiency that characterised him.  "For my part I rather enjoy
+difficulties, because of the fun of overcoming them.  Don't you see, we
+three can make quite sure of never being separated by never going out on
+our raft except together, so that we shall always enjoy ourselves
+unitedly, or perish in company.  Then we can easily get over the
+difficulty of being blown out to sea, by never going on the sea at all,
+but confining ourselves entirely to the lagoon, which is large enough
+for any reasonable man, and may be larger than we think, for we can't
+see the whole of it from where we stand.  Then, as to sailing and rowing
+slowly, we can overcome these difficulties by not being in a hurry,--
+taking things easy, you know."
+
+To this Dominick replied that there was one difficulty which his little
+brother, with all his wisdom and capacity, would never overcome.
+
+"And what may that be?" demanded Otto.
+
+"The difficulty of being unable to talk common-sense."
+
+"True, Dom, true, that is a great difficulty," retorted the boy, with
+deep humility of aspect, "for a man's conversation is greatly affected
+by the company he keeps, and with _you_ as my only male companion, I
+have not much to hope for in the way of example.  But even that may be
+got the better of by holding intercourse chiefly with Pina."
+
+"But what if I refuse to talk?" said Pauline, with a laugh.
+
+"Then will you be all the more able to listen, sister mine, which is the
+most common-sense thing that you can do, except when brother Dom
+speaks," said the incorrigible boy.
+
+They had seated themselves on a bank while thus conversing, and from
+their position could see over a considerable portion of the lagoon.
+Suddenly Dominick pointed to an object a long way off, which was half
+concealed by the shadow of an island.
+
+"Does it not look like a canoe?" he asked eagerly.
+
+"Can't make it out at all," said Otto, shading his eyes with his hand.
+
+"The sun on the water dazzles one so," observed Pauline, "that it is
+difficult to look steadily."
+
+In a few moments the object which had drawn their attention sailed out
+from under the shade of the island, and, breaking up into fragments,
+rose into the air, proving itself to be a flock of large aquatic birds
+which had been swimming in a line.
+
+"Things are not what they seem," observed Pauline, rising and following
+her brothers through a little thicket.
+
+"What a pity!" exclaimed Otto; "I was in hopes it was a canoeful of
+savages.  It would be such fun to have a real Friday to be our servant."
+
+"More likely that our Friday would kill, cook, and eat us if he could,"
+said Dominick, to the surprise of Otto, who gave it as his opinion that
+savages never ate men, and asked if his brother really believed that
+they did.
+
+"Indeed I do.  We have it recorded by all the best authorities that
+South Sea islanders are given to this horrible practice.  There can be
+no doubt about it whatever, and the less we see of these fellows in our
+present defenceless state the better."
+
+"How little," said Pauline, "our dear father thought when he wrote for
+us to go out to him in his ship, that we should be cast on an unknown
+island, and the ship itself go to the bottom!"
+
+"Little indeed, and as little did poor mother dream of such a fate,"
+returned Dominick, "when she let us all go so readily, on the
+understanding that we should give father no rest until we had got him to
+give up business, quit Java for ever, and return home."
+
+"Dear old mother!" said Pauline, "I wish--oh!  I wish so much that we
+had not left her, even though it was to be for only a few months.  She
+must be _so_ lonely, with no one to talk to--"
+
+"You forget Pina."
+
+"Forget--what?"
+
+"The cat," returned Otto, unable to repress a smile, which rose in spite
+of the ready tear that dimmed his eye at the mere mention of his mother.
+"You know the cat is her great resource--a sort of safety-valve.
+Sometimes, when I've been listening to her, lying on the rug at her feet
+half asleep, I've heard her talk to that cat as if it really was a human
+being, and tell it all about her little affairs and daily troubles and
+worries in quite a confidential tone.  I've taken it into my head that
+that's mother's way of thinking aloud--she thinks at the cat, for
+company: and to do the brute justice, it does its best to accommodate
+her.  I've seen it sit and stare at her by the half-hour at a time, and
+give a little purr or a meaiow now and then as if it wanted to speak.
+I'm quite sure it thinks, and wonders no doubt what idle, useless work
+it is to click knitting-needles together by the hour."
+
+"Dear me, Otto," said Pauline, with a laugh, "I had no idea that you
+could think so much about anything."
+
+"Think!" exclaimed the boy, indignantly; "d'you suppose that it's only
+stern-browed, long-legged fellows like Dom there who can think?  Why, I
+think, and think, sometimes, to such an extent that I nearly think
+myself inside out!  But, Pina, you don't know half as much about
+motherkin as I do, for when _you_ are with her she usually forgets
+_herself_, I can see, and talks only about the things that interest
+_you_; whereas, when there's nobody present but _me_, she counts me for
+nothing, and lets me do pretty much what I like--because no doubt she
+thinks I'll do that whether she lets me or not--but she's wrong, for I
+love her far more than she thinks; and then it's when I'm quiet and she
+forgets me, I fancy, or thinks I'm asleep, that she comes out strong at
+the cat."
+
+"Darling mother!" said Pauline, musingly.  "I can see her now, in my
+mind, with her neat black cap and smooth braided hair, and gold
+spectacles, as plain as if she were sitting before me."
+
+"I'm sorry to destroy the vision, Pina, on my own account as well as
+yours," observed Dominick, "but it behoves us now to look for a night's
+lodging, for the sun is sinking fast, and it would not be pleasant to
+lie down on the bare ground shelterless, fine though the climate is.
+Come, we will return to the place where we landed, and search for a cave
+or a bit of overhanging rock."
+
+The best sleeping-place that they had up to that time discovered was
+undoubtedly the grove in which they had found the graves of the
+shipwrecked crew, but, as Otto truly remarked, it would probably result
+in uncomfortable dreams if they were to go to sleep in a burying-ground,
+alongside of a skeleton.
+
+Accordingly they returned to the beach, and sought for some time among
+the _debris_ of the boat for anything useful that might have been washed
+up, but found nothing.  Then they went along-shore in the direction of
+the wreck which had raised their hopes so high that day when first seen,
+but nothing suitable was discovered until they rounded a low point of
+rocks, when Pauline came to a sudden pause.
+
+"Look! a golden cave!" she exclaimed, pointing eagerly to a grassy spot
+which was canopied by feathery palms, and half enclosed by coral rocks,
+where was a cavern into which the sinking sun streamed at the moment
+with wonderful intensity.
+
+Their home for that night obviously lay before them, but when they
+entered it and sat down, their destitution became sadly apparent.  No
+beds to spread, no food to prepare, nothing whatever to do but lie down
+and sleep.
+
+"No matter, we're neither hungry nor thirsty," said Dominick, with an
+air of somewhat forced gaiety, "and our clothes are getting dry.  Come,
+sister, you must be weary.  Lie down at the inner side of the cave, and
+Otto and I, like faithful knights, will guard the entrance.  I--I wish,"
+he added, in a graver tone, and with some hesitation, "that we had a
+Bible, that we might read a verse or two before lying down."
+
+"I can help you in that," said his sister, eagerly.  "I have a fair
+memory, you know, and can repeat a good many verses."
+
+Pauline repeated the twenty-third Psalm in a low, sweet voice.  When she
+had finished, a sudden impulse induced Dominick, who had never prayed
+aloud before, to utter a brief but fervent prayer and thanksgiving.
+Then the three lay down in the cave, and in five minutes were sound
+asleep.
+
+Thus appropriately did these castaways begin their sojourn on a spot
+which was destined to be their home for a long time to come.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES.
+
+As the sun had bathed the golden cave when our castaways went to sleep,
+so it flooded their simple dwelling when they awoke.
+
+"Then," exclaims the intelligent reader, "the sun must have risen in the
+west!"
+
+By no means, good reader.  Whatever man in his wisdom, or weakness, may
+do or say, the great luminaries of day and night hold on the even tenor
+of their way unchanged.  But youth is a wonderful compound of strength,
+hope, vitality, carelessness, and free-and-easy oblivion, and, in the
+unconscious exercise of the last capacity, Pauline and her brothers had
+slept as they lay down, without the slightest motion, all through that
+night, all through the gorgeous sunrise of the following morning, all
+through the fervid noontide and the declining day, until the setting sun
+again turned their resting-place into a cave of gold.
+
+The effect upon their eyelids was such that they winked, and awoke with
+a mighty yawn.  We speak advisedly.  There were not three separate
+awakenings and three distinct yawns; no, the rousing of one caused the
+rousing of the others in succession so rapidly that the yawns,
+commencing with Pauline's treble, were prolonged, through Otto's tenor
+down to Dominick's bass, in one stupendous monotone or slide, which the
+last yawner terminated in a groan of contentment.  Nature, during the
+past few days, had been doubly defrauded, and she, having now partially
+repaid herself, allowed her captives to go free with restored vigour.
+There was, however, enough of the debt still unpaid to induce a desire
+in the captives to return of their own accord to the prison-house of
+Oblivion, but the desire was frustrated by Otto, who, sitting up
+suddenly and blinking at the sun with owlish gravity, exclaimed--
+
+"Well, I never!  We've only slept five minutes!"
+
+"The sun hasn't set _yet_!"
+
+Dominick, replying with a powerful stretch and another yawn, also raised
+himself on one elbow and gazed solemnly in front of him.  A gleam of
+intelligence suddenly crossed his countenance.
+
+"Why, boy, when we went to sleep the sun was what you may call six feet
+above the horizon; now it is twelve feet if it is an inch, so that if it
+be still setting, it must be setting upwards--a phenomenon of which the
+records of astronomical research make no mention."
+
+"But it _is_ setting?" retorted Otto, with a puzzled look, "for I never
+heard of your astronomical searchers saying that they'd ever seen the
+sun rise in the same place where it sets."
+
+"True, Otto, and the conclusion I am forced to is that we have slept
+right on from sunset to sunset."
+
+"So, then, we've lost a day," murmured Pauline, who in an attitude of
+helpless repose, had been winking with a languid expression at the
+luminous subject of discussion.
+
+"Good morning, Pina," said Dominick.
+
+"Good evening, you mean," interrupted his brother.  "Well, good evening.
+It matters little which; how have you slept?"
+
+"Soundly--oh, so soundly that I don't want to move."
+
+"Well, then, don't move; I'll rise and get you some breakfast."
+
+"Supper," interposed Otto.
+
+"Supper be it; it matters not.--But don't say we've lost a day, sister
+mine.  As regards time, indeed, we have; but in strength I feel that I
+have gained a week or more."
+
+"Does any one know," said Otto, gazing with a perplexed expression at
+the sky--for he had lain back again with his hands under his head--"does
+any one know what day it was when we landed?"
+
+"Thursday, I think," said Dominick.
+
+"Oh no," exclaimed Pauline; "surely it was Wednesday or Tuesday; but the
+anxiety and confusion during the wreck, and our terrible sufferings
+afterwards in the little boat, have quite confused my mind on that
+point."
+
+"Well, now, here's a pretty state of things," continued Otto, sleepily;
+"we've lost one day, an' we don't agree about three others, and Dom says
+he's gained a week! how are we ever to find out when Sunday comes, I
+should like to know?  There's a puzzler--a reg'lar--puzzl'--puz--"
+
+A soft snore told that "tired Nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep," had
+again taken the little fellow captive, and prolonged silence on the part
+of the other two proved them to have gone into similar captivity.
+Nature had not recovered her debt in full.  She was in an exacting mood,
+and held them fast during the whole of another night.  Then she set them
+finally free at sunrise on the following day, when the soft yellow light
+streamed on surrounding land and sea, converting their sleeping-place
+into a silver cave by contrast.
+
+There was no languid or yawny awakening on this occasion.  Dominick sat
+up the instant his eyes opened, then sprang to his feet, and ran out of
+the cave.  He was followed immediately by Otto and Pauline, the former
+declaring with emphasis that he felt himself to be a "new man."
+
+"Yes, Richard's himself again," said Dominick, as he stretched himself
+with the energy of one who rejoices in his strength.  "Now, Pina, we've
+got a busy day before us.  We must find out what our islet contains in
+the way of food first, for I am ravenously hungry, and then examine its
+other resources.  It is very beautiful.  One glance suffices to tell us
+that.  And isn't it pleasant to think that it is all our own?"
+
+"`The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof,'" said his sister,
+softly.
+
+The youth's gaiety changed into a deeper and nobler feeling.  He looked
+earnestly at Pauline for a few seconds.
+
+"Right, Pina, right," he said.  "To tell you the truth, I was
+half-ashamed of my feelings that time when I broke into involuntary
+prayer and thanksgiving.  I'm ashamed now of having been ashamed.  Come,
+sister, you shall read the Word of God from memory, and I will pray
+every morning and evening as long as we shall dwell here together."
+
+That day they wandered about their islet with more of gaiety and
+light-heartedness than they would have experienced had they neglected,
+first, to give honour to God, who not only gives us all things richly to
+enjoy, but also the very capacity for enjoyment.
+
+But no joy of earth is unmingled.  The exploration did not result in
+unmitigated satisfaction, as we shall see.
+
+Their first great object, of course, was breakfast.
+
+"I can't ask you what you'll have, Pina.  Our only dish, at least this
+morning," said Dominick, glancing upwards, "is--"
+
+"Cocoa-nuts," put in Otto.
+
+Otto was rather fond of "putting in" his word, or, as Dominick expressed
+it, "his oar."  He was somewhat pert by nature, and not at that time
+greatly modified by art.
+
+"Just so, lad," returned his brother; "and as you have a considerable
+spice of the monkey in you, be good enough to climb up one of these
+palms, and send down a few nuts."
+
+To do Otto justice, he was quite as obliging as he was pert; but when he
+stood at the foot of the tall palm-tree and looked up at its thick stem,
+he hesitated.
+
+"D'you know, Dom," he said, "it seems to me rather easier to talk about
+than to do?"
+
+"You are not the first who has found that out," returned his brother,
+with a laugh.  "Now, don't you know how the South Sea islanders get up
+the palm-trees?"
+
+"No; never heard how."
+
+"Why, I thought your great authority Robinson Crusoe had told you that."
+
+"Don't think he ever referred to it.  Friday may have known how, but if
+he did, he kept his knowledge to himself."
+
+"I wish you two would discuss the literature of that subject some other
+time," said Pauline.  "I'm almost sinking for want of food.  Do be
+quick, please."
+
+Thus urged, Dominick at once took off his neckcloth and showed his
+brother how, by tying his feet together with it at a sufficient distance
+apart, so as to permit of getting a foot on each side of the tree, the
+kerchief would catch on the rough bark, and so form a purchase by which
+he could force himself up step by step, as it were, while grasping the
+stem with arms and knees.
+
+Otto was an apt scholar in most things, especially in those that
+required activity of body.  He soon climbed the tree, and plucked and
+threw down half a dozen cocoa-nuts.  But when these had been procured,
+there still remained a difficulty, for the tough outer husk of the nuts,
+nearly two inches thick, could not easily be cut through with a
+clasp-knife so as to reach that kernel, or nut, which is ordinarily
+presented to English eyes in fruit-shops.
+
+"We have no axe, so must adopt the only remaining method," said
+Dominick.
+
+Laying a nut on a flat rock, he seized a stone about twice the size of
+his own head, and, heaving it aloft, brought it down with all his force
+on the nut, which was considerably crushed and broken by the blow.  With
+perseverance and the vigorous use of a clasp-knife he at last reached
+the interior.  Thereafter, on cocoa-nut meat and cocoa-nut milk, with a
+draught from a pool in the thicket they partook of their first breakfast
+on the reef.
+
+"Now, our first duty is to bury the skeleton," said Dominick, when the
+meal was concluded; "our next to examine the land; and our last to visit
+the wreck.  I think we shall be able to do all this in one day."
+
+Like many, perhaps we may say most, of man's estimates, Dominick's
+calculation was short of the mark, for the reef turned out to be
+considerably larger than they had at first supposed.  It must be
+remembered that they had, up to that time, seen it only from the low
+level of the sea, and from that point of view it appeared to be a mere
+sandbank with a slight elevation in the centre, which was clothed with
+vegetation.  But when the highest point of this elevation was gained,
+they discovered that it had hidden from their view not only a
+considerable stretch of low land which lay behind, but an extensive
+continuation of the lagoon, or salt-water lake, in which lay a multitude
+of smaller islets of varying shapes, some mere banks of sand, others
+with patches of vegetation in their centres, and a few with several
+cocoa-nut palms on them, the nucleus, probably, of future palm groves.
+A large island formed the background to this lovely picture, and the
+irregular coral reef guarded the whole from the violence of the ocean.
+In some places this reef rose to a considerable height above the
+sea-level.  In others, it was so little above it that each falling
+breaker almost buried it in foam; but everywhere it was a sufficient
+protection to the lagoon, which lay calm and placid within, encircled by
+its snowy fringe,--the result of the watery war outside.  In one spot
+there was a deep entrance into this beautiful haven of peace, and that
+chanced to be close to the golden cave, and was about fifty yards wide.
+At the extremity of the reef, on the other side of this opening, lay
+another elevated spot, similar to their own, though smaller, and with
+only a few palms in the centre of it.  From the sea this eminence had
+appeared to be a continuation of the other, and it was only when they
+landed that the Rigondas discovered the separation caused by the channel
+leading into the lagoon.
+
+"Fairyland!" exclaimed Pauline, who could scarcely contain herself with
+delight at the marvellous scene of beauty that had so unexpectedly burst
+upon their view.
+
+"Rather a noisy and bustling fairyland too," said Otto, referring to the
+numerous sea-birds that inquisitively came to look at them, as well as
+to the other waterfowl that went about from isle to isle on whistling
+wings.
+
+The boy spoke jestingly, but it was clear from his heaving chest,
+partially-open mouth, and glittering eyes, that his little heart was
+stirred to an unwonted depth of emotion.
+
+"Alas! that we have lost our boat," exclaimed Dominick.
+
+To this Otto replied by expressing an earnest wish that he were able to
+swim as well as a South Sea islander, for in that case he would launch
+forth and spend the remainder of that day in visiting all the islands.
+
+"Yes; and wouldn't it be charming," responded his brother, "to pay your
+aquatic visits in such pleasant company as that?"
+
+He pointed to an object, which was visible at no great distance, moving
+about on the surface of the glassy sea with great activity.
+
+"What creature is that?" asked Pauline.
+
+"It is not a creature, Pina, only part of a creature."
+
+"You don't mean to say it's a shark!" cried Otto, with a frown.
+
+"Indeed it is--the back-fin of one at least--and he must have heard you,
+for he seems impatient to join you in your little trip to the islands."
+
+"I'll put it off to some future day, Dom.  But isn't it a pity that such
+pretty places should be spoiled by such greedy and cruel monsters?"
+
+"And yet they _must_ have been made for some good purpose," suggested
+Pauline.
+
+"I rather suspect," said Dominick, "that if game and fish only knew who
+shoot and catch them, and afterwards eat them, they might be inclined to
+call man greedy and cruel."
+
+"But we can't help that Dom.  We must live, you know."
+
+"So says or thinks the shark, no doubt, when he swallows a man."
+
+While the abstruse question, to which the shark had thus given rise, was
+being further discussed, the explorers returned to the thicket, where
+they buried the skeleton beside the other graves.  A close search was
+then made for any object that might identify the unfortunates or afford
+some clue to their history, but nothing of the sort was found.
+
+"Strange," muttered Dominick, on leaving the spot after completing their
+task.  "One would have expected that, with a wrecked ship to fall back
+upon, they would have left behind them evidences of some sort--
+implements, or books, or empty beef-casks,--but there is literally
+nothing."
+
+"Perhaps," suggested Pauline, "the men did not belong to this wreck.
+They may have landed as we have done out of a small boat, and the vessel
+we now see may have been driven here after they were dead."
+
+"True, Pina, it may have been so.  However, the matter must remain a
+mystery for the present.  Meanwhile we will go and explore the low land
+behind our reef."
+
+"Isn't it strange, Dom, that we should become landed proprietors in this
+fashion?" remarked Otto, as they walked along.
+
+"And that, too," added Pauline, "at a time when our hopes were lowest
+and our case most desperate."
+
+"'Tis a magnificent estate," said Dominick, "of which we will constitute
+Pina the Queen, myself the Prime Minister, and Otto the army."
+
+To this Otto objected that, as it was the business of an army to defend
+the people and keep them in order, there was no use for an army, seeing
+that there were no people; but Dominick replied that a queen and prime
+minister formed part of a people, and that an army was required to
+defend _them_.
+
+"To keep them in order, you should say," retorted Otto, "for that will
+clearly be my chief duty if I accept the situation.  Well, I've no
+objection, on the whole, to be an army; but, please, remember that in
+time of peace an army is expected to do no laborious work, and that at
+all times it is clothed and fed by the State.  Now, Queen Pina the
+First, what would your Majesty wish the army to do?"
+
+"Go forth and subdue the land," replied Pina the First, promptly, with
+quite a regal sweep of her hand towards the low ground and the lagoon
+beyond.
+
+"Will your Majesty deign to instruct me how I am to begin?"
+
+The Queen hesitated.  She was rather puzzled, as rulers sometimes are
+when required to tackle details.
+
+"May it please your Majesty," said Dominick, coming to the rescue like a
+true premier, "it is the chief duty of a prime minister to advise his
+sovereign.  If it be your pleasure, I would recommend that the army
+should be sent down into yonder clump of reeds to ascertain what revenue
+is to be derived from the inhabitants thereof in the shape of wildfowl,
+eggs, etcetera, while I visit the shore of the lagoon to ascertain the
+prospects of supply, in the form of shellfish, from that quarter.
+Meanwhile, I would further advise your Majesty to sit down on this coral
+throne, and enjoy the contemplation of your kingdom till we return."
+
+With a dignified bow and a little laugh Queen Pina assented, and the
+Prime Minister went off to the shore, while the army defiled towards the
+marsh.
+
+Left alone, Pina the First soon forgot her royal condition in
+contemplation of the lovely prospect before her.  As she gazed over the
+sand, and across the lagoon, and out on the gleaming sea, her thoughts
+assumed the wings of the morning and flew away over the mighty ocean to
+old England.  Sadness filled her heart, and tears her eyes, as she
+thought of a mild little mother who had, since the departure of her
+three children, been reduced for companionship to a huge household cat,
+and who would ere long be wondering why letters were so long of coming
+from the dear ones who had left her.
+
+Pauline had a vivid imagination and great power of mental abstraction.
+She summoned up the image of the little mother so successfully that she
+felt as if she actually saw her knitting her socks, sadly, with her head
+on one side.  She even heard her address the cat (she was accustomed to
+address the cat when alone), and express a hope that in the course of a
+month or six weeks more she might expect to have news of the absent
+ones.  And Pauline almost saw the household cat, which occupied its
+usual place on the table at the old lady's elbow, blink its eyes with
+sympathy--or indifference, she could not be quite sure which.  Then
+Pauline's wayward thoughts took a sudden flight to the island of Java,
+in the China seas, where she beheld a bald little old gentleman--a
+merchant and a shipowner--who was also her father, and who sat reading a
+newspaper in his office, and was wondering why his good ship _Flying
+Fish_--which was bringing his children to him besides a quantity of
+other goods--did not make its appearance, and she plainly saw the look
+of disappointment as he threw the paper down, exclaiming, "Odd, very
+odd, but she _must_ turn up soon."
+
+Pauline saw nothing more after that for some time, because her eyes were
+blinded with tears.
+
+Then Queen Pina cheered up again, for she thought that surely a ship
+would soon pass the island and take them off.  As this last thought
+became more definite (for Pina was very young and hopeful) her eyes
+dried and permitted her to observe her kingdom more clearly.
+
+The Prime Minister, she observed, was still busy on the shore, and, from
+his frequently stooping to pick up something, she argued that the
+affairs of State in that quarter were prospering.
+
+Presently, from the midst of a mass of reeds not far off, there arose a
+shout, easily recognisable as that of the army, which was followed by
+cries of a stupendous, yet extremely familiar, kind.  Pauline started up
+in considerable haste, and a moment later beheld the chief authors of
+the noise burst from the clump of reeds in the form of a large sow and a
+troop of little pigs.
+
+They were evidently in a state of wild alarm, for, besides squealing
+with a degree of intensity possible only to pigs, they ran in such
+furious haste that they stumbled over sticks and stones in reckless
+confusion, scrambling to their feet again in such a hurry as to ensure
+repeated falls, and, generally, twirling themselves and their tails in a
+manner that was consistent with nothing short of raving madness.
+
+Little wonder that those creatures acted thus, for, close on their
+heels, gasping and glaring, the army burst forth and fell on them--
+literally fell on one of them, for Otto in his anxiety to catch the
+hindmost pig, a remarkably small but active animal, tripped over a root
+just as he was about to lay hold of its little tail, and fell on the top
+of it with fearful violence.  The mechanical pressure, combining with
+the creature's spiritual efforts, produced a sudden yell that threw the
+cries of its companions quite into the shade.  It might have sufficed to
+blow Otto into the air.  Indeed, it seemed as if some such result
+actually followed, for, after turning a complete somersault, the boy was
+on his feet again as if by magic; but so also was the little pig, which,
+being thus forcibly separated from its family, turned aside and made for
+the main thicket.  To cut off its retreat, the army made a sudden flank
+movement, headed the enemy, grasped it by the curly tail, and sought to
+lift it into his arms, but the curly tail straightened out, and, being
+exceedingly thin as well as taper, slipped from his hand.  Need we say
+that the little pig came to the ground with a remonstrative squeal?  It
+also rolled over.  Otto, unable to check himself, flew past.  The pig
+rose, diverged, and resumed its headlong flight.  Otto doubled, came
+close up again, "stooped to conquer," and was on the point of coming off
+victorious, when, with a final shriek of mingled rage and joy, the enemy
+rushed through a hole under a prickly bush, while the discomfited army
+plunged headlong into the same, and stuck fast.
+
+Meanwhile the rest of the porcine family had found refuge in an almost
+impenetrable part of the thicket.
+
+"Pork, your Majesty," said Otto, on returning from the field of battle,
+"may at all events be counted as one of the products of your dominions."
+
+"Truly it would seem so," responded the Queen, with a laugh;
+"nevertheless there does not appear to be much hope of its forming a
+source of supply to the royal larder."
+
+"Time will show," said Dominick, coming up at the moment; "and see, here
+are several kinds of shellfish, which will form a pleasant addition to
+our fare."
+
+"Ay, and I saw eggs among the reeds," said Otto, "some of which--"
+
+"Not pigs' eggs, surely?" interrupted Dominick.
+
+"They may be so," retorted Otto; "the fact that English pigs don't lay
+eggs, is no argument against South Sea pigs doing so, if they choose.
+But, as I was about to say, your Majesty, when the Premier interrupted
+me--some of these eggs I gathered, and would have presented them as an
+offering from the army, if I had not fallen and crushed them beyond
+repair."
+
+In corroboration of what he said, Otto opened his coat pocket and
+revealed in its depths a mass of yellow substance, and broken shells.
+
+"Horrible!" exclaimed Pauline; "how will you ever get it cleaned?"
+
+"By turning it inside out--thus, most gracious Queen."
+
+He reversed the pocket as he spoke, allowing the yellow compound to drip
+on the ground, and thereafter wiped it with grass.
+
+"I wouldn't have minded this loss so much," he continued, "if I had not
+lost that little pig.  But I shall know him again when I see him, and
+you may depend on it that he is destined ere long to be turned into pork
+chops."
+
+"Well, then, on the strength of that hope we will continue the survey of
+our possessions," said Dominick, leading the party still further into
+the low grounds.
+
+For some time the trio wandered about without making any further
+discoveries of importance until they came to a thicket, somewhat similar
+to the one near which they had been cast on shore, but much smaller.  On
+entering it they were startled by a loud cackling noise, accompanied by
+the whirring of wings.
+
+"Sounds marvellously like domestic fowls," said Dominick, as he pushed
+forward.  And such it turned out to be, for, on reaching an open glade
+in the thicket, they beheld a large flock of hens running on ahead of
+them, with a splendid cock bringing up the rear, which turned
+occasionally to cast an indignant look at the intruders.
+
+"That accounts for your eggs, Otto," observed Pauline.
+
+"Yes, and here are more of them," said the boy, pointing to a nest with
+half a dozen eggs in it, which he immediately proceeded to gather.
+
+"It is quite evident to me," remarked Dominick, as they continued to
+advance, "that both the pigs and fowls must have been landed from the
+wreck that lies on the shore, and that, after the death of the poor
+fellows who escaped the sea, they went wild.  Probably they have
+multiplied, and we may find the land well stocked."
+
+"I hope so.  Perhaps we may find some more traces of the shipwrecked
+crew," suggested Pauline.
+
+Their expectations were not disappointed, for, on returning in the
+evening from their tour of exploration, they came on a partially cleared
+place in the thicket beside the golden cave, which had evidently been
+used as a garden.  In the midst of a mass of luxuriant undergrowth,
+which almost smothered them, vegetables of various kinds were found
+growing--among others the sweet potato.
+
+Gathering some of these, Otto declared joyfully that he meant to have a
+royal feast that night, but a difficulty which none of them had thought
+of had to be faced and overcome before that feast could be enjoyed.  It
+was just as they arrived at the golden cave that this difficulty
+presented itself to their minds.
+
+"Dom," said Otto, with a solemn look, "how are we to make a fire?"
+
+"By kindling it, of course."
+
+"Yes, but, you stupid Premier, where are we to find a light?"
+
+"To tell you the truth, my boy," returned Dominick, "I never thought of
+that till this moment, and I can't very well see my way out of the
+difficulty."
+
+Pauline, to whom the brothers now looked, shook her head.  Never before,
+she said, had she occasion to trouble her brain about a light.  When she
+wanted one in England, all she had to do was to call for one, or strike
+a match.  What was to be done in their present circumstances she had not
+the smallest conception.
+
+"I'll tell you what," said Otto, after several suggestions had been made
+and rejected, "this is how we'll do it.  We will gather a lot of dry
+grass and dead sticks and build them up into a pile with logs around it,
+then Pina will sit down and gaze steadily at the heart of the pile for
+some minutes with her great, brown, sparkling eyes she should be able to
+kindle a flame in the heart of almost anything in five minutes--or, say
+ten, at the outside, eh?"
+
+"I should think," retorted the Queen, "that your fiery spirit or
+flashing wit might accomplish the feat in a shorter time."
+
+"It seems to me," remarked Dominick, who had been thinking too hard to
+pay much regard to these pleasantries, "that if we live long here we
+shall have to begin life over again--not our own lives, exactly, but the
+world's life.  We shall have to invent everything anew for ourselves;
+discover new methods of performing old familiar work, and, generally,
+exercise our ingenuity to the uttermost."
+
+"That may be quite true, you philosophic Premier," returned Otto, "but
+it does not light our fire, or roast that old hen which you brought down
+with a stone so cleverly to-day.  Come, now, let us exercise our
+ingenuity a little more to the purpose, if possible."
+
+"If we had only some tinder," said Dominick, "we could find flint, I
+dare say, or some hard kind of stone from which fire could be struck
+with the back of a clasp-knife, but I have seen nothing like tinder
+to-day.  I've heard that burnt rag makes capital tinder.  If so, a bit
+of Pina's dress might do, but we can't burn it without fire."
+
+For a considerable time the trio sought to devise some means of
+procuring fire, but without success, and they were at last fain to
+content themselves with another cold supper of cocoa-nut and water,
+after which, being rather tired, they went to rest as on the previous
+night.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+DIFFICULTIES MET AND OVERCOME.
+
+The next day Pauline and her brothers visited the wreck, and here new
+difficulties met them, for although the vessel lay hard and fast on the
+rocks, there was a belt of water between it and the main shore, which
+was not only broad, but deep.
+
+"I can easily swim it," said Dominick, beginning to pull off his coat.
+
+"Dom," said Otto, solemnly, "sharks!"
+
+"That's true, my boy, I won't risk it."
+
+He put his coat on again, and turned to look for some drift-wood with
+which to make a raft.
+
+"There's sure to be some lying about, you know," he said, "for a wreck
+could hardly take place without something or other in the way of spars
+or wreckage being washed ashore."
+
+"But don't you think," suggested Otto, "that the men whose graves we
+have found may have used it all up?"
