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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Palm Tree Island, by Herbert Strang
+
+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: Palm Tree Island
+
+Author: Herbert Strang
+
+Illustrator: Archibald Webb
+             Alan Wright
+
+Release Date: September 19, 2011 [EBook #37418]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PALM TREE ISLAND ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Cover art]
+
+
+
+
+
+[Frontispiece: "WHEN I LET FLY THE ARROW IT SPED VERY TRUE." (See page
+335.)]
+
+
+
+
+
+PALM TREE ISLAND
+
+_BEING THE NARRATIVE OF_ HARRY BRENT _SHOWING HOW HE IN COMPANY WITH_
+WILLIAM BOBBIN _OF_ LIMEHOUSE _WAS LEFT ON AN ISLAND IN THE SOUTHERN
+HEMISPHERE, AND THE ACCIDENTS AND ADVENTURES THAT SPRANG THEREFROM, THE
+WHOLE FAITHFULLY SET FORTH_
+
+_BY_
+
+HERBERT STRANG
+
+
+
+_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY_
+
+_ARCHIBALD WEBB AND ALAN WRIGHT_
+
+
+
+
+LONDON
+
+HENRY FROWDE
+
+HODDER AND STOUGHTON
+
+1910
+
+
+
+
+Copyright 1909, by the G. H. Doran Company, in the United States of
+America.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER THE FIRST
+
+OF MY UNCLE AND HIS HOBBY, AND WHAT CAME OF HIS CONVERSATIONS WITH TWO
+MARINERS
+
+
+CHAPTER THE SECOND
+
+OF THE VOYAGE OF THE _LOVEY SUSAN_ AND OF MY CONCERN THEREIN, ALSO THE
+DISTRESSFUL CASE OF WILLIAM BOBBIN
+
+
+CHAPTER THE THIRD
+
+OF THE NAVIGATION OF STRANGE SEAS; OF MUTTERINGS AND DISCONTENTS, OF
+DESERTION, OF MUTINY AND OF SHIPWRECK
+
+
+CHAPTER THE FOURTH
+
+OF THE MEANS WHEREBY WE CHEATED NEPTUNE AND CAME WITHIN THE GRIP OF
+VULCAN; AND OF THE INHUMANITY OF THE MARINERS
+
+
+CHAPTER THE FIFTH
+
+OF CLAMS AND COCOA-NUTS AND SUNDRY OUR DISCOVERIES; AND OF OUR
+REFLECTIONS ON OUR FORLORN STATE
+
+
+CHAPTER THE SIXTH
+
+OF OUR SEARCH FOR SUSTENANCE AND SHELTER; WITH VARIOUS MATTERS OF MORE
+CONSEQUENCE TO THE CASTAWAY THAN EXCITEMENT TO THE READER
+
+
+CHAPTER THE SEVENTH
+
+OF THE BUILDING OF OUR HUT, TO WHICH WE BRING MORE ENTHUSIASM THAN SKILL
+
+
+CHAPTER THE EIGHTH
+
+OF MY ENCOUNTER WITH A SEA MONSTER; AND OF THE MEANS WHEREBY WE
+PROVIDED OURSELVES WITH ARMS
+
+
+CHAPTER THE NINTH
+
+OF PIGS AND POULTRY, AND OF THE DEPREDATIONS OF THE WILD DOGS, UPON
+WHOM WE MAKE WAR
+
+
+CHAPTER THE TENTH
+
+OF THE NAMING OF OUR ISLAND--OF A FLEET OF CANOES, AND OF THE MEANS
+WHEREBY WE PREPARE TO STAND A SIEGE
+
+
+CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH
+
+OF OUR SUBTERRANEOUS ADVENTURE, AND THE MANNER IN WHICH THE WILD DOGS
+PROFITED BY OUR ABSENCE
+
+
+CHAPTER THE TWELFTH
+
+OF A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION BETWEEN BILLY AND THE NARRATOR--OF AN
+ENCOUNTER WITH A SHARK, AND THE BUILDING OF A CANOE
+
+
+CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH
+
+OF OUR ENTRENCHMENTS; OF THE LAUNCHING OF OUR CANOE, AND THE DEADLY
+PERIL THAT ATTENDED OUR FIRST VOYAGE
+
+
+CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH
+
+OF OUR VOYAGE TO A NEIGHBOURING ISLAND, AND OF OUR INHOSPITABLE
+RECEPTION BY THE SAVAGES
+
+
+CHAPTER THE FIFTEENTH
+
+OF THE SEVERAL SURPRISES THAT AWAITED BILLY AND THE NARRATOR AND THE
+CREW OF THE _LOVEY SUSAN_; AND OF OUR ADVENTURES IN THE CAVE
+
+
+CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH
+
+OF THE ASSAULT ON THE HUT, IN WHICH BOWS AND ARROWS PROVE SUPERIOR TO
+MUSKETS
+
+
+CHAPTER THE SEVENTEENTH
+
+OF THE END OF THE SEA MONSTERS; AND OF THE EVENTS THAT LED US TO
+RECEIVE THE CREW AS OUR GUESTS
+
+
+CHAPTER THE EIGHTEENTH
+
+OF THE DISCOMFITURE OF THE SAVAGES, AND THE UNMANNERLY BEHAVIOUR OF OUR
+GUESTS
+
+
+CHAPTER THE NINETEENTH
+
+OF OUR RETREAT TO THE RED ROCK, AND OF OUR VARIOUS RAIDS UPON OUR
+PROPERTY
+
+
+CHAPTER THE TWENTIETH
+
+OF ATTACKS BY LAND AND SEA; AND OF THE USES OF HUNGER IN THE MENDING OF
+MANNERS
+
+
+CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIRST
+
+OF THE MANNER IN WHICH THE CREW ARE PERSUADED TO AN INDUSTRIOUS AND
+ORDERLY MODE OF LIFE
+
+
+CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND
+
+OF OUR DEPARTURE FROM PALM TREE ISLAND; OF THOSE WHO WON THROUGH, AND
+OF THOSE WHO FELL BY THE WAY
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+BY ARCHIBALD WEBB
+
+
+"WHEN I LET FLY THE ARROW IT SPED VERY TRUE . . . . . . _Frontispiece_
+                                                        (see p. 335)
+
+"ONE LIFTED THE PLANK AND AIMED A FURIOUS BLOW AT MY HEAD"
+
+"THE BEAST WHEELED ABOUT, AND RUSHED UPON BILLY"
+
+"I CRIED OUT TO HIM THAT A MONSTER WAS ATTACKING ME"
+
+"ONE DAY I FOUND HIM TRYING TO SHAVE WITH A FLINT"
+
+"THE BEAST HEAVED ITSELF CLEAN OUT OF THE WATER"
+
+"BILLY REACHED OVER, AND BROUGHT HIS AXE DOWN ON THE MAN'S HEAD"
+
+"I DEALT HIM SUCH A BLOW THAT HE FELL DOUBLED UP AT THE DOORWAY"
+
+
+
+
+PEN-AND-INK SKETCHES
+
+BY ALAN WRIGHT
+
+
+BILLY'S AXE
+
+OUR FLINT SCRAPER FOR SHARPENING AXES
+
+BILLY'S PLATE AND MUG
+
+SOME OF MY POTTERY
+
+SPEARHEAD
+
+BILLY'S BOW AND ARROW
+
+BILLY'S SCRAPER FOR ROUNDING ARROW SHAFTS
+
+CLAY SAUCEPANS, AND TONGS OF WOOD
+
+OUR PIG-STY
+
+KNIVES AND FORK
+
+CLAY PAIL, THE HANDLE OF A TOUGH ROOT, BOUND ON WITH SHRUNK HIDE
+
+BILLY'S PALM-LEAF HAT
+
+OUR SMALL HUT TURNED INTO A FOWL-HOUSE
+
+JUG WITH BENT-WOOD HANDLE, AND CUP
+
+THE BRUSH BILLY MADE, SHOWING ALSO THE MANNER OF IT
+
+COMB OF SPINES
+
+SPADE CUT OUT OF A LOG
+
+RAKE HEAD AND SCALLOP-SHELL HOE
+
+OUR WHEELBARROW
+
+OUR TABLE
+
+MY CHAIR AND BILLY'S STOOL
+
+OUR FISH-HOOKS
+
+OUR GAFF AND LANDING-NET
+
+OUR HARPOONS
+
+OUR CANOE
+
+OUR TRIPOD
+
+BILLY'S TOASTING-FORK
+
+OUR BASKETS
+
+OUR LAMP
+
+
+
+MAP OF PALM TREE ISLAND  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _facing p._ 96
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE FIRST
+
+OF MY UNCLE AND HIS OF HIS CONVERSATIONS WITH TWO MARINERS
+
+
+I was rising four years old when my parents died, both within one week,
+of the small-pox; and the day of their funeral is the furthermost of my
+recollections.  My nurse, having tied up the sleeves of my pinafore
+with black, held me with her in the great room down-stairs as the
+mourners assembled.  Their solemn faces and whispered words, and the
+dreadful black garments, drove me into a state of terror, and I was not
+far from screaming among them when there entered a big man with a jolly
+red face, at whom the company rose and bowed very respectfully.  The
+moment he was within the room his eye lit on me, and seeing at a glance
+how matters stood, he thrust one hand into his great pocket, and drew
+it forth full of sugar-plums, which he laid in my pinafore, and then
+bade the nurse take me away.
+
+'Twas my uncle Stephen, said Nurse, and a kind good man.  Certainly I
+liked him well enough, and when, two or three days thereafter, he set
+me before him on his saddle, and rode away humming the rhyme of
+"Banbury Cross," I laughed very joyously, never believing but that
+after I had seen the lady with the tinkling toes, Uncle Stephen would
+bring me home again, and that by that time my mother would have
+returned from heaven, whither they told me she had gone.
+
+I did not see my childhood's home again for near thirty years.
+
+My uncle took me to live with him, in his own house not a great way
+from Stafford.  He was an elder brother of my father's, and till then
+had been a bachelor; but having now a small nephew to nourish and breed
+up, he did not delay to seek a wife, and wed a fine young woman of
+Burslem.  She was very kind to me, and even when there were two boys of
+her own to engage her affections, her kindness did not alter.  So I
+grew up in great happiness, having had few troubles, the greatest of
+them being, perhaps, those that beset my first steps to learning in
+Dame Johnson's little school.  As for my subsequent search after
+knowledge on the benches of the Grammar School at Stafford, the less
+said the better: the master once declared, in Latin, that I was "only
+not a fool."
+
+The light esteem in which the pedagogue held my intellects did not give
+my uncle any concern.  He was bad at the books himself, saving in one
+kind I am to mention hereafter.  He was a master potter, in a
+substantial way of business, and held in some repute among men of his
+trade.  Indeed, it was the belief of many in our parts that he might
+have become as famous in the world as Mr. Wedgwood himself, had he not
+been afflicted with a hobby.
+
+I will not follow the example of the ingenious Mr. Sterne, and write
+here a chapter upon hobby-horses; though I do believe I could say
+something on that subject, if not with his incomparable humour, yet
+with a certain truth of observation.  Why is a man's hobby often at
+such variance with other parts of his character?  Why did the late Mr.
+Selwyn, to wit, take the greatest pleasure in life in seeing men
+hanged, drawn, and quartered?  Who that knew John Steer (I knew him
+well) only as he stood with knife and cleaver in his butcher's shop,
+would believe that 'twas his delight, after slaughtering his sheep and
+oxen, to solace his evenings with warbling on the German flute?  My
+uncle's hobby was no less extraordinary.  He was inland bred, and I do
+believe, until the year of his great adventure, had never gone above
+twenty miles from his native town; yet he had a wondrous passion for
+the sea and all that pertained to it.  I am sure that he never saw the
+sea until he and I together looked upon it at Tilbury, and there, to be
+sure, the salt water is much qualified with fresh; yet, after business
+hours, he was for ever talking of it and reading about it and the
+doings of sailor men.  He would pore for long hours upon the pages of
+the _Sailor's Waggoner_, and con by heart the rules and instructions of
+the _Sailor's Vade Mecum_.  He was deeply learned in the _Principal
+Navigations_ of Mr. Hakluyt; he could tell you all that befell George
+Cavendish in the _Desire_ and Sir Richard Hawkins in the _Dainty_, and
+would hold me spell-bound as he recited with infinite gusto the stark
+doings of the Buccaneers.  And when Mr. Cadell, the bookseller in the
+Strand in London, sent him the great volumes containing the discoveries
+of Commodore Byron, and those gallant captains Carteret, Wallis, and
+Cook in the southern hemisphere, the days were a weariness to him until
+he could light his candle and put on his spectacles and feast on those
+enthralling narratives.  Many's the time, as I lay awake in my bed,
+have I heard my aunt Susan call down the stairs through the open door
+of her room, "Steve, Steve, when be a-coming to bed, man?" and his
+jolly voice rolling up, "Yes, my dear, I am near the end of the
+chapter"; and there he would sit, and finish the chapter, and begin
+another, and read on and on, until I might be stirred from a doze by
+the sound of him shuffling past in his stockings, and grumbling because
+there was but an inch of guttering candle left.
+
+My uncle was a sturdy patriot, and took a great delight in knowing that
+the most of the navigators of those far-off seas were Englishmen.  I
+remember how he fumed and fretted when his bookseller in London sent
+him the volume of Monsieur de Bougainville's voyage round the world.
+What had these French apes, he cried, to do with voyages of discovery?
+And when he read later, in Dr. Hawkesworth's book, of the trick which
+Monsieur de Bougainville played on Captain Wallis--how, meeting the
+captain on his homeward way, he sought with feigning to worm out of him
+the secrets of his expedition--my uncle smote the table with his great
+fist, and used such fiery language that my aunt turned pale and my
+little cousins began to blubber.
+
+At this time I was in my seventeenth year, and had been for some months
+in my uncle's factory, learning the rudiments of his trade.  'Twas
+taken for granted that I should become a partner with him when I was of
+age, for the business was good enough to support both me and my elder
+cousin Thomas; while as for the younger, James, my aunt had set her
+heart on making a parson of him.  But it was ordained that, in my case,
+things should fall out quite contrary to the intention, as you shall
+hear.
+
+One fine Sunday we were walking home from church, my uncle and I,
+across the fields, as our practice was, when we saw that the last stile
+before we reached our road was occupied.  A big fellow, clad in a dress
+that was strange to our part of the country, sat athwart the rail of
+the fence, with his feet on the upper step.  Another man sprawled on
+the grass beside the fence, lying stretched on his back with his hands
+under his head, and a hat of black glazed straw tilted over his eyes.
+As we drew nearer, I saw that the man on the stile had a big fat face,
+his red cheeks so puffed out that his eyes were scarce visible, his
+mouth loose and watery, with an underhung chin, a thick fringe of black
+hair encircling it from ear to ear.
+
+Seeing us approach, he began with uncouth and clumsy movements to
+descend from his perch; but he gave my uncle a hard look as we came up
+with him, and then, spitting upon the ground, he said,
+
+"Bless my eyes--surely 'tis--ain't your name Stephen Brent, sir?"
+
+My uncle looked at the man in the way of one who is puzzled, and for
+some while stood thus, the man smiling at him.  Then of a sudden his
+face partly cleared, and he said--
+
+"You are never Nick Wabberley?"
+
+"The same, sir, Nick and Wabberley, as you knowed five and twenty year
+ago."
+
+"Why, man, I am glad to see you," says my uncle heartily, offering his
+hand, which the man took, not however before he had rubbed his own hand
+upon the back of his breeches.
+
+"Same to you, sir, and very glad I am to see you so hearty.  After five
+and twenty year at sea----"
+
+"You have been to sea!" cries my uncle, his jolly face beaming.  "Then
+you must come up to my house to supper and tell me all about it."