+
+Otto was right.  Not a scrap of timber or cordage of any kind was to be
+found after a most diligent search, and they were about to give it up in
+despair, when Pauline remembered the bay where they had been cast
+ashore, and which we have described as being filled with wreckage.
+
+In truth, this bay and the reef with its group of islands lay right in
+the track of one of those great ocean currents which, as the reader
+probably knows, are caused by the constant circulation of all the waters
+of the sea between the equator and the poles.  This grand and continuous
+flow is caused by difference of temperature and density in sea-water at
+different places.  At the equator the water is warm, at the poles it is
+cold.  This alone would suffice to cause circulation--somewhat as water
+circulates in a boiling pot--but other active agents are at work.  The
+Arctic and Antarctic snows freshen the sea-water as well as cool it,
+while equatorial heat evaporates as well as warms it, and thus leaves a
+superabundance of salt and lime behind.  The grand ocean current thus
+caused is broken up into smaller streams, and the courses of these are
+fixed by the conformation of land--just as a river's flow is turned
+right or left, and sometimes backward in eddies, by the form of its
+banks and bottom.  Trade winds, and the earth's motion on its axis,
+still further modify the streams, both as to direction and force.
+
+It was one of those currents, then, which flowed past the reef and
+sometimes cast vessels and wreckage on its shores.
+
+Hastening to the bay, they accordingly found enough of broken spars and
+planks, to have made half a dozen rafts, twice the size of that required
+to go off with to the wreck; so to work they went at once with eager
+enthusiasm.
+
+"Hold on!" shouted Dominick, after a few spars had been collected and
+dragged up on the sand.
+
+Otto and Pauline paused in their labour, and looked anxiously at their
+brother, for his face wore a perplexed look.
+
+"We have forgotten that it is impossible to shove a raft of any size,
+big or little, through these huge breakers, so as to get it round the
+point, to where the wreck lies."
+
+"Well, then," cried Otto, with the ready assurance of ignorance, "we'll
+just drag it overland to the wreck, and launch it there."
+
+"But, Otto, you have not taken into consideration the fact that our raft
+must be so large that, when finished, the dragging of it over rough
+ground would require three or four horses instead of three human
+beings."
+
+"Well, then," returned the boy, "we'll make it small, just big enough to
+carry one person, and then we'll be able to drag it overland, and can go
+off to the wreck one at a time."
+
+"Now, just think, brainless one," retorted Dominick; "suppose that I
+were to go off first to the wreck, what then?"
+
+"Why, then _I_ would go off next of course, and then Pina would follow,
+and so we'd all get on board one at a time, and explore it together."
+
+"Yes; but what would you come off on?"
+
+"The raft, to be sure."
+
+"But the raft, I have supposed, is with me at the wreck.  It won't go
+back to the shore of its own accord to fetch you, and we have no ropes
+with which to haul it to and fro."
+
+"Then there's nothing for it," said Otto, after a few moments' thought,
+"but to make it big enough for two, or carry over the broken spars and
+planks piecemeal, and put them together opposite the wreck; so, come
+along."
+
+This latter plan being adopted, they set to work with energy.  To their
+joy they found not only that a good deal of cordage--somewhat worn,
+indeed, but still serviceable--was mingled with the wreckage, but that
+many large protruding bolts and rusty nails formed convenient holdfasts,
+which facilitated the building up and fastening together of the parts.
+
+At last, after considerable labour, the raft was got ready early in the
+afternoon, and the brothers, embarking on it with two long poles, pushed
+off to the wreck while Pauline sat on the shore and watched them.
+
+It was an anxious moment when they drew near enough to observe the
+vessel more distinctly, for it was just possible that they might find in
+her hold a supply of food and things they stood so much in need of,
+while, on the other hand, there was a strong probability that everything
+had been washed out of her long ago, or that her former crew had taken
+out all that was worth removing.
+
+"What if we should find casks of biscuits and barrels of pork, to say
+nothing of tea and sugar, and such like?" murmured the sanguine Otto, as
+they poled slowly out.
+
+"And what if we should find nothing at all?" said Dominick.
+
+"O Dom!" exclaimed Otto, in a voice so despairing that his companion
+turned to look at him in surprise.  "Look! see! the ship has been on
+fire!  It can only be the mere skeleton that is left."
+
+Dominick turned quickly, and saw that his brother had reason for this
+remark.  They had by that time approached so near to the wreck that the
+charred condition of part of her bulwarks, and specially of her lower
+spars, became obvious; and when, a few minutes later, they stood on the
+deck, the scene that presented itself was one of black desolation.
+Evidently the ill-fated vessel had been enveloped in flames, for
+everything on board was charred, and it was almost certain that her crew
+had run her on the rocks as the only method of escaping, her boats
+having been totally destroyed, as was apparent from the small portions
+of them that still hung from the davits.
+
+"Nothing left!" said Otto.  "I think that Robinson Crusoe himself would
+have given way to despair if _his_ wreck had been anything like this.  I
+wonder that even this much of it has been left above water after fire
+had got hold of it."
+
+"Perhaps the hull sank after the first crash on the rocks, and put out
+the fire," suggested Dominick, "and then subsequent gales may have
+driven her higher up.  Even now her stern lies pretty deep, and
+everything in her hold has been washed away."
+
+There could be no doubt as to the latter point, for the deck had been
+blown up, probably by gunpowder, near the main-hatch, leaving a great
+hole, through which the hold could be seen almost as far as the bulkhead
+of the forecastle.
+
+Hastening forward to the hatchway of this part of the vessel, in the
+feeble hope that they might still find something that would be of use,
+they descended quickly, but the first glance round quenched such a hope,
+for the fire had done its work there effectually, and, besides, there
+were obvious indications that, what the fire had spared, her crew had
+carried away.  The only things left of any value were the charred
+remnants of the hammocks and bedding which had belonged to the sailors.
+
+"Hurrah!" shouted Otto, with a sudden burst of joy, as he leaped forward
+and dragged out a quantity of the bedding; "here's what'll make fire at
+last!  You said, Dom, that burnt rag was capital tinder.  Well, here we
+have burnt sheets enough to last us for years to come!"
+
+"That's true," returned Dominick, laughing at his brother's enthusiasm;
+"let's go aft and see if we can stumble on something more."
+
+But the examination of the after part of the vessel yielded no fruit.
+As we have said, that part was sunk deeply, so that only the cabin
+skylight was above water, and, although they both gazed intently down
+through the water with which the cabin was filled, they could see
+nothing whatever.  With a boat-hook which they found jammed in the port
+bulwarks, they poked and groped about for a considerable time, but
+hooked nothing, and were finally obliged to return empty-handed to the
+anxious Pauline.
+
+Otto did not neglect, however, to carry off a pocketful of
+burnt-sheeting, by means of which, with flint and steel, they were
+enabled that night to eat their supper by the blaze of a cheering fire.
+The human heart when young, does not quickly or easily give way to
+despondency.  Although the Rigondas had thus been cast on an island in
+the equatorial seas, and continued week after week to dwell there,
+living on wild fruits and eggs, and such animals and birds as they
+managed to snare, with no better shelter than a rocky cavern, and with
+little prospect of a speedy release, they did not by any means mourn
+over their lot.
+
+"You see," remarked Otto, one evening when his sister wondered, with a
+sigh, whether their mother had yet begun to feel very anxious about
+them, "you see, she could not have expected to hear much before this
+time, for the voyage to Eastern seas is always a long one, and it is
+well known that vessels often get blown far out of their courses by
+monsoons, and simoons, and baboons, and such like southern hurricanes,
+so motherkins won't begin to grow anxious, I hope, for a long time yet,
+and it's likely that before she becomes _very_ uneasy about us, some
+ship or other will pass close enough to see our signals and take us off
+so--"
+
+"By the way," interrupted Dominick, "have you tried to climb our
+signal-tree, as you said you would do, to replace the flag that was
+blown away by last night's gale?"
+
+"Of course not.  There's no hurry, Dom," answered Otto, who, if truth
+must be told, was not very anxious to escape too soon from his present
+romantic position, and thought that it would be time enough to attract
+the attention of any passing vessel when they grew tired of their
+solitude.  "Besides," he continued, with that tendency to self-defence
+which is so natural to fallen humanity, "I'm not a squirrel to run up
+the straight stem of a branchless tree, fifty feet high or more."
+
+"No, my boy, you're not a squirrel, but, as I have often told you, you
+are a monkey--at least, monkey enough to accomplish your ends when you
+have a mind to."
+
+"Now, really you are too hard," returned Otto, who was busily employed
+as he spoke in boring a hole through a cocoa-nut to get at the milk,
+"you know very well that the branch of the neighbouring tree by which we
+managed to reach the branches of the signal-tree has been blown away, so
+that the thing is impossible, for the stem is far too big to be climbed
+in the same way as I get up the cocoa-nut trees."
+
+"That has nothing to do with the question," retorted Dominick, "you
+_said_ you would try."
+
+Otto looked with an injured expression at his sister and asked what she
+thought of a man being required to attempt impossibilities.
+
+"Not a man--a monkey," interjected his brother.
+
+"Whether man or monkey," said Pauline, in her quiet but decided way, "if
+you promised to attempt the thing, you are bound to try."
+
+"Well, then, I will try, and here, I drink success to the trial."  Otto
+applied the cocoa-nut to his lips, and took a long pull.  "Come along,
+now, the sooner I prove the impossibility the better."
+
+Rising at once, with an injured expression, the boy led the way towards
+a little eminence close at hand, on the top of which grew a few trees of
+various kinds, the tallest of these being the signal-tree, to which
+Dominick had fixed one of the half-burnt pieces of sheeting, brought
+from the wreck.  The stem was perfectly straight and seemingly smooth,
+and as they stood at its foot gazing up to the fluttering little piece
+of rag that still adhered to it, the impossibility of the ascent became
+indeed very obvious.
+
+"Now, sir, are you convinced?" said Otto.
+
+"No, sir, I am not convinced," returned Dominick.
+
+"You said you would try."
+
+Without another word Otto grasped the stem of the tree with arms and
+legs, and did his best to ascend it.  He had, in truth, so much of the
+monkey in him, and was so wiry and tough, that he succeeded in getting
+up full twelve or fourteen feet before being utterly exhausted.  At that
+point, however, he stuck, but instead of slipping down as he had
+intended, and again requesting to know whether his brother was
+convinced, he uttered a sharp cry, and shouted--
+
+"Oh!  I say, Dom, what am I to do?"
+
+"Why, slip down, of course."
+
+"But I can't.  The bark seems to be made of needle-joints, all sticking
+upwards.  If I try to slip, my trousers vill remain behind, and--and--I
+can't hold on much longer!"
+
+"Let go then, and drop," said Dominick, stepping close to the tree.
+
+"Oh no, don't!" cried Pauline, with a little shriek; "if you do you'll--
+you'll--"
+
+"Bust!  Yes, I know I shall," shouted Otto, in despair.
+
+"No fear," cried Dominick, holding out his arms, "let go, I'll cat--"
+
+He was stopped abruptly by receiving a shock from his little brother
+which sent him sprawling on his back.  He sprang up, however, with a
+gasp.
+
+"Why, boy, I had no idea you were so heavy," he exclaimed, laughing.
+
+"Now, don't you go boasting in future, you prime minister, that I can't
+knock you down," said Otto, as he gathered himself up.  "But I say,
+you're not hurt, are you?" he added, with a look of concern, while
+Pauline seized one of Dominick's hands and echoed the question.
+
+"Not in the least--only a little wind knocked out of me.  Moreover, I'm
+not yet convinced that the ascent of that tree is an impossibility."
+
+"You'll have to do it yourself, then," said Otto; "and let me warn you
+beforehand that, though I'm very grateful to you, I won't stand under to
+catch you."
+
+"Was it not you who said the other night at supper that whatever a
+fellow resolved to do he could accomplish, and added that, where there's
+a will, there's a way?"
+
+"I rather think it was you, Dom, who gave expression to those boastful
+sentiments."
+
+"It may be so.  At all events I hold them.  Come, now, lend a hand and
+help me.  The work will take some time, as we have no other implements
+than our gully-knives, but we'll manage it somehow."
+
+"Can I not help you?" asked Pauline.
+
+"Of course you can.  Sit down on the bank here, and I'll give you
+something to do presently."
+
+Dominick went, as he spoke, to a small tree, the bark of which was long,
+tough, and stringy.  Cutting off a quantity of this, he took it to his
+sister, and showed her how to twist some of it into stout cordage.
+Leaving her busily at work on this, he went down to the nearest bamboo
+thicket and cut a stout cane.  It took some time to cut, for the bamboo
+was hard and the knife small for such work.  From the end of the cane he
+cut off a piece about a foot in length.
+
+"Now, Otto, my boy, you split that into four pieces, and sharpen the end
+of each piece, while I cut off another foot of the bamboo."
+
+"But what are you going to do with these bits of stick?" asked Otto, as
+he went to work with a will.
+
+"You shall see.  No use in wasting time with explanations just now.  I
+read of the plan in a book of travels.  There's nothing like a good book
+of travels to put one up to numerous dodges."
+
+"I'm not so sure o' that," objected the boy.  "I have read _Robinson
+Crusoe_ over and over, and over again, and I don't recollect reading of
+his having made use of pegs to climb trees with."
+
+"Your memory may be at fault, perhaps.  Besides, Robinson's is not the
+only book of travels in the world," returned Dominick, as he hacked away
+at the stout bamboo.
+
+"No; but it is certainly the best," returned Otto, with enthusiasm, "and
+I mean to imitate its hero."
+
+"Don't do that, my boy," said Dominick; "whatever you do, don't imitate.
+Act well the part allotted to you, whatever it may be, according to the
+promptings of your own particular nature; but don't imitate."
+
+"Humph!  I won't be guided by your wise notions, Mr Premier.  All I
+know is, that I wish my clothes would wear out faster, so that I might
+dress myself in skins of some sort.  I would have made an umbrella by
+this time, but it never seems to rain in this country."
+
+"Ha!  Wait till the rainy season comes round, and you'll have more than
+enough of it.  Come, we've got enough of pegs to begin with.  Go into
+the thicket now; cut some of the longest bamboos you can find, and bring
+them to me; six or eight will do--slender ones, about twice the
+thickness of my thumb at the ground."
+
+While Otto was engaged in obeying this order, his brother returned to
+the signal-tree.
+
+"Well done, Pina," he said; "you've made some capital cordage."
+
+"What are you going to do now, brother?"
+
+"You shall see," said Dominick, picking up a heavy stone to use as a
+hammer, with which he drove one of the hard, sharp pegs into the tree,
+at about three feet from the ground.  We have said the peg was a foot
+long.  As he fixed it in the tree about three inches deep, nine inches
+of it projected.  On this he placed his foot and raised himself to test
+its strength.  It bore his weight well.  Above this first peg he fixed a
+second, three feet or so higher, and then a third about level with his
+face.
+
+"Ah!  I see," exclaimed Otto, coming up at that moment with several long
+bamboos.  "But, man, don't you see that if one of these pegs should give
+way while you're driving those above it, down you come by the run, and,
+if you should be high up at the time, death will be probable--lameness
+for life, certain."
+
+Dominick did not condescend to answer this remark, but, taking one of
+the bamboos, stood it up close to the tree, not touching, but a few
+inches from the trunk, and bound it firmly with the cord to the three
+pegs.  Thus he had the first three rounds or rungs of an upright ladder,
+one side of which was the tree, the other the bamboo.  Mounting the
+second of these rungs he drove in a fourth peg, and fastened the bamboo
+to it in the same way, and then, taking another step, he fixed a fifth
+peg.  Thus, step by step, he mounted till he had reached between fifteen
+and twenty feet from the ground, where the upright bamboo becoming too
+slender, another was called for and handed up by Otto.  This was lashed
+to the first bamboo, as well as to three of the highest pegs, and the
+operation was continued.  When the thin part of the second long bamboo
+was reached, a third was added; and so the work progressed until the
+ladder was completed, and the lower branches of the tree were gained.
+
+Long before that point, however, Otto begged to be allowed to continue
+and finish the work, which his brother agreed to, and, finally, the
+signal flag was renewed, by the greater part of an old hammock being
+lashed to the top of the tree.
+
+But weeks and months passed away, and the flag continued to fly without
+attracting the attention of any one more important, or more powerful to
+deliver them, than the albatross and the wild sea-mew.
+
+During this period the ingenuity and inventive powers of the party were
+taxed severely, for, being utterly destitute of tools of any kind, with
+the exception of the gully-knives before mentioned, they found it
+extremely difficult to fashion any sort of implement.
+
+"If we had only an axe or a saw," said Otto one morning, with a groan of
+despair, "what a difference it would make."
+
+"Isn't there a proverb," said Pauline, who at the time was busy making
+cordage while Otto was breaking sticks for the fire, "which says that we
+never know our mercies till we lose them?"
+
+"Perhaps there is," said Otto, "and if there isn't, I don't care.  I
+don't like proverbs, they always tell you in an owlishly wise sort o'
+way what you know only too well, at a time when you'd rather not know it
+if possible.  Now, if we only had an axe--ever so small--I would be able
+to fell trees and cut 'em up into big logs, instead of spending hours
+every day searching for dead branches and breaking them across my knee.
+It's not a pleasant branch of our business, I can tell you."
+
+"But you have the variety of hunting," said his sister, "and that, you
+know, is an agreeable as well as useful branch."
+
+"Humph!  It's not so agreeable as I used to think it would be, when one
+has to run after creatures that run faster than one's-self, and one is
+obliged to use wooden spears, and slings, instead of guns.  By the way,
+what a surprising, I may say awful, effect a well-slung stone has on the
+side of a little pig!  I came upon a herd yesterday in the cane-brake,
+and, before they could get away, I slung a big stone at them, which
+caught the smallest of the squeakers fair in the side.  The sudden
+squeal that followed the slap was so intense, that I thought the life
+had gone out of the creature in one agonising gush; but it hadn't, so I
+slung another stone, which took it in the head and dropt it."
+
+"Poor thing!  I wonder how you can be so cruel."
+
+"Cruel!" exclaimed Otto, "I don't do it for pleasure, do I?  Pigs and
+other things have got to be killed if we are to live."
+
+"Well, I suppose so," returned Pauline, with a sigh; "at all events it
+would never do to roast and eat them alive.  But, about the axe.  Is
+there no iron-work in the wreck that might be fashioned into one?"
+
+"Oh yes, sister dear," returned Otto, with a short laugh, "there's
+plenty of iron-work.  Some crowbars and ringbolts, and an anchor or two;
+but do you suppose that I can slice off a bit of an anchor in the shape
+of an axe as you slice a loaf?"
+
+"Well no, not exactly, but I thought there might be some small flat
+pieces that could be made to do."
+
+"What is your difficulty," asked Dominick, returning from a hunting
+expedition at that moment, and flinging down three brace of fowls on the
+floor of the golden cave.
+
+When the difficulty was stated, he remarked that he had often pondered
+the matter while lying awake at night, and when wandering in the woods;
+and he had come to the conclusion that they must return to what was
+termed the stone period of history, and make their axes of flint.
+
+Otto shook his head, and thought Pina's idea of searching the wreck till
+they found a piece of flat metal was a more hopeful scheme.
+
+"What do you say to trying both plans?" cried Pauline, with sudden
+animation.  "Come, as you have voluntarily elected me queen of this
+realm, I command you, Sir Dominick, to make a flint axe without delay,
+and you, Sir Otto, to make an iron one without loss of time."
+
+"Your majesty shall be obeyed," replied her obedient subjects, and to
+work they went accordingly, the very next morning.
+
+Dominick searched far and near for a flint large enough for his purpose.
+He found several, and tried to split them by laying them on a flat
+stone, upheaving another stone as large as he could lift, and hurling it
+down on them with all his might.  Sometimes the flint would fly from
+under the stone without being broken, sometimes it would be crushed to
+fragments, and at other times would split in a manner that rendered it
+quite unsuitable.  At last, however, by patient perseverance, he
+succeeded in splitting one so that an edge of it was thin and sharp,
+while the other end was thick and blunt.
+
+Delighted with this success, he immediately cut with his knife, a branch
+of one of the hardest trees he could find, and formed it into an
+axe-handle.  Some of Pauline's cord he tied round the middle of this,
+and then split it at one end, using his flint for the purpose, and a
+stone for a hammer.  The split extended only as far as the cord, and he
+forced it open by means of little stones as wedges until it was wide
+enough to admit the thick end of his flint axe-head.  Using a piece of
+soft stone as a pencil, he now marked the form of the flint, where it
+touched the wood, exactly, and worked at this with his knife, as
+patiently as a Chinaman, for several hours, until the wood fitted the
+irregularities and indentations of the flint to a nicety.  This of
+itself caused the wood to hold the flint-head very firmly.  Then the
+wedges were removed, and when the handle was bound all round the split
+part with cord, and the flint-head enveloped in the same, the whole
+thing became like a solid mass.
+
+Gingerly and anxiously did Dominick apply it to a tree.  To his joy his
+axe caused the chips to fly in all directions.  He soon stopped,
+however, for fear of breaking it, and set off in triumph to the golden
+cave.
+
+Meanwhile Otto, launching the raft, went on board the wreck to search
+for a suitable bit of iron.  As he had said, there was plenty on board,
+but none of the size or shape that he required, and he was about to quit
+in despair when he observed the flat iron plates, about five inches
+square and quarter of an inch thick, with a large hole in the centre of
+each, which formed the sockets that held the davits for suspending the
+ship's boats.  A crowbar enabled him, after much trouble, to wrench off
+one of these.  A handspike was, after some hours' labour, converted into
+a handle with one side cut flat.  Laying the plate on this, he marked
+its exact size, and then cut away the wood until the iron sank its own
+thickness into it.  There were plenty of nails in the wreck; with these
+he nailed the iron, through its own nail-holes, to the hard handspike,
+and, still further to secure it, he covered it with a little piece of
+flat wood, which he bound firmly on with some cordage made by his sister
+from cocoa-nut fibre.  As the iron projected on both sides of the
+handle, it thus formed a double-edged axe of the most formidable
+appearance.  Of course the edges required grinding down, but this was a
+mere matter of detail, to be accomplished by prolonged and patient
+rubbing on a stone!
+
+Otto arrived triumphantly at the golden cave almost at the same moment
+with his brother, and they both laid their axes at the feet of the
+queen.
+
+"Thanks, my trusty vassals," she said; "I knew you would both succeed,
+and had prepared a royal feast against your return."
+
+"To which I have brought a royal appetite, your majesty," said Otto.
+
+"In truth so have I," added Dominick.
+
+There was a good deal of jesting in all this; nevertheless the trio sat
+down to supper that night highly pleased with themselves.  While eating,
+they discussed, with much animation, the merits of the axes, and
+experienced no little difficulty in deciding which was the better tool.
+At last Pauline settled the matter by declaring that the iron axe, being
+the strongest, was, perhaps, the best; but as it was not yet sharpened,
+while Dominick's was ready for immediate use, the flint axe was in
+present circumstances better.
+
+"So then, being equal," said Otto, "and having had a splendid supper, we
+will retire to rest."
+
+Thus, in devising means for increasing their comforts, and supplying
+their daily necessities, the days and weeks flew swiftly by.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+STIRRING EVENTS AND CHANGES.
+
+An event was now pending over the castaway family which was destined to
+darken their bright sky, and interrupt them in the even tenor of their
+way.
+
+Up to this time the interest, not to say delight, with which they went
+about their daily avocations, the fineness of the weather, and the
+romance of their situation, had prevented their minds from dwelling much
+on the flight of time, and if Pauline had not remembered the Sundays by
+conscientiously keeping a daily record with a pencil on a piece of bark,
+not one of them would have believed it possible that two months had
+elapsed since they were cast ashore.
+
+The sanguine hope, too, which filled the breast of each, that a vessel
+would certainly pass by sooner or later and take them off, prevented
+their being disturbed by gloomy anticipations of a long exile, and it is
+probable that they would have gone on pleasantly for a much longer time,
+improving the golden cave, and exploring the reef, and developing the
+resources of what Otto styled the Queendom, without much caring about
+the future, had not the event above referred to come upon them with the
+sudden violence of a thunder-clap, terminating their peaceful life in a
+way they had never anticipated, and leading to changes which the wildest
+imagination could hardly have conceived.
+
+That event was, indeed, the arrival of a ship, but it did not arrive in
+the manner that had been expected.  It came in the dead of a dark night,
+when the elements seemed to have declared fierce war against each other,
+for it was difficult to say whether the roaring of the sea, the crashing
+of the thunder, or the flashing of the forked lightning was most
+tremendous.
+
+A previous storm or two, of a mild type, having warned our trio that
+Paradise had not been quite regained, even in that lovely region, they
+had fitted something like a front, formed of wreckage, to the golden
+cave, and this had, up to that time, formed a sufficient protection
+against slight inclemencies of weather; but on this particular night the
+gusts of wind were so violent, and shook the front of their dwelling so
+much, that both Dominick and his brother found it impossible to sleep.
+Their sister, however, lay undisturbed, because she reposed in an inner
+chamber, which had been screened off with broken planks, and these not
+only checked draughts, but deadened sounds.
+
+"I'm afraid our wall will come down," said Dominick, raising himself at
+last on one elbow, and gazing at the wooden erection uneasily.
+
+"Oh, let it come!" growled Otto, who had been so frequently checked
+while dropping into slumber that night that he was getting quite cross.
+
+Not feeling quite so regardless of consequences, his brother Dominick
+arose and endeavoured to prop the weak part of the structure with an
+additional piece of timber.
+
+He had accomplished his object, and was about to lie down again to rest,
+when a terrible cry was heard, which rose above the roaring of the
+storm.  There seemed something so appalling in it, and at the same time
+so unaccountable in that solitary spot, that Dominick's heart almost
+stood still for a moment with superstitious fear.  Otto also heard the
+cry, and sat bolt upright, while drowsiness was effectually banished
+from his brain.
+
+"Dom, did you hear that?" he asked in a solemn voice.  "I should think I
+did," replied his brother in a low tone.  The cave being very dark,
+neither could see the other distinctly.  They sat silent for a few
+moments, anxiously listening for a repetition of the cry.
+
+"Move quietly, Otto," said Dominick, as he crept towards their little
+door, "it evidently has not awaked Pina, and we may as well let her lie
+still till we find out what it is."
+
+"You're not going out, Dom?" asked Otto, in anxiety.
+
+"Yes, why not?"
+
+"Be--because--it--it may be--be--something--_awful_!"
+
+"It _must_ be something awful, and that is just why I am going out.
+Come, you didn't use to be a coward."
+
+This was touching the boy on a tender point.  He was indeed by no means
+a coward when the danger he had to face was comprehensible and obvious,
+but when the danger happened to be incomprehensible, as well as
+invisible, his courage was not quite as high as might have been desired.
+The taunt of his brother stirred up his pride however.  He rose and
+followed him in silence, with stern resolve and a quaking heart!
+
+On issuing from their shelter the brothers had to lean heavily against
+the blast to prevent their being swept away.  Seeking the shelter of a
+bush, they gazed around them, but saw nothing save a dim appearance of
+bending trees and scudding foam.
+
+"The cry may have come from the beach; let's go down," said Dominick,
+leaving the shelter of the bush, and pushing forward.
+
+"Better go back," was on Otto's lips, but he repressed the words and
+followed.
+
+There was not light enough to enable them to see objects on land, but
+whatever chanced to be pictured against the dark sky became distinctly
+visible as a dark object.  The old familiar wreck was therefore seen the
+moment they cleared the bushes that fringed the bay, but close to it was
+another object which was very unfamiliar indeed to their eyes.  It
+accounted for the cry and caused a gush of mingled feelings in the
+breasts of the brothers.
+
+Let us now, good reader, wing our flight out to sea, and backwards a
+little in time.  On that stormy night of which we treat, a large
+emigrant ship was scudding before the gale almost under bare poles.
+Part of her sails and rigging had been carried away; the rest of her was
+more or less damaged.  The officers, having had no reliable observation
+for several days, were not sure of their exact position on the great
+ocean, and the captain, being well aware of the danger of those seas,
+was filled with anxiety.  To add to his troubles, the crew had become
+slightly mutinous, and some of the emigrants--of whom there were upwards
+of three hundred on board--sided with the crew.  It was even whispered
+that the chief mate was at the bottom of a plot to murder the captain
+and seize the ship.  For what purpose, of course, no one could tell,
+and, indeed, there was no apparent ground for the rumour, beyond the
+fact that the mate--Malines by name--was a surly, taciturn man, with a
+scowling, though handsome, visage, and a powerful frame.
+
+But whatever of truth might have been in these rumours was never brought
+to light, for an accident occurred during the gale which put the
+commander of the vessel beyond the power of earthly foes.  One of the
+larger ropes of the vessel snapt, and the heavy block attached to it
+swung against the captain with such violence as to kill him on the spot.
+The momentary confusion which followed the disaster distracted the
+attention of the steersman, and a heavy sea was shipped, by which the
+captain's body was swept overboard.  No attempt was made to lower a boat
+or check the ship.  Even the unskilled emigrants understood that no boat
+could live in such a sea, and that rescue was impossible.  The vessel
+held on her wild course as if nothing had happened.
+
+Malines, being now in command, issued an order that all the emigrants
+should go below, and the hatches be secured.
+
+The women and children and most of the men were already in their
+uncomfortable quarters below hatches, but a group of hardy-looking
+fellows, who held on to ropes and stanchions near the windlass, refused
+to move.  Among them was a remarkably powerful woman, whose tongue
+afforded presumptive evidence that she had been born in the Emerald
+Isle.
+
+"We'll stop where we be, master," said one of the emigrants, with a
+quiet but resolute air.
+
+"That's right, Joe, stick up.  We ain't slaves," said another.
+
+To this last speaker Malines turned fiercely and knocked him down; then,
+seizing him by the collar and dragging him to the hatchway, he thrust
+him below.  It may be remarked that the man thus roughly treated--
+Redding by name--was a little man.  Bullies usually select little men
+when inclined to display their courage.
+
+"Shame on yez," exclaimed the Irish woman, clenching her huge fist.  "If
+it wasn't that I'm a poor widdy woman, I'd--I'd--"
+
+"Howld yer tongue, Mother Lynch," whispered a lively youth of about
+nineteen by her side, who obviously hailed from the same country.  "It's
+not aggravatin' him that'll do _him_ good.  Let him be, darlin', and
+he'll soon blow the steam off."
+
+"An' what does it matter to me, Teddy Malone, whether he blows the steam
+off, or keeps it down till he bursts his biler?  Is it a descendant o'
+the royal family o' Munster as'll howld her tongue whin she sees cruelty
+and injustice?"
+
+Without paying the slightest regard to this royal personage, Malines
+returned to the group of men, and repeated his order to go below; but
+they did not go, and he seized a handspike with a view to enforce his
+commands.  He hesitated, however, on observing that the man named Joe,
+after quietly buttoning his coat, was turning up his wristbands as if in
+preparation for a pugilistic encounter.
+
+"Lookee here now, Mister Malines," said Joe, with a mild, even kindly,
+expression, which was the very reverse of belligerent; "I was allers a
+law-abidin' man myself, and don't have no love for fightin'; but when
+I'm ordered to go into a dark hole, and have the lid shut down on me an'
+locked, I feels a sort of objection, d'ee see.  If you lets us be, us'll
+let you be.  If otherwise--"
+
+Joe stopped abruptly, grinned, and clenched his enormous fists.
+
+Mr Malines was one of those wise men who know when they have met their
+match.  His knockings down and overbearing ways always stopped short at
+that line where he met courage and strength equal or superior to his
+own.  He possessed about the average of bull-dog courage and more than
+the average of physical strength, but observing that Joe was gifted with
+still more of both these qualities, he lowered the handspike, and with a
+sneer replied--
+
+"Oh, well--please yourselves.  It matters nothing to me if you get
+washed overboard.  Make all fast, lads," he added, turning to his crew,
+who stood prepared for what one of them styled a scrimmage.  Malines
+returned to the quarter-deck, followed by a half-suppressed laugh from
+some of the mutinous emigrants.
+
+"You see, David," remarked Joe, in a quiet tone, to a man beside him, as
+he turned down his cuffs, "I think, from the look of him, that if we was
+to strike on rocks, or run on shore, or take to sinking, or anything o'
+that sort, the mate is mean enough to look arter hisself and leave the
+poor things below to be choked in a hole.  So you an' me must keep on
+deck, so as to let 'em all out if need be."