+
+"Why, d'ye see, sir, there's my messmate," said the man, with a glance
+at the prone figure, which had not moved; indeed, there came from
+beneath the hat a succession of snores, as untuneful as ever I heard.
+"We're in tow, d'ye see," added the big man.
+
+"Bring him too," says my uncle.  "We have plenty of bread and bacon,
+thank God."
+
+Whereupon the man went to his sleeping comrade, and neatly kicked his
+hat into the air, bidding him wake, with a strange oath that startled
+me.  The sleeper did not at once open his eyes, but his mouth being
+already open, he let forth a volley of curses, and demanded his hat,
+avouching that if he suffered a sunstroke he would "this" and "that"
+the other: his actual words I cannot write.  My uncle's face showing
+his reprobation of such language, especially on the Sabbath, the big
+man excused his comrade, saying that 'twas only Joshua Chick's way, and
+he was really a good soul, and very obliging.  At this the prostrate
+man opened his eyes, and, seeing my uncle, got upon his feet, and when
+he was told of the invitation to supper, he touched his forelock and
+said he was always ready to oblige.  If the looks of Nick Wabberley did
+not take my fancy, still less did those of Joshua Chick, who was a
+small man, very lean and swarthy, and his eyes squinted so dreadfully
+that he seemed to be looking at my uncle and myself at one and the same
+time.
+
+After a few more words we parted, the men promising to be at our house
+prompt at eight o'clock.  And as we continued our walk home, my uncle
+satisfied my curiosity, telling me that the big man, Nick Wabberley,
+who was, as I had already guessed, the brother of Tom Wabberley, that
+owned Lowcote Farm some two miles from our door, had been a
+school-fellow of his, and the idlest boy in the whole countryside.  He
+never got through a day without a flogging.  The master birched him;
+his father leathered him; but neither did him any good: he remained an
+incorrigible dunce and truant, and no one was very sorry when one
+morning it was found that he had slipped out of his bedroom window
+during the night and run away.  He had never since been heard of, but
+now that after twenty-five years he had returned to his native place,
+my uncle's heart warmed towards him because he had been to sea.
+Sailors were not often seen in our inland parts, and the prospect of
+discourse with a man who had actually beheld what he had only read
+about filled my uncle with delight.
+
+Prompt on the stroke of eight Nick Wabberley arrived, accompanied by
+his messmate Joshua Chick.  They proved to be excellent trenchermen:
+indeed, they prolonged the meal longer than either my uncle or my aunt
+liked, the former being impatient to hear stories of the sea, the
+latter watching with concern the disappearance of her viands.  But
+supper was over at last, and then my uncle bade the visitors draw their
+chairs to the fire, gave them each a long pipe and a sneaker of punch,
+and settled himself in his arm-chair to drink in the tale of their
+adventures.  Being near seventeen I was allowed to make one of the
+company, to the envy of my young cousins, who hung about the room for
+some time, but being at last detected were bundled off to bed.
+
+It needs not to tell how late we sat up, nor how many tumblers of
+brandy-punch the two sailors tossed off between them before they
+departed, steady enough on their legs, but a trifle thick in their
+speech.  My uncle was abstemious himself, and held a toper to be
+something less than a man; at an ordinary time he would have avoided to
+ply his visitors with liquor, but the truth is that on this occasion
+his whole soul was rapt away into a kind of wonderland by Nick
+Wabberley's tales, so that the men were able to replenish their glasses
+at intervals, unperceived.  I have heard many a mariner's yarn since,
+and know them to be works of fancy and imagination as often as not; at
+that time I was as credulous as a babe, and my uncle scarcely less, and
+I doubt not we gulped down all the marvels we heard as greedily as the
+trout gapes at a fly.  Certainly Nick Wabberley was a masterly
+story-teller, spinning yarns, as they say, as easily as a spider spins
+her web, and never at a loss for a word.  Joshua Chick took but a
+modest part in the conversation, being very well occupied in
+replenishing the glasses; but every now and again he would slip in a
+word to correct some statement of his comrade, Nick accepting it with
+great composure.  I noticed that these occasional contributions of
+Joshua's tended most often towards embellishment, and the level tones
+in which he related the most astonishing marvels, at the same time
+fixing one eye on my uncle and the other on me (keeping his hand on the
+brandy-bottle), made a wonderful impression on us.
+
+It appeared that the two sailors had been members of the company which
+sailed with Captain Cook (he was then lieutenant) on his first voyage
+into the southern hemisphere.  My uncle knew by heart the story of this
+voyage as it is given in Dr. Hawkesworth's book, and expressed great
+surprise that so many of the incidents and particulars related by Nick
+Wabberley were not mentioned in that worthy doctor's pages.  He even
+ventured at one point to controvert a statement of Nick's, adducing the
+doctor as his authority, at which Nick waxed mightily indignant.  "Why,
+d'ye see, warn't I there?" he said.  "Warn't I there, Josh?"
+
+"You was," says Chick firmly.
+
+"And warn't you there?" says Wabberley, his moist lips quivering with
+indignation.
+
+"I were," replies Chick, with vehemence.
+
+"Then what the blazes has any landlubber of a doctor got to do with it,
+what don't know one end of a ship from t'other!"
+
+There was nothing to be said in answer to this, and my uncle afterwards
+confided to me his opinion that Captain Cook's own journals contained a
+good many things which Dr. Hawkesworth had not seen fit to print.
+
+My uncle was so well pleased with the conversation of the seamen that
+he invited them to come and see him again, and before long it became
+their regular custom to drop in about supper-time, much to the
+annoyance of Aunt Susan.  She called Nick Wabberley a lazy lubber, and
+as for Joshua Chick, she said his eyes made her feel creepy, and he ate
+enough for four decent men.  But my uncle was fairly mounted on his
+hobby, and he asked her rather warmly whether she grudged a bite and a
+sup to worthy mariners who had braved the perils of the deep (not to
+speak of the appetites of cannibals) in the service of their country.
+'Twas in vain she said that she knew Farmer Wabberley wished his
+brother at Jericho--the great fat lubber lolloping about doing nothing
+but eat and drink, when there were fields to hoe, and Joshua Chick
+looking two ways at once, one eye on bacon and the other on beer; 'twas
+a mercy he hadn't got two mouths as well, she said.  My uncle would
+hear nothing against them; always kindly and indulgent, he reminded her
+that a gammon rasher and home-baked bread must be the most delectable
+of dainties to men who for months at a time ate nothing but salt junk
+and ship's biscuit.
+
+He never tired--nor, I must own, did I--of listening to Nick Wabberley.
+His face fairly glowed as he heard of those favoured islands of the
+south where food grew without labour and wealth was to be had almost
+without lifting a finger.  Wabberley described the ease with which
+pearls might be obtained in the Pacific: how he had seen the natives
+dive into the water and bring up oysters, every tenth of them
+containing a gem, so little valued by the finders that the present of a
+four-penny nail or a glass bead would purchase a handful of them.
+Wabberley heaved a great sigh as he deplored his desperate bad luck in
+not being permitted to trade.  "The Captain, d'ye see, warn't a
+trader," he said; "he was always thinking of taking soundings and
+marking charts and discovering that there southern continent, which I
+don't believe there ain't no such thing, though they do say as how the
+world 'ud topple over if there warn't summat over yonder to keep it
+steady.  And as often as not, when we come to a island, we was so
+desperate pushed for provisions, and vegetables to cure us of the
+scurvy, that he hadn't no thought except for stocking the ship.  Oh!
+'twas cruel, when we might all ha' been as rich as lords, and all
+vittles found in the bargain."
+
+In those days I remarked a certain restlessness in my uncle.  He would
+go to the door of an evening and look down the road for the two seamen,
+and if they did not appear, which was seldom, he would walk up and
+down, in and out of the house, with hands in pockets, melancholy
+whistlings issuing from his lips.  He read even more closely than usual
+the pages of the _Vade Mecum_, and pored for hours on the maps that
+embellish Dr. Hawkesworth's volumes.  For the most part he was silent
+and abstracted, but ever and anon he would startle me with some sudden
+exclamation, some remark or question addressed, it seemed, to himself.
+"Tugwell is a good man: I can trust him....  What will Susan say? ... A
+matter of a year or two: what's that? ... I haven't a grey hair in my
+head."  I was somewhat concerned when I listened to these mutterings,
+and wondered whether much brooding on oversea adventures had turned my
+uncle's brain.  And I was not at all prepared for the revelation that
+came one night, when, looking up from his book, which lay open on his
+knees, he waved his long pipe in the air and cried, "I'll do it, as
+sure as my name is Stephen Brent."
+
+And then he poured out upon my astonished ears the full tale of his
+imaginings.  He was bent on making a voyage round the world.  The South
+Seas had cast a spell upon him.  He longed to see the lands of which
+the sailor-men had spoken; he was athirst for discovery.  Perhaps he
+might light upon this Southern Continent which had eluded the search of
+others, and if he could forestall the French, what a feather it would
+be in his cap, and how glorious for old England!  And in these dreams
+he was not less a man of business.  There was vast wealth to be had by
+bold adventurers; why should not he obtain a share of it, and amass a
+second fortune for his boys?
+
+The greatness of this scheme as he unrolled it before me took my breath
+away.  When I asked how his business would fare in his absence he swept
+the air with his pipe and declared that Tugwell, his manager, was sober
+and trustworthy, and he had no fears on that score.  I spoke of the
+perils of shipwreck and pirates, of the Sallee rovers, of the
+numberless accidents that might befall; but he brushed them all away as
+things of no account.  And then I myself took fire from his own
+enthusiasm and begged that I might go with him.  "No, no, Harry, my
+boy," he said, kindly enough.  "You must stay at home to look after
+your aunt and the boys.  Tugwell is a good man, but growing old; and if
+anything happens to me you will be at hand to look to things; you are
+seventeen, and pretty near a man."
+
+That night at supper, with much hemming and hawing, he broached his
+project to my aunt.  You should have heard her laugh! 'twas plain she
+did not believe him to be serious; she said it was all gammon, and she
+wondered what next indeed.  But when he assured her that he meant every
+word of it, she was first alarmed and then angry.  She talked about a
+maggot in his head, and asked what she was to do, a widow and not a
+widow, with two growing boys that would run wild without their father;
+and she wondered how a respectable man nigh fifty years old should
+think of such a thing, and there wasn't a woman in the country who
+would put up with such a pack of nonsense.  To which he replied that
+Captain Cook was a respectable man with a wife and family, and if the
+captain's lady could part with her husband for a year or two, for the
+honour and profit of England, surely 'twas not becoming in Mrs. Stephen
+Brent to make an outcry over such a trifling matter.  This made my aunt
+only the more angry, and, for the first time in all my knowledge of
+them, the good people looked unkindly upon each other.
+
+That my uncle's mind was firmly made up was plain to us next day.
+Bidding me say nought of his intentions, which he wished to be kept
+secret, lest they came to the ears of the French, he set off for
+London, and was absent for a matter of ten days, much to the
+displeasure of Nick Wabberley and Joshua Chick, who came to the house
+evening after evening and went very disconsolate away, my aunt
+detesting them both, and refusing to feed the men to whom she
+attributed this mad whimsy of her husband.  Her anger somewhat
+moderated while he was away, and after a week or so she could smile at
+his rubbish, declaring to me that she was sure he would think better of
+it: he would be like a fish out of water in London Town, and the
+sensible folks there would laugh him out of his foolishness, that they
+would.  She smiled and tossed her head even when he came back and told
+us with great heartiness that he had bought a vessel--a north-country
+collier of near four hundred tons, stout in her timbers and broad in
+the beam, built for strength rather than speed--just such a vessel as
+Captain Cook had sailed in.  "Go along with you, Steve," she said.
+"Don't tell me!  You'll never go rampaging over the seas--a man of your
+age: and 'tis a mercy, I'm sure, that you're a warm man and won't ruin
+yourself, for you won't get half what you gave for it when you sell
+your precious vessel again."  She told me privately that she was sure,
+when the time came, the foolish man would never venture himself on a
+ship; what would _he_ do on a ship, she'd like to know, when he
+couldn't ride a dozen miles in a coach, as he had told us, without
+becoming squeamish and feeling as if his inside didn't belong to him!
+The news that he had engaged a captain--a seasoned skipper, by name
+Ezekiel Corke--only made her lift her hands and cry out, "Well, did you
+ever see!"  I am sure that her air of disbelief, and amusement mingled
+with it, was a sore trial to my uncle.
+
+As for him, good man, he was in earnest, if ever a man was.  One day
+after he returned he rode over with me to Lowcote Farm, where we found
+those two mariners, Chick and Wabberley, gloomily sucking straws on a
+five-barred gate, and idly looking on at a busy scene of
+sheep-shearing.  Their dull faces brightened at the sight of him, and
+when he told them what he had been doing, and asked if they would join
+his crew, they smote each other on the back and swore lustily for very
+joy.  They asked him many questions about the ship and the captain,
+talked very knowingly of spars and armaments and the various articles
+it behoved to carry for trading with the natives, and offered to go at
+once to London--my uncle paying their coach fares--and seek out old
+messmates who should form the finest crew that ever foregathered in a
+foc'sle.  My uncle showed great pleasure at their willingness, and
+arranged that they should accompany him when he next went to London to
+make his preparations for the voyage.
+
+The news of my uncle's enterprise soon spread through our town, and it
+became a nine days' wonder among our neighbours and the townsfolk.  His
+friends accosted him in the streets; some poked fun at him for entering
+on a new branch of business at his time of life; others, with the best
+intentions in the world, addressed to him the most solemn warnings,
+taking him by the buttonhole and expatiating on the risks he was about
+to run, doubting whether any money was to be made at sea, and advising
+him very earnestly to stick to the clay.  He bore their pleasantries
+and their counsels with great good nature, declaring that he knew what
+he was about, and they would see if they lived long enough.  But I
+could not help feeling sometimes that he was not quite so confident as
+he liked to appear, and that the drawbacks and dangers he had shut his
+eyes to in the first flush of his enthusiasm were now looming larger in
+the prospect.  Yet, whatever his qualms may have been, he pushed on his
+preparations with vigour.  He spent another fortnight in London,
+collecting a crew with the aid of Wabberley and Chick, purchasing
+stores, and laying in a cargo, and then he returned to take leave of
+his family and friends.
+
+All this time I was beset with a great longing.  The making of pottery
+in a quiet town seemed to me a very tame and spiritless occupation: I
+felt an immense stirring towards a life of activity and adventure, and
+wished with all my heart that my uncle would change his mind and take
+me with him.  Against this, however, he was resolute, and the utmost he
+would concede was that I should accompany him when he departed finally
+from Stafford, and see the vessel in which he was to sail forth.
+Accordingly, one fine August day ('twas the year 1775), I took passage
+with him in the London coach.  All Stafford had gathered to speed him.
+He parted from my aunt and his boys at the inn door: up to the very
+last she had held to the belief that he would draw back; and even when
+he left her side and mounted into the coach she whispered to me, "I
+don't believe it.  I won't believe it!  He'll never go.  He never
+will!"  But the coach rumbled off, the crowd cheered, some one flung an
+old shoe after us for luck, and I had never a doubt that before the
+month was out my uncle would be afloat on the wide ocean, fairly
+committed to his wonderful adventure in the southern seas.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE SECOND
+
+OF THE VOYAGE OF THE _LOVEY SUSAN_ AND OF MY CONCERN THEREIN; ALSO THE
+DISTRESSFUL CASE OF WILLIAM BOBBIN
+
+
+The _Lovey Susan_--for so my uncle had named his vessel--lay at
+Deptford, and as we walked from our inn, the _Cod and Lobster_ in Great
+Tower Street, to see how her fitting out was proceeding, I was amazed
+(this being the first time I had come to London) at the smells and the
+noises of the narrow streets, and at the number of rough seamen whom we
+met.  How much greater was my amazement when we came to the docks, and
+I saw the multitude of shipping--the forests of masts, the great black
+hulls, the crowds of lighters that moved in and out among them.  I
+remember the fond air of pride with which my uncle pointed to his
+vessel, and the smile upon his face when the captain spied him and
+touched his hat.  Captain Corke did not in the least resemble the idea
+I had formed of a sea-captain.  He was a little man, with lean cheeks,
+and a brown wig a world too small for his head, so that I could see the
+grey stubble of his own hair showing beneath it.  My uncle presented me
+to him and to the first mate, Mr. Lummis, whose hand, when I shook it,
+left a strange pattern of tar on mine.  Mr. Lummis was a rough-looking
+man, with a square face and a tight mouth, who broke off his talk with
+us very frequently to roar at one or other of the crew as they went to
+and fro about their duties.  The captain took us over the vessel, which
+was all very strange to a landsman, and showed me his own quarters in
+the round house, and when we came to my uncle's cabin, which was
+certainly not so big as Aunt Susan's larder, nor half so sweet, I
+thought of what she had said, and for the first time I felt some pity
+for my uncle, and wondered how he would endure the being cooped up in
+so narrow a compass.  I was presented also to Mr. Bodger, the second
+mate, who seemed a very shy and timid fellow, always looking away when
+he spoke.  I did not see either Wabberley or Chick, but learnt by and
+by that they were on shore beating up for a few men to make up the
+ship's full complement.
+
+Things were in a very forward state, and the captain said that the
+_Lovey Susan_ would be ready to set sail in a week's time.  We spent
+that week in going to and fro between the ship and our inn.  I own I
+should have liked to see the sights of London, but my uncle was so much
+in love with his vessel that he could not bear to be away from her, and
+he would not let me go sight-seeing alone, saying that London was a
+terrible wicked place for a boy.  The utmost he would consent to was to
+ride out to Tilbury and ride in again, which was a very paltry
+expedition.  When the end of the week came, there were still some
+berths vacant, a number of the men having been seized for the king's
+ships, the press being then very active.  This put my uncle in a
+desperate state of annoyance.  He declared it was monstrous that his
+men should be stolen when he was embarking on an adventure which might
+bring great honour to the country.  Since it was plain that his
+departure must be delayed, he said it was sinful for me to waste any
+more time in London when I might be useful at the works, and so took
+passage for me in the coach and dispatched me home.  Knowing that the
+business would not suffer a jot by my absence, I wondered whether my
+uncle dreaded a scene of parting; and for my part I was so sore at not
+being allowed to accompany him that I thought it would save me an extra
+pang if I did not take my farewell of him at the ship's side.
+
+I found my aunt wonderfully cheerful.  She smiled when I told her of
+the hindrances my uncle had met with, and declared that we should even
+yet see him give up his whimsy and return to his proper business.  This
+opinion, however, I scouted, and when, after about a week, we received
+a letter from him, I felt sure as I broke the seal that it was a last
+message penned on the eve of sailing.  It proved otherwise, being a
+brief note to say that the crew was complete, through the good offices
+of the obliging Chick, but that the departure was once more delayed, my
+uncle being confined to his room at the _Cod and Lobster_ by a slight
+attack of the gout.  My aunt was for starting at once to attend upon
+her husband, but this I dissuaded her from, saying that by the time she
+arrived in London the attack might have passed and the ship sailed, and
+she would have made the long journey for nothing, besides wasting
+money.  However, within three days comes another letter, in which my
+uncle wrote that he was much worse, and desired me to come to him post
+haste.  This letter gave my aunt much concern, but on the whole pleased
+her mightily, for she was sure I had been sent for to bring my uncle
+home, and she went about with that triumphant look which a good lady
+wears when she sees events answer to her predictions.
+
+I set off by the coach next morning.  When I opened the door of my
+uncle's room he fairly screamed at me: "Take care! for mercy's sake
+take care!"  I stepped back and looked about me in alarm, seeking for
+some great peril against which I must be on my guard.  But I saw
+nothing but my uncle sitting in a big chair, with one leg propped on a
+stool, and his foot swathed in huge wrappings of flannel.  "Take care!"
+he cried again with a groan as I approached.  "Mind my toe!  Keep a
+yard away; not an inch nearer, or I shall yell the house down."  At
+that time I was astonished beyond measure at my uncle's vehemence; but
+having since then suffered from the gout myself--'tis in our family: my
+grandfather was a martyr to it, I have been told--I know the terror
+which a movement, even a gust of air, inspires in the sufferer.
+
+My uncle told me, amid groans, that his heart was broken.  The _Lovey
+Susan_ was ready; he had as good a captain and crew as any man could
+wish to have, but he himself would never make the voyage.  Three
+physicians, the best in London, were attending him, and their opinion
+was that not only might he be some considerable time in recovering of
+it, but that, being of a gouty habit of body, a new attack might seize
+him at any moment and without warning.  "Suppose it took me on the
+voyage, Harry!" he said, groaning deeply.  "Suppose I was like this on
+board!  You saw my cabin; no room to swing a kitten.  What if a storm
+blew up!  What if I was tossed about!"  Here he groaned again.  "No
+doctors!  No comforts!  I must go home to Susan, my boy--if I can ever
+stand the journey----  Oh!" he shouted, as a twinge took him.  "A
+thousand plagues!  Give me my draught, Harry; take care!  Mind my toe!"
+
+I was distressed at my uncle's pitiful plight.  'Twas plain that his
+agony of mind was as great as that of his body, because of his
+disappointment in the check to his cherished design.  For some while he
+did nothing but groan; presently, when he was a little easier, he
+announced the resolution he had come to, which was a great surprise to
+me, but a still greater joy.  'Twas nothing less than that I should
+take his place.  He could not abide that his plans should be brought to
+nought.  He had weighed the matter carefully as he lay awake o' nights;
+I was seventeen and nearly a man, and though no doubt I had gout in my
+blood, I need not fear that enemy for some years to come.  Being
+sober-minded (he was pleased to say), and well acquainted with his
+purposes, I could very well represent him, and though this
+responsibility was great for one of my years, yet it would teach me
+self-reliance and strengthen my character.  He spoke to me long and
+earnestly of the manner in which I should bear myself, with respect to
+the captain and kindliness to the seamen; and I must never lose sight
+of the object of the expedition, which was to discover the southern
+continent, if it were the will of Providence, and so forestall the
+French.
+
+I fear I paid less heed than I ought to my uncle's solemn admonitions,
+so overjoyed was I at the wonderful prospect opening before me.  Having
+taken his resolution, my uncle was not the man to delay in executing
+it.  He sent for Captain Corke, and acquainted him with his design,
+adjuring him to regard me in all things as his deputy, and to take me
+fully into his counsels.  He summoned before him Mr. Lummis and Mr.
+Bodger, and Chick, who was made boatswain of the vessel, and addressed
+them in my presence very solemnly, enlarging on the service they would
+do their country if they assisted Captain Corke and me to bring the
+expedition to a successful issue.  And then, having dismissed them, he
+bade me fall on my knees (at a yard's distance from his toe), and
+besought the blessing of the Almighty on the voyage.  A lump came into
+my throat as I listened to his prayer, and when at its conclusion I
+muttered my "Amen!" it expressed my earnest desire to do all that in me
+lay to fulfil my uncle's behests, and, in God's good time, to give him
+an account of my stewardship which should bring him comfort and
+happiness.
+
+Next day, it being Friday the 22nd of August and a fair day, we loosed
+our moorings at four o'clock in the morning and fell down with the
+tide.  We were lucky in encountering a favouring breeze when we came
+out into the broad estuary of the river, and rounding the Foreland, we
+set our course down channel.  The movements of the sailors in working
+the ship gave me much entertainment, and the gentle motion of the
+vessel, the sea being calm, caused not the least discomfort, though it
+was the first time I had sailed upon the deep.
+
+About eight o'clock in the evening, the time which mariners call
+eight-bells, I was standing beside the captain on the main deck, and he
+was pointing out a cluster of houses on the shore which he told me was
+the fishing village of Margate, when we were aware of a commotion in
+the fore-part of the vessel.  I distinguished the rough voice of Mr.
+Lummis, shouting abuse with many oaths that were new and shocking to my
+ears.  Presently the first mate comes up, hauling by the neck a boy of
+some fifteen years, a short and sturdy fellow in dirty and ragged
+garments, and with the grimiest face I ever did see.  Up comes Mr.
+Lummis, I say, lugging this boy along, cuffing him about the head, and
+still rating him with the utmost vehemence.  He hauls him in front of
+the captain, and, shaking him as a terrier shakes a rat, says, "Here's
+a young devil, sir, a ---- stowaway.  Found him on the strakes in the
+bilge, sir, the ---- little swipe."
+
+The captain looked at the boy, who stood with his shoulders hunched to
+defend his head from the mate's blows, and then bidding Mr. Lummis
+loose him, he asked him in a mild voice what he did aboard the vessel.
+The boy rubbed his hand across his eyes, thereby spreading a black
+smudge, and then answered in a tearful mumble that he didn't know.
+
+"What's your name?" says the captain.
+
+"Bobbin, sir," says the boy.
+
+"Bobbin what?" says the captain.
+
+"William, sir," says the boy.
+
+"Bobbin William?" says the captain.
+
+"William Bobbin," says the boy.
+
+The captain looked sternly on William Bobbin for the space of a minute
+or two, but I do not remember that he said anything more to him at that
+time.  Mr. Lummis lugged him away and set him to some task, the captain
+telling me that he would either put him ashore at some port in the
+Channel or keep him if he gave promise of making himself useful.  I may
+as well say here that Billy Bobbin, as we called him, was not sent
+ashore when contrary winds made us put in at Plymouth.  It had come out
+that his father was a blacksmith, of Limehouse, and the boy had run
+away from the cruelties of his stepmother, and being strong of his
+arms, and with some skill in smith's work, he proved a handy fellow.  I
+often wondered whether his stepmother used him any worse than he was
+used aboard our vessel.  The crew, as I was not long in finding out,
+were a rough set of men, and seemed to look on Billy, being a stowaway,
+as fair game.  He was a good deal knocked about among them, and the
+officers, so far as I could see, did nothing to defend him from their
+ill-usage.  When I spoke of it to the captain, he only said that was
+the way at sea; and, indeed, Mr. Lummis himself was very free in
+cuffing any of the seamen who displeased him, and once I saw him fell a
+man to the deck with a marlin-spike, so that it was not to be wondered
+at, when the men were thus treated, that they should deal in like
+manner with the boy.  I did speak of it once to Wabberley, thinking he
+might perhaps put in a word for Billy, and he promised to speak to
+Chick, who would do anything to oblige; but I never observed that
+anything came of it.
+
+We had fair weather for a week or more, with light breezes, and I was
+not the least incommoded by the motion of the vessel, whereby I began
+to think that I should escape the sea-sickness of which I had heard
+some speak.  But when we had passed the Lizard the wind freshened, and
+the ship rolled so heavily that I turned very sick, and lay for several
+days in my bunk a prey to the most horrible sufferings I ever endured,
+so that I wished I was dead, and did nothing but groan.  During this
+time I was left much to myself, the captain coming now and then to see
+me, and ordering Clums the cook to give me a little biscuit soaked in
+rum.  However, the sickness passed, and when I went on deck again the
+captain told me that I had now found my sea-legs and should suffer no
+more, a prediction which to my great thankfulness came true.
+
+We proceeded without any remarkable incident until the 14th of
+September, when we came to an anchor in Madeira road.  The captain sent
+a party of men on shore to replenish our water-casks, Mr. Lummis going
+with them carrying three pistols stuck in his belt.  I supposed that he
+went thus armed for fear of some opposition from the natives of that
+island, but the captain told me 'twas only to prevent the men from
+deserting, it being not uncommon for such incidents to happen.  We
+sailed again on the 17th, and for two months never saw land, until the
+6th of November, when we anchored off Cape Virgin Mary in the country
+named Patagonia.  There we perceived a great number of people on the
+shore, who ran up and down both on foot and on horseback, hallooing to
+us as if inviting us to land.  This the captain was resolved not to do,
+somewhat to my disappointment, for I should have liked to see the
+Indians more nearly, especially as I had heard many things about them
+from Wabberley when he related his voyages to my uncle.  I had to
+content myself with gazing at them through the captain's perspective
+glass, and observed that all were tall and swarthy, and had a circle of
+white painted round one eye, and a black ring about the other, the rest
+of the face being streaked with divers colours, and their bodies almost
+naked.  One man, who seemed to be a chief, was of a gigantic stature,
+and painted so as to make the most hideous appearance I ever beheld,
+with the skin of some wild beast thrown over his shoulders.
+
+The captain questioned whether we should proceed through the Straits of
+Magellan or attempt to double Cape Horn.  He decided for the latter
+course, and having heard somewhat of the violent storms that were to be
+encountered in that latitude, I was not a little apprehensive of our
+safety.  However, having taken in water at a retired part of the coast,
+we doubled the Cape after a voyage of rather more than two months,
+having sustained no damage, and the _Lovey Susan_ sailed into the South
+Sea.  Here the calm weather which had favoured us broke up, and for
+several weeks we had strong gales and heavy seas, so that we were
+frequently brought under our courses, and there was not a dry place in
+the ship for weeks together.  Our upper works being open, and our
+clothes and beds continually wet, as well from the heavy mists and
+rains as from the washing of the seas, many of the crew sickened with
+fever, and the captain kept his bed for several days.  On the first
+fair day our clothes were spread on the rigging to dry, and the sick
+were taken on deck and dosed with salop, which, with portable soup
+boiled in their pease and oatmeal, and as much vinegar and mustard as
+they could use, brought them in a fair way to recovery.
+
+We proceeded on our voyage, the weather being variable, and I observed
+that many strange birds came about the ship on squally days, which the
+captain took for a sign that land was not far off.  He was anxious now
+to make land, for the men began to fall with the scurvy, and even those
+who were not seized by that plague looked pale and sickly.  We were
+greatly rejoiced one day when the man at the masthead called out that
+he saw land in the N.N.W., and within a little we sighted an island,
+which approaching, we brought to, and the captain sent Mr. Lummis with
+a boat fully manned and armed to the shore.  After some hours the boat
+returned, bearing a number of cocoa-nuts and a great quantity of
+scurvy-grass, which proved an inestimable comfort to our sick.  Mr.
+Lummis reported that he had seen none of the inhabitants, who had all
+fled away, it was plain, at the sight of our vessel.  It being evening,
+we stood off all night, and in the morning the captain sent two boats
+to find a place where the ship might come to an anchor.  But this was
+found to be impossible, by reason of the reef surrounding the island.
+The captain marked it down on his chart, and called it Brent Island
+after my uncle; but I learnt many years afterward that it had already
+been named Whitsun Island by Captain Wallis, having discovered it on
+Whitsun Eve.  We sailed away, hoping for better fortune.  There was
+none of us but longed to stretch our legs on the solid earth again, and
+I think maybe it had been better for us if the captain had permitted
+the men to stay for a while at Cape Virgin Mary or some other spot on
+the coast of Patagonia, for the being cooped up for so many months
+within the compass of a vessel of no great size must needs be trying to
+the spirits even of men accustomed to it.
+
+However, within a few days of our leaving Brent Island we made another,
+that afforded a safe anchorage.  Here we went ashore by turns, and the
+native people being very friendly, we stayed for upwards of a fortnight
+among them.  It was an inestimable blessing, after living so long on
+ship's fare--salt junk and pease and hard sea-biscuit (much of it
+rotten and defiled by weevils)--to please our appetites with fresh meat
+and fruits, and these the natives very willingly provided in exchange
+for knives and beads and looking-glasses and other such trifles.  It
+was now I tasted for the first time many vegetable things of which I
+had known nothing save from the reports of Wabberley and Chick and the
+books I had heard my uncle read--yams (a great fibrous tuber that
+savoured of potatoes sweetened), bananas (a fruit shaped like a sausage
+and tasting like a pear, though not so sweet), and bread-fruit, a
+marvellous fruit that grows on a tree about the size of a middling oak,
+and is the nearest in flavour to good wheaten bread that ever I ate.