+
+"Right, Joe, right you are."
+
+The man who thus replied bore such a strong resemblance to Joe in grave
+kindliness of expression and colossal size of frame, that even a
+stranger could not fail to recognise them as brothers, and such they
+were--in truth they were twins, having first seen the light together
+just thirty years before.  There was this difference in the character of
+the brothers, however, that Joe Binney was the more intellectual and
+resolute of the two.  David Binney, recognising this fact, and loving
+his brother with all the fervour of a strong nature, was in the habit of
+looking up to him for advice, and submitting to him as if he had been an
+elder brother.  Nevertheless, David was not without a mind of his own,
+and sometimes differed in opinion with Joe.  He even occasionally
+disputed, but never with the slightest tinge of ill-feeling.
+
+While the brothers were conversing in an undertone on the dangers of the
+sea, and the disagreeables of a fore-cabin, the mass of unfortunates
+below were cowering in their berths, rendered almost forgetful of the
+stifling atmosphere, and the wailing of sick children, by the fear of
+shipwreck, as they listened with throbbing hearts to the howling wind
+and rattling cordage overhead, and felt the tremendous shocks when the
+good ship was buffeted by the sea.
+
+Near to Joe Binney stood one of the sailors on outlook.  He was a
+dark-complexioned, savage-looking man, who had done more than any one
+else to foment the bad feeling that had existed between the captain and
+his men.
+
+"Ye look somethin' skeared, Hugh Morris," said Joe, observing that the
+look-out was gazing over the bow with an expression of alarm.
+
+"Breakers ahead!" roared the man at that moment--"port!--hard-a-port!"
+
+The order was sharply repeated, and promptly obeyed, and the vessel came
+round in time to escape destruction on a ledge of rocks, over which the
+water was foaming furiously.
+
+Instantly Malines went forward and began to give hurried directions to
+the steersman.  The danger was avoided, though the escape was narrow,
+and the low rocks were seen passing astern, while the sea ahead seemed
+to be free from obstruction, as far, at least, as the profound darkness
+permitted them to see.
+
+"They'll be all drowned like rats in a hole if we strike," muttered the
+sailor, Hugh Morris, as if speaking to himself.
+
+"Not if I can help it," said Joe Binney, who overheard the remark.
+
+As he spoke he went to the little companion hatch, or door to the
+fore-cabin, and tried to open it, but could not.
+
+"Here, David," he cried, "lend a hand."
+
+Applying their united strength--with some assistance from Teddy Malone,
+and earnest encouragement from Mrs Lynch--they succeeded in bursting
+open the hatch.
+
+"Hallo! there," shouted Joe, in a voice that would have been creditable
+to a boatswain, "come on deck if ye don't want to be drownded."
+
+"Hooroo!" added Malone, "we're goin' to the bottom!  Look alive wid ye."
+
+"Ay, an' bring up the childers," yelled Mrs Lynch.  "Don't lave wan o'
+thim below."
+
+Of course, the poor emigrants were not slow to obey these startling
+orders.
+
+The state of affairs was so serious that Malines either did not see, or
+did not care for, what was going on.  He stood on the forecastle looking
+out intently ahead.
+
+"Land on the starboard beam!" shouted Morris suddenly.
+
+The mate was on the point of giving an order to the steersman when he
+observed land looming on the port bow.  Instantly he saw that all hope
+was over.  They were steering to inevitable destruction between two
+ledges of rock!  What he would have done in the circumstances no one can
+tell, because before he had time to act the vessel struck with great
+violence, and the terror-stricken passengers gave vent to that appalling
+cry of fear which had so suddenly aroused Dominick Rigonda and his
+brother.
+
+As the vessel remained hard and fast, with her bow thrust high on the
+rocks, the emigrants and crew found a partial refuge from the violence
+of the waves on the forecastle.  Hence the first wild shriek of fear was
+not repeated.  In a few minutes, however, a wave of greater size than
+usual came rushing towards the vessel.  Fortunately, most of the
+emigrants failed to realise the danger, but the seamen were fully alive
+to it.
+
+"It's all over with us," exclaimed the mate, in a sort of reckless
+despair.  But he was wrong.  The great billow, which he expected would
+dash the vessel in pieces--and which, in nine cases out of ten, would
+have done so--lifted the wreck so high as to carry it almost completely
+over the ledge, on which it had struck, leaving the stern high on the
+rocks, while the bow was plunged into the partly-protected water on the
+other side.
+
+The sudden descent of the forecastle induced the belief an many of the
+emigrants' minds that they were about to go headlong to the bottom, and
+another cry of terror arose; but when they found that their place of
+refuge sank no further than to a level with the water, most of them took
+heart again, and began to scramble up to the quarter-deck as hastily as
+they had before scrambled to the forecastle.
+
+"Something like land ahead," observed Hugh Morris, who stood close to
+the mate.
+
+"I don't see it," returned the latter, gruffly, for he was jealous of
+the influence that Morris had over the crew, and, during the whole
+voyage, had treated him harshly.
+
+"It may be there, although you don't see it," retorted Hugh, with a
+feeling of scorn, which he made no attempt to conceal.
+
+"Sure I sees somethin' movin' on the wather," exclaimed Mrs Lynch, who,
+during the occurrences just described, had held on to a belaying pin
+with the tenacity and strength of an octopus.
+
+"It's the wather movin' in yer own eyes, mother," said Malone, who stood
+beside his Amazonian countrywoman.
+
+At that moment a halloo was heard faintly in the distance, and, soon
+after, a raft was seen approaching, guided, apparently, by two men.
+
+"Raft a-hoy!  Where d'ee hail from?" shouted the mate.
+
+"From nowhere!" came back promptly in a boy's ringing voice.
+
+"You've got on a coral reef," shouted a powerful voice, which, we need
+scarcely say, was that of Dominick Rigonda, "but you're safe enough now.
+The last wave has shoved you over into sheltered water.  You're in
+luck.  We'll soon put you on shore."
+
+"An island, I suppose," said Malines, as the raft came alongside.  "What
+may be its name?"
+
+"Got no name that I know of; as far as I know it's uninhabited, and,
+probably, unknown.  Only three of us here--wrecked like yourselves.  If
+you have boats, lower them, and I'll pilot you to land."
+
+"Ohone!" groaned Mrs Lynch, in solemn despair, as she tried to see the
+speaker, whom darkness rendered almost invisible.  "An unbeknown island,
+uninhabited by nobody.  Boys, we are done for intirely.  Didn't I say
+this would be the end of it, when we made up our minds to go to say?"
+
+No one seemed inclined just then to dispute the prophetic reminiscences
+of the widow, for the order had been given to get ready one of the
+boats.  Turning to the emigrants, who were now clustering on the fore
+part of the vessel, Malines, condescending to adopt a more respectful
+tone, addressed them as follows:--
+
+"Now, let me tell you, one and all, that your voyage has come to an end
+sooner than I expected.  Our ship is wrecked, but we're out of danger,
+and must go ashore an' live as best we can, or die if we can't live.
+Where we are, I don't know, and don't care, for it don't much matter.
+It's an island, it seems, and three people who have been wrecked before
+us are all its population.  As it is too dark to go ashore comfortably
+to-night, I would advise you to go below again, an' turn in till
+daylight.  You may make your minds easy, for there's no fear of our
+going to the bottom _now_."
+
+"Sure, an' you're right there," murmured Teddy Malone, "for aren't we at
+the bottom already?"
+
+"You may all do as you please, however," continued the mate, after a
+low-toned remark from one of the crew, "for my command has come to an
+end with the loss of the ship."
+
+When the mate ceased speaking, there was a brief pause, for the
+unfortunate emigrants had been so long accustomed to conform to the
+strict discipline of the ship that they felt like sheep suddenly
+deprived of a shepherd, or soldiers bereft of their officers when thus
+left to think for themselves.  Then the self-sufficient and officious
+among them began to give advice, and to dispute noisily as to what they
+should do, so that in a few minutes their voices, mingling with the gale
+and the cries of terrified children, caused such a din that the strong
+spirit of the widow Lynch was stirred within her, inducing her to raise
+her masculine voice in a shout that silenced nearly all the rest.
+
+"That's right, mother," cried young Malone, "howld yer tongues, boys,
+and let's hear what the widdy has to say.  Isn't it herself has got the
+great mind--not to mintion the body?"
+
+"Shut your murphy-trap, Teddy," retorted the widow, "an' here's what
+I've got to say.  We must have only wan man to guide us if we are to get
+on at all.  Too many cooks, ye knows well enough, is sure to spile the
+broth.  Let Joe Binney speak, and the rest of 'ee howld yer tongues, if
+ye can."
+
+Thus invited, modest Joe gave it as his opinion that the emigrants could
+not do better than follow the advice of Muster Malines--go below, turn
+in, and wait till daylight.  He added further that he would count it a
+favour if Muster Malines would continue in command of the party, at
+least till they all got ashore.
+
+This little compliment to the man whom he had so recently defied had a
+softening influence on the mate, and the proposal was well received by
+the people, who, even during the few minutes of anarchy which had
+prevailed, were led to appreciate the value of order and government.
+
+"You are right, Binney," said the mate.  "I would advise you all, good
+people, to go below and rest as well as you can, while I, and those who
+choose to act under me, will go ashore and make the best possible
+arrangements for your landing in the morning."
+
+"Now, why don't ye do what ye'er towld at wanst?" cried Mrs Lynch, who
+had evidently made up her mind that the reins of government were not to
+be entirely given up to the mate.  "It's not wishin', are ye, to get
+wetter than ye are, a'ready?  Go below, ivery wan of ye."
+
+Like a meek flock, the women and children obeyed the mandate, being
+absolutely in bodily fear of the woman, while most of the men followed
+them with a laugh, or a little chaff, according to temperament.
+
+Before the latter had left the deck, Malines suggested that Joe Binney
+and his brother David should accompany him on shore that night, to
+represent the emigrants, as it were, and assist him in the proposed
+arrangements.
+
+"Besides," he added, "there is just the possibility that we may fall
+into a trap.  We know nothing about the man who has come off to us
+except his voice, so that it will be wise to land with some of our best
+men armed."
+
+Of course the brothers had no objection to this plan, and accordingly
+they, with the mate and four of the ship's crew--all armed with
+cutlasses and pistols--got into one of the boats and were lowered into
+the water on the lee side of the vessel, where Dominick and Otto had
+been quietly awaiting the end of the foregoing discussions.
+
+In a few minutes they reached the shore, and then Dominick shook hands
+with them, and welcomed them to the islands, "which," he said, "we have
+named `Refuge Islands.'"
+
+"Run up to the cave, Otto," he whispered, while the party was engaged in
+drawing up the boat.  "Stir up the fire and rouse Pina,--tell her to
+prepare to receive company."
+
+"She'll be as much puzzled as if I told her to prepare to receive
+cavalry," muttered the boy as he ran up to the cave.
+
+"Hallo!  Pina! rouse up, old girl," he shouted, bursting into the cave,
+and falling on his knees before the embers of the fire, which he soon
+blew up into a flame.  "I say, Pina! hallo!  Pina!  Pi-i-i-i-na!"
+
+"Dear me, Otto, what is wrong?" asked the sleepy voice of Pauline from
+behind her screen.
+
+"Wrong?" cried her brother, "nothing's wrong--that is, everything's
+wrong; but don't be afraid, old girl, all's right.  Dress as fast as you
+can, and prepare for company!"
+
+"What _do_ you mean?" cried the girl, by that time thoroughly aroused,
+and somewhat alarmed by Otto's words and excitement.
+
+"Can't explain.  No time.  Get up, make yourself presentable, and come
+out of your den."
+
+As he spoke Pauline lifted the curtain door of her apartment and stepped
+into the outer cave, which was by that time all aglow with the ruddy
+blaze.
+
+"Do you call yourself presentable?" asked Otto, laughing; "why your hair
+is raised like the back of a wild cat."
+
+It is only right to say that the boy did not do his sister justice.  An
+old shawl thrown hastily on, and descending in confused folds around her
+slight, graceful figure, invested her with an air of classic simplicity,
+while her pretty face, surrounded by a wealth of dishevelled, but
+beautiful, hair, was suggestive of something very much the reverse of a
+wild cat.
+
+"Are you prepared, sister, for a stunning surprise?" said Otto, quickly,
+for he heard the approaching footsteps of the party.
+
+"I'm prepared for anything," said Pauline, her lustrous eyes and her
+little mouth opening simultaneously, for she also heard the numerous
+footfalls outside.
+
+"'Tis well!" cried Otto, starting up, and assuming a heroic attitude as
+he waved his right hand toward the door of the cavern, "no time to
+explain.  Enter Dominick, with band of robbers, headed by their captain,
+amid shrieking wind, forked lightning, and peals of thunder!"
+
+As he spoke, Pauline, despite her surprise, could scarcely refrain from
+laughter, for Otto's words were fulfilled almost to the letter.  Amid a
+strife of elements that caused their frail erections to tremble, the
+little door burst open, and Dominick, stooping low to save his head,
+entered.  He was followed by the gaunt, dark form of Malines, who, in
+rough garments and long fishermen's boots, with pistols in belt, and
+cutlass by his side, was a particularly good representative of a
+robber-captain.  Following him came the still more gigantic Joe Binney,
+and his equally huge brother David, after which trooped in the boat's
+crew one by one.
+
+As each man entered he stood stock still--dumb, petrified with
+astonishment--as he gazed, saucer-eyed, at Pauline.  Bereft of speech
+and motion, she returned the gaze with interest.
+
+Oh! it was a rare treat to Otto!  His little bosom heaved with delight
+as he watched the shipwrecked men enter one after another and become
+petrefactions!  Some of the sailors even dropped their lower jaws with
+wonder.
+
+Dominick, who, in the bustle of action, had not thought of the surprise
+in store for his visitors, burst into a hearty fit of laughter.
+
+"It was well got up, Otto," he said at last.
+
+"No, it wasn't, Dom.  I do assure you it was not got up at all, but came
+about in the most natural manner."
+
+"Well, got up or not," returned Dominick, "here you are, friends, in
+what we have styled our golden cave, and this is my sister Pauline--
+allow me to introduce you, Pina, to part of a shipwrecked crew."
+
+The youth's laughter, and the introduction which followed, seemed to
+disenchant the mariners, who, recovering self-possession with a deep
+sigh, became sheepish in bearing, and seemed inclined to beat a retreat,
+but our heroine quickly put them at their ease.  With a natural tact and
+grace of manner which had the appearance of, but was not meant for,
+dignity, she advanced and offered her little hand to Malines, who seemed
+to fear that he might crush it unintentionally, so slight was the shake
+he gave it.
+
+"You are heartily welcome to our cavern," she said.  "I'm _so_ grieved
+to hear that you have been wrecked."
+
+"Don't mention it, Miss.  Not worth speaking of, I assure you; we're
+quite used to it," replied Malines, not knowing very well what he said.
+
+The ice, however, was broken.  From this point all went on, as Otto
+said, swimmingly.  The mate began to relate the circumstances of the
+recent wreck, while Pauline and Otto spread the remains of their supper
+before the men, and set about roasting the fowls that had been intended
+for the morrow's breakfast.
+
+Before long the gale began to abate, and the sailors went out with
+Dominick, to select a spot on which the emigrants might encamp, being
+aided in this work by a struggling and fitful moonlight.  After that
+Malines went back with his party to the ship, and Dominick returned with
+Otto to court slumber in the golden cave.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+SHIPWRECKED EMIGRANTS AND HORRIFIED CONSPIRATORS.
+
+The scene which presented itself on the morning after the storm is not
+easily described, and the change to the trio who had up to that time
+lived so peacefully on Refuge Islands' Reef was so great that they found
+it difficult at first to believe it was other than a dream.
+
+On awaking, indeed, Otto saluted his brother with the exclamation--
+
+"O Dom, I've had such a comical dream!"
+
+"Indeed, my boy," said Dominick, "I fear it was no dream, but a
+reality."
+
+At this Otto suddenly sprang up, and ran out to relieve his mind on the
+point.  A few seconds sufficed.  On clearing the bushes he beheld the
+new wreck lying not far from the old one, and saw from the crowds of
+people who were being put into the boats that the emigrant ship had been
+no mere creature of his imagination.  It was evident that the boat which
+had just quitted the vessel's side contained the first band of
+emigrants, for the only people yet landed were a few men, who busied
+themselves in putting up a rude shelter for the women and children, and
+in kindling fires for the preparation of breakfast on a little mound
+between two and three hundred yards from the golden cave.
+
+By that time the storm had blown itself out, and the rising sun was
+mounting into a cloudless blue sky, and covering the sea with dazzling
+ripples, which looked as if the very water were laughing with joy at the
+sudden change from darkness and fury to light and peace.
+
+Conspicuous among those who worked on shore was the gigantic form of Joe
+Binney.  Considering him an old acquaintance.  Otto ran up to him and
+shook hands.
+
+"How many emigrants are there of you?" he asked.
+
+"Three hundred, more or less, master, but I ain't rightly sure; there's
+such a many that it's difficult to count 'em when they are all a-movin'
+to and fro."
+
+"Here, Joe, catch hold o' this post, an' keep it steady till I make it
+fast," said Hugh Morris, the seaman who has been described as one of the
+most turbulent among the men.
+
+While Joe assisted in the erection of the canvas booth or shelter, he
+gave Otto a good deal of information regarding the vessel, the
+emigrants, the crew, and the misunderstandings which had occurred
+previous to the captain's death.
+
+"It's well for one man that we've bin wrecked, anyhow," remarked Morris,
+stepping back with an artistic air to survey his handiwork.
+
+"You mean the young doctor," said Joe.
+
+"That's who I mean," returned Morris.  "Doctor John Marsh.  He's the
+only man in the ship that's worth his salt, but I fear he's a doomed
+man."
+
+"I hope not, Hugh, though there _are_ one or two men on board worth more
+than their salt," said Joe, with a peculiar smile, as he returned to the
+care of a large kettle of beans, from which the sailor had called him.
+
+On Otto inquiring what was the matter with the doctor, Joe Binney
+explained--
+
+"He's been ill a'most since we left England, owin' to a fall he had in
+tryin' to save one o' the child'n as was tumblin' down the after-hatch.
+He saved the child, but broke one or two of his own ribs, an' the broken
+ends must have damaged his lungs, for, ever since, he's bin spittin'
+blood an' wearin' away, till we can hardly believe he's the same stout,
+hearty, active young feller that came aboord at Gravesend.  Spite of his
+hurt he's bin goin' among us quite cheerful-like, doin' the best he
+could for the sick; but as Morris says, he looks like a doomed man.
+P'r'aps gittin' ashore may do him good.  You see, bein' the only doctor
+in the ship, he couldn't attend to hisself as well as might be, mayhap."
+
+While Joe and Otto were conversing, the first boat load of emigrants
+landed, consisting chiefly of women and children.  Dr Marsh was also
+among them, in order that, as he said with quiet pleasantry, he might
+attend to the sanitary arrangements of the camp in the new land, though
+all who saw him quit the wreck were under the sorrowful impression that
+the new land would prove to be in his case a last resting-place.
+
+There was something peculiarly attractive in the manly, handsome face of
+this young disciple of Aesculapius, worn as it was by long sickness and
+suffering, and Otto fell in love with him at first sight.
+
+There can be no doubt that some human beings are so constituted as to
+powerfully attract others by their mere physical conformation and
+expression, without reference to character or conduct,--indeed, before
+character or conduct can possibly be known.  And when this peculiar
+conformation and expression is coupled with delicacy of health, and
+obvious suffering, the attractive influence becomes irresistible.  Let
+us thank God that such is the case.  Blind, unreasoning affection is a
+grand foundation on which to build a mighty superstructure of good
+offices, kindly acts, and tender feelings, mingled, it may be, with
+loving forbearance, and occasional suffering, which shall be good to the
+souls of the lover, as well as the loved one.
+
+Anyhow, when Otto saw Dr Marsh helped, almost lifted, out of the boat;
+observed him give a pitiful little smile, and heard him utter some mild
+pleasantry to those who assisted him, he experienced a gush of feeling
+such as had never before inflated his reckless little bosom, and
+something like water--to his great astonishment--caused interference
+with his vision.
+
+Running forward just as the widow Lynch was officiously thrusting her
+warm-hearted attentions on the invalid, he accosted the doctor, and
+offered to escort him to the golden cave.
+
+And we may here inform the reader that the involuntary affection of our
+little hero met with a suitable return, for Dr Marsh also fell in love
+with Otto at first sight.  His feelings, however, were strongly mingled
+with surprise.
+
+"My boy," he said, with painfully wide-open eyes, "from what part of the
+sky have _you_ dropt?"
+
+"Well, not being a falling star or a rocket-stick, I cannot claim such
+high descent,--but hasn't the mate told you about us?" returned Otto.
+
+Here widow Lynch broke in with:
+
+"Towld him about you?  Av course he hasn't.  He don't throuble his hid
+to tell much to any wan; an', sure, wasn't the doctor slaapin' whin he
+returned aboord i' the night, an' wasn't I nursin' of 'im, and d'ee
+think any wan could git at 'im widout my lave?"
+
+Otto thought that certainly no one could easily accomplish that feat,
+and was about to say so, when Dr Marsh said remonstratively--
+
+"Now, my dear widow Lynch, do leave me to the care of this new friend,
+who, I am sure, is quite able to assist me, and do you go and look after
+these poor women and children.  They are quite helpless without your
+aid.  Look! your favourite Brown-eyes will be in the water if you don't
+run."
+
+The child of a poor widow, which had been styled Brown-eyes by the
+doctor because of its gorgeous optics, was indeed on the point of taking
+an involuntary bath as he spoke.  Mrs Lynch, seeing the danger, rushed
+tumultuously to the rescue, leaving the doctor to Otto's care.
+
+"Don't let me lean too heavily on you," he said, looking down; "I'm
+big-boned, you see, and long-legged, though rather thin."
+
+"Pooh!" said Otto, looking up, "you're as light as a feather, and I'm as
+strong as a horse,--a little horse, at least.  You'd better not go to
+the camp yet, they are not ready for you, and that sweet little delicate
+creature you call widow Lynch is quite able to manage them all.  Come up
+with me to the cave.  But has nobody said a word about _us_?"
+
+"Not a soul.  As the widow told you, I was asleep when the mate returned
+to the wreck.  Indeed, it is not very long since I awoke.  I did hear
+some mention in passing of a few people being on the island, but I
+thought they referred to savages."
+
+"Perhaps they were not far wrong," said Otto, with a laugh.  "I do feel
+pretty savage sometimes, and Dominick is awful when he is roused; but we
+can't count Pauline among the savages."
+
+"Dominick!  Pauline!" exclaimed the doctor.  "My good fellow, explain
+yourself, and let us sit down on this bank while you do so.  I'm so
+stupidly weak that walking only a few yards knocks me up."
+
+"Well, only two or three yards further will bring you to our cave, which
+is just beyond that cluster of bushes, but it may be as well to
+enlighten you a little before introducing you."
+
+In a few rapid sentences Otto explained their circumstances, and how
+they came to be there.  He told his brief tale in sympathetic ears.
+
+"And your own name," asked the doctor, "is--?"
+
+"Otto Rigonda."
+
+"Well, Otto, my boy, you and I shall be friends; I know it--I feel it."
+
+"And I'm _sure_ of it," responded the enthusiastic boy, grasping the
+hand of the invalid, and shaking it almost too warmly.  "But come, I
+want to present you to my sister.  Dominick is already among the
+emigrants, for I saw him leave the cave and go down to the camp when you
+were disputing with that female grampus."
+
+"Come, don't begin our friendship by speaking disrespectfully of one of
+my best friends," said the doctor, rising; "but for widow Lynch's tender
+nursing I don't think I should be here now."
+
+"I'll respect and reverence her henceforth and for ever," said Otto.
+"But here we are--this is the golden cave.  Now you'll have to stoop,
+because our door was made for short men like me--and for humble long
+ones like my brother."
+
+"I'll try to be a humble long one," said the doctor as he stooped and
+followed Otto into the cave.
+
+Pauline was on her knees in front of the fire, with her back to the
+door, as they entered.  She was stooping low and blowing at the flames
+vigorously.
+
+"O Otto!" she exclaimed, without looking round, "this fire will break my
+heart.  It _won't_ light!"
+
+"More company, Pina," said her brother.
+
+Pauline sprang up and turned round with flushed countenance and
+disordered hair; and again Otto had the ineffable delight of seeing
+human beings suddenly reduced to that condition which is variously
+described as being "stunned," "thunderstruck," "petrified," and "struck
+all of a heap" with surprise.
+
+Pauline was the first to recover self-possession.
+
+"Really, Otto, it is too bad of you to take one by surprise so.  Excuse
+me, sir,--no doubt you are one of the unfortunates who have been
+wrecked.  I have much pleasure in offering you the hospitality of our
+humble home!"
+
+Pauline spoke at first half jestingly, but when she looked full at the
+thin, worn countenance of the youth who stood speechless before her, she
+forgot surprise and everything else in a feeling of pity.
+
+"But you have been ill," she continued, sympathetically; "this wreck
+must have--pray sit down."
+
+She placed a little stool for her visitor beside the fire.
+
+If Dr John Marsh had spoken the words that sprang to his lips he would
+have begun with "Angelic creature," but he suppressed his feelings and
+only stammered--
+
+"Your b-brother, Miss Rigonda, must have a taste for taking people by
+surprise, for he did not tell me that--that--I--I mean he did not
+prepare me for--for--you are right.  I think I had better sit down, for
+I have, as you perceive, been very ill, and am rather weak, and--and in
+the circumstances such an unexpected--a--"
+
+At this critical moment Dominick fortunately entered the cave, and
+rescued the doctor from the quicksand, in which he was floundering.
+
+"Oh! you must be the very man I want," he said, grasping his visitor by
+the hand.
+
+"That is strange," returned the doctor, with a languid smile, "seeing
+that you have never met me before."
+
+"True, my good sir; nevertheless I may venture to say that I know you
+well, for there's a termagant of an Irish woman down at the camp going
+about wringing her hands, shouting out your good qualities in the most
+pathetic tones, and giving nobody a moment's peace because she does not
+know what has become of you.  Having a suspicion that my brother must
+have found you and brought you here, I came to see.  But pray, may I ask
+your name, for the Irish woman only describes you as `Doctor, dear!'"
+
+"Allow me to introduce him," cried Otto, "as an old friend of mine--Dr
+Marsh."
+
+Dominick looked at his brother in surprise.
+
+"Otto is right," said the doctor, with a laugh, "at least if feeling may
+be permitted to do duty for time in gauging the friendship."
+
+"Well, Dr Marsh, we are happy to make your acquaintance, despite the
+sadness of the circumstances," said Dominick, "and will do all we can
+for you and your friends; meanwhile, may I ask you to come to the camp
+and relieve the mind of your worshipper, for I can scarcely call her
+less."
+
+Poor Dr Marsh, feeling greatly exhausted by excitement as much as by
+exertion, was on the point of excusing himself and begging his host to
+fetch the widow up to the cave, when he was saved the trouble by the
+widow herself, whose voice was just then heard outside.
+
+"What's that yer sayin', Joe?" she exclaimed in a remonstrative tone,
+"ye seed 'im go into that rabbit-hole?  Never!  Don't tell me!  Arrah
+it's on his hands an knees he'd have to do it."
+
+The voice which replied was pitched in a much deeper and softer key, but
+it was heard distinctly to say, "Ay, widdy Lynch, that's the door I seed
+him an' a boy go through; so ye'd better rap at it an' inquire."
+
+"Faix, an' that's jist what I'll do, though I don't half belave ye."
+
+She was about to apply her large red knuckles to the door in question
+when her intention was frustrated and her doubts were scattered by the
+door opening and Dominick presenting himself.
+
+"Come in, Mrs Lynch, come in.  Your doctor is here, alive and well."
+
+"Well, is it--ah!  I wish he was!  Are ye there, darlin'?"
+
+"Yes, yes," came from within, in a laughing voice.  "Here I am, Mrs
+Lynch, all right and comfortable.  Come in."
+
+Being excessively tall, the widow was obliged, like others, to stoop to
+enter; but being also excessively broad, she only got her head and
+shoulders through the doorway, and then, unlike others, she stuck fast.
+By dint, however, of a good pull from Dominick and a gentle push from
+Joe, she was got inside without quite carrying away the structure which
+the gale of the preceding night had spared.
+
+"Och! 'tis a quare place intirely, and there is some disadvantage in
+bein' big--thank ye kindly, sir--but on the whole--"
+
+She got no further, for at that moment her sharp little grey eyes fell
+on Pauline, and once again Otto's heart was stirred to its profoundest
+depths by the expressive glare that ensued.  Indeed, Dominick and Marsh
+were equally affected, and could not help laughing.
+
+"Ha! ye may laugh," said the widow, with profound solemnity, "but if
+it's not dramin' I am, what Father Macgrath says about ghosts is true,
+and--"
+
+"I hope you don't take _me_ for a ghost, Mrs Lynch," said Pauline,
+stepping forward with a kindly smile and holding out her hand.
+
+"No, cushla!  I don't," returned the widow, accepting the hand tenderly.
+"Sure it's more like a ghost the doctor is, in spite of his larfin'.
+But wonders 'll niver cease.  I'll lave 'im wid an aisy mind, for he's
+in good hands.  Now, Joe, clear out o' the door, like a good man, an'
+let me through.  They'll be wantin' me at the camp.  A good haul, Joe,
+I'm tough; no fear o' me comin' to pieces.  Och! but it's a poor cabin.
+An Irish pig wouldn't thank ye for it."
+
+Murmuring similar uncomplimentary remarks, mingled with expressions of
+surprise, the voice of the woman gradually died away, and the people in
+the golden cave were left to discuss their situation and form hasty
+plans for the present emergency.
+
+At first, of course, they could do little else than make each other
+partially acquainted with the circumstances which had so strangely
+thrown them together, but Dominick soon put an end to this desultory
+talk.
+
+"You see, it will take all our time," he said, "between this and sunset
+to get the emigrants comfortably under canvas, or some sort of shelter."
+
+"True," assented Dr Marsh, "and it would never do with so many women
+and children, some of whom are on the sick list, to leave them to the
+risk of exposure to another storm like that which has just passed.  Is
+your island subject to such?"
+
+"By no means," answered Dominick.  "It has a splendid climate.  This
+gale is quite exceptional.  Nevertheless, we cannot tell when the next
+may burst on us.  Come, Otto, you and I will go down to the camp.  Now,
+Dr Marsh, you must remain here.  I can see, without being told, that
+you are quite unfit to help us.  I know that it is hard to be condemned
+to inaction when all around are busy, but reflect how many patients you
+have solemnly warned that their recovery would depend on implicit
+obedience to the doctor's orders!  Divide yourself in two, now, and, as
+a doctor, give yourself strict orders to remain quiet."
+
+"H'm!  Gladly would I divide myself," was the doctor's reply, "if while
+I left the patient half to act the invalid, I could take the impatient
+half down to the camp to aid you.  But I submit.  The days of my once
+boasted strength are gone.  I feel more helpless than a mouse."
+
+There was something quite pitiful in the half-humorous look, and the
+weary sigh, with which the poor youth concluded his remarks, and Otto
+was so touched that he suddenly suggested the propriety of his staying
+behind and taking care of him.
+
+"Why, you conceited creature," cried Dominick, "of what use could _you_
+be?  Besides, don't you think that Pina is a sufficiently good nurse?"
+
+Otto humbly admitted that she was.
+
+Dr Marsh, glancing at her pretty face, on which at the moment there
+beamed an expression of deep sympathy, also admitted that she was; but,
+being a man of comparatively few words, he said nothing.
+
+It was a busy day for Dominick and his brother.  Not only had they to
+counsel and advise with the unfortunate emigrants as to the best
+position for the temporary encampment, with reference to wood and water,
+as well as to assist with their own hands in the erection of tents made
+of torn sails and huts and booths composed of broken planks and reeds,
+but they had to answer innumerable questions from the inquisitive as to
+their own history, from the anxious as to the probabilities of
+deliverance, from the practical as to the resources of the islands, and
+from the idiotic as to everything in general and nothing in particular.