+As for flesh meat and poultry, we had that in plenty, the island being
+perfectly overrun with pigs (rather boars than our English swine) and
+fowls no different from our own, except that they were more active on
+the wing.  In this place, I say, we stayed for a fortnight or more, and
+were marvellously invigorated by the change of food, so that our men
+recovered the ruddy look of health, and the scurvy wholly left us.
+
+During this time the captain and I lodged in a hut obligingly lent us
+by the chief of the island.  We talked frequently of the main purpose
+of our adventure, the discovery of a southern continent, the captain
+intending, when we left the island, to sail southwards by west, into
+latitudes to which his charts gave him very little guide.  After we had
+spent some time in diligent search, whether we made the discovery or
+not, he proposed sailing north again, and visiting Otaheite and other
+islands whereon Captain Cook had landed, for another part of my uncle's
+purpose, though lesser, was to find what opportunities for trading
+there were in these seas.  It was the first part that engaged my fancy
+the most, pleasing myself with the thought of my uncle's pride if we
+should succeed where so many navigators before us had failed.
+
+When we left the island and sailed away, I remarked that the crew were
+very loath to quit this land of ease and plenty.  Indeed, when we
+mustered the crew before embarking, we found that Wabberley and Hoggett
+the sailmaker were amissing, and the captain in a great rage sent Mr.
+Lummis with a party to find them.  Chick offered to lead another party,
+so as to scour the whole island (which was only a few miles across)
+more expeditiously; but this the captain would not permit, for what
+reason I knew not then, though I afterwards had cause to suspect it.
+Half-a-day was wasted before the truants were brought back, and though
+they pretended that they had lost their way in the woods that covered
+the centre of the island, they looked so glum when they came that I
+conceived a notion that Wabberley, a lazy fellow at all times, would
+not have been much put about if we had sailed without him.  It came
+into my head that in the play of _The Tempest_, when the sailors are
+cast upon an island, one of them proposes to make himself its king and
+the other his minister, and I was amused to think how Wabberley and
+Hoggett would have disputed about the allotment of those dignities,
+even as Stephano and Trinculo.
+
+We took on board a good store of the fruits of the island, and sailed
+for many days without dropping our anchor, though we passed several
+islands both large and small.  Then on a sudden the wind failed us, our
+sails hung idle, and for many days we lay becalmed, the vessel being so
+close wrapt about by mist that we could not see beyond a fathom line.
+This had a bad effect on the temper of the men, who, being perforce
+idle, had the more time for quarrelling, which is ever apt to break
+out, even among good folk, when there is little to do.  Some lay in a
+kind of sullen stupor about the deck; others cast the dice and wrangled
+with oaths and much foul talk; and when they tired even of this, they
+took a cruel delight in tormenting poor Billy Bobbin in many ingenious
+ways.  So long did the calm endure that our store of fresh provision
+gave out, and the men were put on short allowance, at which, although
+the need of it was plain, they murmured as much as they dared.  Having
+always in mind my uncle's counsel to deal kindly with them, I had been
+treated hitherto with respect; but I now observed that some of them
+looked askance at me as I went about the ship, and once or twice after
+I had passed I heard a muttering behind me, and then a burst of coarse
+laughter.  To make matters worse, the captain again fell sick of a kind
+of calenture, and took to his bed.  For all he was a quiet man, he
+exercised a considerable authority over the crew, much greater than Mr.
+Lummis, though the first mate was rougher, and sparing neither of oaths
+nor of blows.  With the captain always in his cabin the men became the
+more unruly, and I longed very fervently for a breeze to spring up, so
+that the need for work might effect a betterment in their tempers.
+
+One day when I was in the fore part of the ship, I heard a great hubbub
+in the forecastle, and looking down through the scuttle, I saw a big
+ruffian of a fellow--it was that same Hoggett whom I have mentioned
+before--I saw him, I say, very brutally thrashing Billy Bobbin, dealing
+him such savage blows on the bare back with a rope-end that his flesh
+stood up in great livid weals, the rest of the men laughing and
+jeering.  The boy was so willing and good-tempered that I knew there
+could be no just cause for such heavy punishment, and he was withal of
+a brave spirit, bearing the stripes with little outcry until one stroke
+of especial fierceness caused him to shriek with the pain.  I had a
+liking for Billy, and when I saw him thus ill-used I could no longer
+contain myself, but springing down through the scuttle, I seized
+Hoggett's arm and so prevented the rope from falling.  Hoggett held the
+boy with his left hand, but when I caught him and commanded him to
+cease, he loosed Billy and turned upon me, dealing me a blow with the
+rope before I was aware of it, and demanding with a string of oaths
+what I meant by interfering, and crying that I had no business in the
+forecastle.  At this I got into a fury, and without thinking of the
+odds against me I smote him in the face with my fist, an exceedingly
+foolish thing to do with a man of his size.  In a moment I lay
+stretched on the deck, with the fellow above me, belabouring me with
+his great fist so that I was like to be battered to a jelly, and I
+doubt not would have been but that Mr. Lummis chanced to come by.
+Seeing what was afoot he sprang down after me and immediately felled
+Hoggett with a hand-spike.  I was very much bruised, and felt sore for
+a week after, and withal greatly distressed in mind, for none of the
+men, not even Wabberley, who was among them, had offered to help me,
+and I could not but look on this as a very clear proof that a dangerous
+spirit was growing up among the crew.  True, I was not an officer of
+the ship, and was not in my rights in giving orders, as Hoggett said
+when Mr. Lummis sentenced him to the loss of half his rum for the week.
+But being nephew of the owner of the vessel, I considered, and justly,
+that my position was as good as an officer's; and as for my striking
+the man, Mr. Lummis did as much every day.
+
+It was on the day after this that Billy Bobbin came to me with a tale
+that disturbed me mightily.  He had been for some time uneasy in his
+mind, he said, but owned that he would still have kept silence but for
+my intervention in his behalf.  He sought me after sunset (in those
+latitudes it falls dark about seven o'clock), when the men were at
+their supper, and he might talk to me unobserved.  He said that the men
+had been grumbling ever since we left the island where we had stayed.
+They had a hearty dislike to the purpose of our expedition, and a great
+scorn as well, deeming the search for a southern continent to be merely
+a fool's quest.  I own it caused me vast surprise to learn that
+Wabberley was the most scornful of them all, saying that, having been
+with Captain Cook on his first voyage, he knew there was no such
+continent, or the captain would have found it, and telling the others
+dreadful particulars of the tribulations they suffered: how some of
+them spent a night of terror and freezing cold (though 'twas midsummer)
+on a hillside of Tierra del Fuego, and how, out of a company of eighty,
+the half died of fever or scurvy.  And in contrast to these ills he
+told us of the lovely island of Savu, and of Otaheite, where there was
+everything that man could wish for--a genial climate, the earth
+yielding its fruits without labour, or at least with the little labour
+that a man might demand of his wives (for he could have as many wives
+as he listed); in a word, a paradise where men might live at their ease
+and never do a hand's turn more.  Furthermore, Billy told me (and this
+was the most serious part) that he had overheard the men talking, a
+night or two before, of deserting in a body when we next went ashore
+(provided the island was one of the fruitful sort, for there were some
+barren), and leave the officers to navigate the vessel as best they
+might.  Great as my surprise had been to hear that Wabberley was one of
+the moving spirits of this conspiracy, still greater was it when Billy
+told me that this purpose of deserting was mooted by Joshua Chick the
+boatswain.  I had never been drawn to that obliging person; nay, his
+very obligingness had annoyed me, just as sometimes I am nowadays
+annoyed by a person over-officious in handing cups of tea; and when I
+came to put two and two together, I could not doubt that this scheme
+had been in the man's mind from the first.  In short, he and Wabberley
+had taken advantage of my uncle's hobby to beguile him upon setting
+this expedition on foot, for no other reason than to find a means of
+returning to these southern islands, where they might live in sloth and
+luxurious ease.
+
+Bidding Billy to be silent on what he had told me, I went to the
+captain, who, as I have said, was ill in his bunk, and acquainted him
+with this pretty plot that was a-hatching.  He was in a mighty taking,
+I warrant you, and swore that he would hang the mutineers at the
+yard-arm, at the same time handing me a sixpence to give to Billy
+Bobbin for his fidelity.  He called Mr. Lummis and Mr. Bodger into
+council, and could hardly prevail on the former not to fling the
+ringleaders into irons at once.  Mr. Bodger, whom I had always regarded
+as a man of mild disposition, suggested that they should be put ashore
+among cannibals, and so be disposed of in the cook-pot (the natives,
+for the most part, boiling their meat), which led Mr. Lummis to
+declare, with a volley of oaths, that if the calm lasted much longer
+they would want food aboard the vessel, and Wabberley would cut up
+well.  I own such talk as this seemed to me very ill-suited to the
+occasion, though when it came to the point the officers were not barren
+of practicable schemes for dealing with the mutineers, as will be seen
+hereafter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE THIRD
+
+OF THE NAVIGATION OF STRANGE SEAS; OF MUTTERINGS AND DISCONTENTS, OF
+DESERTION, OF MUTINY AND OF SHIPWRECK.
+
+
+We lay becalmed for several days longer, during which time there was no
+further outbreak among the men, for the captain bestirred himself and
+came on deck, though in truth he was not fit for it.  His mere presence
+seemed to make for peace and quietness.  He had counselled the officers
+to alter nothing in their conduct, yet to be watchful; and I think he
+never feared a mutiny on board the ship, expecting no danger until we
+should set foot to land again.
+
+At length the mist cleared, the sails once more filled, and we set our
+courses again towards the south-west.  The men went about their duties
+at first cheerfully, for the mere pleasure of action after so long
+idleness; but when, after about a week, they perceived that the captain
+held steadily on his course, without offering to touch at any of the
+islands we sighted, their looks fell gloomy again, and there was some
+grumbling, though subdued.  Though our fresh food was now all gone, we
+still had great stores of the common victuals--biscuit and pease and
+oatmeal, besides salt junk, a sufficiency of rum, and water for two
+months.  This was sparingly used, every man of us washing in salt
+water, which made my skin smart very much until I was used to it.
+
+Day by day, as we approached the high latitudes, the air became
+sensibly colder, and in the morning we sometimes saw icicles on the
+rigging.  The sky was for the most part gloomy; showers of sleet and
+hail beat upon us, and I own I felt a pity for the sailors at these
+times, having to spend so many long hours below decks in darkness and
+stench.  For days at a stretch we crept through thick fogs, and by and
+by came among icefloes, and then among icebergs, against which we ran
+some risk of being shipwrecked, so that we had to keep a very careful
+look-out.  When I marked the growing discontent of the men, I feared
+lest they should rise in mutiny and take the navigation of the vessel
+into their own hands, and I verily believe we were only saved from this
+by the captain's change of mind.  He made it a point of honour to
+fulfil the desires of my uncle so far as he might, and would have
+continued the search for the southern continent against all risks; but
+when the ice grew constantly thicker, and our fresh water began to lie
+perilously low, he concluded that it was folly to try any more for that
+season, and so steered north.
+
+Our men were greatly rejoiced at this resolution, and their
+cheerfulness was such that I began to lose my fear of untoward
+happenings.  When I said as much to the captain, however, he observed
+that our particular danger would arise when we came to a land of
+plenty.  It was his ill hap again to be seized with sickness at this
+time, and he seldom left his bunk in the roundhouse.
+
+[Sidenote: The South Seas]
+
+One fair day--I think it was about a year after our sailing from
+Deptford--we sighted an island which did not appear on our chart, but
+which, on our nearer approach, gave promise of furnishing that
+refreshment of which we were in need.  It was very well wooded, and we
+knew while still a great way off that it was inhabited, seeing through
+our perspective glass a good number of canoes about its shore.  When we
+came within a little distance of it some of the canoes put off towards
+us, and a crowd of people stood on the beach, inviting us as well by
+their gestures as their loud cries to land.  The captain, who had come
+out of the roundhouse and sat on a stool by the door, considering that
+the fertility of the place and the friendliness of the natives favoured
+us, ordered the vessel to be hove to, and a boat to be made ready, with
+casks for bringing back a supply of water.  He then appointed a dozen
+of the crew to man the boat, calling them before him, and commanding
+them very strictly that they should not stray far from the
+neighbourhood of the beach, but fill their casks at the nearest spring
+or freshet, and purchase what vegetables and fruit they could in
+exchange for such trifles as I have before mentioned.  I observed that
+the captain had not chosen Wabberley and Hoggett, or any other of the
+men whom we certainly knew to be disaffected: indeed, both Hoggett and
+Chick, with several more, were then sick of the scurvy.  The captain
+set Mr. Bodger over the boat's crew, and he went with a cutlass and two
+pistols in his belt, but the men were without arms.
+
+As soon as they set off, being accompanied by two canoes which had by
+this time reached our vessel, Mr. Lummis, at a word from the captain,
+commanded the men that remained on board to collect all the arms that
+were in the ship and bring them into the roundhouse.  It was plain from
+their looks that they were amazed and confounded at this order, which
+they obeyed very sullenly, Mr. Lummis having in sight of them all stuck
+a pistol in his belt.  As they went to and fro they eyed the captain
+suspiciously, and cast many a glance towards the shore, where their
+fellows were beginning their task amid a great uproar of the natives.
+It had been arranged between the captain and Mr. Lummis that this
+precaution regarding the arms should be taken when the crew was thus
+divided, so that we should have the means of coping with any mutinous
+outbreak.  The captain also insisted that I should take a pistol, which
+I was loath to do, having never fired one in my life.
+
+The arms had all been bestowed in the roundhouse before the boat
+returned with its first cargo.  When the men came aboard they began to
+tell their messmates of the exceeding richness of the island, as far as
+they had seen it, but they had gone but a little way in their tale
+before the other men broke in with an account of what had been done in
+their absence, which made them dumb with astonishment.  Being conscious
+of their guilty designs, they perceived that we knew them too, though
+they were not able in their first surprise to divine the means by which
+we had obtained our knowledge.  However, it was not a time to take
+counsel together, with the officers about them, and as they had
+performed but a small part of their task on shore, they went back into
+the boat with as meek a look as ever I saw.
+
+[Sidenote: Mutterings]
+
+When they came again to the island, they set about their work as
+before, though more sluggishly; but having filled a cask or two, and
+brought them to the boat, I observed them, all but one, go up the
+strand again without another cask to be replenished.  I supposed that
+they were now going to procure vegetables, but Mr. Lummis, who was
+standing at my side, suddenly let forth a great oath, bidding me
+observe that the men went empty-handed.  And then we saw Mr. Bodger,
+who had been left at the boat, hastily following them, and though we
+were too far off to hear any words distinctly (besides, the native
+people still made a great clamour), we could tell by his motions that
+the mate was calling after them, and we saw two or three of them turn
+round and laugh at him, and then go on up the island amid a concourse
+of the natives.  Mr. Lummis cried out to him to use his pistol on the
+mutinous dogs, but he could not hear, and indeed he was a timid man,
+besides being apprehensive, perhaps, that the natives, many of whom had
+long spears, would turn upon him if he offered any violence.  This
+notion of ours had some colour when we saw him return hastily to the
+boat, and endeavour, with the only man of them all that was left, to
+launch her.  This, however, they were unable to do, the boat being
+beached high on the sand, and heavy with the full casks already laid in
+her.
+
+Mr. Lummis went into the roundhouse, whither the captain had retired,
+to acquaint him with these proceedings.  They thought, and so did I,
+that the men were putting in act the plot of which Billy Bobbin had
+told us, though it seemed to me strange that they should have gone
+without the ringleaders, who were still on board the vessel.  We were
+considering of this when Mr. Lummis, with another great oath, cried out
+that he saw through the rascals' plan, which was, he said, to tempt us
+to send another boat's crew after them, and then, having both the mates
+ashore, to overpower them, as they would easily do with the aid of the
+natives, in spite of the pistols.  But he swore that he would prove one
+too many for them, and having trained on the beach one of the six
+swivel guns we carried, he commanded two of the men to lower the
+dinghy, and then to come to the roundhouse for the captain's orders.
+
+This being done, and the men coming in, the captain looked very
+severely upon them, and said that he was about to send them with Mr.
+Lummis to bring off the boat with Mr. Bodger in it, and that if they
+should attempt to join the rascals on shore, who had flatly disobeyed
+orders, Mr. Lummis would shoot them instantly.  This he said in a very
+loud tone of voice, so as to be heard by the rest of the crew, who had
+sneaked up out of curiosity to learn what was toward.  The two men with
+Mr. Lummis then descended into the dinghy, Mr. Lummis taking with him a
+large piece of bright-coloured cloth, two small looking-glasses, and a
+new sailor's knife.
+
+When they came to the shore, Mr. Lummis stepped out and waved the cloth
+above his head, at which a number of the people came running to him,
+making strange and uncouth cries.  I had afterwards, as will be seen,
+to learn how hard it is to communicate with men who have no common
+speech with us; but even as the beasts are able to hold converse with
+their kind, so the great Creator of all things has given to man the
+power to make his thoughts plain to folk sundered in speech by the
+iniquity of Babel.  Mr. Lummis contrived to make these poor savages
+understand his wishes, and when, with the aid of them and of the
+seamen, the large boat was launched, and was rowed back to the ship,
+taking the dinghy in tow, one of their canoes came also, with some of
+their chief men in it.
+
+At the invitation of Mr. Lummis, the savages came aboard our vessel,
+and then, with much pains, he acquainted them further with his desires.
+He pointed to the seamen who were gathered on deck, and then to the
+island, with gestures signifying that the men of their kind who had
+first landed must be brought back.  He made them understand that a
+price would be paid for each man that was recovered, either a piece of
+cloth, or a knife, or a looking-glass like those he showed to them.
+And then, bethinking him that it were profitable to impress them with a
+sense of his power, he ordered the gun to be fired with a blank charge,
+at whose roar the savages fell flat upon their faces, and lay for some
+while quaking in a great fear.  After this they made haste to get into
+their canoe and paddle to the shore, which was now deserted, all the
+people having fled away at the sound of our gun; and they ran very
+fleetly up into the wooded country and disappeared from our view.
+
+We saw nothing more of them or of our seamen that day; but early the
+next morning, almost as soon as it was light, we heard a great
+commotion on the shore, and soon perceived a vast throng flocking to
+the beach, with our men among them.  There they were cast with some
+roughness into three of the canoes, and I perceived by the manner of
+their falling, like as sheep when they are cast into a cart, that their
+limbs were tied, which, without doubt, sorely ruffled their tempers,
+being Englishmen.  When the canoes came alongside our vessel, the
+natives shouting and yelling like mad things, Mr. Lummis let down a
+sling over the side, in which our men were hoisted one by one to the
+deck.  It was as much as I could do to keep from laughing, so sorry was
+their look, their faces being scratched and bruised, and their garments
+very much tattered, and indeed on one or two hanging mere shreds.  Mr.
+Lummis heartily cursed each one as he came up, with many quaint
+derisive observations which mightily vexed them.  We had taken seven or
+eight aboard when Mr. Lummis, looking over those that were left in the
+canoes, perceived that there were only ten in all, when there should
+have been eleven, the party having numbered twelve at the first, of
+whom one had returned with Mr. Bodger.  Mr. Lummis flew into a rage at
+this, supposing that the natives had kept back one man, with a design
+to chaffer for a higher price; but when he demanded of the rest where
+Wilkins was (that being the name of him who was missing), they answered
+sullenly that he was dead, for he had offered a stout resistance when
+the savages attempted to tie his hands, and had the temerity to fell
+the chief himself with his fist.  This spirited act, which was in truth
+worthy of a true-born Englishman, cost him his life, for he was
+instantly thrust through with spears.  I doubt not his death was the
+means of saving the lives of the rest, for seeing what had befallen
+their comrade, and being unarmed, they submitted (though surely with an
+ill grace) to be bound, and were so brought back to their vessel, as I
+have said.  The savages having received the presents promised them
+returned to the island, where they immediately fell a-quarrelling about
+the apportionment of their wages, and we saw that the strip of coloured
+cloth was very soon torn into a hundred little pieces.
+
+[Sidenote: Mutiny]
+
+As for the seamen, they were by the captain's orders immediately put
+into irons and laid in the hold.  Though we had not taken aboard near
+as much water or provision as we intended, yet the captain would not
+risk the sending of another crew to the island, albeit he might safely
+have done so, I think, the men being for the time sufficiently tamed.
+We had to wait the best part of the day for a breeze; then we weighed
+anchor and stood away to the north.  While the island was still in
+sight, the wind suddenly shifted its quarter, and blew first a gale and
+then a hurricane, so that we had to shorten canvas.  While this was
+a-doing the sea was lashed to a fury, prodigious waves sweeping over
+the deck and buffeting the vessel so heavily that her timbers shook,
+and we feared the masts would go by the board.  With ten men in irons
+and about as many weakened by the scurvy, the crew were pretty hard
+pressed, and though they worked with a will, since their very lives
+depended on it, they railed without measure against the captain and Mr.
+Lummis, heedless of what punishment might be dealt to them when the
+storm abated.  Presently a cry arose that the vessel had sprung a leak,
+and since none of those above could be spared to man the pumps, Mr.
+Lummis ordered the men in irons to be brought up, and made them work at
+the pumps in turn.  The storm rather increased than diminished in fury,
+and the seamen were seized with a fear that the vessel would founder,
+and I heard them mingle prayers and curses in a breath, reviling the
+captain for taking them from the hospitable island, and crying out
+"Lord, have mercy on us!" again and again.  Darkness fell upon us while
+we were still battling with the storm, which added to our terrors, for
+the vessel would not obey the helm, and we knew not but we might be
+cast upon some coral reef, such as abound in those regions, and there
+be clean broken up.  In this extremity of peril I own I was dreadfully
+afraid, and prayed very fervently that we might be saved, thinking too
+of my uncle and aunt, and the happiness I had enjoyed with them,
+casting my mind back over many things in my past life, almost as a
+drowning man does, at least I have heard so.
+
+I was inexpressibly relieved when at last the violence of the tempest
+abated, in the wind first, for it was long before the turbulence of the
+sea was sensibly diminished.  About the middle of the night, however,
+we were able to stand once more upright on the deck without clinging to
+the shrouds or other things for support, and then, being utterly worn
+out, we sought repose, but not before the leak had been discovered and
+stopped, which took a long time, and the unruly seamen who were in
+irons once more confined in the hold.  I gave hearty thanks to God who
+had so mercifully delivered us, and went to my bunk in as peaceful a
+frame of mind as if it were my bed at home.
+
+I was awakened, how long afterwards I know not, by Mr. Bodger breaking
+into my cabin, which was on the maindeck, and calling on me to come
+instantly to the quarterdeck, and bring my pistol, for the crew had
+risen in mutiny, and having made a rush to the hold had liberated the
+men in irons.  I sprang up and cast my coat, which was still dripping
+wet, about me, and seizing my pistol, followed the man up to where Mr.
+Lummis and the captain stood in front of the roundhouse.  But a moment
+after I joined them we were aware that the crew were advancing to
+attack us, judging by the sounds of their shouting, for the night was
+so black that we could see but little, the men having put out the sole
+lantern.  We were in a very desperate case, being but four against the
+whole crew, saving some few who were sick, not one of the men having
+come to our side; the captain, moreover, being very feeble from his
+illness.  But we had all the firearms at our command, and Mr. Lummis
+trusted by means of these to do such execution among the mutineers that
+they would lose heart, and while the worst of them would be cowed, the
+better-disposed would yield to authority.  Thus we four stood side by
+side, and as the men drew near Mr. Lummis called to them in a loud
+voice, warning them that we had weapons which we would use upon them if
+they did not instantly return to their duty.  There was silence for a
+space; the shuffling of bare feet on the deck ceased; then a voice
+called out (I think it was Hoggett's) that the captain should return to
+the island we had lately left, and let 'em rest and recruit themselves,
+they being dead sick of sailing without end.  He finished by saying
+that if the captain did not consent to this course, they would slit his
+weazand and cast him to the sharks, and serve all of us the same, and
+we had best make our choice without delay.  Mr. Lummis, to whom the
+captain left all this matter, roared out a string of oaths and
+commanded the men to seize that rascal who had the insolency to order
+the captain's goings.  There was a great laugh, very horrid to hear,
+being rather the sound that wild beasts would make than men; then there
+was again silence, or rather we heard the low murmurs of the men
+talking among themselves.  Mr. Lummis cursed again, but this time under
+his breath, and muttering "They mean mischief," he bade Mr. Bodger in a
+whisper put out the lantern that swung from the roof of the roundhouse
+behind us, and so made a light against which our forms, as we stood on
+the threshold, could be distinctly seen by the men.  This was no sooner
+done than there came a single shrill blast on the sea-pipe, and the men
+rushed up towards us with fierce shouts that made my flesh creep.
+
+"Fire!" cried Mr. Lummis loud enough to be heard above all the din.  As
+I have said before, I had never in my life fired a pistol, and what
+with excitement and flurry, my finger fumbled a little at the trigger,
+so that I was a thought behind the others; but even in that little
+moment I heard terrible screams as the bullets from the officers'
+pistols flew among the crew; and though I fired mine immediately after,
+I could not tell whether 'twas pointed up or down, or in what direction
+soever, and I was seized with a fit of shuddering when the thought came
+to me in a flash that peradventure I had slain a fellow-creature.  You
+may think I was a coward, and perhaps I was; but yet I think I was not,
+but only new at such kind of work, because I do not recollect that ever
+I felt the same way again when I had to defend myself, as will appear
+in order.
+
+This first discharge of our weapons caused the mutineers to draw back,
+and we instantly seized other pistols which Mr. Lummis had laid in
+readiness within reach.  He called out, "Have ye had enough, you dogs?"
+and from the silence I really thought they had, especially as Mr.
+Bodger whispered that he heard no groans, and so believed that the men
+who were hit must be dead.  But all of a sudden, without any kind of
+warning, except a slight whistling in the air, and then it was too
+late, there was a crash a little to the left of me, where the captain
+stood, and looking round I saw him lying in a heap against the wall of
+the roundhouse, and heard him groan.  "Fire!" shouted Mr. Lummis again,
+but I was on my knees beside the captain, who told me very faintly that
+he had been struck on the head by something; and, indeed, when I felt
+along the deck with my hand I found the marlin-spike which had done the
+mischief.  He bid me stand and help the officers, whose shots I had
+again heard; but scarce had I risen to my feet when Mr. Lummis staggers
+against me and cries that his arm is broken.  At the same moment there
+was a great crash of breaking glass, which made us know that another
+missile had smashed the skylight of the roundhouse; and then, when
+there came a perfect clatter of heavy things, belaying pins and the
+like, striking the timbers of the roundhouse, Mr. Lummis said that we
+must withdraw into that place, or we should be battered to pieces.
+Accordingly Mr. Bodger and I, we dragged the captain within the sliding
+door and shut it fast, and taking the table and bench we drove them
+against the door as a barricado, which we had scarcely done before the
+men, guessing by the cessation of our fire what had happened, came
+outside and hammered on the wood, shouting with triumph and derision.
+"Send a bullet through the door, sir," cries Mr. Lummis, which I did,
+and there was a howl of pain, and the men scuttled away, for being
+without firearms they were still at a disadvantage against us.
+
+Mr. Bodger having relit the lantern, we saw that the captain had
+fainted clean away, and there was a great cut in his head from which
+the blood was flowing.  While I dashed some water upon his face and
+poured a little rum between his lips, Mr. Bodger looked to the hurts of
+the chief mate, who was roaring as much with fury as with pain.  It
+proved that his arm was indeed broken, as he had said, and I never
+heard anybody howl as he did when Mr. Bodger made shift to set it and
+bind it up.  Meanwhile the captain had come to, but his face was
+ghastly pale, and I feared the worst from the enfeebled state in which
+he was.
+
+I was already aware, from the altered motion of the vessel, that her
+course had been changed, and could not doubt that the mutineers were
+purposing to sail back to the island we had quitted.  In this matter we
+were wholly at their mercy, but I thought it a very hazardous
+proceeding in the blackness of the night, especially as they had no
+chart and could not have the least notion of how to set the course
+truly.  It would have been at least the act of reasonable men to heave
+to and wait for morning light; but I had already observed that seamen
+have little forethought, being like children in that respect, and they
+were so eager to attain the haven of their desires as to be ready to
+brave the perils of striking a reef or running aground on a shoal.  We
+talked together of what we should do if the vessel arrived at an
+island, Mr. Bodger saying he feared they would murder us or maybe hand
+us over to the savages, for though we were secure against them while we
+remained in the roundhouse, 'twas clear that we must needs issue forth
+some time, or starve for want of food.
+
+[Sidenote: Shipwreck]
+
+Some time had passed, I know not how long, when we became aware of a
+marvellous perplexing change in the atmosphere.  I felt a strange
+tingling in my fingers; Mr. Bodger declared he was all pins and
+needles, and Mr. Lummis cried out with an oath, without which indeed he
+seldom spoke, that some one was walking over his grave.  Almost as the
+words left his lips a tremendous shock, as of an immense wave striking
+the vessel, sent us all spinning to the deck, and immediately
+afterwards there was a mighty crash, and Mr. Lummis cried that the
+mainmast had gone by the board.  The vessel had so listed that we
+expected she would instantly founder; but she righted herself, and then
+we heard a great hubbub outside, the men calling one to another in
+accents of affright and dismay.  It being plain that the vessel was in
+a desperate case, I thought the seamen would be too intent on saving
+their own lives to have any notion of taking ours; so with Mr. Bodger's
+help I pulled away our barricado and opened the door.  By the light of
+the lantern I saw the seamen most frantically cutting away the
+wreckage, in the midst of which there came a great shout that the leak
+had opened again, only much bigger than before, and that water was
+pouring into the hold.  Instantly there was a cry to lower the boats;
+none thought of manning the pumps, which indeed would have been vain,
+as we saw pretty soon.  We had three boats aboard, but one of these had
+been smashed by the fall of the mast, and the men were cutting the
+lashings of the other two, some also casting into them whatever things
+they could lay hands on, never stopping to consider whether they were
+useful or no.  They lowered the boats over the side, not without great
+danger, for the vessel was rolling heavily, and then began to jump into
+them.  I could not believe that they would be so heartless as to leave
+their officers to go down with the ship, though they had proceeded
+hitherto without so much as a look towards us; and rushing among them,
+I cried out that the captain and Mr. Lummis were severely hurt, begging
+them to wait just so long as to rescue them.  But they thrust me away,
+and Chick with a brutal laugh shouted that the officers might drown for
+all he cared, and when I still urged him he dealt me such a buffet that
+I fell sprawling among the wreckage.
+
+When I rose to my feet, having lain stunned for a space, there was not
+a man to be seen.  I was for a little while like one demented, running
+to the side of the vessel--which had no bulwarks, but only a timber
+railing--with the intent to fling myself into the boat, and so escape.