+In addition to which they had to encourage the timid, to correct the
+mistaken, and to remonstrate with or resist the obstinate; also to romp
+a little with the children as they recovered their spirits, quiet the
+babies as they recovered their powers of lung, and do a little amateur
+doctoring for the sick in the absence of the medical man.
+
+In all these varied occupations they were much aided by the widow Lynch,
+who, instead of proving to be, as they had expected, a troublesome
+termagant, turned out to be a soft-hearted, kindly, enthusiastic,
+sympathetic woman, with a highly uneducated, unbalanced mind, a
+powerfully constituted and masculine frame, and "a will of her own."  In
+this last particular she did not differ much from the rest of the human
+species, but she was afflicted with an unusually strong desire to assert
+it.
+
+Very like Mrs Lynch in the matters of kindly soft-heartedness and
+sympathy was Mrs Welsh--a poor, gentle, delicate Englishwoman, the wife
+of a great hulking cross-grained fellow named Abel, who was a carpenter
+by trade and an idler by preference.  Mrs Welsh was particularly good
+as a sick-nurse and a cook, in which capacities she made herself
+extremely useful.
+
+About midday, Mrs Welsh having prepared a glorious though simple meal
+for her section of the emigrant band, and the other sections having been
+ministered to more or less successfully by their more or less capable
+cooks, Dominick and Otto went up to the golden cave to dinner, which
+they well knew the faithful Pauline would have ready waiting for them.
+
+"What a day we have had, to be sure!" said Dominick as they walked
+along; "and I'm as hungry as a kangaroo."
+
+Without noticing the unreasonableness of supposing that long-legged
+creature to be the hungriest of animals, Otto declared that he was in
+the same condition, "if not more so."
+
+On opening the door they were checked by the expression of Pauline's
+face, the speaking eyes of which, and the silent mouth, were
+concentrated into an unmistakable "hush!"--which was emphasised by a
+significant forefinger.
+
+"What's wrong?" whispered Dominick, anxiously.
+
+"Sleeping," murmured Pauline--she was too good a nurse to whisper--
+pointing to the invalid, who, overcome with the night's exposure and the
+morning's excitement, had fallen into a profound slumber on Otto's
+humble couch.
+
+This was a rather severe and unexpected trial to Otto, who had come up
+to the cave brimming over with camp news for Pauline's benefit.  He felt
+that it was next to impossible to relate in a whisper all the doings and
+sayings, comical and otherwise, that he had seen and heard that day.  To
+eat his dinner and say nothing seemed equally impossible.  To awaken the
+wearied sleeper was out of the question.  However, there was nothing for
+it but to address himself to the suppression of his feelings.  Probably
+it was good for him to be thus self-disciplined; certainly it was
+painful.
+
+He suffered chiefly at the top of the nose--inside behind his eyes--that
+being the part of the safety-valve where bursts of laughter were
+checked; and more than once, while engaged in a whispering commentary on
+the amiable widow Lynch, the convulsions within bade fair to blow the
+nasal organ off his face altogether.  Laughter is catching.  Pauline and
+Dominick, ere long, began to wish that Otto would hold his tongue.  At
+last, some eccentricity of Joe Binney, or his brother, or Mrs Lynch, we
+forget which, raised the pressure to such a pitch that the safety-valves
+of all three became ineffective.  They all exploded in unison, and poor
+Marsh was brought to consciousness, surprise, and a sitting posture at
+the same instant.
+
+"I'm afraid," he said, rather sheepishly, "that I've been sleeping."
+
+"You have, doctor, and a right good sleep you've had," said Dominick,
+rising and placing a stool for the invalid.  "We ought to apologise for
+disturbing you; but come, sit down and dine.  You must be hungry by this
+time."
+
+"Indeed I am.  The land air seems to have had a powerful effect on me
+already."
+
+"Truly it must," remarked Pauline, "else you could not have fallen
+asleep in the very middle of my glowing description of our island home."
+
+"Did I really do that?" said the doctor, with an air of self-reproach.
+
+"Indeed you did; but in the circumstances you are to be excused."
+
+"And I hope," added Dominick, "that you'll have many a good sleep in our
+golden cave."
+
+"Golden cave, indeed," echoed the invalid, in thought, for his mind was
+too much taken up just then with Pauline to find vent in speech.  "A
+golden cave it will be to me for evermore!"
+
+It is of no use mincing the matter; Dr John Marsh, after being regarded
+by his friends at home as hopelessly unimpressible--in short, an
+absolute woman-hater--had found his fate on a desolate isle of the
+Southern seas, he had fallen--nay, let us be just--had jumped over head
+and ears in love with Pauline Rigonda!  Dr Marsh was no sentimental
+die-away noodle who, half-ashamed, half-proud of his condition, displays
+it to the semi-contemptuous world.  No; after disbelieving for many
+years in the power of woman to subdue him, he suddenly and manfully gave
+in--sprang up high into the air, spiritually, and so to speak, turning a
+sharp somersault, went headlong down deep into the flood, without the
+slightest intention of ever again returning to the surface.
+
+But of this mighty upheaval and overturning of his sentiments he
+betrayed no symptom whatever, excepting two bright spots--one on either
+cheek--which might easily have been mistaken for the effects of
+weakness, or recent excitement, or bad health, or returning hunger.
+Calmly he set to work on the viands before him with unusual appetite,
+conversing earnestly, meanwhile, with Dominick and Otto on the gravity
+of their situation, and bestowing no more attention upon Pauline than
+was barely consistent with good breeding, insomuch that that pretty
+young creature began to feel somewhat aggrieved.  Considering all the
+care she had so recently bestowed on him, she came to the conclusion, in
+short, that he was by no means as polite as at first she had supposed
+him to be.
+
+By degrees the conversation about the present began to give place to
+discussions as to the future, and when Dominick and Otto returned for
+their evening meal at sunset, bringing with them Mr Malines, the mate,
+and Joe Binney and his brother David and Hugh Morris as being
+representative men of the emigrants and ship's crew, the meeting
+resolved itself into a regular debating society.  At this point Pauline
+deserted them and went down to the camp to cultivate the acquaintance of
+the widow Lynch, Mrs Welsh, and the other female and infantine members
+of the wrecked party.
+
+"For my part," said Malines, "I shall take one o' the boats, launch it
+in the lagoon, and go over to the big island, follow me who may, for it
+is clear that there's not room for us all on this strip of sand."
+
+"I don't see that," objected Hugh Morris.  "Seems to me as there's space
+enough for all of us, if we're not too greedy."
+
+"That shows ye knows nothin' about land, Hugh," said Joe Binney.
+"What's of it here is not only too little, but too sandy.  I votes for
+the big island."
+
+"So does I," said David Binney.  "Big Island for me."
+
+Thus, incidentally, was the large island named.
+
+"But," said Hugh, still objecting, "it won't be half so convenient to
+git things out o' the wreck, as where we are."
+
+"Pooh! that's nothing," said Malines.  "It won't cost us much trouble to
+carry all we want across a spit of sand."
+
+Seeing that the two men were getting angry with each other, Dominick
+interposed by blandly stating that he knew well the capabilities of the
+spot on which they were encamped, and he was sure that such a party
+would require more ground if they meant to settle on it.
+
+"Well now, master," observed Joe, with a half-laugh, "we don't 'zactly
+mean for to settle on it, but here we be, an' here we must be, till a
+ship takes us off, an' we can't afford to starve, 'ee know, so we'll
+just plough the land an' plant our seed, an' hope for good weather an'
+heavy crops; so I says Big Island!"
+
+"An' so says I--Big Island for ever!" repeated his brother David.
+
+After a good deal more talk and altercation this was finally agreed to,
+and the meeting dissolved itself.
+
+That night, at the darkest hour, another meeting was held in the darkest
+spot that could be found near the camp.  It chanced, unknown to the
+meeting, to be the burial-ground at first discovered by the Rigondas.
+
+Unwittingly, for it was very dark, Hugh Morris seated himself on one of
+the old graves, and about thirty like-minded men gathered round him.
+Little did they know that Otto was one of the party!  Our little hero,
+being sharp eyed and eared, had seen and overheard enough in the camp
+that day to induce him to watch Morris after he left the cave, and
+follow him to the rendezvous.
+
+"My lads," said Morris, "I've done my best to keep them to the reef, but
+that blackguard Malines won't hear of it.  He's bent on takin' 'em all
+to the big island, so they're sure to go, and we won't get the help o'
+the other men: but no matter; wi' blocks an' tackle we'll do it
+ourselves, so we can afford to remain quiet till our opportunity comes.
+I'm quite sure the ship lays in such a position that we can get her over
+the ledge into deep water, and so be able to draw round into the open
+sea, and then--"
+
+"Hurrah for the black flag and the southern seas," cried one of the
+party.
+
+"No, no, Jabez Jenkins," said Morris, "we don't mean to be pirates; only
+free rovers."
+
+"Hallo! what's this?" exclaimed another of the party.  "A cross, I do
+believe! and this mound--why, it's a grave!"
+
+"And here's another one!" said Jabez, in a hoarse whisper.  "Seems to me
+we've got into a cannibal churchyard, or--"
+
+"Bo-o-o-o-oo!" groaned Otto at that moment, in the most horribly
+sepulchral tone he could command.
+
+Nothing more was wanted.  With one consent the conspirators leapt up and
+fled from the dreadful spot in a frenzy of unutterable consternation.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+TREATS OF BIG ISLAND--A GREAT FIGHT AND A ROYAL FAMILY.
+
+"Dominick," said Otto, next morning, after having solemnly and somewhat
+mysteriously led his brother to the old burial-ground, "would you
+believe me if I told you that last night, when you and the like of you
+were sound asleep, not to say snoring, I saw some twenty or thirty men
+fly from this spot like maniacs at the howling of a ghost?"
+
+"No, I would not believe you," answered Dominick, with a bland smile.
+
+"Would you not believe me if I told you that _I_ was the ghost and that
+Hugh Morris was the ringleader of the cowards?"
+
+"Come, Otto, be sensible and explain."
+
+Otto became sensible and explained.  Thereupon Dominick became serious,
+and said "Oho!"  To which Otto replied "Just so," after which they
+became meditative.  Then Dominick linked his arm in that of his little
+brother, and, leading him off to a well-known and sequestered walk,
+entered into an earnest confabulation.
+
+With the details of that confabulation we will not trouble the reader.
+We will only repeat the concluding sentences.
+
+"Well, then, Dom, it's agreed on, that we are to go on as if we knew
+nothing about this matter, and take no notice of it whatever to any
+one--not even to Pina."
+
+"Yes, Otto, that's it.  Of course I don't like to have any sort of
+secret from Pina, but it would be cruel in us to fill her mind with
+alarm for no good purpose.  No--mum's the word.  Take no notice
+whatever.  Morris may repent.  Give him the benefit of the doubt, or the
+hope."
+
+"Very well, Dom, mum shall be the word."
+
+Having thus for the time being disposed of a troublesome subject, the
+brothers returned to the place where the emigrants were encamped.
+
+Here all was wild confusion and harmony.  Lest this should appear
+contradictory, we must explain that the confusion was only physical, and
+addressed to the eye.  The emigrants, who were busy as ants, had already
+disembarked large quantities of their goods, which were scattered about
+in various heaps between the landing-place and the encampment.  The
+harmony, on the other hand, was mental and spiritual, for as yet there
+had been no time for conflicting interests to arise, and the people were
+all so busy that they had not leisure to disagree.
+
+Besides, the weather being splendidly bright and warm was conducive to
+good-humour.  It will be remembered also that Hugh Morris and his
+friends had resolved to remain quiet for the present.  Perhaps the
+effect of the ghostly visitation might have had some influence in
+restraining their turbulent spirits.
+
+At all events, be this as it may, when Dominick and Otto came upon the
+scene everything was progressing pleasantly.  The male emigrants were
+running between the beach and the camp with heavy burdens on their
+shoulders.  The females were busy washing and mending garments, which
+stood sorely in need of their attention, or tending the sick and what
+Otto styled the infantry.  The sailors were engaged, some in
+transporting goods from the wreck to the shore, others in piloting two
+of the large boats through the reef into the lagoon, and the larger
+children were romping joyously in the thickets and trying to climb the
+cocoa-nut trees, while the smaller fry were rolling helplessly on the
+sands--watched, more or less, by mothers and big sisters.
+
+Chief among those who piloted the large boats through the passage in the
+reef was Hugh Morris.  He took careful observations and soundings as he
+went along, not that such were needed for the safety of the boats, but
+Hugh Morris had an eye to the ultimate destiny of the ship.
+
+"You're mighty particular, Morris," said Malines, with something of a
+sneer in his tone, when the former drew up his boat inside the reef
+beside the other boat.  "One would think you were piloting a man-of-war
+through instead of a little boat."
+
+"What I was doin' is none o' your business, Malines," returned Hugh,
+sternly.  "Your command ceased when you lost your ship, and I ain't
+agoin' to obey your orders; no, nor take any of your cheek."
+
+"The emigrants chose to accept me as their commander, at least for the
+present," retorted Malines, fiercely.
+
+To this Hugh replied, with a laugh of scorn, that the emigrants might
+make a commander of the ship's monkey for all that he cared, the
+emigrants were not _his_ masters, and he would do exactly as he pleased.
+
+As a number of his followers echoed the scornful laugh, Malines felt
+that he had not the power to carry things with a high hand.
+
+"Well, well," he returned, in a tone of quiet indifference, "we shall
+see.  It is quite clear to every one with a grain of sense that people
+can't live comfortably under two masters; the people will have to decide
+that matter for themselves before long."
+
+"Ay, that will they, master," remarked Joe Binney, in a low but
+significant voice.  "Seems to me, however, that as we're all agreed
+about goin' over to Big Island, we'd better go about it an' leave
+disputation till afterwards."
+
+Agreeing to this in silence, the men set about loading the boats for the
+first trip.
+
+Dominick and Otto, standing on the beach, had witnessed this
+altercation.
+
+"The seeds of much dissension and future trouble are there," remarked
+the former.
+
+"Unless we prevent the growth of the seed," said Otto.
+
+"True, but how that is to be done does not appear obvious at present.
+These men have strong wills and powerful frames, and each has a large
+following, I can see that.  We must hope that among the emigrants there
+may be good and strong men enough to keep the crew in check."
+
+"Luckily two of the biggest and stoutest are also the most sensible,"
+said Otto.
+
+"You mean the brothers Binney?"
+
+"Yes, Dom.  They're first-rate men, don't you think so?"
+
+"Undoubtedly; but very ignorant, and evidently unaccustomed to lead or
+command men."
+
+"What a pity," exclaimed the boy, with a flush of sudden inspiration,
+"that we couldn't make you king of the island!  You're nearly as strong
+as the best of them, and much cleverer."
+
+Dominick received this compliment with a laugh and a shake of the head.
+
+"No, my boy; I am not nearly as strong as Malines or Morris, or the
+Binneys.  Besides, you forget that `the race is not always to the swift,
+nor the battle to the strong,' and as to cleverness, that does not
+consist in a superior education or a head crammed full of knowledge, but
+in the right and ready application of knowledge.  No; I have no ambition
+to be a king.  But it won't do for us to stand here talking, else we
+shall be set down as idlers.  Come, let us lend a helping hand."
+
+While the men were busy at the boats on the lagoon side of the reef,
+Pauline was winning golden opinions among the women at the camp by the
+hearty, unaffected way in which she went about making herself generally
+useful.  O blessed simplicity, how adorable art thou in man and woman!
+Self-forgetfulness was a salient point in Pauline's character, and,
+being conjoined with strong powers of sympathy, active good-will to man
+and beast, and more than the average of intellectual capacity, with an
+under-current of rippling fun, the girl's influence quickly made itself
+felt.
+
+Mrs Lynch said she was a jewel, and that was extraordinary praise from
+the strapping widow, who seldom complimented her sex, whatever she may
+have felt.  Mrs Welsh said she was a "dear, pritty creetur'," and
+laughter-loving little Mrs Nobbs, the wife of a jovial harum-scarum
+blacksmith, pronounced her a "perfect darling."  As for the children,
+after one hour's acquaintance they adored her, and would have "bored her
+to death" had that been possible.  What the men thought of her we cannot
+tell, for they spake not, but furtively stared at her in a sort of
+reverential amazement, and some of them, in a state of mild enthusiasm,
+gave murmured utterance to the sentence quoted above, "Blessed
+simplicity!" for Pauline Rigonda was, at first, utterly unaware of the
+sensation she created.
+
+When the two boats were loaded down to the gunwales, a select party of
+men embarked and rowed them over the calm lagoon to Big Island.  Of
+course they were well armed, for no one could tell what they might meet
+with there.  Dominick and Otto were of the party, and, being regarded in
+some measure as owners of the soil, the former was tacitly recognised as
+leader on this their first visit.
+
+The distance they had to row was not more than a quarter of a mile, so
+the lagoon was soon crossed.  The spot at which they landed was a
+beautiful little bay with bush-topped cliffs on one side, a thicket of
+luxuriant plants on the other, and palm groves rising to a moderate
+height behind.  The little beach on which they ran the boats was of pure
+white sand, which induced one of them to name it Silver Bay.
+
+Jumping out, Dominick, with a dozen armed men, advanced into the bushes
+with caution.
+
+"Nothing to be seen here of either friends or foes," he said, halting.
+"I felt sure that we should find no one, and it is of no use taking so
+many of you from work; therefore, lads, I would advise your returning to
+the boats and going to work at once.  My little brother and I will
+ascend to the top of the cliff there, from which we will be able to see
+all the neighbouring country, and give you timely warning should any
+natives appear.  Pile your rifles on the beach, so as to have them
+handy; but you've nothing to fear."
+
+In a few minutes Dominick and his brother, each carrying a rifle and
+cutlass supplied by the wrecked party, had mounted to the top of the
+neighbouring cliff, while the men returned to aid in unloading the
+boats.
+
+"What a splendid island!" exclaimed Otto, with intense delight, as, from
+the lofty outlook, they gazed down upon a scene of the richest beauty.
+From their position on the reef they had hitherto seen the island
+through the softening atmosphere of distance, like a rounded mass of
+verdure; but in this case distance had _not_ "lent enchantment to the
+view," for, now that they beheld it spread in all its luxuriance at
+their feet, like a verdant gem resting on the breast of ocean, it
+appeared infinitely more beautiful.  Not only was the mind charmed by
+the varied details of grove and bay, thicket and grotto, but the eye was
+attracted irresistibly to the magnificent trees and shrubs which stood
+prominent in their individuality--such as the light and elegant
+aito-tree; the stately apape, with its branchless trunk and light crown
+of pale green leaves, resembling those of the English ash; the splendid
+tamanu, an evergreen, with its laurel-shaped leaves; the imposing
+hutu-tree, with foliage resembling the magnolia and its large white
+flowers, the petals of which are edged with bright pink;--these and many
+others, with the feathery palm and several kinds of mimosa lining the
+seashore, presented a display of form and colour such as the brothers
+had not up to that time even dreamed of.
+
+While Otto gazed in silent wonder and admiration, he was surprised to
+hear Dominick give vent to a sigh, and shake his head.
+
+"Dom!" he said, remonstratively, "what do you mean by that?"
+
+"I mean that the place is such a paradise that the emigrants won't want
+to leave it, and that will interfere with a little plan which had begun
+to form itself in my brain of late.  I had been thinking that among so
+many tradesmen I should find men to help me to break up the wreck, and,
+out of the materials, to build a small vessel, with which to leave the
+island--for, to tell you the truth, Otto, I have begun to fear that this
+place lies so far out of the track of ships that we may be left on it
+for many years like the mutineers of Pitcairn Island."
+
+"Humph!  I'm sorry you're growing tired of it already," said Otto; "I
+thought you had more o' the spirit of Robinson Crusoe in you, Dom, and I
+never heard of the mutineers of Pitcairn Island; but if--"
+
+"What! did you never hear of the mutineers of the _Bounty_?"
+
+"Never.  My education, you know, has been neglected."
+
+"Then I'll tell you the story some time or other.  It's too long to
+begin just now, but it beats that of your favourite Robinson out of
+sight in my opinion."
+
+Otto shook his head in grave unbelief.  "That," he said, "is impossible.
+But as to this island proving so attractive, don't you think that such
+fellows as Hugh Morris and Malines will take care to prevent it becoming
+too much of a paradise?"
+
+Dominick laughingly admitted that there was something in that--and he
+was right.  There was even more in that than he had imagined, for the
+party had not been a week in their new home when they began to differ as
+to the division of the island.  That old, old story of mighty men
+desiring to take possession of the land and push their weaker brethren
+to the wall soon began to be re-enacted on this gem of the ocean, and
+bade fair to convert the paradise--like the celebrated Monte Carlo--into
+a magnificent pandemonium.
+
+At one of their stormy meetings, of which the settlers had many, the
+brothers Binney and Dominick were present.  It was held on the shores of
+Silver Bay, where the first boat-loads had been discharged, and around
+which quite a village of rude huts had sprung up like mushrooms.  From
+those disputatious assemblies most of the women absented themselves, but
+the widow Lynch always remained, holding herself in reserve for any
+emergency, for she was well aware that her opinion carried much weight
+with many of the party.
+
+"We're a rough lot, and would need tight handlin'," whispered the little
+man named Redding to Joe Binney, who sat on a bank beside him.
+
+"The handlin' will be tight enough before long," returned Joe, with a
+decided little nod.  "Listen, the worst o' the lot's agoin' to spout."
+
+This last remark had reference to Malines, who had just risen to reply
+to a fiery little man named Buxley, a tailor by trade, who was possessed
+not only of good reasoning power but great animal courage, as he had
+proved on more than one occasion on the voyage out.
+
+"Friends," said the mate, "it's all very well for Buxley to talk about
+fair play, and equal rights, etcetera, but, I ask, would it be fair play
+to give each of us an equal portion of land, when it's quite clear that
+some--like Joe Binney there--could cultivate twice as much as his share,
+while a creature like Buxley--"
+
+"No more a creature than yourself!" shouted the little tailor.
+
+"Could only work up half his lot--if even so much," continued the mate,
+regardless of the interruption.
+
+"Hear, hear!" from those who sympathised with Malines.
+
+"An' what could _you_ do with land?" demanded Buxley in a tone of scorn,
+"a man that's ploughed nothing but salt water all his life."
+
+This was greeted with a laugh and "That's so."  "He's only sowed wild
+oats as yet."  "Pitch into him, Buckie."
+
+Malines was fast losing temper under the little man's caustic remarks,
+but succeeded in restraining himself, and went on:--
+
+"It's quite plain that the island is too small to let every man have an
+equal bit of land, so I propose that it should be divided among those
+who have strength and knowledge to work it, and--"
+
+"_You_ ain't one o' them," shouted the irate tailor.
+
+"Come, come, Buxley--let him speak," said Joe Binney, "fair play, ye
+know.  That's what you sticks up for, ain't it?  Let 'im speak."
+
+"Anyhow," continued Malines, sharply, "_I_ mean to keep the bit o'
+ground I've staked off whether you like it or no--"
+
+"An' so do I," cried Welsh, who was what may be styled a growly man.
+
+"Sure, an' so does myself," said Teddy Malone, "for I've staked off a
+bit about six feet long an' two broad, to plant mesilf in whin I give up
+the ghost."
+
+This mild pleasantry seemed to calm a little the rising wrath of
+contending parties, much to Dominick's satisfaction, for he was
+exceedingly anxious to keep in the background and avoid interference.
+During the week that had passed, he had more than once been forced to
+have sharp words with Malines, and felt that if he was to act as a
+peacemaker--which he earnestly wished to do--he must avoid quarrelling
+with him if possible.
+
+The hopes of those who wished to settle matters amicably, however, were
+dashed by the fiery tailor, who, still smarting under the contemptuous
+tones and words of the mate, suddenly sprang to his feet and suggested
+that, as Malines knew nothing about agriculture, no land at all should
+be apportioned to him, but that he should be set to fishing, or some
+such dirty work, for the benefit of the community.
+
+This was too much for Malines, who strode towards Buxley with clenched
+fists and furious looks, evidently intending to knock him down.  To the
+surprise and amusement of every one, Buxley threw himself into a
+pugilistic attitude, and shouted defiantly, "Come on!"  There is no
+saying how the thing would have ended, if Dominick had not quickly
+interposed.
+
+"Come, Mr Malines," he said, "it is not very creditable in you to
+threaten a man so very much smaller than yourself."
+
+"Out of my road," shouted the mate, fiercely, "we don't want _gentlemen_
+to lord it over us."
+
+"No, nor yet _blackguards_," growled a voice in the crowd.
+
+This so angered Malines, that he dealt Dominick a sounding slap on the
+cheek.
+
+For a moment there was dead silence, as the two men glared at each
+other.  If it had been a blow the youth might have stood it better, but
+there was something so stinging, as well as insulting, in a slap, that
+for a moment he felt as if his chest would explode.  Before he could
+act, however, Joe Binney thrust his bulky form between the men.
+
+"Leave'm to me, master," he said, quietly turning up his wristbands,
+"I'm used to this sort o' thing, an'--"
+
+"No, no," said Dominick, in a deep, decided voice, "listen."
+
+He grasped Joe by the arm, and whispered a few words in his ear.  A
+smile broke over the man's face, and he shook his head doubtfully.
+
+"Well, it may be so," he remarked, "an' no doubt it would have a good
+effect."
+
+"Now, then, stand aside," said Dominick, as he retreated a few paces and
+threw off his coat, while Malines still stood in a threatening attitude,
+with an expression of contempt on his face.  "My friends," he said, as
+he slowly rolled up his shirt-sleeves, showing a pair of arms which,
+although not bulky, displayed an amount of sinews and muscle that was
+suggestive of knotted ropes under a fair skin--
+
+"My friends," he said, "somewhere in the Bible it is written, `Smite a
+scorner, and the simple will beware.'  I have done my best to conciliate
+_this_ scorner without success; I shall now try to smite him."
+
+"An' brother David an' me will see fair play," remarked Joe Binney.
+
+If the combatants had been more equally matched, the spectators would
+probably have encouraged Dominick with a cheer, but the difference in
+size was so apparent, that astonishment kept them silent.  Dominick was
+indeed fully as tall as his opponent, and his shoulders were nearly as
+broad, but the massive weight of Malines's figure seemed to render the
+chance of Dominick's success highly improbable.
+
+The youth sprang at him, however, like lightning, and, hitting him a
+violent blow on the forehead, leapt back out of his reach.
+
+The blow had the effect that was intended; it roused the mate's wrath to
+the utmost pitch, causing him to rush at his opponent, striking right
+and left with all his force.  Dominick, however, leapt about with such
+activity, that only a few of the blows reached him, and these not with
+their full force.  The result was that the mate became what is styled
+winded in a few minutes, and was compelled to pause to recover himself,
+but Dominick had no intention of allowing him time to recover himself.
+Without a moment's hesitation, he sprang in again and planted a severe
+left-hander between his opponent's eyes.  This roused the mate once more
+to white heat, and he sought to close with his foe, but the latter
+prevented that by leaping aside, tripping him up, and causing him to
+plunge forward on his hands and knees--assisting him to that position
+with a stiff rap on the right temple as he passed.
+
+Then it was that Malines discovered that he had drawn on himself the
+wrath of one who had been the champion boxer in a large public school,
+and was quite as tough as himself in wind and limb, though not so strong
+or so heavy.
+
+Now, it is not our intention to give a graphic account of that
+pugilistic encounter.  Yet is it needful to point out briefly how, being
+a man of peace, as well as a man of science, Dominick managed to bring
+this fight to as speedy a close as possible.  Instead, then, of striking
+his foe in all directions, and producing a disgusting scene of
+bloodshed, he confined his practice chiefly to one spot, between the
+eyes, close above the bridge of the nose--varying it a little with a
+shot now and then under each eye.  This had the effect, owing to
+constant repetition, of gradually shutting up both Malines's eyes so
+that he could not easily see.  When in this condition, Dominick suddenly
+delivered first a left and then a right hander into what is sometimes
+called the breadbasket, and stretched his adversary on the sand.
+
+Dominick was not boastful or ungenerous.  He did not crow over his
+fallen foe.  On the contrary, he offered to assist that smitten scorner
+to rise, but Malines preferred in the meantime to lie still.
+
+It is scarcely necessary to say that the emigrants watched this short
+but sharp encounter with keen interest, and when it was ended gave vent
+to a cheer, in which surprise was quite as clearly expressed as
+satisfaction.
+
+"Now, I tell 'ee what it is, lads," said Joe Binney, striking his great
+right fist into the palm of his left hand enthusiastically, "I never
+seed the likes o' that since I was a leetle booy, and I've got a motion
+for to propose, as they say at meetin's.  It's this, that we makes
+Master Dom'nik Riggundy capting over us all."
+
+Up started Teddy Malone, with a slap of his thigh.  "And it's mesilf
+as'll second that motion--only we should make him governor of the whole
+island, if not king!"
+
+"Hear! hear!" shouted a decided majority of the party.  "Let him be
+king!"
+
+When silence had been partially restored Dominick politely but firmly
+declined the honour, giving it as his opinion that the fairest way would
+be to have a republic.
+
+"A republic!  No; what we wants is a despotism," said David Binney, who
+had up to this point remained silent, "a regular despot--a howtocrat--is
+what we wants to keep us in order."
+
+"Hump!" exclaimed Hugh Morris, contemptuously, "if you'd on'y let
+Malines have his way you'd soon have a despot an' a howtocrat as 'ud
+keep yer noses to the grindstone."
+
+"Mrs Lynch," whispered Otto, who had hitherto stood beside the widow
+watching the proceedings with inexpressible glee, "you get up an'
+propose that Pina should be _queen_!"
+
+That this suggestion came upon the widow with a shock of surprise, as
+well as approval, was obvious from the wide-eyed stare, with which for a
+moment she regarded the boy, and from her subsequent action.  Taking a
+bold and masculine stride to the front of the disputers, she turned
+about and faced them.
+
+"Howld yer tongues now, boys, all of you, and listen to what your
+grandmother's got to say."
+
+A shout of laughter cut her short for a few seconds.
+
+"That's right, old 'ooman, out with it."
+
+"Sure, if ye'd stop your noise I'd out wid it fast enough.  Now, then,
+here ye are, nivver a man of ye able to agree wid the others; an' the
+raisin's not far to seek--for yer all wrong togither.  It would nivver
+do to make wan o' you a king--not even Joe here, for he knows nixt to
+nothin', nor yet Mister Rig Gundy, though he can fight like a man, for
+it's not a king's business to fight.  No, take my word for it; what ye
+want is a _queen_--"
+
+A loud explosion of mirth drowned the rest.  "Hurrah! for Queen Lynch,"
+cried one.  "The Royal blood of owld Ireland for ivver!" shouted Malone.
+
+"I wouldn't," said the widow indignantly, "condescind to reign over
+sitch a nation o' pigs, av ye was to go down on yer bare knees an'
+scrape them to the bone.  No, it's English blood, or Spanitch, I don't
+rightly know which, that I'm drivin' at, for where could ye find a
+better, or honester, or purtier queen than that swate creetur, Miss
+Pauline Rig Gundy?"
+
+The idea seemed to break upon the assembly as a light in a dark place.
+For a moment they seemed struck dumb; then there burst forth such a
+cheer as showed that the greater part of those present sympathised
+heartily with the proposal.
+
+"I know'd ye'd agree to it.  Sure, men always does when a sensible woman
+spakes.  You see, Queen Pauline the First--"
+
+"Hurrah! for Queen Pauline the First," yelled the settlers, with mingled
+cheers and laughter.
+
+"Queen Pauline the First, ye may be sure," continued the widow, "would
+nivver try to kape order wid her fists, nor yit wid shoutin' or
+swearin'.  An' then, av coorse, it would be aisy to make Mister Duminick
+or Joe Binney Prime Minister, an' little Buxley Chancler o' the
+Checkers, or whatever they calls it.  Now, think over it, boys, an' good
+luck be wid ye."
+
+They did think over it, then and there, in real earnest, and the
+possibility of an innocent, sensible, gentle, just, sympathetic, and
+high-minded queen reigning over them proved so captivating to these
+rough fellows, that the idea which had been at first received in jest
+crystallised into a serious purpose.  At this point Otto ventured to
+raise his voice in this first deliberation of the embryo State.