+But then I thought of the officers, and could not bring myself to
+desert them in their extremity, and so ran back to the roundhouse, to
+see if by any means we could devise a raft of spars sufficient at least
+to keep us afloat.  I found Mr. Lummis stretched on the deck, having,
+it seemed, stumbled over some of the wreckage and hurt his arm again,
+so that he fainted.  There was a figure standing by the door, which I
+at first took to be Mr. Bodger, but on running up to ask him concerning
+that matter of the raft, I perceived with amazement that it was not the
+second mate at all, but Billy Bobbin.  I looked around, but no Mr.
+Bodger could I see; I called aloud for him, but there was no answer,
+nor could I tell whether he had fallen overboard or been taken away
+among the men.  I rushed again to the side, hoping that even at the
+last the seamen might have repented; but it was all one blackness; the
+boats were clean gone.
+
+I went back, and seeing both Mr. Lummis and the captain still lying
+motionless on the deck, I was well-nigh overcome with the horror of our
+situation, and sat me down on a coil of rope and buried my face in my
+hands.  But in a moment I sprang up; I could not consult with the
+officers, but there was Billy Bobbin, whom I supposed the men had
+refused to take with them--I learnt afterwards that he had not offered
+to go, but had remained of set purpose to stand by me who had treated
+him kindly.  He told me, too, that Mr. Lummis had not fainted, but had
+been thrown down by the men, who came rummaging in the roundhouse for
+arms, of which they took several, and powder and shot.  I cried to
+Billy to help me build a raft, for, little of a seaman though I was, I
+perceived that the vessel was already beginning to settle down.  We had
+but a single lamp to assist us, and to add to our trouble, a great
+storm of wind and rain beat upon us, causing the ship to labour so
+heavily that we could scarce keep our feet.  I was fairly at my wits'
+end.  If it had been daylight, and calm, we might have heaved some
+spars and planks overboard and lashed them together, but that was
+impossible in the darkness.  Moreover, if we made a raft strong enough
+to hold us four, we could not by any means, Billy and me, lift it and
+launch it from the deck.  All that we could do was to lash together
+what spars and planks we could find there on the deck, and trust that
+when the vessel foundered we might contrive to cling to it, though how
+we were to fasten the helpless officers to it I was not any way able to
+see.
+
+While these perplexities were tossing in my brain my hands were not
+idle; indeed, I wrought so desperately, and Billy too, that the skin
+was torn from our fingers, though we did not know it until the dawn
+showed them to us all sore and bleeding.  It was growing misty light,
+and we had finished our raft, a poor makeshift thing, but the best we
+could do, and were considering of how to fasten the officers to it,
+when all of a sudden the ship gave a great lurch, and while we were
+endeavouring to save ourselves from being cast into the sea, the deck
+beneath us was riven asunder with a noise as of a great gun.  Of what
+happened then I know nothing; but when I had again possession of my
+senses, I found myself struggling in the sea, in desperate straits for
+breath.  For some while I could see nothing, in such confusion was I;
+but presently, breathing more easily, and keeping myself afloat, I
+perceived that the ship had totally disappeared, and I was amid a
+strange assemblage of all manner of small objects bobbing up and down
+on the surface.  In a little I spied our raft, and near by it the wreck
+of the mainmast, which had been cut almost clear by the seamen before
+they took to their boats; but never a sign was there of Mr. Lummis or
+the captain or Billy.  I struck out for the raft, wondering within
+myself whether I had strength to reach it, for I was marvellously
+exhausted, having, as I came to think afterwards, been drawn down to a
+great depth by the sinking vessel.  All at once I saw a head rise above
+the further edge of the raft, and a moment after Billy scrambled on to
+it, and flung himself down as utterly spent.  I strove to strike out
+more lustily, feeling a great joy that one at least of my comrades was
+saved; but my strength was so far gone from me, and the sea so
+disturbed, that I made scarce any progress, and in an extremity of
+despair, gasping as I was, I raised my head above the water and shouted
+Billy's name.  He lifted himself and looked about him amazedly; then
+spying me at a distance of six fathoms or more, as I guessed, he leaped
+into the sea and came swimming towards me.  I was at the point of
+sinking when, with inexpressible joy, I felt his arm placed beneath me,
+and thus sustained by him I plied my limbs again, though with great
+effort, and came at length to the raft, which I seized eagerly, and
+rested a while until I should recover strength enough to clamber upon
+it as he had done.  However, when I made the essay, the side of the
+raft sank beneath my weight, and I know not what I should have done had
+not Billy bid me still cling to it while he swam round to the other
+side, and then, both heaving ourselves up at the same moment, we
+contrived to get aboard of it, and sank utterly fordone at either end,
+and Billy burst into tears.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE FOURTH
+
+OF THE MEANS WHEREBY WE CHEATED NEPTUNE AND CAME WITHIN THE GRIP OF
+VULCAN; AND OF THE INHUMANITY OF THE MARINERS
+
+
+We sat, or rather crouched, on the raft, and 'twas a mercy the sea was
+not now so tempestuous, for had it been, I am sure we should have had
+no strength to battle with it.  The rain had ceased, but a white mist
+lay over the water, and, dripping wet as I was, I shivered and my teeth
+chattered and I felt desperately sick.  All around us floated sundry
+bits of wreckage--planks and spars, a hencoop, some pots and pans and
+empty barrels, and near at hand a something that caused me a sharp pang
+at heart: it was Captain Corke's wig, and I thought of that good
+seaman, and of Mr. Lummis too, both gone to their long account.  For a
+time, as I contemplated the flotsam by which we were surrounded, I gave
+never a thought to the unhappy posture of Billy and me; but all at once
+it came upon me with a great shock that we were castaways on the wide
+ocean, far away from land, clean out of the track of any likely vessel,
+and with no food, nor any means of procuring it, to be the sport of
+wind and wave.  I was even considering whether it were not better to
+plunge overboard at once, before the pangs of hunger and thirst got
+hold upon us, when Billy, who had raised himself upon his elbow,
+suddenly gave a shout and stretched his hand towards me.  "Land! land!"
+he cried.  I turned myself about, so quickly that I almost lost my
+balance, and sure enough, through the mist I saw a long dark line,
+which on this waste of water could betoken nothing else but land, as
+Billy had said.  And in that moment I blamed myself for my gloomy
+thoughts and stark hopelessness, considering for the first time that
+the good hand of God had preserved us hitherto from the dreadful fate
+of the officers, and might have further mercies in store.
+
+[Sidenote: The Island]
+
+It was impossible to guess, because of the mist, how far the land was
+from us, but with our hearts full of this reviving hope we took thought
+by what means we might propel our raft thither.  We did not consider
+whether it was a barren or a fruitful land, or what perils we might
+encounter of wild beasts or wild men; all our mind was bent upon
+escaping from our present danger.  The raft was composed of spars and
+staves of the boat which had been shattered on the deck of the _Lovey
+Susan_, lashed together with ropes.  I felt in my pocket for a knife
+wherewith to cut one of the spars loose, designing to use it as an oar,
+but my pocket was empty save for one solitary button, which I
+remembered having put there a day or two before when it started from my
+breeches, intending to have it sewn on.  I asked Billy if he had a
+knife, and he, feeling in his pockets, confessed them likewise to be
+empty, having left on the deck the knife we had used in making the
+raft; but when I told him what I had in mind, he at once fell to
+pulling at one of the knots with his fingers, which being hard, as a
+seaman's always are, he contrived in a wonderfully short time to loose
+the short spar, and began to thrust it into the water in the manner of
+paddling.  To our great joy the raft moved, as I could tell by its
+passing some of the floating articles of wreckage, which it did so
+close to some that I might have seized them by stretching forth my
+hand, and I wished I had when I thought of it afterwards, for they
+would have been of great use to us, and saved us a deal of labour, as
+you shall see.
+
+We moved, I say, towards the shore, Billy keeping our course pretty
+straight by plying the spar now on the right side, now on the left.
+And then I perceived a shine upon the water, and, looking back, saw the
+blessed sun as a ruddy disk, but like the moon in size, glimmering
+through the mist behind us.  Billy hailed the sunrise with a cheerful
+shout, which did my heart good to hear it, and cried to me that the
+mist was lifting, and we should soon see the land clear.  And so it
+was, though when we did behold it, we did not much like the look of it.
+From the edge of the sea it rose to a considerable height, and it was
+of a grey colour, or rather slate, and yet not quite that either, but
+approaching to black.  To the right the slope was covered with
+vegetation, and about half way-up there was what in the distance--for
+we were, as I reckoned, near a mile from the shore--looked to be a
+dense wood, as indeed it afterwards proved.  Still further to the right
+a promontory of a reddish colour jutted out into the sea, and I
+perceived that the water ran right through it by an archway, which I
+suppose the sea had cut for itself, for I could not conceive it had
+been made in any other way.  This promontory also was green at the top
+with plants and trees, and beyond it we could see a rock of the same
+red colour, which appeared to be of very great size, like to an immense
+iceberg, but much broader than any I have seen.  To the left of the
+blackish slope that I have before mentioned there were other patches of
+green, and I was much exercised in my mind to know why the centre
+portion was thus barren when there was vegetation on either side.
+
+We could not yet see the top of the slope, for the mist still lay upon
+it; but as we drew nearer a pretty gentle gale sprang up, which with
+the sunbeams drove the mist away, leaving only a small portion, which
+hovered like a thick white cloud, or a nightcap, over the dark summit.
+While I was gazing at it, wondering why it stayed so constantly just
+there, I was amazed to see a part of this cloud shoot up to a
+prodigious height, and while I was still in that amazement, we heard a
+dull booming noise, like the discharge of a great gun far away.  At
+this Billy ceased paddling and looked at me as one affrighted, and
+asked me very fearfully whether we had come to a country where the
+French were fighting with the native people.  But I perceived now that
+the sea was in commotion around us, and it suddenly came into my mind
+that this mountain we saw before us was a burning mountain, or volcano,
+like to what I had read of in my lesson books, though I had thought
+that they sent forth fire and smoke and burning streams of lava.  And
+then, remembering the great wave which had struck our vessel and caused
+the panic among the seamen, I bethought me that it was maybe due to an
+earthquake, which affects as well the sea as the land.  I told Billy
+what I thought, and he was much relieved that we had not happened upon
+the French, but said very gloomily that we should not be much better
+off on land below a burning mountain than on the sea, and for his part
+he would sooner drown, that being, as 'twas said, an easy death, than
+be burned alive.  However, I said that we had as yet seen no fire, and
+perhaps the furnace in the mountain was dying out, and we could at the
+least put it to the test.  In short, I persuaded him to take up his
+paddle again, which he did, and so brought us a little nearer to the
+land.
+
+But we now perceived that the raft was taken in a current, which bore
+us to the right hand towards the promontory I have mentioned above, but
+obliquely, so that we were like to be carried past it without being
+able to land.  The wind was blowing against the current, and we hoped
+it might stay our course long enough for us to come at some haven; but
+though we loosed another spar, which I used very diligently though with
+little dexterity, the current gained upon us, and I saw that we should
+never do it.  In that predicament it came into my mind that we might
+use our coats as a sail, and we instantly stripped them off and joined
+them together by the sleeves, and then we lashed them to the spar I had
+been plying and held it upright, Billy drawing the loose end taut by
+two short lengths of rope which he fastened very quickly to the
+extremity of the raft.  The sail made a very extraordinary appearance,
+as you may believe, but Billy laughed merrily when he saw it fill with
+the wind, and so, he working his paddle, and me holding the mast--with
+no little difficulty, for the wind was blowing more strongly--we drew
+nearer and nearer to the land.
+
+And now, when we were, as I guessed, about two furlongs from the beach,
+I spied all of a sudden two boats lying close together near a small
+spit of land.  I might have noticed them before but for being so busy
+with the sail.  Billy saw them too, and cried out that they were our
+own boats, and was for steering instantly out to sea again, for he
+would sooner have faced a tempest than Hoggett, or any other of the men
+who had ill-used him.  But even before I could answer him we were aware
+of a strange trembling of the raft beneath our feet, in no wise like
+the wonted heaving of the sea, and while we were in the article of
+wondering what it might be, the raft seemed to sink under us, as if a
+great gap had opened beneath it and it was falling through empty air.
+I was in a terrible fright, and catched at my breath, but still keeping
+my feet, and in a moment we heard a strange rushing behind us, and,
+turning about, beheld a great wall of water bearing down upon us.  With
+one consent we flung ourselves on our faces, clutching at the ropes
+that bound the raft together, and had barely got a grip of them when
+the mountainous wave crashed upon us, and we were completely engulfed.
+
+What happened to us then neither Billy nor I could ever perfectly tell,
+though we talked about it often; but I must suppose that the raft was
+rolled over and over, with us a-clinging to it.  I had scarce got a
+little breath into me again, after a greater space of time even than
+when I had been sucked under at the sinking of our vessel, when the
+return wave smote upon us, and we were hurled back, and while we were
+still gasping after this, another green wall fell upon us from
+seawards, though not so high as the first, and, its force being spent,
+we found ourselves, sore bruised and breathless, on the landward side
+of a small group of rocks of about seven or eight feet high, and not
+above thirty yards from the beach.  We had been carried clean over it,
+and the raft, to which we had clung as by a miracle, was floating in
+two or three feet of water.  This we discovered afterwards, for we were
+as near dead as any one could be, and, indeed, I wonder that we were
+not killed outright, as we should have been beyond doubt but that the
+raft prevented us from being dashed upon the ground.  We had had
+battering enough as it was, but coming to our senses, and very sick
+from the water we had swallowed, we sprang off the raft and hauled it
+ashore, Billy crying out that his feet, which were bare, were cut to
+pieces on the beach, which was very hard and jagged, though I escaped
+hurt, having my boots on.
+
+We were immediately aware of a deep rumbling from the hill above, and
+lifting our eyes, we beheld prodigious quantities of smoke or steam, we
+could not tell which, belching from the top, and then a vast torrent of
+water pouring down towards us, with steam rising from it in clouds.  We
+were near paralyzed with the sight, but recovered ourselves in time to
+skip back to the rocks over which we had been cast, and clambered to
+the top of them with what haste we might, Billy's feet being all red
+with blood from the sharpness of the beach.  The torrent spread out as
+it flowed downwards, and, coming straight towards us, I was in a great
+fear lest, even though we were perched up, we should not escape it, and
+we were, indeed, on the point of casting ourselves into the sea.  But I
+was thankful we did not do it, for the stream did not rise higher than
+within three feet of our perch, but dashed up a great shower of spray,
+which was scalding hot.  It also hurled our raft with great violence
+against the rock beneath us, breaking off a good portion of it; but it
+did not carry it out to sea, the rocks preventing it.
+
+Then, as we looked up towards the summit of the hill, we saw a number
+of figures, very small in the distance, hasting pell-mell downwards.
+At first I thought they were savages, who had espied us, but within a
+little I knew them for seamen of our crew.  They ran at the edge of the
+torrent, avoiding the clouds of steam, but this they could no longer do
+when they came to where the water had spread over the beach, and we
+heard them uttering very great yells of pain, as well from the scalding
+water as from the jagged edges of the ground, their feet being unshod
+save for one or two of them.  They skipped from point to point,
+endeavouring to find a safe way, and I recollected afterwards the
+strange antics of Wabberley, who, being of a ponderous shape, was very
+unfit for such feats of agility.  The men gave no sign of having seen
+us, but bore away towards their right and our left towards a small
+tract of sand which, being protected by the slope of the hill, had not
+been covered by the lava from the mountain top, for such I concluded to
+be the constitution of the hard, blackish soil of which I have before
+spoken.
+
+The seamen who came first to the beach disappeared from our sight
+behind a number of rocks like to those upon which we sat, and
+immediately afterwards we heard loud cries of alarm proceeding from
+that quarter.  Those behind hasted on with even greater expedition than
+before, and when they joined their comrades there arose a perfect
+chorus of execration, which puzzled us a good deal, until, glancing
+seaward beyond the rocks that hid the men from our sight, I descried
+the nose of a boat, and shortly afterwards made out that it was empty.
+Without doubt it was one of the two boats we had seen laid up on the
+beach, and a wave had carried it out to sea, and it was this had
+provoked the cries we had heard.  But I did not see the second boat,
+and wondered why the men did not put off in this to pursue the truant
+instead of spending their breath in vain outcries.  When some little
+while had passed, and the boat was still drifting out, none pursuing
+it, I was taken with a great curiosity to see what the reason might be,
+and descended from my perch to creep towards them, taking care as I
+went to haul our raft to a safe place on the beach.  As for Billy, he
+refused to budge, saying that he would not go a foot nearer to the men,
+because he was sure they would do him a mischief, a thing which I could
+by no means believe, their minds being taken up with other matters.
+However, he would not come, so I left him there, and went on alone.
+
+It being my purpose to see without being seen--at least, until I knew
+what mind the men bore towards us--I went softly, and coming to the
+rocks beyond which they were, I peeped round one of them with great
+caution.  And then I understood both why they did not pursue the boat
+and why they had let out so lamentable an outcry.  The second of the
+two boats had a great hole stove in her bottom, without doubt by that
+huge wave which had well-nigh struck the breath out of us.  The men
+were at their wits' end what to do, for the other boat was drifting
+further and further from the shore, and was at this time, as I
+reckoned, at least a hundred yards distant.  One of them, as I looked,
+cried out that he would swim out to it; otherwise they were undone, for
+they were in peril of being boiled or burnt alive; and he plunged into
+the water and made a stroke or two.  But immediately afterwards another
+of the men cried out that he saw the fin of a shark, at which the first
+man--his name was Pumfrey, and he was the ship's carpenter--instantly
+turned about and swam for the shore, splashing most vehemently with his
+arms and legs and bellowing like a bull, as much to frighten away the
+shark as from fear.
+
+Seeing this their last hope of recovering the boat altogether dashed
+away, the seamen did nothing but walk to and fro in great agitation of
+mind, letting forth the most dreadful curses that ever I heard.  As for
+Mr. Bodger, whom I spied among them, he sat down on a rock, being a
+timorous creature, as I have before said, and setting his face in his
+hands, groaned and sighed in pitiful fashion, as did those that were
+sick and wounded among them.  It came into my mind--what I had not
+thought of before--that Billy and me, being partners with them in their
+unhappy situation, were no better able than they to leave this terrible
+place, at least with any prospect of success, for I knew very well that
+our raft would be a poor vessel for any voyage.  And since it appeared
+to be our doom to live or die with them, I saw no benefit that could
+arise from any attempt to hide our presence.  Accordingly I walked
+round the rock into their midst.  It was Wabberley that spied me first,
+and when he saw me his jaw dropped and his face went green, as having
+beyond doubt believed me to be now at the bottom of the sea.  He
+uttered a strange cry, which the others hearing, they looked towards
+him, and at the same instant beheld me, and after a sudden brief
+silence came running at me, demanding with the greatest eagerness how I
+had come ashore.  When I told them, on a raft, they shouted for joy,
+and Hoggett catching me roughly by the arm, cried to me to say where
+that same raft was, or he would dash my head against the rocks.  I
+answered that there was no need of threats or violence, for the raft
+lay but a short distance away, and he might perhaps use it to overtake
+the boat, and at the same time I pointed to the further rocks.  Without
+more ado he set off at a run, and spying Billy still sitting upon the
+rock he asked whether we had the captain and Mr. Lummis also with us.
+But he did not wait for an answer, running very swiftly until he came
+to the place where our raft lay, the other men following him in a crowd.
+
+When he saw what a poor shattered thing the raft was, he broke out
+again into cursing, thinking that it would be useless for his purpose,
+as indeed it might have been, he being a very ponderous man.  But then
+bethinking himself he catched hold of Billy, and, Joshua Chick coming
+up, swore that Billy and he, being of no great weight, should go on the
+raft and pursue the boat, which, as we now perceived, had come into the
+current that had nearly carried us past the further extremity of the
+shore.  Billy cried out that he would not go, but Hoggett took him by
+the middle, and when Chick had launched the raft, he threw the boy
+fairly on to it, bidding Chick fling him into the sea if he made any
+bones about it.  And then, wrenching up two of the planks of the broken
+boat to serve as paddles, he gave them to the boatswain and Billy, who
+thereupon began to ply them with the utmost vigour.
+
+We watched them as they went further and further from the shore, the
+seamen shouting with excitement, and even laying wagers one against
+another, though, being bereft of everything save their weapons and some
+few articles that were in the boat, it seemed to me great folly.  And
+when after a long chase the boat was overhauled near the archway in the
+red rock of which I have spoken, they fell into a perfect ecstasy of
+joy, clapping each other on the back and shouting like frantic people.
+We saw Chick baling out the boat, Billy helping him, and as they were a
+long while doing this, it was plain that she held a great quantity of
+water and would most likely have foundered in no long time.  Whilst
+they were at this work of baling, the raft floated away, and neglecting
+it they began to pull back to the beach.  But they had not taken many
+strokes before we saw them turn again, and the men around me burst
+forth into horrible execrations, supposing in the first moment (so base
+of mind were they, as well as witless) that Chick was purposing to row
+away and desert them.  But I told them that Billy had only remembered
+the raft, and so it proved, for they rowed after it, and having catched
+it up, fastened it by a rope to the boat's stern and so headed again
+towards the shore.
+
+While they were yet some distance off, the ground beneath our feet
+trembled and we heard a great rumbling, and the sea was mightily
+troubled, whereupon the men fell into their panic again, fearing that
+an earthquake would swallow them ere ever they got clear away.  They
+cried in great terror to Chick to haste, and while the boat was yet
+some fathoms' length from the beach, Wabberley and two or three more
+dashed into the sea, and wading out, scrambled into the boat, with such
+violence that they were not very far short of overturning it.  Which
+seeing, all the rest of the seamen rushed to do likewise, Hoggett and
+some others carrying all the articles that were in the broken boat, and
+then I saw that the boat, being the smaller of the two, could not
+possibly contain us all, and indeed the men saw that too, and there was
+such a fight to win places that I thought the boat would fill with
+water and sink.  As for me, I stood watching in a kind of amazement,
+now in the mind to rush towards the boat with the others and fight for
+a place, now deeming it better to wait until I saw to what issue things
+came.
+
+[Sidenote: Abandoned]
+
+All this time Mr. Bodger had remained by my side, no doubt expecting
+that he as an officer would be given a place as of right.  But now
+there came a mighty roar from the mountain; more terrible than any we
+had yet heard, and I saw belching out of it not merely steam and water,
+but smoke of a lurid darkness, the sky above becoming perfectly black
+with a shower of ashes shot forth from the top, intermixed with fire.
+At this the fight about the boat waxed still more violent, and Mr.
+Bodger, darting from my side, sprang out into the sea.  Then I saw
+Hoggett fling Billy out of the boat, and three or four of the weaker
+men who had been beaten from it mounted on to the raft, upon which also
+Mr. Bodger scrambled in his desperate haste.  The men upon it, finding
+it likely to sink with the weight of them all, thrust him back again
+into the water, and I heard him scream with terror when, striving to
+regain his place, and clinging desperately to the edge of the raft,
+they beat upon him with their fists and sought to loosen his hold.  He
+was on the point of being cast off when Hoggett, in the boat, which now
+stood some little way off, shouted "Take him aboard, you fools; we may
+want him," and they did as he said, though grumbling, one of them
+saying that Hoggett was safe himself, and had taken mighty great care
+not to overload _his_ craft.
+
+And then, as Billy came out of the water towards me, and I saw both the
+boat and the raft moving away, and knew that we were to be left alone
+on this dreadful shore, with the volcano vomiting forth fire--then, I
+say, I was shaken out of the amazement which had held me, and being
+perfectly frantic with terror, I rushed into the water, thinking
+nothing of Billy or aught else than my own safety.  With desperate
+strokes I swam after the boat, shouting to the men to take me aboard.
+She was moving but slowly, being greatly overladen, and having the raft
+in tow, so that I was able to overtake the latter.  But the men cried
+that there was no room on it, and commanded me roughly to sheer off,
+and when I still clung to it, one lifted the plank that had been used
+as a paddle, and aimed a furious blow at my head.  The violence of his
+movement causing the raft to sink towards one side, he failed of his
+brutal design, yet not wholly; for the plank as it descended grazed the
+side of my head, inflicting such a cut that I was well-nigh stunned,
+and was forced to loose my hold.  I tried to set to swimming again, but
+my strength was gone from me, and in my daze I might have gone to the
+bottom if Billy had not swum after me.  With his help I was able to
+reach the shore, and when we stood up on the dry land and saw that the
+seamen had beyond doubt abandoned us, we flung ourselves down on our
+faces, in all the misery of wild despair.
+
+[Illustration: "ONE LIFTED THE PLANK ... AND AIMED A FURIOUS BLOW AT
+ME."]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE FIFTH
+
+OF CLAMS AND COCOA-NUTS AND SUNDRY OUR DISCOVERIES; AND OF OUR
+REFLECTIONS ON OUR FORLORN STATE
+
+
+I think I lay for a time in a kind of lethargy, for I was perfectly
+unconscious of anything that might be happening about me, and it seemed
+to me that my mind was a total blank.  Whether it was the heat of the
+sun, which had mounted well-nigh to the zenith, or the pangs of hunger
+that roused me, I know not; but when I did arise I was aware of a
+prodigious aching in my inwards, which was very natural, seeing that I
+had not eaten for sixteen or twenty hours.  And then I discovered that
+Billy had risen first; indeed he told me that he had not lain long,
+being not near so much overcome as I was, his harder life having
+indurated as well his feelings as his skin.  When I beheld him he was a
+hundred yards or more away, sitting on a low flat rock, and eating with
+a great appearance of relish.  Seeing me get to my feet, he called to
+me to come and eat likewise, and when I reached his rock I found a
+great array of shells beside him, some broke apart and empty, others
+still closed up.
+
+[Sidenote: Clams and Cocoa-nuts]
+
+"They ain't bad, master," he said, for so he commonly called me, "but
+they do make a body uncommon dry."
+
+I was amazed, and indeed almost angry, because he seemed so
+comfortable, not reflecting that after the dog's life he had led aboard
+the _Lovey Susan_ his present posture was, at least, one of ease and
+security, the mountain having done no harm as yet.  My gorge rose when
+I saw him take out the slimy inhabitants of the shells and eat them
+raw; I had never eaten shell-fish at all, much less uncooked, and for
+all my famishment my stomach refused this sort of food.  The horror of
+our situation smote upon my mind: here were we, little more than boys,
+left on a strange shore with no food but what we could pick up, no
+clothes but what we stood in--and they were but shirt and breeches, for
+the coats we had used as a sail had been washed from the raft when the
+great wave struck us--and no implements or tools of any kind, not so
+much as a jack-knife.  As yet we knew nothing of the land whereupon we
+had been cast, though I guessed it must be an island, but whether large
+or small, peopled or desolate, fertile or barren, all remained to be
+discovered.  The sum of our knowledge was that we were at the foot of a
+burning mountain, and that was a very terrible thing to contemplate.
+The thought of it drew me to look aloft at the summit, where there
+still hung a cloud of steam, though not so large as before, and the
+fire and smoke had ceased, but a stream of hot water was still flowing
+down the side, yet not in a great volume.
+
+The sky was now very clear, and my head being uncovered, I found the
+heat of the sun very discommoding, and withal my throat was parched,
+and I had a great thirst, though Billy's must have been greater after
+the salt things he had been eating.  When he saw me turn from them with
+loathing, he got up and said that we had better find a spring of fresh
+water, so we walked along the hard beach, going to the right hand with
+the design to ascend to the woods above, where I thought we might find
+a spring, and certainly shelter from the sun.  Billy groaned as the
+sharp edges cut his bare feet; nevertheless he would not suffer me to
+go alone, for which I was sorry, for when we had gone a little way we
+came to some cliffs, which rose up so straight and forbidding that we
+did not think fit to scale them, at least until we had sought an easier
+way.  Accordingly we went back again, crossing the stream of hot water,
+which was now only trickling, and so continued until the lava ended at
+the strip of sandy beach.  I was now minded to strike up from the
+shore, but was a little timid of approaching so near the course of the
+hot flood, not knowing but that we might meet another torrent and
+suffer a scalding.  But, having come to the end of the sand, we arrived
+at more cliffs, which, though not so high as the first, were no less
+steep, so that we had to make a choice between scaling them and
+ascending by the lava slope.  Taking counsel with Billy, I determined
+to venture on this latter, hoping that before we had gone far, we might
+find a means of reaching the woods either on the right hand or the left.
+
+When we had gone a good way up, very toilsomely, I saw with great
+thankfulness a slope to our left hand, which seemed to lead away from
+the barren lava to living soil.  We struck up this and found ourselves
+by and by on a mossy plateau, on which Billy danced, so joyful was he
+at feeling so soft a carpet beneath his feet.  The wood was just beyond
+us, not above a hundred yards away.  When we came to it we were pretty
+well blown, and exceeding hot, having never rested nor even looked back
+since we left the beach.  But now we bethought us to turn and gaze over
+the sea, having some hope--at least I had--that the seamen might even
+at the last have repented and put back to take us off.  We saw the boat
+indeed, but it was a mere speck, and the raft we could not see at all,
+being in doubt whether it had sunk, or whether it was only the distance
+that made it invisible.  But far beyond the boat, we saw a dark line
+which a landsman might have supposed to be a cloud, but which we, our
+eyes being accustomed to ranging over wide spaces, knew at once to be
+land.  It did not seem likely that the seamen could yet have discovered
+it, since it had escaped us when we were at the sea level; I considered
+it to be a happy chance for them that they had directed their course so
+truly, though when I said so to Billy, he said he hoped they would find
+the land full of cannibals, who would cook and eat them all, and
+Hoggett first.  This mention of cannibals set up an apprehensiveness in
+my mind, and I was chary of entering the wood, lest we came upon
+savages, but Billy said very sturdily, that savages or no savages, he
+must drink, and so went on among the trees, with me close at his heels.
+
+We looked about us eagerly, both for water and for fruits wherewith to
+stay our hunger: but as for the former we saw none, and for the latter,
+though we saw many plants bearing berries, and some trees with fruits
+hanging upon them, we did not recognize at first any that we had seen
+on the island where we recruited, and durst not, hungry as we were,
+attempt anything strange lest they should be poisonous, and our first
+meal prove our last.  At one point we were startled by a small animal
+leaping across our path, and Billy, crying it was a rabbit, without
+thinking dashed after it, a very useless thing to do; but it had this
+good result, that, tumbling headlong over something, he picked himself
+up ruefully, and then shouted with delight, the obstacle being a large
+cocoa-nut which had fallen from a tree.  We were in a quandary at first
+how to break it open, having no knife or other tool to pierce the husk;
+but Billy bethought him of the buckles on our belts, and taking these
+off, we cut and scraped at the husk until we came to the inner nut, and
+then broke this open by hammering it very hard against the tree-trunk,
+finding it the more easily breakable because it was over ripe; and
+though we lost some of the liquid thereby, there remained enough to
+furnish us with a very refreshing draught.
+
+While I was digging my teeth ravenously into the kernel, Billy shinned
+up the stem, which was straight like the mast of a ship, to obtain some
+more of this precious fruit.  Having cast down two or three at my feet,
+he cried out that he was going to the masthead to take a look round.