+
+"Friends," he said, with an air of modesty, which, we fear, was foreign
+to his nature, "although I can only appear before you as a boy, my big
+brother has this day proved himself to be so much more than an ordinary
+man that I feel somehow as if I had a right to his surplus manhood,
+being next-of-kin, and therefore I venture to address you as a sort of
+man."  (Hear, hear!) "I merely wish to ask a question.  May I ask to be
+the bearer of the news of this assembly's determination to--the--the
+_Queen_?"
+
+"Yes--yes--of course--av course," were the immediate replies.
+
+Otto waited not for more, but sped to their new hut, in which the Queen
+was busy preparing dinner at the time.
+
+"Pina," exclaimed the boy, bursting in, "will you consent to be the
+Queen of Big Island?"
+
+"Come, Otto; don't talk nonsense.  I hope Dom is with you.  Dinner is
+much overdone already."
+
+"No, but I'm not talking nonsense," cried Otto.  "I say, will you
+consent to be a queen--a _real_ queen--Pina the First, eh?"
+
+Hereupon he gave his wondering sister a graphic account of the recent
+meeting, and fight, and final decision.
+
+"But they don't really mean it, you know," said Pauline, laughing.
+
+"But they do really mean it," returned Otto; "and, by the way, if _you_
+become a queen won't that necessarily make me and Dom princes?"
+
+As Dominick entered the hut at that moment he joined in the laugh which
+this question created, and corroborated his brother's statement.
+
+In this cheerful frame of mind the new Royal Family sat down to dinner.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+THE CORONATION--CROWN-MAKING DELIBERATIONS, CEREMONIALS, AND
+CATASTROPHES.
+
+There came a day, not many weeks later in the history of our emigrants,
+when great preparations were made for an important and unusual event.
+
+This was neither more nor less than the coronation of Queen Pauline the
+First.
+
+The great event had been delayed by the unfortunate illness of the elect
+queen herself--an illness brought on by reckless exposure in the pursuit
+of the picturesque and beautiful among the islets of the lagoon.  In
+other words, Otto and she, when off on a fishing and sketching excursion
+in the dinghy of the wreck, had been caught in a storm and drenched to
+the skin.  The result to Otto was an increase of appetite; to Pauline, a
+sharp attack of fever, which confined her for some time to the palace,
+as their little hut was now styled.  Here the widow Lynch--acting the
+united parts of nurse, lady of the bedchamber, mistress of the robes,
+maid of honour, _chef de cuisine_, and any other office that the reader
+may recollect as belonging to royalty--did so conduct herself as to gain
+not only the approval but the affection and gratitude of her royal
+mistress.
+
+During the period of Pauline's convalescence considerable changes had
+taken place in the circumstances and condition of the community.  The
+mere fact that a government had been fixed on, the details of which were
+being wrought out by a committee of leading men appointed by the people,
+tended to keep the turbulent spirits pretty quiet, and enabled the
+well-disposed to devote all their strength of mind and body to the
+various duties that devolved upon them and the improving of their
+circumstances.  Busy workers are usually peaceful.  They have no time to
+quarrel.  It is only when turbulent idlers interfere with or oppress
+them that the industrious are compelled to show their teeth and set up
+their backs.
+
+During these weeks the appearance of the shores of Big Island began to
+change materially.  All round the edge of Silver Bay a number of bright
+green patches were enclosed by rough but effective fences.  These were
+the gardens of the community, in which sweet potatoes, yams, etcetera,
+grew spontaneously, while some vegetables of the northern hemisphere had
+already been sown, and were in some cases even beginning to show above
+ground.  In these gardens, when the important work of planting had been
+finished, the people set about building huts of various shapes and
+sizes, according to their varying taste and capacity.
+
+Even at this early stage in the life of the little community the
+difficulties which necessarily surround a state of civilisation began to
+appear, and came out at one of the frequent, though informal, meetings
+of the men on the sands of Silver Bay.  It happened thus:--
+
+It was evening.  The younger and more lively men of the community,
+having a large store of surplus energy unexhausted after the labours of
+the day, began, as is the wont of the young and lively, to compete with
+one another in feats of agility and strength, while a group of their
+elders stood, sat, or reclined on a bank, discussing the affairs of the
+nation, and some of them enjoying their pipes--for, you see, everything
+in the wreck having been saved, they had, among other bad things, plenty
+of tobacco.
+
+Dr Marsh sat among the elders, for, although several weeks on shore had
+greatly restored his health, he was still too weak to join in the
+athletics.  A few of the women and children also looked on, but they
+stood aside by themselves, not feeling very much interested in the
+somewhat heated discussions of the men.
+
+By degrees these discussions degenerated into disputes, and became at
+last so noisy that the young athletes were attracted, and some of them
+took part in the debates.
+
+"I tell 'ee what it is," exclaimed Nobbs, the blacksmith, raising his
+powerful voice above the other voices, and lifting his huge fist in the
+air, "something'll have to be done, for I can't go on workin' for
+nothin' in this fashion."
+
+"No more can I, or my mates," said Abel Welsh, the carpenter.
+
+"Here comes the Prime Minister," cried Teddy Malone.
+
+"To _be_--he ain't Prime Minister yet," growled Jabez Jenkins, who,
+being a secret ally of Hugh Morris, was one of the disaffected, and had,
+besides, a natural tendency to growl and object to everything.
+
+"He _is_ Prime Minister," cried the fiery little Buxley, starting up and
+extending his hand with the air of one who is about to make a speech.
+"No doubt the Queen ain't crowned yet, an' hasn't therefore appointed
+any one to be her Minister, but we know she means to do it and we're all
+agreed about it."
+
+"No we ain't," interrupted Jenkins, angrily.
+
+"Well, the most on us, then," retorted Buxley.
+
+"Shut up, you radical!" said Nobbs, giving the tailor a facetious slap
+on the back, "an' let's hear what the Prime Minister himself has got to
+say about it."
+
+"What is the subject under discussion?" inquired Dominick, who, with
+Otto, joined the group of men at the moment and flung down a basket of
+fine fish which he had just caught in the lagoon.
+
+He turned to Dr Marsh for an answer.
+
+"Do _you_ explain your difficulties," said the doctor to the blacksmith.
+
+"Well, sir," said Nobbs, "here's where it is.  When I fust comed ashore
+an' set up my anvil an' bellows I went to work with a will, enjyin' the
+fun o' the thing an' the novelty of the sitivation; an' as we'd lots of
+iron of all kinds I knocked off nails an' hinges an' all sorts o' things
+for anybody as wanted 'em.  Similarly, w'en Abel Welsh comed ashore he
+went to work with his mates at the pit-saw an' tossed off no end o'
+planks, etceterer.  But you see, sir, arter a time we come for to find
+that we're workin' to the whole population for nothin', and while
+everybody else is working away at his own hut or garden, or what not,
+_our_ gardens is left to work themselves, an' _our_ huts is nowhere!
+Now, as we've got no money to pay for work with, and as stones an'
+shells won't answer the purpus--seein' there's a sight too much of 'em--
+the question is, what's to be done?"
+
+"Not an easy question to answer, Nobbs," said Dominick, "and one that
+requires serious consideration.  Perhaps, instead of trying to answer it
+at present, we might find a temporary expedient for the difficulty until
+a Committee of the House--if I may say so--shall investigate the whole
+problem."  (Hear, hear from Malone, Redding, and Buxley, and a growl
+from Jenkins.) "I would suggest, then, in the meantime, that while Nobbs
+and Welsh,--who are, perhaps, the most useful men among us--continue to
+ply their trades for the benefit of the community, every man in the
+community shall in turn devote a small portion of time to working in the
+gardens and building the huts of these two men."  (Hear, hear, from a
+great many of the hearers, and dissenting growls from a few.) "But,"
+continued Dominick, "as there are evidently some here who are not of an
+obliging disposition, and as the principle of willing service lies at
+the root of all social felicity, I would further suggest that, until our
+Queen is crowned and the Government fairly set up, all such labour shall
+be undertaken entirely by volunteers."
+
+This proposal was agreed to with boisterous acclaim, and nearly the
+whole community volunteered on the spot.  While this little difficulty
+was being overcome, Pauline lay sleeping in the palace hard by, and the
+enthusiastic cheer with which the conclusion of Dominick's speech was
+received awoke her.
+
+"There--I know'd they'd do it!" exclaimed the lady of the bedchamber
+fiercely; "lie still, cushla! an' shut your purty eyes.  Maybe you'll
+drop off again!"
+
+A humorous smile beamed in Pauline's countenance and twinkled in her
+eyes.
+
+"Thank you, dear nurse, I've had enough of sleep.  Indeed, I begin to
+feel so strong that I think I shall very soon be able to undergo that--"
+
+Pauline stopped and burst into a fit of merry laughter.
+
+"It's that caronation, now, ye'll be thinkin' av?" said the widow Lynch,
+with a reproving look.  "Faix, it's no laughin' matter ye'll find it,
+dear.  It's onaisy is the hid as wears a crown."
+
+"Why you talk, nurse, as if you had worn one yourself, and knew all
+about its troubles."
+
+"Sure, av I didn't, me progenissors did, in Munster, before you English
+konkered us an' turned us topsy-turvy.  But nivver mind.  I don't bear
+no ill-will to 'ee, darlint, bekaise o' the evil deeds o' yer
+forefathers.  I'm of a forgivin' disposition.  An' it's a good quane
+you'll make, too, av ye don't let the men have too much o' their own
+way.  But I do think that you an' me togither'll be more than a match
+for them all.  D'ee think ye could stand the caronation now, dear?"
+
+"Yes, I think I could.  But really, you know, I find it so hard to
+believe it is not all a joke, despite the grave deputations that have
+waited on me, and the serious arguments they have used.  The idea of
+making me--_Me_--a Queen!"
+
+Again Pauline Rigonda gave way to merry laughter, and again did her lady
+of the bedchamber administer a reproof by expressing the hope that she
+might take the matter as lightly a year hence.
+
+This pertinacious reference to possible trouble being mingled with the
+contemplated honour checked Pauline's disposition to laugh, and she had
+quite recovered her gravity when her brother Otto entered.
+
+"Pina, I've come to tell you that they've fixed the coronation for
+Monday next if you feel up to it, and that the new palace is begun--a
+very different one, let me tell you, from this wretched affair with its
+tumble-down walls and low roof."
+
+"Indeed--is it so very grand?"
+
+"Grand!  I should think it is.  Why, it has got three rooms--_three_
+rooms--think o' that!  Not countin' a splendid out-house stuck on
+behind, about ten feet square and over six feet high.  Each of the three
+rooms is twelve feet long by ten broad; seven feet high, and papered
+with palm leaves.  The middle one is the hall of Audience and Justice--
+or injustice if you like--the Council Chamber, the House of Parliament,
+the mess-room, and the drawing-room.  The one on the right with two
+windows, from which are magnificent views, is your Majesty's
+sleeping-room and boudoir; that on the left is the ditto of Prime
+Minister Dominick and his Chief Secretary Prince Otto.  The sort of
+hen-coop stuck on behind is to be the abode of the Court Physician, Dr
+John Marsh--whom, by the way, you'll have to knight--and with whom is to
+be billeted the Court Jester, Man-at-Arms, Man-of-all-work and general
+retainer, little Buxley.  So, you see, it's all cut and dry, though of
+course it will take some little time to finish the palace in all its
+multitudinous details.  Meanwhile I have been sent to sound you as to
+Monday next.  Will you be able and ready?"
+
+"If I could only get myself to believe," answered Pauline, as she leaned
+on one elbow on her couch, and toyed contemplatively with a fold of the
+shawl that covered her, "that the people are really in earnest, I--"
+
+"Really in earnest!" repeated Otto.  "Why, Pina, never were people more
+in earnest in this world.  If you'd heard and seen them talking about it
+as I have, you'd not doubt their earnestness.  Besides, you have no idea
+how needful you are to the community.  The fact is, it is composed of
+such rough and rowdy elements--though of course there are some
+respectable and well-principled fellows among them--that nothing short
+of a power standing high above them and out o' their reach will have any
+influence with them at all.  There are so many strong, determined, and
+self-willed men amongst them that there's no chance of their ever
+agreeing to submit to each other; so, you see, you are a sort of good
+angel, before whom they will be only too glad to bow--a kind of superior
+being, whom they will reverence, and to whom they will submit--a human
+safety-valve, in short, to prevent the community from blowing up--a
+species of--of--"
+
+Here Pauline burst into another of her irrepressible fits of laughter,
+and being joined therein by Prince Otto, called forth a remonstrance
+from Mrs Lynch, who declared that if that was the way they were goin'
+to manage the affairs of state, she would be obliged to advise the
+settlers to change their minds and set up a republic.
+
+"An' sure, mother," said Otto, who was a privileged favourite, "nothing
+could be better, with yourself as President."
+
+"Go along wid ye, boy, an' do yer dooty.  Tell the people that Miss
+Pauline will be ready--wind an' weather permittin'."
+
+"Am I to take back that message, Pina?" asked Otto, with a look of glee.
+
+"Well, I suppose you may."
+
+It was not in the nature of things that a coronation in the
+circumstances which we have described should take place without being
+more or less intermingled with the unavoidable absurdities which mark
+the coronations of older and more densely peopled lands.  It was felt
+that as the act was a seriously meant reality, and no mere joke, it
+should be gone about and accomplished with all due solemnity and proper
+ceremonial, somewhat after the pattern--as Teddy Malone suggested--of a
+Lord Mayor's Show; a suggestion, by the way, which did not conduce to
+the solemnity of the preliminary discussions.
+
+There was one great difficulty, however, with which the embryo nation
+had to contend, and this was that not one of the community had ever seen
+a coronation, or knew how the details of the matter should be arranged.
+
+In these circumstances an assembly of the entire nation was convened to
+consider the matter.  As this convention embraced the women (except, of
+course, the queen elect), it included the babies, and as most of these
+were self-assertive and well-developed in chest and throat, it was found
+necessary to relegate them and the women to an outer circle, while the
+men in an inner circle tackled the problem.
+
+The widow Lynch, being quite irrepressible except by physical force, and
+even by that with difficulty, was admitted on sufferance to the inner
+circle, and took part in the discussions.
+
+Like most large assemblies, this one was found so unmanageable, that,
+after an hour or two of hopeless wrangling, Buxley the tailor started up
+with dishevelled hair and glaring eyeballs, and uttered a yell that
+produced a momentary silence.  Seizing the moment, he said--
+
+"I moves that we apint a committee to inquire into the whole matter an'
+report."
+
+"Hear, hear, and well said!" shouted a multitude of voices.
+
+"An' _I_ moves," cried Mrs Lynch, starting forward with both arms up
+and all her fingers rampant, "that--"
+
+"No, no, mother," interrupted Buxley, "you must second the motion."
+
+"Howld yer tongue, ye dirty spalpeen!  Isn't it the second motion that
+I'm puttin'?  _I_ moves that the committee is Mr Dumnik Rig Gundy an'
+Dr Marsh--"
+
+"An' _Mister_ Nobbs," shouted a voice.
+
+"An' _Mister_ Joe Binney," said another.
+
+"An' _little_ Mister Buxley, be way of variashun," cried Teddy Malone.
+
+"An' Mistress Lynch, for a change," growled Jabez Jenkins.
+
+"Hear, hear!  No, no!  Hurrah!  Nonsense!  Howld yer tongue!  Be
+serious!"--gradually drowned in a confusion of tongues with a yelling
+accompaniment from infantry in the outer circle.
+
+It was finally agreed, however, that the arrangements for the coronation
+should be left entirely to a committee composed of Dominick, Dr Marsh,
+Joe Binney, and Hugh Morris--Joe being put forward as representing the
+agricultural interest, and Hugh the malcontents.  Teddy Malone was added
+to make an odd number, "for there's luck in odd numbers," as he himself
+remarked on accepting office.
+
+Immediately after the general meeting broke up, these five retired to
+the privacy of a neighbouring palm grove, where, seated on a verdant and
+flowering bank, they proceeded calmly to discuss details.
+
+"You see, my friends," said Dominick, "it must be our most earnest
+endeavour to carry out this important matter in a serious and
+business-like manner.  Already there is too much of a spirit of levity
+among the people, who seem to look at the whole affair as a sort of game
+or joke, playing, as it were, at national life, whereas we actually
+_are_ an independent nation--"
+
+"A small wan, av coorse," murmured Malone.
+
+"Yes, a small one, but not the less real on that account, so that we are
+entitled to manage our own affairs, arrange our own government, and,
+generally, to act according to our united will.  These islands and their
+surroundings are unknown--at least they are not put down on any chart; I
+believe we have discovered them.  There are no inhabitants to set up a
+counter claim; therefore, being entitled to act according to our will,
+our appointment of a queen to rule us--under limited powers, to be
+hereafter well considered and clearly written down--is a reality; not a
+mere play or semi-jest to be undone lightly when the fancy takes us.
+That being so, we must go to work with gravity and earnestness of
+purpose."
+
+Teddy Malone, who was an impressionable creature, here became so
+solemnised that his lengthening visage and seriously wrinkled brow
+rendered gravity--especially on the part of Dr Marsh--almost
+impossible.
+
+Overcoming his feelings with a powerful effort the doctor assented to
+what Dominick said, and suggested that some mild sort of ceremonial
+should be devised for the coronation, in order to impress the beholders
+as well as to mark the event.
+
+"That's so," said Teddy Malone, "somethin' quiet an' orderly, like an
+Irish wake, or--.  Ah! then ye needn't smile, doctor.  It's the quietest
+an' most comfortin' thing in life is an Irish wake whin it's gone about
+properly."
+
+"But we don't want comforting, Teddy," said Dominick, "it is rather a
+subject for rejoicing."
+
+"Well, then, what's to hinder us rejoicin' in comfort?" returned Teddy.
+"At all the wakes I ivver attinded there was more rejoicin' than
+comfortin' goin' on; but that's a matter of taste, av coorse."
+
+"There'll have to be a crown o' some sort," remarked Hugh Morris.
+
+"You're right, lad," said Joe Binney.  "It wouldn't do to make it o'
+pasteboard, would it?  P'r'aps that 'ud be too like playin' at a game,
+an' tin would be little better."
+
+"What else can we make it of, boys?" said Malone, "we've got no goold
+here--worse luck! but maybe the carpenter cud make wan o' wood.  With a
+lick o' yellow paint it would look genuine."
+
+"Nonsense, Teddy," said the doctor, "don't you see that in this life men
+should always be guided by circumstances, and act with propriety.  Here
+we are on an island surrounded by coral reefs, going to elect a queen;
+what more appropriate than that her crown should be made of coral."
+
+"The very thing, doctor," cried Malone, with emphasis, "och! it's the
+genius ye have!  There's all kinds o' coral, red and white, an' we could
+mix it up wi' some o' that fine-coloured seaweed to make it purty."
+
+"It could be made pritty enough without seaweed," said Binney, "an' it's
+my notion that the women-folk would be best at makin' of it."
+
+"Right, Joe, right, so, if you have no objection, we will leave it to
+them," said Dominick, "and now as to the ceremonial?"
+
+"A pursession," suggested Joe Binney.
+
+"Just so," said Hugh Morris, "the very thing as was in my mind."
+
+"And a throne," cried Malone, "there couldn't be a proper quane widout a
+throne, you know.  The carpenter can make that, anyhow, for there's wood
+galore on the island--red, black, an' white.  Yis, we must have a grand
+throne, cut, an' carved, an' mounted high, so as she'll have two or
+three steps to climb up to it."
+
+In regard to the procession and the throne there was considerable
+difference of opinion, but difficulties were got over and smoothed down
+at last by the tact and urbanity of Dominick, to whom, finally, the
+whole question of the coronation was committed.  Thus it frequently
+happens among men.  In the multitude of counsellors there is wisdom
+enough, usually, to guide in the selection of the fittest man to take
+the helm in all important affairs.
+
+And that reminds us that it is high time to terminate this long
+digression, and guide our readers back to the beginning of the chapter,
+where we stated that the important day had at last arrived.
+
+Happily, in those highly favoured climes weather has not usually to be
+taken much into account.  The sun arose out of the ocean's breast with
+the same unclouded beauty that had marked his rise every morning for a
+week previously, and would probably mark it for a week to come.  The
+sweet scents of the wooded heights floated down on the silver strand;
+the sharks ruffled the surface of the lagoon with their black fins, the
+birds hopped or flew from palm-tree to mimosa-bush, and the waterfowl
+went about according to taste on lazy or whistling wings, intent on
+daily business, much as though nothing unusual were "in the air."
+
+But it was otherwise with the human family on Big Island.  Unwonted
+excitement was visible on almost every face.  Bustle was in every
+action.  Preparations were going on all round, and, as some members of
+the community were bent on giving other members a surprise, there was
+more or less of secrecy and consequent mystery in the behaviour of every
+one.
+
+By breakfast-time little Mrs Nobbs, the blacksmith's laughter-loving
+wife, had nearly laughed herself into fits of delight at the crown,
+which she assisted Mrs Welsh and the widow Lynch to fabricate.  The
+last had devised it, Mrs Welsh had built it in the rough, and Mrs
+Nobbs had finished it off with the pretty little wreath of red and white
+branching coral that formed its apex.  Apart from taste it was a
+stupendous erection.
+
+"But don't you think that it's too big and heavy?" cried Mrs Nobbs,
+with a shrieking giggle and clapping of her hands, as she ran back to
+have a distant view of it.
+
+"Pooh!" exclaimed Mrs Lynch contemptuously, "too heavy?  No, it's
+nothin', my dear, to what the kings an' quanes of Munster wore."
+
+"But Miss Pauline is neither a king nor a queen of Munster, an' I do
+think it's a bit over-heavy," objected Mrs Welsh, as she lifted the
+structure with difficulty.
+
+"Well, ye might take off the wreath," was the widow's reply.
+
+Mrs Nobbs removed the only part of the erection that was really pretty,
+but still it was pronounced by Mrs Welsh to be too heavy, especially
+for the fair and delicate brows of Pauline Rigonda.
+
+While they were thus engaged Dr Marsh entered the hut, where, for the
+sake of secrecy, the crown had been prepared, but Dr Marsh was a
+privileged man, besides he was there professionally; little Brown-eyes
+was sick--not seriously, but sufficiently so to warrant medical
+intervention.
+
+"Well, what have we here, ladies?" said the doctor blandly, "part of the
+throne, eh?"
+
+"Sure it is, in a sort of way, for it's the crown," answered Mrs Lynch,
+"an' they think it's over-heavy."
+
+"Not at all; by no means," cried the doctor heartily.  "It's splendid.
+Put the wreath on--so.  Nothing could be finer.  Shall I carry it up for
+you?  The coronation is fixed for noon, you know, so that we may have
+time to finish off with a grand feast."
+
+"No, no, doctor dear.  Thank 'ee kindly, but we must cover it up, so's
+not to let the people see it till the right time."
+
+"Well, see that you're not late with it."
+
+Having caused Brown-eyes to put out her little tongue, and felt her
+pulse, and nodded his head gravely once or twice without speaking, all
+of which must have been highly comforting and beneficial to the child,
+the doctor went out.
+
+Not long afterwards the people began to assemble round the palace, in
+front of which a wondrous throne had been erected.  Down in a dell
+behind a cliff some fifty men had assembled secretly with the crown on a
+cushion in their midst.  They were headed by Dr Marsh, who had been
+unanimously elected to place the crown on Pauline's head.  In the palace
+Pauline was being prepared by Mrs Lynch and Mrs Nobbs for the
+ceremony.
+
+On the top of a mound close to the palace a band of conspirators was
+assembled.  These conspirators were screened from view by some thick
+bushes.  Otto Rigonda was their ringleader, Teddy Malone and little
+Buxley formed the rest of the band.  Otto had found a dead tree.  Its
+trunk had been hollowed by decay.  He and his fellow-conspirators had
+sawn it off near to the ground, and close to the root they had drilled a
+touch-hole.  This huge piece of ordnance they had loaded with a heavy
+charge of the ship's gunpowder.  Otto now stood ready with a piece of
+slow-match at the touch-hole, and another piece, lighted, in hand.
+
+Suddenly, about the hour of noon, Abel Welsh the carpenter, and Nobbs
+the blacksmith, issued from the palace with two long tin implements.
+Secretly, for two weeks previously, had these devoted men retired every
+night to the opposite extremity of Big Island, and frightened into fits
+the birds and beasts of that region with the sounds they produced in
+practising on those instruments.  Applying the trumpets to their lips,
+they sent forth a tremendous, though not uniform, blast.
+
+The surrounding crowd, who expected something, but knew not what,
+replied with a cheer not unmixed with laughter, for the two trumpets,
+after the manner of asses, had to make some ineffectual preliminary
+efforts before achieving a full-toned bray.  An answering note from the
+dell, however, repressed the laughter and awoke curiosity.  Next moment
+the doctor appeared carrying the crown, and followed by his fifty men,
+armed with muskets, rifles, fowling-pieces, and revolvers.  Their
+appearance was so realistic and impressive that the people forgot to
+cheer.  At the same moment the palace door was thrown open, and Dominick
+led the youthful queen to the foot of the throne.
+
+Poor little Pauline looked so modest and pretty, and even timid, and
+withal so angelically innocent in the simplicity of her attire, that the
+people burst into an earnestly enthusiastic shout, and began for the
+first time to feel that this was no game or play, but a serious reality.
+
+Things had been so arranged that Pina and Dr Marsh reached the foot of
+the throne together.  Then the latter took the pretty coral wreath off
+the huge crown, and, to widow Lynch's felt, but not expressed,
+indignation, placed _that_ on Pauline's head.
+
+"Pauline Rigonda," he said in a loud voice, "I have been appointed by
+the people of this island to crown you, in their name and by their
+authority, as Queen of Refuge Islands, in the full belief that your
+innocence and regard for truth and righteousness will be their best
+guarantee that you will select as your assistants the men whom you think
+best suited to aid you in the promotion of good government."
+
+The serious tone of the doctor's voice, and the genuine shouts of
+satisfaction from the people, put the poor little queen in such a
+flutter that nearly all her courage forsook her, and she could scarcely
+reply.  Nevertheless, she had a mind of her own.
+
+"Doctor Marsh, and my dear people," she said at last, "I--I scarcely
+know how to reply.  You overrate me altogether; but--but, if I rule at
+all, I will do so by the blessed truths of this book (she held up a
+Bible); and--and before taking a single step further I appoint as my--my
+Prime Minister--if I may so call him--Joe Binney."
+
+For one moment there was the silence of amazement, for neither Dominick
+nor Dr Marsh knew of Pauline's intention.  Only the widow Lynch had
+been aware of her resolve.  Next moment a hilarious cheer burst from the
+crowd, and Teddy Malone, from his retreat, shouted, "God bliss the
+Quane!" which infused hearty laughter into the cheer, whereupon Welsh
+and Nobbs, thinking the right time had come, sent out of their tin
+tubes, after a few ineffectual blurts, two terrific brays.  Fearing to
+be too late, one of the armed men let off his piece, which was the
+signal for a grand _feu de joie_.
+
+"Now for it," thought the chief conspirator in the bushes, as he applied
+his light to the slow-match.  He thought nothing more just then, for the
+slow-match proved to be rather quick, fired the powder at once, and the
+monster cannon, bursting with a hideous roar into a thousand pieces,
+blew Otto through the bushes and down the mound, at the foot of which he
+lay as one dead.
+
+Consternation was on every face.  The queen, dropping her crown, sprang
+to his side, Dr Marsh did the same, but Otto recovered almost
+immediately.
+
+"That _was_ a stunner!" he said, with a confused look, putting his hand
+to his head, as they helped him to rise.
+
+Strange to say, he was none the worse of the misadventure, but did his
+part nobly at the Royal feast that followed.
+
+That night she who had risen with the sun as Pauline Rigonda, laid her
+fair young head upon the pillow as--the Island Queen.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+SHOWS HOW THEY WERE TORMENTED BY AN OLD FAMILIAR FIEND; HOW THEY KILLED
+HIM, AND WHAT BEFELL THE QUEEN AND OTTO WHILE IN THE PURSUIT OF
+LEGITIMATE PLEASURE.
+
+When the widow Lynch told Pauline that "onaisy is the hid as wears a
+crown," she stated a great truth which was borne in upon the poor queen
+at the very commencement of her reign.
+
+Up to that time Malines had quietly kept possession of the key of the
+ship's liquor-room, knowing full well what extreme danger lay in letting
+men have unrestrained command of strong drink.  But when the royal feast
+referred to in the last chapter was pending, he could not well refuse to
+issue an allowance of grog.  He did so, however, on the understanding
+that only a small quantity was to be taken for the occasion, and that he
+should himself open and lock the door for them.  He made this
+stipulation because he knew well enough the men who wanted to drink
+would break the door open if he refused to give up the key; and his
+fears were justified, for some of the more mutinous among the men, under
+the leadership of Jabez Jenkins and Morris, seized the key from the mate
+when he produced it, carried all the spirit and wine casks to the shore,
+ferried them over the lagoon to Big Island, and set them up
+ostentatiously and conspicuously in a row not far from the palace.  As
+this was understood by the people to be in connection with the
+coronation festivities, no particular notice was taken of it.
+
+But the result soon began to be felt, for after the festivities were
+over, and most of the settlers had retired to rest, a group of kindred
+souls gathered round the spirit casks, and went in for what one of them
+termed a "regular spree."  At first they drank and chatted with moderate
+noise, but as the fumes of the terrible fire-water mounted to their
+brains they began to shout and sing, then to quarrel and fight, and,
+finally, the wonted silence of the night was wildly disturbed by the
+oaths and fiendish yells and idiotic laughter of maniacs.
+
+"This won't do," said Dominick, issuing from his room in the palace, and
+meeting the doctor.
+
+"I had just come to the same conclusion," said the latter, "and was
+about to consult you as to what we should do."
+
+"Collect some of our best men and put a stop to it," returned Dominick;
+"but here comes the prime minister--roused, no doubt, as we have been.
+What say you, Joe; shall we attempt to quell them?"
+
+"Well, master, that depends.  There's a braw lot on 'em, an' if they
+beant far gone, d'ee see, they might gie us a deal o' trouble.  If they
+_be_ far gone I'd advise ye to let 'em alone; the drink'll quell 'em
+soon enough.  Arter that we'll know what to do."
+
+Just as he spoke a woman was seen rushing frantically towards them.  It
+was little Mrs Nobbs.  Poor thing!  All her wonted merriment had fled
+from her comely face, and been supplanted by a look of horror.
+
+"O sirs!" she cried, clasping her hands, and gasping as she spoke,
+"come, come quick, my John has falled an' broke his pledge, an' he's
+goin' to murder some of 'em.  I _know_ he'll do it; he's got hold o' the
+fore-hammer.  Oh! come quick!"
+
+They required no urging.  Running down to the scene of the orgies, they
+found that the blacksmith, who had hitherto been considered--and really
+was--one of the quietest men of the party, was now among the drunkards.
+He stood in the midst of the rioters, his large frame swaying to and
+fro, while he held the ponderous fore-hammer threateningly in his hands,
+and insanity gleamed in his eyes as he glared fiercely at Jabez Jenkins.
+
+On Jabez the liquor had a different effect, his temperament being
+totally different.  He was a rather phlegmatic man, and, having drunk
+enough to have driven two men like the blacksmith raving mad, he only
+stood before him with a dull heavy look of stupidity, mingled with an
+idiotic sneer of defiance.
+
+"Fiend!" shouted Nobbs, gnashing his teeth, "you have got me to do it,
+and now I'll smash in your thick skull--I'll--"
+
+He stopped abruptly for a moment.  Joe Binney came up behind and gently
+laid a hand on his shoulder.
+
+"Come, John, you ain't agoin' to do it.  You knows you're not."
+
+The quiet tone, the gentle yet fearless look, and, above all, the
+sensible, kindly expression on his friend's countenance, effectually
+subdued the blacksmith for a few seconds, but the fury soon returned,
+though the channel in which it flowed was changed, for Jabez was
+forgotten, having slunk away.
+
+"Ha!" he shouted, grasping Joe by the hand and arm, "I've had it again!
+You don't know how it shoots through my veins.  I--I've tried to break
+with it, too--tried--tried!  D'ee know what it is to try, Joe, to try--
+try--try till your blood curdles, an' your marrow boils, and your nerves
+tingle--but I gained the victory once--I--ha! ha! yes, I took the pledge
+an' kep' it, an' I've bin all right--till to-night.  My Mary knows that.
+She'll tell you it's true--for months, and months, and months, and--but
+I'll keep it _yet_!"
+
+He shouted his last words in a tone of fierce defiance, let go his
+friend, caught up the sledge-hammer, and, whirling it round his head as
+if it had been a mere toy, turned to rush towards the sea.
+
+But Joe's strong arm arrested him.  Well did he understand the nature of
+the awful fiend, with which the blacksmith was fighting.  The scene
+enacting was, with modifications, somewhat familiar to him, for he had
+dwelt near a great city where many a comrade had fallen in the same
+fight, never more to rise in this life.
+
+Joe's superior strength told for a moment, and he held the struggling
+madman fast, but before Dominick and the doctor could spring to his aid,
+Nobbs had burst from him.  The brief check, however, seemed to have
+changed his intentions.  Possibly he was affected by some hazy notion
+that it would be a quicker end to leap headlong from the neighbouring
+cliffs than to plunge into the sea.  At all events, he ran like a deer
+up towards the woods.  A bonfire, round which the revellers had made
+merry, lay in his path.  He went straight through it, scattering the
+firebrands right and left.  No one attempted, no one dared, to stop him,
+but God put a check in his way.  The course he had taken brought him
+straight up to the row of casks which stood on the other side of the
+fire, and again his wild mood was changed.  With a yell of triumph he
+brought the sledge-hammer down on one of the casks, drove in the head,
+and overturned it with the same blow, and the liquor gushing out flowed
+into the fire, where it went up in a magnificent roar of flame.
+
+The effect on those of the rioters who were not too drunk to understand
+anything, was to draw forth a series of wild cheers, but high above
+these rang the triumphant shout of the blacksmith as he gazed at the
+destruction of his enemy.
+
+By this time all the people in the settlement had turned out, and were
+looking on in excitement, alarm, or horror, according to temperament.
+Among them, of course, was the widow Lynch, who was quick to note that
+events were taking a favourable turn.  Springing boldly to the side of
+the smith, and, in her wild dishevelment of hair and attire, seeming a
+not unfit companion, she cried--
+
+"Don't spare them, John! sure there's another inimy close at yer back."
+
+Nobbs had sense enough left to observe something of the ludicrous in the
+woman and her advice.  He turned at once, uttered a wildly jovial laugh,
+and driving in the head of another cask, overturned it.  As before, the
+spirit rushed down the hill and was set ablaze, but the poor madman did
+not pause now to look at the result.  His great enemy was in his power;
+his spirit was roused.  Like one of the fabled heroes of old, he laid
+about him with his ponderous weapon right and left until every cask was
+smashed, and every drop of the accursed liquid was rushing down the
+hillside to the sea, or flaming out its fierce existence in the air.
+
+The people looked on awe-stricken, and in silence, while the madman
+fought.  It was not with the senseless casks or the inanimate liquor
+that poor John Nobbs waged war that night; it was with a real fiend who,
+in days gone by, had many a time tripped him up and laid him low, who
+had nearly crushed the heart of his naturally cheerful little wife, who
+had ruined his business, broken up his home, alienated his friends, and,
+finally, driven him into exile--a fiend from whom, for many months,
+under the influence of "the pledge," he had been free, and who, he had
+fondly hoped, was quite dead.
+
+This sudden revival of the old foe, and this unexpected surprise and
+fall, had roused this strong man's spirit to its utmost ferocity, and in
+mighty wrath he plied his hammer like a second Thor.  But the very
+strength and nervous power of the man constituted his weakness, when
+brought under the subtle influence of the old tempter, and it is
+probable that on his recovery, with nerves shaken, old cravings
+awakened, and self-respect gone, he would have fallen again and again if
+God had not made use of the paroxysm of rage to destroy the opportunity
+and the cause of evil.  Nobbs did not know at that time, though he
+learned it afterwards, that safety from the drink-sin--as from all other
+sin--lies not in strong-man resolutions, or Temperance pledges, though
+both are useful aids, but in Jesus, the Saviour _from sin_.
+
+Some of those who witnessed the wholesale destruction of the liquor
+would fain have made an effort to prevent it; but, fortunately for the
+community, most of them were too drunk to care, and the others to
+interfere; while all were so taken by surprise that the deed was done
+and the grand conflagration ended before they had realised the full
+significance of the blacksmith's act.
+
+When the last head had been driven in, and the last gallon of spirit
+summarily dismissed by the fire, Nobbs threw up his arms, and, looking
+upward, gave vent to a cheer which ended in a prolonged cry.  For a
+moment he stood thus, then the hammer dropt from his grasp, and he fell
+back insensible.
+
+Poor little Mrs Nobbs was by his side on her knees in a moment, parting
+the dark hair from his broad brow, kissing his swart cheeks, and chafing
+his strong hands.
+
+"O John! darling John!" she cried, "come back--come back--don't die.
+You never was hard or cruel to _me_!  Even the drink could not do that.
+Come back, John!"
+
+Dr Marsh here gently restrained her.  "Don't be alarmed," he said, as
+he undid the smith's necktie; "he'll be all right presently.  Stand
+back, don't crowd round him; and you go fetch a cup of water, Mrs
+Nobbs."
+
+The reassuring tones and the necessity for action did much to calm the
+excited woman.  Before she had returned with the water her husband had
+partially recovered.  They carried him to his hut, and left him to sleep
+off the effects, while his poor little wife watched by his side.  When
+left quite alone, she went down on her knees beside him, and prayed for
+his deliverance with all her heart.  Then she rose and sat down with a
+calm, contented look, muttering, "Yes; He _is_ the hearer and answerer
+of prayer.  He _will_ answer me."
+
+She might have gone further and said, "He _has_ answered me," for was
+not the destruction of the liquor an answer to the petition before it
+was put up?  "Before they call I will answer."
+
+"Pina," said Otto the following day, in a tone almost of reproach,
+during a private audience with the queen, "Pina, how came you to do such
+an insane thing as choose Joe Binney for your premier?  Why didn't you
+choose Dom?  You know well enough that he's fifty times cleverer than
+Joe, and even in the matter of strength, though he's not so strong, I'm
+very sure that with his pugilistic powers he could keep order quite as
+well.  Besides, all the people had made up their minds, as a matter of
+course, that Dom was to be premier, and then--he's a gentleman."
+
+"I'm thankful that you are not one of the Privy Council, Otto," returned
+Pauline, with a laugh.  "You put several questions, and a string of
+commentary and suggestion in the same breath!  Let me answer you in
+detail, beginning with your last remark.  Joe is a gentleman in the
+highest sense of that word.  He is gentle as a lamb by nature, and a
+_man_ every inch of him.  But, more than this, I have noticed that he is
+a peculiarly wise man, with a calm, pool head on all occasions, and not
+too ready to use his great physical power in the settlement of disputes.
+I have observed, too, that when asked for his advice, he usually thinks
+well before he gives it, and when his advice is followed things almost
+always go well.  Still further, Joe has the thorough confidence of the
+people, and I am not so sure that Dom has.  Besides, if I had appointed
+Dom, some of the ungenerous among them might have said it was done from
+mere favouritism.  Then as to the people making up their minds that I
+would appoint Dom," continued Pauline, "what have I to do with _that_?"
+
+"Why, everything to do with it," returned Otto, with a surprised look.
+"Were you not made queen for the purpose of carrying out their wishes?"
+
+"Certainly not," answered Pauline; "I was made queen for the purpose of
+ruling.  They told me they had confidence in my judgment, not in my
+readiness to carry out their wishes.  If my judgment, coupled with that
+of my advisers, does not suit them, it is open to them to unmake me as
+they made me, and appoint a king or a president, but my judgment I
+cannot alter."
+
+Otto listened to these gravely stated opinions of the new queen with
+increasing astonishment.
+
+"Then, you awful despot," he said, "do you mean to tell me that you are
+going to have no regard for the will of the people?"
+
+"No, I don't mean to tell you that, you presumptuous little subject.  I
+intend always to have the utmost regard for the will of my people, and
+to weigh it well, and consult with my advisers about it; and when our
+united judgment says that their will is good, I will act in accordance
+with it; when we think it bad, I will reject it.  I have been made queen
+to rule, and I _mean_ to rule!  That's fair, isn't it?  If they don't
+like my ruling they can dethrone me.  That's also fair, isn't it?  You
+wouldn't have me become a mere puppet--a jumping Jack or Jinnie--would
+you, for the people to pull the string of?"
+
+"Well, I never!" exclaimed Otto, gazing with distended eyes at the soft
+fair face and at the pretty little innocent mouth that gave vent to
+these vigorous sentiments.  "And what may it be your majesty's pleasure
+to do next?"
+
+"It is my pleasure that you, sir, shall go down to the beach and prepare
+the dinghy for immediate service.  I have already directed the prime
+minister, in conjunction with Dom and our Court physician, to draw up a
+constitution and code of laws; while they are thus employed you and I
+will go a-fishing."
+
+"Very good; I suppose I'm bound to obey, but I thought your majesty
+preferred to go a-sketching."
+
+"We will do both.  Be off, sirrah!"
+
+Otto was not long in launching and getting ready the little punt, or
+dinghy, belonging to the wreck, which, being too small for carrying
+goods to the island, had been made over to Pauline as a royal barge for
+her special amusement, and already had she and her little brother
+enjoyed several charming expeditions among the sheltered islets of the
+lagoon, when Otto devoted himself chiefly to rowing and fishing, while
+his sister sketched with pencil and water-colours.  Being expert with
+both, she took great pleasure therein.
+
+"It _is_ so pleasant and so very engrossing," she murmured, busying
+herself with a sketch of Otto as he rowed gently towards one of the
+smaller islets.  "I can't tell you how much I delight--turn your head a
+little more to the left--so--and do keep your nose quiet if you can."
+
+"Impossible," said Otto.  "There's a little fly that has made up its
+mind to go into my nose.  I can neither drive it away nor catch it while
+both hands are engaged with the oars, so there's no resource left but to
+screw my nose about.  But what were you going to say you delighted in?"
+
+"In--in drawing," replied the queen very slowly, while her pretty little
+head went up and down as she glanced alternately at her sitter and the
+sketch-book on her knee; "it--it takes one's mind--so--off--"
+
+"The cares of state?" said Otto.  "Yes, I can easily understand what
+a-re-re-ha! hk-sh!" he gave way to a convulsive sneeze; "there, it went
+up at last, and that little fly's doom is sealed!"
+
+"I should think it was," said Pauline laughingly.  "To be blown from a
+cannon's mouth must be nothing to that.  Now, do keep still, just for
+one minute."
+
+For considerably more than a minute she went on sketching busily, while
+her brother pulled along very gently, as if unwilling to break the
+pleasant silence.  Everything around was calculated to foster a dreamy,
+languid, peaceful state of mind.  The weather was pleasantly cool--just
+cool enough to render the brilliant sunshine most enjoyable.  Not a
+zephyr disturbed the glassy surface of the sea outside or the lagoon
+within, or broke the perfect reflections of the islets among which they
+moved.  The silence would have been even oppressive had it not been for
+the soft, plaintive cries of wildfowl and the occasional whistling of
+wings as they hurried to and fro, and the solemn boom of the great
+breakers as they fell at slow regular intervals on the reef.  "Doesn't
+it sound," said Pauline, looking up from her sketch with a flush of
+delight, "like the deep soft voice of the ocean speaking peace to all
+mankind?"
+
+"What, the breakers?" asked Otto.
+
+"Yes, dropping with a soft deep roar as they do in the midst of the
+universal silence."
+
+"Well, it doesn't quite strike me in that light, Pina.  My imagination
+isn't so lively as yours.  Seems to me more like the snoring of a
+sleeping giant, whom it is best to let lie still like a sleeping dog,
+for he's apt to do considerable damage when roused."
+
+The soft influences around soon reduced the pair to silence again.
+After a time it was broken by Pauline.
+
+"What are you thinking of, Otto?"
+
+"I was thinking, your majesty, that it seems unfair, after making Joe
+prime minister, Dom a privy councillor, the doctor Court physician and
+general humbug, that you should give me no definite position in the
+royal household."
+
+"What would you say to being commander of the forces?" asked Pauline
+dreamily, as she put in a few finishing touches, "for then, you see, you
+might adopt the title which you have unfairly bestowed on the doctor--
+General Humbug."
+
+Otto shook his head.  "Wouldn't do, my dear queen.  Not being a correct
+description, your bestowing it would compromise your majesty's
+well-known character for truthfulness.  What d'you say to make me a
+page--page in waiting?"
+
+"You'll have to turn over a new leaf if I do, for a page is supposed to
+be quiet, respectful, polite, obedient, ready--"
+
+"No use to go further, Pina.  I'm not cut out for a page.  Will you land
+on this islet?"
+
+They were gliding softly past one of the most picturesque and verdant
+gems of the lagoon at the time.
+
+"No, I've taken a fancy to make a sketch from that one nearer to the
+shore of Big Island.  You see, there is not only a very picturesque
+group of trees on it just at that place, but the background happens to
+be filled up by a distant view of the prettiest part of our settlement,
+where Joe Binney's garden lies, close to Mrs Lynch's garden, with its
+wonderfully shaped and curious hut, (no wonder, built by herself!) and a
+corner of the palace rising just behind the new schoolhouse."
+
+"Mind your eye, queen, else you go souse overboard when we strike," said
+Otto, not without reason, for next moment the dinghy's keel grated on
+the sand of the islet, and Pauline, having risen in her eagerness to go
+to work, almost fulfilled the boy's prediction.
+
+"But tell me, Pina, what do you mean to do with that schoolhouse when it
+is built?" asked Otto, as he walked beside his sister to the picturesque
+spot above referred to.
+
+"To teach in it, of course."
+
+"What--yourself?"
+
+"Well, yes, to some extent.  Of course I cannot do much in that way--"
+
+"I understand--the affairs of state!" said Otto, "will not permit,
+etcetera."
+
+"Put it so if you please," returned Pauline, laughing.  "Here, sit down;
+help me to arrange my things, and I'll explain.  You cannot fail to have
+been impressed with the fact that the children of the settlers are
+dreadfully ignorant."
+
+"H'm!  I suppose you are right; but I have been more deeply impressed
+with the fact that they are dreadfully dirty, and desperately
+quarrelsome, and deplorably mischievous."
+
+"Just so," resumed Pauline.  "Now, I intend to get your friend Redding,
+who was once a schoolmaster, to take these children in hand when the
+schoolroom is finished, and teach them what he can, superintended by Dr
+Marsh, who volunteered his services the moment I mentioned the school.
+In the evenings I will take the mothers in hand, and teach them their
+duties to their children and the community--"
+
+"Being yourself such an old and experienced mother," said Otto.
+
+"Silence, sir! you ought to remember that we have a dear, darling mother
+at home, whose character is engraven on my memory, and whom I can hold
+up as a model."
+
+"True, Pina!  The dear old mother!" returned Otto, a burst of
+home-feeling interfering for a moment with his levity.  "Just you paint
+her portrait fair and true, and if they come anything within a hundred
+miles o' the mark yours will be a kingd---queendom, I mean--of amazin'
+mothers.  I sometimes fear," continued the boy, becoming grave, "it may
+be a long time before we set eyes on mother again."
+
+"I used to fear the same," said Pauline, "but I have become more hopeful
+on that point since Dr Marsh said he was determined to have a small
+schooner built out of the wreck, and attempt with a few sailors to reach
+England in her, and report our condition here."
+
+"Why, that would do you out of your kingdom, Pina!"
+
+"It does not follow.  And what if it did?"
+
+"It would be a pity.  Not pleasant you know, to be dethroned.  But to
+return to mother.  D'you think the old cat will have learned to speak by
+this time?"
+
+To this Pauline replied that she feared not; that, although the cat
+might have mastered the consonants, it could never have managed the
+vowels.  "Dear mother," she added, in a more earnest tone, "I am quite
+sure that though the cat may not speak to her, she will not have ceased
+to speak to the cat.  Now, go away, Otto, you're beginning to make me
+talk nonsense."
+
+"But what about the schoolhouse?" persisted the boy, while the girl
+began to sketch the view.  "You have not finished that subject."
+
+"True--well, besides teaching the mothers I have great hopes of inducing
+Dom to set up a Sunday-school, in which those who feel inclined might be
+taught out of the Bible, and that might in time lead to our making a
+church of it on Sundays, and having regular services, for there are some
+earnest Christians among the men, who I feel quite sure would be ready
+to help in the work.  Then as to an army--"
+
+"An army!" echoed Otto, "what do we want with an army? who have we to
+fight against?"
+
+Little did Otto or Pauline think that at the very time they were
+conversing thus pleasantly on that beautiful islet, the presence of a
+friendly army was urgently required, for there in the bushes close
+behind them listening to every sentence, but understanding never a word,
+lay a group of tattooed and armed savages!
+
+In the prosecution of evil designs, the nature of which was best known
+to themselves, these savages had arrived at Refuge Islands the night
+before.  Instantly they became aware of the presence of the white men,
+and took measures to observe them closely without being themselves
+observed.  Carrying their war-canoe over the reef in the dark, and
+launching it on the lagoon, they advanced as near to the settlement as
+possible, landed a small party on an islet, and then retired with the
+canoe.  It was this party which lay in ambush so near to our little hero
+and heroine.  They had been watching the settlers since daybreak, and
+were not a little surprised, as well as gratified, by the unexpected
+arrival of the little boat.
+
+The savage who lay there grinning like a Cheshire cat, and peeping
+through the long grass not ten feet from where the brother and sister
+sat, was a huge man, tattooed all over, so that his face resembled
+carved mahogany, his most prominent feature being a great flat nose,
+with a blue spot on the point of it.
+
+Suddenly Otto caught sight of the glitter of this man's eyes and teeth.
+
+Now, the power of self-restraint was a prominent feature in Otto's
+character, at least in circumstances of danger, though in the matter of
+fun and mischief he was rather weak.  No sign did Otto give of his
+discovery, although his heart seemed to jump into his mouth.  He did not
+even check or alter the tone of his conversation, but he changed the
+subject with surprising abruptness.  He had brought up one of the
+dinghy's oars on his shoulder as a sort of plaything or vaulting-pole.
+Suddenly, asking Pauline if she had ever seen him balance an oar on his
+chin, he proceeded to perform the feat, much to her amusement.  In doing
+so he turned his back completely on the savage in ambush, whose cattish
+grin increased as the boy staggered about.
+
+But there was purpose in Otto's staggering.  He gradually lessened the
+distance between himself and the savage.  When near enough for his
+purpose, he grasped the oar with both hands, wheeled sharply round, and
+brought the heavy handle of it down with such a whack on the bridge of
+the savage's blue-spotted nose that he suddenly ceased to grin, and
+dropped his proboscis in the dust!
+
+At the same instant, to the horror and surprise of the brother and
+sister, up sprang half a dozen hideous natives, who seized them, placed
+their black hands on their mouths, and bore them swiftly away.  The
+war-canoe, putting off from its concealment, received the party along
+with the fallen leader, and made for the reef.
+
+High on the cliffs of Big Island Dr John Marsh had been smilingly
+watching the proceedings of the queen and her brother in the dinghy.
+When he witnessed the last act of the play, however, the smile vanished.
+With a bound that would have done credit to a kangaroo, and a roar that
+would have shamed a lion, he sprang over the cliffs, ran towards the
+beach, and was followed--yelling--by all the men at hand--some armed,
+and some not.  They leaped into the largest boat on the shore, put out
+the ten oars, bent to them with a will, and skimmed over the lagoon in
+fierce pursuit.
+
+Soon the savages gained the reef, carried their canoe swiftly over, and
+launched on the open sea, cutting through the great rollers like a
+rocket or a fish-torpedo.
+
+Heavy timbers and stout planks could not be treated thus; nevertheless,
+the white men were so wild and strong, that when the boat finally gained
+the open sea it was not very far behind the canoe.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+DESCRIBES A RESCUE, A CONSPIRACY, AND A TRIAL.
+
+Proverbially a stern chase is a long one.  Happily, there are exceptions
+to proverbs as well as rules.  The chase of the war-canoe, however, with
+the captured queen on board, did not promise to be exceptional at first,
+for the canoe was light and sharp, and powerfully manned, so that the
+savages could relieve each other frequently, whereas the settlers' boat
+was heavy and blunt, and not by any means too full of men.  It soon
+became apparent that the latter was no match for the former under oars.
+The distance between the two visibly increased.
+
+Dr Marsh steered.  He was deadly pale, and there was a peculiarly
+intense expression of anxiety in the steady gaze, with which he watched
+the ever-diminishing canoe.
+
+"No chance?" muttered Jabez Jenkins, who happened to form one of the
+crew and pulled the bow oar.
+
+"No chance?" repeated Dominick, who also pulled one of the oars.
+"There's _every_ chance.  We're sure to tire them out.  Ho! lads, give
+way with a will!"
+
+Although labouring already with all his might, indignation at Jenkins's
+remark enabled him to put on a spurt, which the others imitated.  Still
+the distance between boat and canoe increased.
+
+"They are three to one," growled Malines, who, up to that time, had been
+doing his best.
+
+"Silence!" thundered the doctor, drawing a revolver from his pocket and
+cocking it.
+
+Beads of perspiration stood on the doctor's brow, and there was
+something so terrible in the look of his white face that no one ventured
+to utter another word, but all pulled as if for their lives.
+
+For some minutes no sound was heard save the regular rattle of the oars
+in the rowlocks, the swish of the foam as it flew from the cutwater, and
+the occasional sob or gasp of the men as they exerted themselves to the
+utmost limit of their powers in the hopeless pursuit.
+
+Suddenly Teddy Malone cried eagerly, "Look out--astarn!"
+
+All turned their gaze as directed, and observed a dark line on the
+horizon.
+
+"Thank God!" murmured the doctor, "a breeze!"
+
+It was indeed true.  Just at this critical moment of profound, despair,
+a gleam of hope was sent to sustain them!  Is it not often thus in the
+dealings of God with man?
+
+There was no relaxation of effort, however, on the part of the crew
+until the breeze bore down on them.  Then the mate and Hugh Morrison,
+drawing in their oars, set up the mast and hoisted the sails.  Instantly
+the good craft bent over, as if bowing submissively to her rightful
+lord, and the gurgling water rolled swiftly from her prow.  Still the
+men plied the oars, but now with the strength of hope, until the breeze
+freshened so much as to render their further use unnecessary.
+
+"Now, indeed, the tables are turned," said Dominick with a great sigh of
+relief, as he drew in his oar.
+
+"Yes; if the wind holds," said the doctor, glancing back anxiously.
+
+"It'll howld," said Malone firmly.
+
+"Who made you so sure a judge of weather?" demanded Jenkins.
+
+"Sure it isn't me as is judge.  It's the widdy.  She says to me this
+mornin', says she, `The'll be a stiff breeze afore night, Teddy,' an' I
+nivver found the widdy wrong in her forecasts o' the weather."
+
+"The distance decreases rapidly!  Hurrah! boys, we'll catch them yet,"
+cried Dominick.
+
+This was obviously the case.  With her large sails filled by a stiff
+breeze almost directly astern, the boat went through the water like "a
+thing of life."  The savages, perceiving this, redoubled their efforts,
+but in vain.  The pursuers gained on them rapidly.
+
+An exclamation of surprise burst from those in the boat as they observed
+two splashes, one on either side of the canoe, as if some one had fallen
+or leaped overboard.  A great shout from the savages followed, and they
+suddenly ceased to paddle.  The canoe was still too far off for the
+pursuers to make out what had occurred; but in another minute they
+observed that two round black objects emerged from the water some
+distance astern of the canoe.  The savages also saw these, and uttered a
+frightful yell as they backed their craft towards them.
+
+"They've jumped overboard!" exclaimed Dominick.  "Now, boys--ready with
+your guns!"
+
+No need for this order.  All were ready in a second, but none dared to
+fire for fear of hitting the swimmers.
+
+Just then a savage rose in the stern of the canoe and poised a short
+spear.
+
+Instantly every gun in the boat was pointed.
+
+"Not a shot!" shouted Dr Marsh, as he sprang forward with a
+double-barrelled rifle in his hand.
+
+"Keep her away two points!" he cried, as he knelt to take aim.  Every
+one was well aware of the doctor's power of shooting, and waited the
+result with bated breath.  The savage seemed to bend backward for the
+cast of the spear.  At that moment the crack of the doctor's rifle was
+heard, and the right arm of the savage fell.
+
+Another savage caught up the spear, and urged his comrades, apparently,
+to back the canoe still further; but they had got a fright, and were
+evidently unwilling to do so.  Before they could make up their minds,
+another shot from the doctor's rifle sent the second savage headlong
+into the bottom of the canoe.
+
+"Give them a volley now, lads," he said, turning round and resuming his
+place at the helm; "but fire high."
+
+The rattling volley which followed, and the whistle of the leaden hail
+over their heads, quickly settled the savage minds.  One of their
+paddles, which chanced to be held aloft at the moment, was shot into
+splinters, and precipitated their decision.  With a howl of rage and
+terror they dipped their paddles into the sea and flew ahead.
+
+"Be ready there," cried the doctor, as he anxiously guided the boat.
+
+Teddy Malone, Morris, Dominick, and Jabez leaned eagerly over the bows
+with outstretched arms and clawlike fingers.  Another moment and Queen
+Pina with Otto were rescued from the deep, as well as from several
+sharks, which, doubtless, had been licking their lips at the prospect of
+the royal feast in store for them.
+
+"Ain't you goin' to carry on, an' sink the varmints?" exclaimed Jabez in
+surprise, as the doctor put the helm hard down, and prepared to return
+home.
+
+"No," replied the doctor sharply.
+
+During the voyage out the crew of the wrecked ship had become intimately
+acquainted with the doctor's qualities, among others that there was a
+certain quiet tone in his "no" which was final.  To put the belligerents
+of the party more at rest, however, Dominick backed his friend up by
+adding that he had no ill-will to the miserable savages; that they had
+been punished enough already; that they had got all they wanted from
+them; and that as their own party consisted chiefly of settlers, not
+warriors, there was no occasion for fighting.
+
+"Speak for yourself, Dom," cried Otto, as he wrung the water out of his
+garments.  "If I was in that canoe with a good carving-knife, I'd be
+warrior enough to give a settler to the baboon wi' the swelled nose who
+crammed me into a--"
+
+The remainder of the speech was drowned in laughter, for Otto spoke with
+intense indignation, as he thought of the injuries and indignities he
+had so recently suffered.
+
+"Why, what did they do to you, Otto?" asked his brother.
+
+"Oh!  I can't tell you," replied the other; "I'm too mad.  Tell 'em,
+Pina."
+
+Queen Pina, who had also been engaged for some minutes in wringing the
+water from her skirts, sat down, and, in the sweetest of voices, told
+how they had been surprised on the islet, how Otto had flattened a
+chief's nose with an oar, and how they had afterwards been carried off.
+
+"Then," she added, "when they saw that you were unable to overtake them,
+the chief with the swelled nose began to beat poor Otto and pull his
+hair savagely.  I do believe he would have killed him if a man, who
+seemed to be the leader of them all, had not ordered him to desist.
+When you put up the sail and began to overtake us, the chief with the
+swelled nose got out a rough kind of sack and tried to thrust Otto into
+it.  While he was struggling with this chief--"
+
+"Fighting," interrupted Otto; "fighting with the baboon."
+
+"Well, fighting, if you prefer it--he asked me if I was brave?"
+
+"No, I didn't; I said game."
+
+"Well--if I was game to jump overboard at the same moment that he did?
+I quickly said yes.  He twisted himself out of the man's--"
+
+"Baboon's! baboon's!"
+
+"Well--baboon's grasp, and went over the side like an eel, and--"
+
+"And she," interrupted Otto, "she went plump on the other side like a
+sack of potatoes, and we met under the canoe and dived well astern
+before coming up for breath.  You know what pains you took with our
+swimming and diving, Dom; it helped us then, I can tell you; and so here
+we are, all alive and hearty.  But I saw the black fellow goin' to send
+a spear at Pina, and can't think why he didn't let fly.  P'r'aps he did,
+and missed."
+
+"No, he didn't; for Dr Marsh shot him in the arm," said Dominick, "and
+thus saved Pauline's life."
+
+"Three cheers for the Queen!" cried little Buxley, who had done good
+service at the oar, and whose little bosom was filled with enthusiasm at
+the recital of this adventure.
+
+The invitation was heartily responded to.
+
+"An' wan more for the doctor!" shouted Malone.
+
+In this rejoicing frame of mind they returned to Big Island, where
+Pauline was received with a warm embrace by the widow Lynch, who had
+been dancing about the settlement in a more or less deranged state ever
+since the boat left.
+
+That same evening two meetings of considerable importance took place in
+the palace.  The first was a cabinet council in the hall; the other a
+meeting of conspirators in the back-kitchen.  Both were brief, for each
+was interrupted.  We will take the cabinet council first.
+
+The ministers present at it were the premier, Dominick and Dr Marsh,
+both of whom Joe had called to his aid.
+
+"Now, my dear queen," said the premier, "we have met to consider the
+constitution; but before saying a word about it myself, I would like to
+hear what your majesty has to say about it."
+
+"I'm not sure," said the queen gravely, "that I have the faintest notion
+as to how a constitution should begin or end.  But I will give you a
+motto to set in the forefront of our constitution, which may also form
+the foundation on which it is to be built--the pattern to which its
+parts must conform.  It is this: `Whatsoever ye would that men should do
+to you, do ye even so to them.'"
+
+"I will set that down with pleasure," said Dominick, who acted as clerk,
+but, before he could write a line, a knock at the door interrupted them.
+Then the door opened, and Otto's head appeared with eagerness in the
+eyes, and a beckoning hand in advance.
+
+Dominick rose and went out.
+
+"I've just overheard Morris and Jabez in the back-kitchen making an
+appointment.  Shall I tell our squad to be ready?"
+
+"Where is the appointed place?" asked Dominick.
+
+"On the reef.  They start this very night, for the wind suits, and I
+heard Hugh say that all was ready."
+
+"Good!  I didn't think the game was so nearly played out.  Well for us
+that we are prepared.  Yes, call up the squad.  We'll give them
+checkmate to-night."
+
+It must be explained here that ever since the night of the discovery of
+the plot organised by Morris to seize and carry off the wrecked ship,
+Otto and his brother had kept a close watch on the men, and were aware
+of all their plans and intended movements.  They had also communicated
+their knowledge to a select few, whom Otto styled the squad, who had
+pledged themselves to be ready at a moment's notice to do their best to
+circumvent the conspirators.  Among other things Otto had discovered
+that Malines had agreed to join them, professing himself quite willing
+to act as second in command under Morris.
+
+It may also be explained that though we have hitherto spoken of the
+vessel which had been cast on the reef as a wreck, it was in reality
+very slightly injured about the hull, and much of the damage done to the
+spars and rigging had been quietly repaired by the conspirators.
+
+When darkness shrouded land and sea, two expeditions started from the
+settlement that night--one following the other.  The conspirators in the
+largest boat set off first.  As it was no unusual thing for a night
+expedition to the reef in order to transport supplies from the wreck in
+the morning, the departure of the large boat attracted little notice.
+
+When it had got well away a smaller boat set off, containing the
+"squad," which numbered among its members Dominick, the doctor, Otto,
+Joe, and his brother David, Teddy Malone, little Buxley, John Nobbs the
+blacksmith, and others, all of whom were armed with revolvers.
+
+They steered for a different part of the reef, so as to avoid being seen
+by the conspirators.  On landing they passed through the old
+burial-ground and made for the Golden Cave.  This place had, since the
+settlement on Big Island, been given over entirely to Pauline's use, and
+being styled the Queen's seaside palace, no one ever thought of entering
+it without permission.  Hence the party of observation knew that it
+would be a secure place of ambush.
+
+When safe inside, Dominick and Otto were deputed to go out as quietly as
+possible, note what Morris and his men were doing, and bring back a
+report.
+
+"For," said the doctor, "if we interrupt them too soon they may pretend
+that this is one of their ordinary visits to the ship for supplies, and
+if we are too late they may get clear away in spite of us.  We must
+strike when the iron is hot."
+
+"Yes," said Otto, looking back as he followed his brother, "we'll look
+well to the heating process and let you know when they're white hot, so
+have your revolvers ready, my braves!"
+
+"Och! shut your tatie-trap," cried Malone, but Otto, having shut the
+door, lost the advice.
+
+The night was neither decidedly light nor dark.  There might, indeed, to
+have been moonlight, but clouds veiled the light though they could not
+altogether obscure it; thus there was just enough to render objects
+dimly visible.
+
+"All the better," whispered Dominick, as they turned the point of rock
+that hid the wreck from view.  "We'll go down by the thicket.  Keep
+close to my heels, boy, and drop on your hands and knees when you see me
+do so."
+
+"All right, captain."
+
+Gliding cautiously down in the direction indicated, they came at length
+to the seaward edge of the thicket, where the bushes, being less dense,
+permitted them to partially see the wreck.  Here Dominick went on
+all-fours, appearing, as he crept slowly forward, like some sort of huge
+bear with no tail, and its hind feet turned the wrong way.  Otto
+followed like a little bear with similar undignified peculiarities.
+Having advanced far enough to obtain a clear view of the wreck, the
+spies sank into the grass and crept forward a little way.  Then they lay
+still a few moments and listened.  They then raised their heads
+cautiously and looked.  What they heard and saw puzzled them not a
+little.
+
+First, they noted that the wreck did not seem to lie in the position,
+with which they had been so long familiar.  Then, as their eyes became
+accustomed to the faint light, they observed that a small boat was
+moving busily about the vessel's bow, and that a group of dark
+scarce-distinguishable forms of men was standing on the shore.
+Presently there was heard a low, yet not unfamiliar growl.  This was
+followed by a high yet not unfamiliar shriek, accompanied by a grating
+sound.
+
+"Lions and cockatoos!" whispered Otto, who had crept up alongside of his
+brother by that time, "what _can_ they be about?"
+
+"Is that a line I see athwart the sky?" asked Dominick, "look--just
+between the wreck and the big ledge there."
+
+Said Otto, "It's more than a line.  _I_ see it.  Half a dozen lines at
+least, and something like a round lump in the middle of 'em.  Don't you
+see it?--against the sky like a black moon--"
+
+"Hush! boy--the growl again!"
+
+"Ay, man, also the cockatoo."
+
+"Oh!  I have it now," whispered Dominick, with a low laugh; "they've
+rove blocks and tackle from the ship to the rocks, and are working them
+softly.  Evildoers fear to be overheard, even when there's no chance of
+being so!  Your lion, Otto, is the subdued yo-heave-ho of the men."
+
+"I see," said Otto, with a grin so broad that his white teeth glistened
+even in the dark, "and my cockatoo is the unsubdued screeching of the
+block-sheaves!  They must be trying to get the ship off the reef."
+
+A heavy plunge at that moment told that the conspirators were not only
+trying but had succeeded, for the plunge was followed by an irresistible
+though powerfully suppressed cheer.
+
+"We have not a moment to lose, Otto," whispered Dominick.  "The ship is
+free, and they will only take time to carry the tackle aboard before
+embarking.  Do you run back and bring the squad down at the double.  I
+will keep our friends here in play till they come."
+
+Not a word did Otto reply.  He had acquired that first of requisites in
+a soldier or servant--the habit of prompt obedience.  Somewhat like a
+North American savage, he sank into the grass and wriggled from the
+scene.  A few moments later Dominick rose, and walked down towards the
+conspirators with the easy off-hand manner of a man who saunters forth
+to enjoy the night air.  So busy were they getting the tackle into the
+boat that he was not observed until quite close to them.
+
+"You seem busy to-night, friends," he said, in his usual pleasant tones,
+as he took his stand close beside Hugh Morris, who was near the bow of
+the boat.
+
+"Mr Rigonda!" exclaimed Malines in great surprise, coming forward at
+the moment.
+
+"Why are you surprised?  It is not unusual for me to take a row on a
+fine night."
+
+This reply seeming to imply that Dominick had come to the reef alone--
+perhaps in the dinghy--emboldened the men; some of them laughed.
+
+"Well, I confess to being a little surprised, sir," replied the mate,
+"for it so happened that we were preparing something in the nature of a
+surprise for you and the rest of the settlers."
+
+"Yes, I see," returned Dominick, in the same pleasant tone.  "You've
+managed to get the ship off the ledge in a very creditable manner, and
+you mean to take her into the lagoon and cast anchor off the
+settlement?"
+
+Again the men laughed lightly.
+
+"No, sir, we don't," broke in Hugh Morris at this point, "we intend to
+take her in quite the opposite direction, and clear off to sea with
+her."
+
+"Oh no, you don't, Hugh," returned Dominick, with an agreeable smile,
+which was a little perplexing as well as exasperating.  "You are going
+into the lagoon; you know you are, and I have come to help you."
+
+"But I say we are _not_!" retorted Morris, in rising wrath, "and what's
+more, you'll have to go along with us, now that you've had the ill-luck
+to fall in with us."
+
+"Quite right, Hugh; didn't I _say_ that I came off on purpose to go
+along with you?"
+
+As he spoke there was heard a rushing sound of feet and a number of dark
+forms were seen approaching from the bushes.
+
+"Betrayed!" shouted Malines.  "Jump in, lads, and shove off!"
+
+He sprang forward, but was instantly arrested by the muzzle of a
+revolver within a foot of his head.
+
+"It's of no use, boys," said Dominick, laying his hand on the bow of the
+boat.  "You'll have to enter it as dead men if you do so without my
+permission."
+
+Had the men been armed it might have gone hard with Dominick at that
+moment, but so sure had they been of accomplishing their purpose
+unmolested, that the idea of arming had never crossed their minds.
+Before they could recover from the surprise or decide what to do, the
+armed squad was upon them.
+
+"Halt! boys," cried Joe Binney, when close to the boat.  "Now, look 'ee
+here.  It warn't o' my seekin' that I was made prime minister, but now
+that it's bin done I'll stick to it an' do my duty.  If ye knock under
+like good boys I'll recommend ye to the queen's marcy.  If not I'll have
+'ee strung up, every man jack of 'ee.  Moreover, the first man as
+disobeys my orders I'll blow his brains out.  Now, jump aboard, boys
+(turning to his own men), an' keep your revolvers handy.  You lads as
+wanted to run away will follow."
+
+The mixture of humour and resolution in Joe's manner, coupled with his
+well-known decision of character and his commanding size, had its
+effect.  The squad instantly jumped into the boat, and the conspirators
+meekly followed without a word.  They saw--as Hugh afterwards expressed
+it--that the game was up, and made up their minds to submit to the
+inevitable.
+
+The conspirators were ordered to take the oars.  Afterwards they were
+made to work the ship round into the channel leading to the lagoon,
+while their armed friends mounted guard over them.
+
+It was daybreak when the ship sailed calmly over the lagoon towards
+Silver Bay.
+
+"Och! man," said Teddy Malone, in a low voice, to Jabez Jenkins, who
+stood near him, "why did ye want to run away wid the owld ship?  It wor
+a sneakin' sort o' thing, warn't it, seein' that the poor little
+childers, an' the women, depind so much on what's inside of her?"
+
+"To tell 'ee the truth, Teddy," replied the man, an improved expression
+coming suddenly over his face, "I ain't sorry that we've bin stopped in
+this business, and, wot's more, I believe that most of us ain't sorry.
+We was more than half led into it, d'ee see, by lies as to what the
+leaders was goin' to do, an' arterwards we didn't like to draw back."
+
+"I'm sorry for yez," returned Malone, "for I'm afeared we'll have to
+skrag the wan half of ye to keep the other half in order.  In a spik an'
+span noo settlement, where ivvery wan thinks he may do as he likes, the
+laws has to be pritty stiff.  We've wan comfort, howivver--the quane is
+marciful."
+
+The Irishman was right in both his views on this subject, as the sequel
+will show.
+
+Great was the surprise and joy among the settlers that morning when the
+fine ship in which they had traversed the ocean sailed grandly over the
+lagoon, and let go her anchor in Silver Bay.  Some viewed her as a means
+of continuing the voyage, and escaping from a secluded life, of which
+they were beginning to tire.  Others thought of her as a means of
+reopening intercourse with home, while not a few thought only of the
+convenience of having her and her useful cargo so near to them.
+
+But great was their surprise when Malines, Morris, Jabez, and the rest
+of them were landed with their hands bound behind their backs; and still
+greater was that surprise when, in open court, that is, in the midst of
+the entire colony in the open air, these men were charged with their
+crime.
+
+A regular criminal court was instituted on the spot, as regular, at
+least, as was possible, considering the almost total ignorance of all
+concerned in regard to matters of law.  Queen Pauline appointed Dr
+Marsh to be judge, he being supposed to be the best acquainted with, or
+least ignorant of, legal matters and forms.  A jury of twelve men were
+selected by lot, and little Buxley was appointed public prosecutor.  In
+justice to the prisoners it was thought that they ought to have an
+advocate to defend them, but as no one would undertake the duty, that
+also was settled by lot, and the lot fell upon Redding, who, being a
+gentle and meek man, was perhaps best suited for it.
+
+We may not go into the details of this celebrated trial, which lasted
+the greater part of the day, and was watched with intense eagerness by
+the entire population, including some of the older children, who had
+become impressed with the delightfully-horrible idea that a hanging or
+shooting, if not flaying and roasting, of some of the criminals would be
+the certain result.  Suffice it to say that there was grievous
+irregularity in the proceedings: the public prosecutor not only proved
+the guilt of the men, but in the fervour of his indignation suggested
+the nature of their punishment; the jury not only listened to the facts
+of the case, but commented on them freely throughout, and, usurping the
+judge's office, pronounced sentence on the criminals three or four times
+over; while the judge himself had the greatest possible difficulty in
+keeping anything like order all round.
+
+The only man who performed his duty calmly was Redding, who, in a speech
+that quite surprised and transfixed the hearers, sought to point out
+that the men on trial had not actually committed the crime, with which
+they had been charged, that of seizing the ship, but had only
+contemplated it, as had been alleged, though even that had not been
+clearly proved; that, supposing the crime to have been committed, it was
+a first offence, and that justice should always be tempered with mercy,
+as was taught in that best of all law-books, the Bible.
+
+The pleading of this man had considerable effect, but it could not turn
+the tide of feeling in favour of the principal prisoners for more than
+one reason.  They had been domineering, turbulent fellows all along;
+they had meditated a crime which would have robbed the settlers of many
+of the necessaries and all the luxuries of life, and this displayed a
+meanness of spirit which, they thought, deserved severe punishment.
+
+Accordingly, after they had been pronounced guilty by the unanimous
+voice of the jury, and after the judge had consulted earnestly with some
+members of the privy council, Malines and Morris were condemned to a
+fortnight's imprisonment on short allowance of the poorest food, and the
+other criminals to the same for a week.
+
+When Malines had been seized and bound on board the ship, he had
+submitted, partly from prudence, and partly from a belief that the whole
+affair was a sort of half joke but when he found himself rebound, after
+the trial, and cast with his companions into a solid wooden building
+with a strong door and no window, which had been erected as a sort of
+fortress in which to put the women and children in case of attack by the
+savages, and there provided with maize and water for food and straw for
+bed, he began to realise the fact that he had indeed fallen into the
+hands of resolute men and under the power of law.
+
+"I wouldn't mind it so much if they'd only not cut off our baccy," he
+groaned, on the afternoon of the following day, after a prolonged fit of
+sullen silence.
+
+"After all it sarves us right," growled Hugh Morris.
+
+"Speak for yourself," said Jabez Jenkins sulkily.
+
+"That's just what I do," retorted Hugh.
+
+"Hear, hear!" from some of the others.
+
+What this conversation might have grown to no one can tell, for it was
+interrupted by the opening of the prison door and the entrance of a
+party of armed men.
+
+"I am directed," said Otto, who was in command of the party, "to bring
+you fellows before the queen, so, come along."
+
+Half amused by and half contemptuous of the leader, who gave his orders
+as if he were a powerful giant, the prisoners rose and marched out.
+
+While this scene was taking place in the jail, the widow Lynch was
+holding a private interview with the queen in the palace.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+SHOWS HOW THE QUEEN CONDUCTED HERSELF IN TRYING CIRCUMSTANCES, AND WAS
+FINALLY DETHRONED.
+
+"Now, darlin'," said Mrs Lynch to Queen Pauline, as she sat on the side
+of her bed looking contemplatively at the floor, "thim rascals'll be in
+the Hall in two minits, so take me advice and give them more nor they've
+got."
+
+"But my object in sending for them is not to add to their punishment,"
+said the queen.
+
+"More's the pity, for they need it, an' the Coort was too tinder wi'
+them intirely.  Two weeks! why, two months would do them more good.
+Anyhow, see that ye give them a fearful blowin' up."
+
+"I'll do what I can for them," returned Pina, with a pleasant laugh, as
+she rose and passed into the Audience Hall, where the prisoners and as
+many of the settlers as could find room were already gathered.
+
+Here a slight change of feeling seemed to have taken place in the
+people.  Perhaps the sight of Hugh and Malines--two men who had, up till
+that time, carried matters with rather a high hand--bound, humbled,
+helpless, and with bits of straw which had been given them as bedding
+sticking to their garments, induced a touch of pity.  At all events,
+there was none of that riotous demand for vengeance which had
+characterised them when under the influence of excitement at the trial.
+Evidently a slight reaction in favour of the culprits had set in, and
+the entrance of the queen, therefore, took place in solemn silence, no
+one knowing why she had sent for the men or what were her intentions.
+Poor Pauline was much embarrassed by the silence, and by the situation,
+in which she found herself.  Being a girl of mind, and not a mere human
+machine made and content to run always on beaten paths, she had resolved
+to try an experiment, and braced herself to the duty.
+
+It was by no means a new experiment; on the contrary, it was older than
+this world's history, though new to Pauline in the particular
+circumstances--being an application of the law of mercy.
+
+"My friends," said Pina, in a somewhat tremulous voice, which however
+became firmer as she proceeded, "this is the first trial that has taken
+place in our little colony, and as crime must be firmly repressed--"
+
+("Punished, my dear--putt it stronger!" came in a whisper from the side
+door, where widow Lynch was listening; but, fortunately, none of the
+audience heard her.)
+
+"I feel," continued Pauline, taking no notice of the advice, "that it
+becomes me, as your chosen queen, to do what I think will be best for
+the interests of the community."
+
+"Hear, hear!" exclaimed some of the audience; but they gave no further
+expression to their feelings, being still uncertain as to the queen's
+leanings.
+
+"No doubt," continued Pina, trying, not quite successfully, to swallow
+the lump in her throat, "the punishment which you have awarded these men
+is in strict accordance with your ideas of justice, and, being utterly
+ignorant of law, I will not presume to doubt the wisdom of your
+decision; nor would I interfere, either by increasing or decreasing the
+punishment, did I not feel that this case is peculiar, very peculiar.
+It is, as I have said, the beginning of crime in our kingdom, and little
+beginnings, you all know, often lead to great results.  A small leak may
+sink a ship.  Then, in the second place, this is the first offence
+committed by these men, and first offences require peculiar treatment--"
+
+("That's so, my dear--_powerful_ treatment.  Give it 'em hot!" inaudibly
+whispered the widow.)
+
+"Turning to that Book," continued Pauline, "which shall be my guide in
+every act of life, I find that God `delighteth in mercy.'  Can I go
+wrong in following humbly in His footsteps?  I think not.  Therefore, I
+venture to exercise the privilege of my position, and extend mercy to
+these men.  The law has been vindicated by their trial and condemnation.
+I now, in accordance with constitutional right, bestow on them a free
+pardon."
+
+This, being rapidly uttered, quite took the people by surprise, and
+caused them to burst into a ringing cheer, above which the no longer
+inaudible voice of the widow was heard to exclaim--
+
+"Free parding, indeed!" in tones of indignant contempt, as she shut the
+door with a bang and retired in disgust from the scene.
+
+"I do not know," said the queen, when silence was restored, "on what
+particular officer of my household," (a confused little smile and blush
+here), "falls the duty of setting crim--I mean _forgiven_ men free, so I
+now order the prime minister to cut their bonds."
+
+Amid some laughter, Joe readily drew forth an enormous clasp-knife and
+obeyed this command.  Then the queen, stepping forward, held out her
+hand with a bright smile to Hugh Morris.  None but an utterly abandoned
+wretch could have resisted that.  Hugh gave in at once--seized the hand,
+and not only shook it, but kissed it heartily.  So did Malines, and so
+did the others, and then they all dispersed--Teddy Malone signalling his
+exit with a cheer and a shout to the following effect--
+
+"Hooroo! boys--she's ivvery inch a quane, an' two or three eighths
+over--cut an' dry, ready-made, hot off the irons!  We're in luck--eh!
+boys, aren't we?"
+
+The latter remark was made, with a hearty slap on the back, to little
+Buxley, who, turning at once and grasping Malone in his arms, went in
+for a vigorous wrestle by way of relieving his feelings.
+
+Whatever may be thought of this matter by men deep in the learning of
+human law, we feel bound to put on record that this plan of Queen
+Pauline the First proved a great success, for, from that day forward,
+Malines and Morris and all the other conspirators became excellent
+members of the community--gave up all ideas of piracy on the high seas,
+set to work like men to fence in their properties, cultivate their
+farms, prosecute their fisheries, and otherwise to make themselves
+useful.  Another result was that Silver Bay Settlement began to
+flourish.
+
+Similar results usually happen when men give up quarrelling and take to
+working.  The schoolroom was soon finished.  The queen had her Bible
+classes--plenty of Bibles having been found in the ship--and Dominick
+even went the length of venturing to conduct special services on
+Sundays.
+
+But, strange to say, the more things prospered on the island, the more
+pensive became the queen, as well as Otto and his brother.  It was not
+so with Dr Marsh, however.  Some unknown influence seemed to keep him
+always in a hearty frame of mind.
+
+"I can't help it, Dom," said the queen, as she walked on the white shore
+of Silver Bay one evening while the sun was descending in a golden
+blaze, "I can't bear to think of them."
+
+Poor Pauline's mind was running on a cheery bald little old gentleman in
+Java, and a mild little spectacled old lady, with knitting proclivities,
+in England, whose chief solace, in a humble way, was an elderly female
+cat.
+
+"Am I _never_ to see them again?" she added, as she sat down on a coral
+rock, buried her fair face in her hands, and wept.
+
+Dominick tried to comfort her, but in vain.
+
+"It's all very well what you say, Dom, but here we are settling down as
+if we meant to stay for ever.  Even Otto talks less than he used to
+about Robinson Crusoe, and no ships ever come near us, and the sailors
+don't want to quit the islands, so we can't even use the ship we have
+got, and--and--O darling mother! and dear, _dear_ papa!"
+
+If Queen Pina, who broke down at this point, had only known that, about
+the time she was speaking, the _dear_ papa was running for his life,
+covered with mud from head to foot, in the midst of thunder and fire and
+smoke, she might have mingled horror with loving emphasis as she
+mentioned his name.
+
+At the time of which we write, the island of Java, in the Malay
+Archipelago, was convulsed by one of those tremendous earthquakes which
+have at irregular intervals, from time immemorial, shattered its
+mountains, overwhelmed some of its fairest lands, and killed thousands
+of its inhabitants.  It is not our intention, however, to touch on this
+subject more than will suffice to elucidate our tale.
+
+Deeply interesting is it, at times, to note the intimate connection that
+sometimes exists between places and events which seem exceedingly
+remote.  One would imagine that the eruption of a volcanic mountain in
+Java could not have much influence on the life or fortunes of people
+living on an island nearly a thousand miles distant from the same.  Yet
+so it was, in a double sense, too, as we shall see.
+
+The great shock in Java, which overturned the bald little old
+gentleman's chair, causing him to spring up and exclaim to his partner,
+"Hallo, Brooks!" passed through the intervening earth, losing much of
+its power on the way, caused Refuge Islands to tremble, and Pauline to
+look up suddenly with the exclamation--
+
+"What's that Dom?"
+
+"It is marvellously like an earthquake, Pina."
+
+Strange to say, Brooks in Java made precisely the same remark, at about
+the same moment, to his senior partner.
+
+Thereafter old Mr Rigonda, who didn't like earthquakes, said to
+Brooks--who didn't mind earthquakes, being used to them--
+
+"I'll start off for England immediately."
+
+He did start off, even more immediately than he had intended, for the
+neighbouring volcano, as if angered by his remark, sent up a shock that
+shook the surrounding houses to their foundations.  The senior partner
+rushed out in terror, and was just in time to receive a shower of mud
+and ashes while he fled away through fire and smoke, as already
+mentioned.
+
+The volcano went to sleep again for a short time after that little
+indication of its power, and you may be sure that old Rigonda did not
+wait for its reawakening.  One of his own ships was on the point of
+sailing that very day.  He went on board--after cleaning himself--got
+Brooks to wind up their business relations in the cabin, and left for
+England with a fair wind.
+
+And well was it for the bald little old gentleman that he did so, for, a
+few days later, strange sounds and appearances were in the air and on
+the sea.  Fine ashes filled the sky, so that noon became like midnight,
+and everything betokened that something unusually violent must have
+occurred in the land which they had left.  Nothing more serious,
+however, befell our voyager.  In due course he reached England, hastened
+home, and, without warning, burst in upon his wife while that dear
+little old lady was in the act of remarking to the middle-aged cat, in a
+very dolorous tone, that she feared something must have happened to the
+ship, for her darlings could never have been so long of writing if all
+had gone well.
+
+It was while the cat gazed contemplatively at the everlasting socks, as
+if meditating a reply, that old Rigonda burst in.
+
+Starting up with amazing activity and a cry of joy, the old lady swept
+her feline friend from the table--inadvertently, of course--and rushed
+into her husband's arms, while the outraged animal sought refuge on top
+of the bookcase, whence it glared at the happy meeting with feelings
+that may be more easily understood than described.  Of course the old
+man's joy was turned into grief and anxiety when he heard of the
+departure of his children and was told of their prolonged silence; but
+with that we have nothing to do at present.
+
+We return to Silver Bay, where a sense of insecurity had been aroused in
+the community, ever since the tremors of the earth, to which we have
+just referred.
+
+With the slumbering of the Javanese mountains, however, these tremors
+and the consequent fears subsided, and were almost forgotten in another
+source of anxiety.
+
+One morning, while Teddy Malone was walking on the beach of Silver Bay,
+he observed a small object running and stumbling towards him, as if in
+great haste or fear.  Hurrying forward to meet this object he soon
+perceived that it was little Brown-eyes, of whom he was very fond.
+
+"What's wrong, me darlint?" he asked, catching the child up and kissing
+her.
+
+"Oh, such funny tings me sawd--oder side de rocks," replied Brown-eyes,
+panting; "come wid me an' see dem.  Come kik!"
+
+"Funny things, eh, mavourneen, what sort of things?"
+
+"Oh, like beasts.  Come kik!"
+
+"They wasn't sarpints, was they?" said Malone, seating the child on his
+shoulder and hastening towards the rocky point which separated Silver
+Bay from the land beyond.
+
+"No, no--not saa'pints.  Long beasts, like mans, only hims not stand and
+walk, but lie down and crawl."
+
+Much impressed with the child's eager manner, the Irishman hurried
+towards the point of rocks, filled with curiosity as to what the
+creatures could be.
+
+"What sort o' hids have they, darlint?" he asked, as he neared the
+point.
+
+"Hids same as mans, and faces like you, but more uglier, all scratched
+over, an' dey try to catch me, but me runned away."
+
+Teddy Malone's hitherto obtuse faculties were awakened.  He stopped
+suddenly, being by that time convinced that he stood unarmed within
+spear-throw of savages in ambush.  To advance, supposing his conjecture
+to be right, he knew would be certain death.  To turn and fly would
+probably be the same, for naked savages could easily overtake him even
+if unburdened with Brown-eyes, whom, of course, he could not forsake,
+and he was too far from the settlement to shout an alarm.
+
+Perspiration burst from poor Teddy's brow, for even delay, he knew,
+would be fatal, as the savages would suspect him of having discovered
+them.
+
+Suddenly he put Brown-eyes down on the sand, and, twisting his figure
+into a comical position, began to hop like a frog.  His device had the
+desired effect; Brown-eyes burst into a hearty fit of laughter, forgot
+for the moment the "funny beasts," and cried, "Do it agin!"
+
+The poor man did it again, thinking intensely all the time what he
+should do next.
+
+"Would you like to see me dance, darlint?" he asked suddenly.
+
+"Oh yis!"
+
+Thereupon Teddy Malone began to dance an Irish jig to his own whistling,
+although, being much agitated, he found it no easy matter to whistle in
+tune or time, but that was unimportant.  As he danced he took care to
+back in a homeward direction.  The child naturally followed.  Thus, by
+slow degrees, he got beyond what he considered spear-throw, and feeling
+boldness return with security, he caught the child up and danced with
+her on his shoulder.  Then he set her down, and pretended to chase her.
+He even went the length of chasing her a little way in the wrong
+direction, in order to throw the savages more completely off their
+guard.  By degrees he got near to the settlement, and there was met by
+Otto.
+
+"You seem jolly to-day, Ted," said the boy.
+
+"Whist, lad," returned the other, without intermitting his exercise.
+"Look as if ye was admirin' me.  There's lot of them tattooed monkeys--
+savages--beyant the pint.  They don't know I've found it out.  Slink up
+an' gather the boys, an' look alive.  I'll amuse 'em here till you come
+back.  An' I say, don't forgit to bring me revolver an' cutlash."
+
+"All right," was Otto's brief reply, as he sauntered slowly up towards
+the bushes.  No sooner was he screened by these, however, than he ran
+like a hare to the palace.
+
+"Halloo!  Dom, Joe, Hugh--all of you--the savages again!  Arm--quick!"
+
+It needed no urging to hasten the movements of all who heard the boy's
+voice.  Ever since the first appearance of the savages Dominick and the
+doctor had put all the men of the settlement under daily training in
+drill for an hour or so, that they might be better able to act promptly
+and in concert if occasion should again occur.  The arms had been
+collected, and such of them as were not in use stored in a handy
+position, so that in two minutes an armed company was proceeding at a
+run towards the spot on the shore where Malone was still performing his
+antics, to the inexpressible delight of Brown-eyes.
+
+"Where are the spalpeens?" asked the widow Lynch, who had followed the
+men.
+
+"Beyant the rocks, mother," answered Malone, as he received his weapons
+from Otto and fell into his place in the ranks; "ye'd as well take the
+child home, or she'll be sure to follow--she's nigh as wild as yerself."
+
+The widow was indeed fond of seeing, as she used to say, "all the fun
+that was goin'," but on this occasion she consented to carry Brown-eyes
+out of danger while the settlers moved at a quick step towards the
+point.
+
+Behind that point of rocks a band of savages lay concealed, as Malone
+had rightly conjectured.  There were about forty of them, all armed with
+clubs and spears, evidently bent on attacking the settlement.  Of course
+they meant to do it by surprise, and had concealed themselves among the
+bushes behind the point, where they probably would have lain till
+nightfall if Brown-eyes in her wanderings had not discovered them.
+Their chief would have instantly caught and silenced the poor child, had
+she not run so far clear of the point that he would infallibly have
+revealed himself to Teddy Malone in doing so.
+
+When that worthy drew near to the rocks, as described, the chief got
+ready a spear for his reception.  When Malone took to dancing, the chief
+condescended to smile, or grin, hideously.  When he retreated out of
+range the chief consoled himself with the reflection that it was just as
+well, night being the best time for attack.  When, however, he beheld a
+band of men moving towards him armed with the terrible things that
+"spouted smoke, fire, and stones," a change came over the spirit of his
+dream.  After a hasty consultation with his comrades, he glided off in
+the direction of their canoe.  The rest followed, and when our settlers
+at last turned the point, they saw the foe paddling at full speed across
+the lagoon.
+
+Firing a volley of disappointment after them, both in words and bullets,
+they ran to their boats and gave chase, but, as on the former occasion,
+the canoe proved too swift for the boats under oars, and the savages got
+away.
+
+The anxiety that naturally filled the breasts of Queen Pauline and her
+councillors at this event was speedily forgotten in a recurrence of the
+earthquake which had previously alarmed them so much.
+
+It happened on a calm, bright morning, when the widow Lynch chanced to
+be washing garments in the palace beside the queen.  You see they had
+not much regard for state-ceremonial or etiquette at the court of
+Pauline the First even in public, much less in private, so that, while
+the widow was deep in the washtub at one end of the hall, the queen was
+busy at the other end patching Otto's garments.
+
+At first there occurred a slight trembling of the earth, which the
+widow, attributing to giddiness in her own cranium, recognised with a
+remonstrative "Ohone!"
+
+"Did you feel _that_?" exclaimed Pauline, pausing in her work and
+looking up with a slight feeling of alarm.
+
+"_What_, dearie?" demanded the widow, clearing the soap-suds from her
+red roly-poly arms.
+
+Before Pauline could answer, the earthquake took the liberty of reply by
+giving an abrupt shake to the whole island, which not only set chairs
+and tables rocking in an alarming manner, but drove the entire
+population from their houses in consternation.  Among other effects it
+caused Mrs Lynch to stagger and catch hold of the washtub, which, far
+from supporting her, let her fall to the ground, and fell on the top of
+her.
+
+To most of the settlers the sensation of a trembling earth was quite new
+and exceedingly alarming.  They stopped abruptly after the first rush,
+and then looked about with pale faces, not knowing what to do.  Malines,
+however, was cool and collected.  He had been in various volcanic
+regions of the world, and undertook to comfort them.
+
+"Don't be afraid," he said, when the most of the people had gathered
+round him.  "I've often seen this sort o' thing, on the coast o' South
+America and among the Malay Islands.  It passes away after a while, and
+often without doin' much damage--though I _have_ seen a town shook
+almost to pieces in about five minutes."
+
+"And what did they do?" asked Jabez Jenkins.
+
+"Och, whirri-hoo!" shouted Teddy Malone, for at that moment another
+shock was felt, more violent than the preceding.  The earth seemed
+absolutely to roll, and one or two of the huts that had been carelessly
+built, fell asunder in partial ruin.
+
+"Where is my brother--and the doctor?" demanded Pauline, running up to
+the group at the moment.
+
+"They're away up the mountain, with Joe and Otto," answered little
+Buxley; "I saw 'em start soon after daybreak--to explore, they said."
+
+"What do you think should be done?" asked Pina, turning naturally to the
+mate, as being the most intelligent of those around her.
+
+"If it's goin' to be bad," said Malines, "I would advise you all to git
+on board the ship as fast as ye can, for the land isn't so safe as the
+water when it takes to quakin'."
+
+"You seem to have had some experience of it.  Is it going to be bad,
+think you?"
+
+"Earthquakes are deceptive--no man can tell."
+
+"Well, then, we must do our best at once," said the queen, with an air
+of calm decision worthy of her rank.  "Go, Mr Malines, with your
+sailors, and get all the boats ready.  And you, my people, carry down
+what you esteem most valuable and get on board the ship without loss of
+time--for the rest, we are in the hands of a loving and merciful God."
+
+While these events were enacting on the shore, Dominick, Otto, the
+doctor, and Joe Binney were seated near the summit of the highest peak,
+enjoying a cold breakfast.  It was their first visit to that particular
+peak, which had a slight hollow or basin of perhaps fifty feet diameter
+in the centre.
+
+Just before the first tremulous shock the doctor had been explaining to
+the prime minister the nature of volcanoes, and stating his opinion that
+the cup-like hollow before them was an extinct crater.  The slight shock
+stopped him in his discourse, and caused the party to look at each other
+with serious faces.
+
+"It's not extinct yet," exclaimed Otto excitedly, pointing to the
+hollow, the earth of which had suddenly cracked in several places and
+was emitting puffs of sulphurous smoke and steam.
+
+They all started up.
+
+"We'd better hasten home," said Dominick.
+
+"Yes--they'll be terribly scared," said the doctor, hastily beginning to
+pack up the remains of their breakfast.
+
+But, before this could be done, the second convulsion took place.
+Violent trembling occurred for a few seconds; then the ground in the old
+crater burst open, and, with a terrible explosion, fire and smoke
+belched forth, sending huge fragments of rock and showers of ashes into
+the air, which latter fell around the explorers in all directions--
+fortunately without doing them injury.
+
+They waited no longer.  Without even uttering a word they all turned and
+ran down the hill at full speed.  Being a considerable distance from the
+settlement, it was upwards of an hour before they arrived.  By that time
+most of the women and children had been sent off to the ship.  Pauline,
+however, had remained on shore to direct and encourage the rest, as well
+as to await the return of her brothers.
+
+"Right--right--you couldn't have done better," said Dominick, when
+Pauline hastily explained how she had acted.
+
+"It was Mr Malines, not I, who suggested the plan," returned the queen.
+
+"Hadn't you better go on board yourself?" said the doctor, "and leave us
+to manage."
+
+"No, I am not a mere puppet, sir," answered Pauline, with a little
+smile, yet firmly.  "My place is here till all my subjects are safe!
+And your duty is to assist in the embarkation, not to offer advice to
+your queen!"
+
+With a laugh the doctor went off to do his duty, muttering, "My _queen_,
+indeed!" fervently.
+
+For some time the volcano, which had thus sprung into sudden activity,
+partially subsided, yet there were occasional tremulous motions of the
+earth and low growlings in the heart of the mountain on Big Island,
+while several minor explosions occurred in the crater, so that the
+thoroughly alarmed settlers hastened the embarkation with all despatch.
+Before night had closed in they were all safely on board with most of
+their lighter valuables and tools, though, necessarily, much of their
+heavier property was left behind.  Where life is threatened, however,
+men are not apt to mind such losses.
+
+It now became a question whether they should remain at anchor where they
+were and abide the issue, or proceed at once to sea.  Some were for
+remaining, others were for putting off to sea.  There was much wrangling
+over it at first, and the people seemed in their anxiety to have quite
+forgotten their queen, when she stepped forward, and, raising her clear
+silvery voice, produced a dead calm at once.
+
+"Joe," she said, "go down to the cabin and await me there."
+
+The prime minister obeyed instantly.
+
+"Now," said Pauline, turning to the people, "choose among you six of
+your number to consult with me, and do it at once."
+
+Of course, the men well-known as the best among the settlers were
+instantly named we need scarcely add that among them were Dominick, the
+doctor, and Malines.
+
+While these were engaged in consultation below, a terrible outburst of
+the volcano settled the matter for them, and brought them all hastily on
+deck.
+
+The summit of the crater seemed to have been blown up into the air with
+a most terrific noise, while a dense mass of smoke, steam, and ashes was
+hurled upwards, and seemed to blot out the sky.  Twilight, which had
+been deepening, was converted into blackest night in a moment, and
+darkness profound would undoubtedly have continued, had it not been for
+the lurid glare of the fires which flashed at intervals from the crater.
+Suddenly the waters of the sea became agitated.  The ship rocked
+uneasily, and jerked at her cable, while the terrified people clung to
+shrouds and ropes, and belaying-pins.  Then the fire on the mountain-top
+increased tenfold in volume and intensity.  Another moment, and several
+large holes opened in the mountain-side nearest to them, from which
+streams of molten lava burst forth and began to descend towards the
+deserted settlement.
+
+At that moment there was a great shout.  It had been discovered that in
+the confusion little Brown-eyes had been forgotten!
+
+A small boat hung at the davits on the port side.  It was manned
+instantly.  The doctor jumped to the helm, Otto followed, and, before
+any could interpose, the queen suddenly stepped in.
+
+"You are mad!" cried the doctor.
+
+"Lower away!" said Pina, as if she had been a trained sea-captain all
+her life.
+
+Instantly the ropes were eased off, and in a few seconds the boat was in
+the sea and on the shore.  They found little Brown-eyes sound asleep in
+her crib, with a river of red-hot lava stretching its fiery tongues
+towards her as if eager for a meal!
+
+Supple-limbed Otto was first; he seized the child and bore her off to
+the boat.  Another terrible explosion occurred just then.  Ashes and
+masses of rock began to rain around them.  A falling stone struck
+Pauline's head, and she fell.  The doctor, who held her hand, seized her
+in his arms and bore her away.  A few minutes more and they were all
+safe on board again.
+
+But there was no time for congratulations.  The sea which had before
+been agitated, now heaved in wild waves, though there was no wind.  It
+was then seen that Big Island was actually crumbling--sinking into the
+water!  The continuous rumbling of the volcano was terrible.
+Intermittent explosions were frequent.  To add to the horrors of the
+scene the darkness deepened.  As the island went down the sea rushed
+tumultuously in to overwhelm it.  Then it was that the stout cable,
+under God, saved them from immediate destruction.  The ship was hurled
+from side to side like a cork on the boiling flood.  But no cable could
+long withstand such a strain.  The chain snapped at last, and they
+seemed to be rushing with railway speed to their fate amid surrounding
+fire and overwhelming water, and roaring thunders, and raining ashes,
+when, suddenly, there was a perceptible diminution in the turmoil, and,
+gradually, the waves calmed down.  With feelings of intense thankfulness
+the terrified people let go their second anchor, though the darkness was
+by that time so thick that they could barely see each other.
+
+It may be imagined what a night of anxiety they spent.  With Pauline and
+some others it was a night of earnest prayer.
+
+When the light of day at last broke faintly in the east it revealed the
+fact that Refuge Islands had actually and totally disappeared, and that
+our settlers were floating on the bosom of the open sea!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+LAST CHAPTER.
+
+An Island Queen no longer, Pauline Rigonda sits on the quarter-deck of
+the emigrant ship gazing pensively over the side at the sunlit sea.
+Dethroned by the irresistible influences of fire and water, our heroine
+has retired into the seclusion of private life.
+
+After escaping from the volcano, as described in the last chapter, the
+settlers resolved to proceed, under the guidance of Malines as captain,
+and Morris as mate, to the port for which they had originally been bound
+when the disaster on Refuge Islands had arrested them.
+
+Of course this was a great disappointment to poor Pauline and her
+brothers, who, as may be imagined, were burning with anxiety to get back
+to England.  Feeling, however, that it would be unreasonable as well as
+selfish to expect the emigrants to give up their long-delayed plans
+merely to meet their wishes, they made up their minds to accept the
+situation with a good grace.
+
+"You see," said Otto to the ex-queen--for he was becoming very wise in
+his own eyes, and somewhat oracular in the midst of all these
+excitements--"when a fellow can't help himself he's bound to make the
+best of a bad business."
+
+"Don't you think it would be better to say he is bound to accept
+trustingly what God arranges, believing that it will be all for the
+best?" returned Pauline.
+
+"How can a bad business be for the best?" demanded Otto, with the air of
+one who has put an unanswerable question.
+
+His sister looked at him with an expression of perplexity.  "Well, it is
+not easy to explain," she said, "yet I can believe that all _is_ for the
+best."
+
+"Ha, Pina!" returned the boy, with a little touch of pride, "it's all
+very well for you to say that, but you won't get men to believe things
+in that way."
+
+"Otto," said Dr Marsh, who was standing near and listening to the
+conversation, "it is not so difficult as you think to prove that what we
+call a bad business may after all be for the best.  I remember at this
+moment a case in point.  Come--I'll tell you a story.  Once upon a time
+I knew a gentleman with a stern face and a greedy soul, who believed in
+nothing, almost, except in the wickedness of mankind, and in his own
+capacity to take advantage of that wickedness in order to make money.
+Money was his god.  He spent all his time and all his strength in making
+it, and he was successful.  He had many ships on the sea, and much gold
+in the bank.  He had also a charming little wife, who prayed in secret
+that God would deliver her husband from his false god, and he had a dear
+little daughter who loved him to distraction in spite of his `business
+habits!'  Well, one year there came a commercial crisis.  Mr Getall
+eagerly risked his money and over-speculated.  That same year was
+disastrous in the way of storms and wrecks.  Among the wrecks were
+several of Mr Getall's finest ships.  A fire reduced one of his
+warehouses to ashes, and, worse still, one of his most confidential and
+trusted clerks absconded with some thousands of pounds.  All that was a
+very bad business, wasn't it?"
+
+"It was," assented Otto; "go on."
+
+"The upshot was a crash--"
+
+"What!--of the burning warehouse?"
+
+"No; of the whole business, and the Getalls were reduced to comparative
+beggary.  The shock threw the poor little wife, who had always been
+rather delicate, into bad health, rendering a warm climate necessary for
+her at a time when they could not afford to travel.  Moreover, little
+Eva's education was entirely stopped at perhaps the most important
+period of her life.  That was a bad business, wasn't it?"
+
+"That was a much worse business," asserted Otto.
+
+"Well, when Mr Getall was at the lowest stage of despair, and had taken
+more than one look over the parapet of London Bridge with a view to
+suicide, he received a letter from a long-neglected brother, who had for
+many years dwelt on the Continent, partly for economy and partly for a
+son's health.  The brother offered him a home in the south of France for
+the winter, as it would do his wife good, he said, and he had room in
+his house for them all, and wanted their company very much to keep him
+from being dull in that land of warmth and sunshine!  Getall was not the
+man to refuse such an offer.  He went.  The brother was an earnest
+Christian.  His influence at that critical time of sore distress was the
+means in the Holy Spirit's hands of rescuing the miser's soul, and
+transferring his heart from gold to the Saviour.  A joy which he had
+never before dreamed of took possession of him, and he began, timidly at
+first to commend Jesus to others.  Joy, they say, is curative.  The
+effect of her husband's conversion did so much good to little Mrs
+Getall's spirit that her body began steadily to mend, and in time she
+was restored to better health than she had enjoyed in England.  The
+brother-in-law, who was a retired schoolmaster, undertook the education
+of Eva, and, being a clever man as well as good, trained her probably
+much better than she would have been trained had she remained at home.
+At last they returned to England, and Mr Getall, with the assistance of
+friends, started afresh in business.  He never again became a rich man
+in the worldly sense, but he became rich enough to pay off all his
+creditors to the last farthing; rich enough to have something to spare
+for a friend in distress; rich enough to lay past something for Eva's
+dower, and rich enough to contribute liberally to the funds of those
+whose business it is to `consider the poor.'  All that, you see, being
+the result of what you have admitted, my boy, was a bad business."
+
+"True, but then," objected Otto, who was of an argumentative turn, "if
+all that _hadn't_ resulted, it would have been a bad business still."
+
+"Not necessarily--it might have turned out to be a good business in some
+other way, or for somebody else.  The mere fact that we can't see how,
+is no argument against the theory that _everything_ is constrained to
+work for good by Him who rules the universe."
+
+"What! even sin?" asked Otto, in surprise.
+
+"Even sin," returned the doctor.  "Don't you see that it was Getall's
+sin of greed and over-speculation, and the clerk's sin of embezzlement,
+which led to all these good results; but, of course, as neither of them
+had any desire or intention to achieve the good results which God
+brought about, they were none the less guilty, and were entitled to no
+credit, but, on the contrary, to condign punishment.  What I wish to
+prove is that God causes _all things_ to work out His will, yet leaves
+the free-will of man untouched.  This is a great mystery; at the same
+time it is a great fact, and therefore I contend that we have every
+reason to trust our loving Father, knowing that whatever happens to us
+will be for the best--not, perhaps, for our present pleasure or
+gratification, but for our ultimate best."
+
+"But--but--but," said Otto, while premature wrinkles rippled for a
+minute over his smooth brow, "at that rate, is it fair to blame sinners
+when their very sins are made to bring about God's will?"
+
+"Now, Otto, don't run away with a false idea.  For you to sin with a
+view to bring about good, is one thing--and a very wicked thing, which
+is severely condemned in Scripture--but for God to cause good to result
+from your sin, and in spite of _you_, is a totally different thing.
+Think of a pirate, my boy, a bloody-handed villain, who has spent his
+life of crime in gathering together enormous wealth, with which to
+retire into selfish enjoyment at last.  But he is captured.  His wealth
+is taken from him, and with it good men establish almshouses for the
+aged poor, hospitals for the sick, free libraries and free baths
+everywhere, and many other good and beneficent works.  The pirate's
+labours have, in God's providence, been turned into this channel.  Is
+the pirate less guilty, or less deserving of punishment on that
+account?"
+
+Further discussion on this point was interrupted by a sharp order from
+Malines to reduce sail, and the consequent bustling about of the
+sailors.
+
+"Going to blow, think you?" asked Dominick, who came on deck at the
+moment.
+
+"Can't tell yet," replied the mate, "but the glass has fallen suddenly,
+and one must be prepared, all the more that the ship has been more
+severely strained on the reef than I had thought.  Would Miss Pauline be
+prepared," he added in a lower tone, "to receive the deputation this
+afternoon?"
+
+"Yes, she is quite prepared," returned Dominick, in the same low tone,
+"though she is much perplexed, not being able to understand what can be
+wanted of her.  Is it so profound a secret that I may not know it?"
+
+"You shall both know it in good time," the mate replied, as he turned to
+give fresh directions to the man at the wheel.
+
+That afternoon the assembly in the cabin could hardly be styled a
+deputation, for it consisted of as many of the emigrants as could
+squeeze in.  It was led by Joe Binney, who stood to the front with a
+document in his hand.  Pauline, with some trepidation and much surprise
+expressed on her pretty face, was seated on the captain's chair, with an
+extra cushion placed thereon to give it a more throne-like dignity.  She
+was supported by Dominick on one side and Otto on the other.
+
+Joe advanced a few paces, stooping his tall form, partly in reverence
+and partly to avoid the deck-beams.  Clearing his throat, and with a
+slightly awkward air, he read from the document as follows:--
+
+"Dear Miss Pauline, may it please yer majesty, for we all regards you
+yet as our lawful queen, I've bin appinted, as prime minister of our
+community--which ain't yet broke up--to express our wishes, likewise our
+sentiments."
+
+"That's so--go it, Joe," broke in a soft whisper from Teddy Malone.
+
+"We wishes, first of all," continued the premier, "to say as how we're
+very sorry that your majesty's kingdom has bin blowed up an' sunk to the
+bottom o' the sea," ("Worse luck!" from Mrs Lynch),--"but we
+congratulate you an' ourselves that we, the people, are all
+alive,"--("an' kickin'," softly, from Malone--"Hush!" "silence!" from
+several others),--"an' as loyal an' devoted as ever we was."  ("More
+so," and "Hear, hear!").  "Since the time you, Queen Pauline, took up
+the reins of guvermint, it has bin plain to us all that you has done
+your best to rule in the fear o' God, in justice, truthfulness, an'
+lovin' kindness.  An' we want to tell you, in partikler, that your
+readin's out of the Bible to us an' the child'n--which was no part o'
+your royal dooty, so to speak--has done us all a power o' good, an'
+there was some of us big uns as needed a lot o' good to be done us, as
+well as the child'n--" ("Sure an' that's true, annyhow!" from Teddy).
+
+"Now, what we've got to say," continued Joe, clearing his throat again,
+and taking a long breath, "is this--the land we're agoin' to ain't
+thickly popilated, as we knows on, an' we would take it kindly if you'd
+consent to stop there with us, an' continue to be our queen, so as we
+may all stick together an' be rightly ruled on the lines o' lovin'
+kindness,"--("With a taste o' the broomstick now an' then," from Teddy).
+"If your majesty agrees to this, we promise you loyal submission an'
+sarvice.  Moreover, we will be glad that your brother, Mister Dominick,
+should be prime minister, an' Mister Otto his scritairy, or wotever else
+you please.  Also that Dr Marsh should be the chansler o' the checkers,
+or anything else you like, as well as sawbones-in-gineral to the
+community.  An' this our petition," concluded Joe, humbly laying the
+document at Pauline's feet, "has bin signed by every man in the ship--
+except Teddy Malone--"
+
+"That's a lie!" shouted the amazed Teddy.
+
+"Who," continued Joe, regardless of the interruption, "not bein' able to
+write, has put his cross to it."
+
+"Hear, hear!" cried the relieved Irishman, while the rest laughed
+loudly--but not long, for it was observed that Pauline had put her
+handkerchief to her eyes.
+
+What the ex-queen said in reply, we need not put down in detail.  Of
+course, she expressed her gratitude for kind expressions, and her
+thankfulness for what had been said about her Sabbath-school work.  She
+also explained that her dear mother in England, as well as their old
+father in Java, must be filled with deepest anxiety on account of
+herself and her brothers by that time, and that, therefore, she was
+obliged, most unwillingly, to decline the honour proposed to her.
+
+"Och!" exclaimed the disappointed widow Lynch, "cudn't ye sind for yer
+mother to come out to yez, an' the ould man in Javy too?  They'd be
+heartily welcome, an' sure we'd find 'em some sitivation under guvermint
+to kape their pot bilin'."
+
+But these strong inducements failed to change the ex-queen's mind.
+
+Now, while this was going on in the cabin, a change was taking place in
+the sky.  The bad weather which Malines had predicted came down both
+suddenly and severely, and did the ship so much damage as to render
+refitting absolutely necessary.  There was no regular port within
+hundreds of miles of them, but Malines said he knew of one of the
+eastern isles where there was a safe harbour, good anchorage, and plenty
+of timber.  It would not take long to get there, though, considering the
+damaged state of the ship, it might take some months before they could
+get her into a fit state to continue the voyage.  Accordingly, they
+altered their course, with heavy hearts, for the emigrants were
+disappointed at having their voyage again interrupted, while the
+Rigondas were depressed at the thought of the prolonged anxiety of their
+parents.
+
+"Now this _is_ a bad business, isn't it?" said Otto to the doctor, with
+a groan, when the course was decided.
+
+"Looks like it, my boy; but it isn't," replied the doctor, who
+nevertheless, being himself but a frail mortal, was so depressed that he
+did not feel inclined to say more.
+
+In this gloomy state of matters Pina's sweet tones broke upon them like
+a voice from the better land--as in truth it was--saying, "I will trust
+and not be afraid."
+
+About this time the cloud which hung over the emigrant ship was darkened
+still more by a visit from the Angel of Death.  The mother of Brown-eyes
+died.  At that time Pauline was indeed an angel of mercy to mother and
+child.  After the remains of the mother were committed to the deep, the
+poor orphan clung so piteously to Pauline that it was scarcely possible
+to tear her away.  It was agreed at last that, as the child had now no
+natural protector, except an uncle and aunt, who seemed to think they
+had already too many children of their own, Pauline should adopt her.
+
+When the emigrants reached the island-harbour, without further mishap,
+they were surprised to find a large steamer at anchor.  The captain of
+it soon explained that extensive damage to the machinery had compelled
+him to run in there for shelter while the necessary repairs were being
+effected.
+
+"Where are you bound for?" asked Dominick, who with Dr Marsh and Otto
+had accompanied Malines on board the steamer.
+
+"For England."
+
+"For England?" almost shouted Dominick and Otto in the same breath.
+
+"Yes.  Our repairs are completed, we set off to-morrow."
+
+"Have you room for two or three passengers?"
+
+"Yes, plenty of room.  We shall have to put several ashore at the Cape,
+where I hope to get a doctor, too, for our doctor died soon after we
+left port, and we are much in want of one, having a good many sick men
+on board."
+
+"Otto," whispered Dr Marsh, "our having been diverted from our course
+has not turned out such a bad business after all, has it?"
+
+"On the contrary, the very best that could have happened.  I'll never
+give way to unbelief again!"
+
+Poor Otto!  He did not at that time know how deeply doubt and unbelief
+are ingrained in the human heart.  He did not know that man has to be
+convinced again and again, and over again, before he learns to hope
+against hope, and to believe heartily at all times that, "He doeth all
+things well."
+
+It was with very mingled feelings that the Rigondas, Dr Marsh, and
+Brown-eyes parted next day from the friends with whom they had
+associated so long.  It is no exaggeration to say that there was
+scarcely a dry eye in the two vessels; for, while the settlers wept for
+sorrow, the crews and passengers wept more or less from sympathy.  Even
+the dead-eyes of the ship, according to Malone, shed tears!  As for poor
+Brown-eyes, who was a prime favourite with many of her old friends, male
+and female, before she got away she had been almost crushed out of
+existence by strong arms, and her eyes might have been pea-green or pink
+for anything you could tell, so lost were they in the swollen lids.
+Long after the vessels had separated the settlers continued to shout
+words of good-will and blessing, "We'll never forgit ye, Miss Pauline,"
+came rolling after them in the strong tones of Joe Binney.  "God bless
+you, Miss," came not less heartily from Hugh Morris.  "We loves ye,
+darlint," followed clear and shrill from the vigorous throat of the
+widow Lynch, and a wild "Hooray!" from Teddy endorsed the sentiment.
+Nobbs, the blacksmith, and little Buxley, ran up the rigging to make the
+waving of their caps more conspicuous, and when faces could no longer be
+distinguished and voices no longer be heard, the waving of kerchiefs
+continued until the rounding of a cape suddenly shut them all out from
+view for ever.
+
+"Thank God," said Dr Marsh, with a voice deepened and tremulous from
+emotion, "that though they have lost their queen, they shall never lose
+the sweet influences she has left behind her."
+
+The great ocean steamer had now cleared the land; her mighty engines
+seemed to throb with joy at being permitted once more to, "Go ahead,
+full speed," and soon she was cleaving her way grandly through the
+broad-backed billows of the Southern sea--homeward bound!
+
+Let us leap on in advance of her.
+
+The little old lady with the gold spectacles and neat black cap, and
+smooth, braided hair, is seated in her old arm-chair, with the old sock,
+apparently--though it must have been the latest born of many hundreds of
+socks--on the needles, and the unfailing cat at her elbow.  The aspect
+of the pair gives the impression that if a French Revolution or a Chili
+earthquake were to visit England they would click-and-gaze on with
+imperturbable serenity through it all.
+
+But the little old lady is not alone now.  Old Mr Rigonda sits at the
+table opposite to her, with his forehead in his hands, as though he
+sought to squeeze ideas into his head from a book which lies open before
+him on the table.  Vain hope, for the book is upside down.  Profound
+silence reigns, with the exception of the clicking needles and the
+purring cat.
+
+"My dear," at length exclaimed the bald old gentleman, looking up with a
+weary sigh.
+
+"Yes, John?"  (Such is his romantic Christian name!)
+
+"I can't stand it, Maggie."  (Such is _her_ ditto!)
+
+"It is, indeed, hard to bear, John.  If we only knew for certain that
+they are--are gone, it seems as if we could bow to His will; but this
+terrible and wearing uncertainty is awful.  Did you make inquiry at
+Lloyd's to-day?"
+
+"Lloyd's?  You seem to think Lloyd's can tell everything about all that
+happens on the sea.  No, it's of no use inquiring anywhere, or doing
+anything.  We can only sit still and groan."
+
+In pursuance of this remaining consolation, the poor old gentleman
+groaned heavily and squeezed his forehead tighter, and gazed at the
+reversed book more sternly, while the old lady heaved several deep
+sighs.  Even the cat introduced a feeble mew, as of sympathy, into the
+midst of its purr--the hypocrite!
+
+"It was the earthquake that did it," cried Mr Rigonda, starting up, and
+pacing the room wildly, "I'm convinced of that."
+
+"How can that be, John, dear, when you were in Java at the time, and our
+darlings were far away upon the sea?"
+
+"How can _I_ tell how it could be, Maggie?  Do you take me for a
+geological philosopher, who can give reasons for every earthly thing he
+asserts?  All I know is that these abominable earthquakes go half
+through the world sometimes.  Pity they don't go through the other half,
+split the world in two, and get rid of the subterranean fires
+altogether."
+
+"John, my dear!"
+
+"Well, Maggie, don't be hard on me for gettin' irascible now and then.
+If you only knew what I suffer when--but forgive me.  You _do_ know what
+I suffer--there!"
+
+He stooped and kissed the old lady's forehead.  The cat, uncertain,
+apparently, whether an assault was meant, arched its back and tall, and
+glared slightly.  Seeing however that nothing more was done, it
+subsided.
+
+Just then the wheels of a cab were heard rattling towards the front
+door, as if in haste.  The vehicle stopped suddenly.  Then there was
+impatient thundering at the knocker, and wild ringing of the bell.
+
+"Fire!" gasped the half-petrified Mrs Rigonda.
+
+"No smell!" said her half-paralysed spouse.
+
+Loud voices in the passage; stumbling feet on the stairs; suppressed
+female shrieks; bass masculine exclamations; room door burst open; old
+couple, in alarm, on their feet; cat, in horror, on the top of the
+bookcase!
+
+"Mother! mother!  O father!"--yelled, rather than spoken.
+
+Another moment, and the bald, little old man was wrestling in the
+ex-queen's arms; the little old lady was engulfed by Dominick and Otto;
+Dr John Marsh and Brown-eyes stood transfixed and smiling with idiotic
+joy at the door; while the cat--twice its size, with every hair erect--
+glared, and evolved miniature volcanoes in its stomach.
+
+It was an impressive sight.  Much too much so to dwell on!
+
+Passing it over, let us look in on that happy home when toned down to a
+condition of reasonable felicity.
+
+"It's a dream--all a wild, unbelievable dream!" sighed the old
+gentleman, as, with flushed face and dishevelled hair, he spread himself
+out in an easy chair, with Queen Pina on his knee and Brown-eyes at his
+feet.  "Hush! all of you--wait a bit."
+
+There was dead silence, and some surprise for a few seconds, while Mr
+Rigonda shut his eyes tight and remained perfectly still, during which
+brief lull the volcanic action in the cat ceased, and its fur slowly
+collapsed.
+
+"Dreams shift and change so!" murmured the sceptical man, gradually
+opening his eyes again--"What! you're there yet, Pina?"
+
+"Of course I am, darling daddy."
+
+"Here, pinch me on the arm, Dominick--the tender part, else I'll not
+waken up sufficiently to dispel it."
+
+A fresh outburst of hilarity, which started the stomachic volcanoes and
+hair afresh, while Pauline flung her arms round her father's neck for
+the fiftieth time, and smothered him.  When he was released, and
+partially recovered, Otto demanded to know if he really wanted the dream
+dispelled.
+
+"Certainly not, my boy, certainly not, if it's real; but it would be so
+dreadfully dismal to awake and find you all gone, that I'd prefer to
+dream it out, and turn to something else, if possible, before waking.
+I--I--"
+
+Here the old gentleman suddenly seized his handkerchief, with a view to
+wipe his eyes, but, changing his mind, blew his nose instead.
+
+Just then the door opened, and a small domestic entered with that
+eminently sociable meal, tea.  With a final explosion, worthy of Hecla
+or Vesuvius, the cat shot through the doorway, as if from a catapult,
+and found refuge in the darkest recesses of the familiar coal-hole.
+
+"But who," said Mr Rigonda, casting his eyes suddenly downward, "who is
+this charming little brown-eyed maid that you have brought with you from
+the isles of the southern seas?  A native--a little Fiji princess--eh?"
+
+"Hush! father," whispered Pauline in his ear, "she's a dear little
+orphan who has adopted me as her mother, and would not be persuaded to
+leave me.  So, you see, I've brought her home."
+
+"Quite right, quite right," returned the old man, stooping to kiss the
+little one.  "I've often thought you'd be the better of a sister, Pina,
+so, perhaps, a daughter will do as well."
+
+"Now, then, tea is ready; draw in your chairs, darlings," said Mrs
+Rigonda, with a quavering voice.  The truth is that all the voices
+quavered that night, more or less, and it was a matter of uncertainty
+several times whether the quavering would culminate in laughter or in
+tears.
+
+"Why do you so often call Pina a queen, dear boy?" asked Mrs Rigonda of
+her volatile son, Otto.
+
+"Why?" replied the youth, whose excitement did not by any means injure
+his appetite--to judge from the manner in which he disposed of muffins
+and toast, sandwiched now and then with wedges of cake--"Why? because
+she _is_ a queen--at least she _was_ not long ago."
+
+An incredulous smile playing on the good lady's little mouth, Pauline
+was obliged to corroborate Otto's statement.
+
+"And what were you queen of?" asked her father, who was plainly under
+the impression that his children were jesting.
+
+"Of Refuge Islands, daddy," said Pina; "pass the toast, Otto, I think I
+never _was_ so hungry.  Coming home obviously improves one's appetite."
+
+"You forget the open boat, Pina."
+
+"Ah, true," returned Pauline, "I did for a moment forget that.  Yes, we
+were fearfully hungry _that_ time."
+
+Of course this led to further inquiry, and to Dominick clearing his
+throat at last, and saying--"Come, I'll give you a short outline of our
+adventures since we left home.  It must only be a mere sketch, of
+course, because it would take days and weeks to give you all the
+details."
+
+"Don't be prosy, Dom," said Otto, helping himself to a fifth, if not a
+tenth, muffin.  "Prosiness is one of your weak points when left to your
+own promptings."
+
+"But before you begin, Dom," said old Mr Rigonda, "tell us where Refuge
+Islands are."
+
+"In the Southern Pacific, father."
+
+"Yes," observed Otto; "at the bottom of the Southern Pacific."
+
+"Indeed!" exclaimed the old gentleman, whose incredulity was fast taking
+the form of sarcasm.  "Not far, I suppose, from that celebrated island
+which was the last home and refuge of our famous ancestor, the Spanish
+pirate, who was distantly related, through a first cousin of his mother,
+to Don Quixote."
+
+"You doubt us, daddy, I see," said Pauline, laughing; "but I do assure
+you we are telling you the simple truth.  I appeal to Dr Marsh."
+
+Dr Marsh, who had chiefly acted the part of observant listener up to
+that moment, now assured Mr Rigonda with so much sincerity that what
+had been told him was true, that he felt bound to believe him.
+
+"Yes, indeed," said Dr Marsh, "your daughter was in truth a queen, and
+I was one of her subjects.  Indeed, I may say that, in one sense, she is
+a queen still, but she has been dethroned by fire and water, as you
+shall presently hear, though she still reigns in the affections of her
+people, and can _never_ be dethroned again!"
+
+This speech was greeted with some merriment, for the doctor said it with
+much enthusiasm.  Then Dominick began to give an account of their
+adventures, interrupted and corrected, not infrequently, by his pert
+brother Otto, who, being still afflicted with his South-Sea-island
+appetite, remained unsatisfied until the last slice of toast, and the
+last muffin, and the last wedge of cake had disappeared from the table.
+
+Dominick's intentions were undoubtedly good; and when he asserted that
+it was his purpose to give his father and mother merely an outline of
+their adventures, he was unquestionably sincere; but the outline became
+so extended, and assumed such a variety of complex convolutions, that
+there seemed to be no end to the story--as there certainly seemed to be
+no end to the patience of the listeners.  So Dominick went, "on and on
+and on," as story-books put it, until the fire in the grate began to
+burn low; until Otto had consumed the contents of the teapot, and the
+cream-jug, and the sugar-basin, and had even gathered up, economically,
+the crumbs of the cake; until the still eager audience had begun to yawn
+considerately with shut mouths; until the household cat, lost in
+amazement at prolonged neglect, had ventured to creep from the
+coal-hole, and take up a modest position on the floor, in the shadow of
+its little old mistress.
+
+There is no saying how long this state of things would have gone on, if
+it had not been for the exuberant spirits of Otto, who, under an impulse
+of maternal affection, sprang to his mother's side with intent to
+embrace her, and unwittingly planted his foot on the cat's tail.
+
+Then, indeed, the convoluted outline came to an abrupt end; for, with a
+volcanic explosion, suggestive of thunder and lightning, inlaid with
+dynamite, the hapless creature sprang from the room, followed by a
+shriek from its mistress, and a roar of laughter from all the rest.
+
+It is not certainly known where that cat spent the following fortnight.
+The only thing about it that remains on record is the fact that, at the
+end of that space of time, it returned to its old haunts, deeply
+humbled, and much reduced; that it gradually became accustomed to the
+new state of things, and even mounted the table, and sat blinking in its
+old position, and grew visibly fatter, while the old lady revived old
+times by stroking it, as she had been wont to, and communicating to it
+some of her thoughts and fancies.
+
+"Ay, pussy," she said, on one of these occasions when they chanced to be
+alone together, "little did you and I think, when we used to be sitting
+so comfortably here, that our darlings were being tossed about and
+starved in open boats on the stormy sea!  Ah! pussy, pussy, we little
+knew--but `it's all well that ends well,' as a great writer that you
+know nothing about has said, and you and I can never, never be thankful
+enough for getting back, safe and sound, our dear old man, and our
+darling boys, and our--our little Pauline, the Island Queen."
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Island Queen, by R.M. Ballantyne
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