+He went almost to the very top, and when he came down, told me that the
+hill we were on was not the highest in the island, the highest being
+the mountain, whose peak was still covered by the cloud of steam; but
+except what might be hidden by this mountain, he could see all the rest
+of the island, which by his reckoning could not be above two miles
+long.  He told me of the high red rock which we had seen through the
+archway as we approached the land, and which lay now on our right hand.
+On the left he discovered a little bay, with a strip of yellow sand,
+though he could not tell how wide this was because of the cliffs.
+Beyond the bay the land went to a point, and beyond this again, some
+distance out in the sea, were two red rocks, not very large, standing
+up like the posts of a gate, or, as I thought when I myself saw them,
+like sentinels.  All the country to the left of the burning
+mountain--that is, to the west--was covered with vegetation, either
+woods or grasses, which I was very glad to hear, since there was
+promise of food, at least of the vegetable kind.  I concluded that the
+streams of lava cast forth by the mountain had flowed only towards the
+beach at which we had landed, or at any rate had flowed no other way
+for a long time, since otherwise the land could not have been so
+fruitful.  I asked Billy anxiously whether he had seen any wild beasts,
+or any sign of the habitation of men; but he said that he had seen
+neither the one nor the other, but only some birds, at which I was
+vastly relieved.
+
+We sat for some while appeasing our appetites, scarcely speaking, for
+Billy was not a talkative boy, and I was still too much under the
+oppression of our lonely situation.  All at once I set up a laugh, at
+which Billy stopped munching at his cocoa-nut and looked at me in
+astonishment.
+
+"Oh, Billy," I said, "if you had catched that rabbit, what could we
+have done with it?"
+
+"Why, eat it, to be sure," says Billy.  "I like rabbit meat."
+
+(We knew afterwards that there were no rabbits on the island, and
+thought the animal we had seen must be a rat, though it did not run
+like one.)
+
+"But how could we cook it?" I said.
+
+At that he looked startled, and felt again in his pocket, which, as I
+have said, was empty.  He had quite forgot that we had neither flint,
+steel, nor tinder, so that we had no means of making a fire.  He looked
+very sober for a space, and then reminded me that we had seen the
+savages make fire at the island where we stayed, by the very rapid
+twirling of a stick, and he was sure he could do the like.  However,
+there was no need of a fire at that time, for the very good reason that
+we had nothing to cook, and so we fell to again on our cocoa-nuts, and
+ate a great quantity before we were satisfied.  We saw that we had come
+into a grove of those useful trees, and with their fruit, and the
+shell-fish on the shore, which if it came to a pinch I must eat raw, as
+Billy had done, we should be in no immediate danger of famishing.  We
+saw about us, too, many birds which we might eat if we could only snare
+them and make a fire, though they were quite strange to both of us,
+excepting parrots.  The most of them were something larger than a
+sparrow, but with brighter plumage, and they came flying about us very
+tamely, yet never near enough to catch.
+
+Though we had no anxiety for the present in the matter of food, I was
+still far from easy in mind about our situation, for there might be
+wild beasts and men on the island, though we had not as yet seen any,
+and I was troubled about our utter defencelessness.  So after we had
+eaten our fill and rested a while, I thought it behoved us to go
+through the wood and see what there might be on the other side.
+Accordingly we got up, feeling plaguy stiff from the many wettings we
+had had, though the sun had dried our clothes, and went on until we
+came to the edge of the wood, where we found another slope very much
+steeper than the first, fairly open, but with saplings growing here and
+there.  Before we descended I bethought me it were well to have some
+weapon in our hand in case we should meet any enemy, man or beast, so
+Billy swarmed up a tree and broke off two branches, which, when
+stripped of their twigs and leaves, made very fair clubs, though to be
+sure of a rough appearance, and little likely to avail us much if we
+encountered men in any wise armed.  Still they were better than
+nothing, and with these in our hands we descended the slope until we
+came to another thick wood, which stretched on our right hand half way
+or more to the summit of the smoking mountain.  We went through this
+wood, which differed very little from the first, and then all at once
+we came upon a shining sheet of water, above two hundred yards long and
+near as broad, with a few ducks swimming on it.  The moment Billy saw
+this he let forth a great shout, and bounded towards it, falling on his
+knees and drinking very heartily.  I was as glad as he was, for the
+juice of cocoa-nuts is very agreeable, but not near so good as water
+for quenching the thirst; but I was not so quick as Billy, nor did I
+gulp it so eagerly, but took a mouthful and tasted it before drinking
+more.  The water was cool and seemed to me good to drink, though it had
+a taste like the sulphur water my aunt Susan always gave to us in the
+spring; she said it cleared our skin.  I drank a few mouthfuls more,
+and then we went on, skirting the base of the mountain on the further
+side.
+
+[Sidenote: Wood and Water]
+
+We found the ground here very rough; indeed, nowhere on the island, as
+we afterwards discovered when we came to explore it thoroughly, did we
+find a stretch of level ground above twenty yards in length, even in
+the parts where the vegetation was thickest.  There were not many trees
+growing on this side of the mountain, but we continued our journey in
+as near a straight line as we could, observing more woods on our right
+hand which I thought to examine another day.  At length we came to a
+high cliff overlooking the sea, and when we came to the top of it,
+suddenly we saw towering over us the monstrous red rock of which we had
+already had a glimpse when we first drew near to the shore.  It rose
+sheer out of the sea to the height of four or five hundred feet, as I
+guessed, and was very broad too; at least, the side that fronted us
+was, being full a quarter of a mile long.  Between the rock and the
+cliff on which we stood there was a narrow strait, through which the
+sea rushed at a furious pace.  I felt quite dizzy as I gazed down upon
+it from our great height, though Billy, being used to climbing to the
+masthead, went to the very edge of the cliff and stood there without
+the least tremor.  Indeed, he gave me a fright by saying that he would
+leap across the strait to a ledge that jutted out from the rock towards
+our island, approaching so near to it that he declared he could do it
+easy; but I sprang to him and pulled him back, overcome with horror at
+the thought of the terrible risk he would run and his dreadful death if
+he missed his footing, and also of my solitude if I lost my only
+companion.
+
+I now saw that his face was very pale, and I thought that he was
+frightened at his own daring; but he suddenly bent his body double, and
+when I asked him what was the matter he said that he had a very bad
+pain.
+
+"That comes of eating those slimy things raw," I said.  "I didn't eat
+any."
+
+He made no answer, but flung himself on the ground, groaning, and I
+stood over him, condoling with him, and very much concerned lest he was
+poisoned.  I had stood thus for the space of a minute or two, when all
+at once I felt a terrible pain myself, and soon was beside him,
+groaning full as loud as he.  Since I had eaten none of the shell-fish,
+and cocoa-nuts had never done us any harm before, I concluded, when I
+was able to think, that our sufferings were caused by the sulphurous
+water of the lake, which indeed turned out to be the true explanation;
+for after we had drunk of it next day we were both afflicted with the
+same violent colic, so that we resolved never to taste it again.  Billy
+was worse than me, having drunk the greater quantity, and it was a good
+while before we were able to stand, and then we trembled so much and
+felt so weak that we wished for nothing but to lie down and sleep.  And
+that put us on thinking of what we should do in the night.  We had come
+so slowly across the island that the sun was already sinking, and we
+must needs find some secure place for repose before darkness fell upon
+us.  We were both used to discomforts aboard the _Lovey Susan_, but
+there we had at least a bunk or a hammock and security from all but the
+storm, whereas here there was no shelter save the woods, and we did not
+know what strange perils might beset us there.  And I know not whether
+'twas the oncoming of the dark that made me more fearful, but certain
+it is that I found myself looking about me timorously, and at one point
+I was so sure that I saw a man that I clutched Billy hard by the arm
+and whispered him to look too.  Which doing, he cried out in a
+perfectly loud voice, "Why, master, 'tis but an old stump of a tree.
+'Tain't nothing to be scared on."  Billy, I will say now, was never
+affrighted at imaginary perils so much as at real ones.
+
+[Sidenote: Night]
+
+We had to consider, I say, of how we should pass the night.  I was not
+the least disposed to trudge back over the island, and indeed there was
+no need, for no part, so far as I knew, was better than any other; in
+short, we were both pretty tired, so that we determined to take shelter
+in a small wood on the edge of the cliff on the opposite side of the
+burning mountain from that where the lava had flowed.  Our entrance
+caused a great disturbance among the birds, which flew out in great
+flocks and making shrill cries.  We saw some brown rats, too,
+scuttering among the undergrowth, and these put Billy in mind of the
+rats in the _Lovey Susan_, which sometimes ran across the face of the
+seamen in the forecastle when they slept.
+
+"I don't like them things, master," he said, "and we'd best climb up
+into a tree and sleep on a bough."
+
+But it seemed to me that a bough of a tree would be a most uneasy
+resting-place; I should assuredly lose my balance and topple to the
+ground, though Billy, being accustomed to dizzy perches in the rigging
+of the _Lovey Susan_, might find it comfortable enough.  Yet I had no
+mind for a lodging on the ground, without any defence from rats, to say
+nothing of wild animals, of which there might be some on the island,
+though we had not seen any.  We talked about it for some time, and the
+end of it was that we set about collecting some broken branches that
+lay on the ground, and snapped off others that were within our reach,
+and so piled up a little shelter round about a thick trunk.  By the
+time we had finished this work it was perfectly dark within the wood.
+We sat ourselves down on the mossy carpet, with our cudgels close to
+our hands, and then, bethinking us of the custom of setting watches on
+board ship, we determined that one of us should watch while the other
+slept.  Being the older, I took the first watch, and Billy was soon
+fast asleep, and I sat very melancholy by him, thinking of our lonely
+situation, and of my good uncle and aunt at home, whose thoughts were,
+I doubt not, fondly busy about me.
+
+There was no way whereby I might tell the time, and it might have been
+two hours or three had passed when, feeling my head very heavy, I waked
+Billy and told him to take his turn, which he did very willingly,
+though he rubbed his eyes and yawned in the manner of one who has not
+had his sleep out.  In the midst of my slumber I was wakened by Billy
+grasping my arm, and when I sat up, he whispered to me, as if greatly
+affrighted, to listen.  Since I heard nothing but the rustling of the
+wind in the trees, it having got up while I slept, I thought that Billy
+must have fallen into a doze and been visited by a nightmare.  But all
+at once there came a strange howling sound, that seemed to be near at
+hand, and then it went into the distance, at one moment being quite low
+and soft, the next very loud, though it never altered in pitch.  We
+clutched our cudgels and sat very close to each other, and Billy
+whispered that he felt a cold shiver running down his back, as I myself
+did, but I forbore to tell him so.  The sound was very dreadful, as of
+some creature in agony, though it was not the least like any sound I
+had ever heard before, except once, when I heard a man tuning, as they
+say, the organ in our parish church; and falling upon our ears in
+pitchy darkness it made us very uneasy, as you may think.  We were too
+much affrighted to rise and seek for the cause of it, even if it had
+been possible to find it in the dark; and so we listened to it, huddled
+thus together, for a very long time, as it seemed, until, being quite
+overcome with fatigue, we both fell asleep, and so remained until
+morning light without keeping any guard.
+
+[Sidenote: Wild Dogs]
+
+I awoke first, and was instantly aware of a scratching at some part of
+our barricade of branches.  I sat up, grasping my cudgel, and in a
+moment, it being broad daylight, I saw a little opening in the
+barricado, and the nose of some animal pushing through it.  I lifted up
+my cudgel and, thrusting myself forward, aimed a blow at the intruder
+so well that I hit him clean upon the point of the nose.  There was a
+sudden yelp and a snarl, and the nose withdrew itself, and when we
+sprang to our feet--Billy having wakened at the sound--we spied a pack
+of small dogs, above a score, at some little distance from our shelter.
+They were of a strange kind, the like of which neither Billy nor I had
+ever seen, being of a yellowish brown in colour, and with smooth coats,
+not hairy like our dogs at home.  Billy roared at them, asking whether
+it was they that had made such uproar in the night; and when they did
+not budge, but only looked at him without the least alarm, we both
+sprang over our fence and ran towards them, brandishing our cudgels and
+shouting very fiercely.  Then they turned tail, and ran away yelping
+and snarling; but as soon as we stopped, thinking that we had put them
+to flight, instantly they stopped also, and sitting upon their
+haunches, gazed at us very solemnly again.
+
+They did not offer to attack us, and, being of a small size, we did not
+fear them as if they were great hounds or mastiffs; but the very number
+of them making us somewhat uneasy, we set forward again to drive them
+away.  It happened as at first: they ran while we ran, but the moment
+we stopped, they came to a stand also and gazed upon us in the same
+saucy manner as before.  Billy shook his fist at them, and called them
+by a foul name which he had learnt, I suppose, from the rough seamen of
+the _Lovey Susan_; but I will say this, that on my telling him it was
+not a pretty word, he immediately promised never to use it again, since
+it offended me, and I never heard it from his lips but once after,
+which I will speak of in course, if I remember.
+
+But to return to our dogs: when we saw that it was useless to pursue
+them, though we could scare them easily enough, we determined to go on
+our way as if they were not there.  And as you may believe, we set our
+course first for the cocoa-nut grove, being amazing hungry, and as we
+went thither we saw some trees of the bread-fruit, and Billy climbed
+one of them, the trunk being no more than two feet thick, and threw one
+fruit at me and another at the dogs, which had still followed us,
+dogging us, as we say.  They scampered after it as it rolled down the
+hill, like as kittens chase a ball of worsted, which amused Billy very
+much.  As for me, I picked up the fruit he had cast at my feet--it was
+near two pounds weight, I should think--and having broken the rind, not
+without difficulty, for it was very tough, I tasted the milky juice and
+afterwards the pulp, but found them both so unpleasing that I cast it
+from me, very sorrowfully, for it seemed that we should never have any
+other food but cocoa-nuts, unless we could devise some means of
+cooking.  We went on thence until we came to the palms, the dogs
+following us again, except two that found the fruit I had thrown away,
+and they stayed for a while sniffing at it, but finding it as
+unpalatable as I had done, they by and by left it and joined the pack.
+I observed that when Billy climbed up the cocoa-nut palm they drew in
+closer, as if they guessed him to be more violent than me, and supposed
+it no longer needful to keep at so great a distance.  Indeed, when he
+flung down a cocoa-nut, they dashed towards it, as if he did it merely
+for their sport; but then I ran among them, striking at them smartly
+with my cudgel, though I never hit them, for they immediately fled, but
+came back when Billy and I sat down upon the ground to eat the fruit,
+and watched us with such gravity that I could not contain myself, but
+laughed very heartily.
+
+When we had finished our breakfast, we went down the hill to drink at
+the lake, and the dogs still following at our heels, we began to feel
+it a persecution, and resolved to make another attempt to rid ourselves
+of them.  The ground, as I have said before, was rough, and at one side
+of the lake, nearest the mountain, we saw many pieces of rock scattered
+about, and having collected them in a heap we began to throw them very
+briskly at the dogs, which kept so close together that we could not
+fail of hitting several.  These ran yelping away, and after a while
+those that were not hit became aware of the discomfiture of their
+fellows and withdrew to a greater distance; but I observed that they
+went no farther than the range of our cast, from which I concluded that
+they were possessed of a certain intelligence.  However, since their
+hovering was now at a more convenient distance, we paid them no further
+attention, and had freedom to think of other things.
+
+We had been so much taken up with these creatures that we had given
+scarce a thought to our situation; but now, casting my eyes towards the
+summit of the mountain, I saw with great delight that the cloud of
+steam was altogether gone.
+
+"See, Billy," I cried, "we are not like to be burnt alive.  The
+mountain is quiet; yesterday's work has tired him out."
+
+"He's only pretending, belike," says Billy.
+
+But then I told him of what I had read in my lesson-book--I liked
+reading the Latin part, but did not much relish the putting the English
+back into Latin--about the mountain Vesuvius, that had been quiet so
+long as that people made great cities at its base, and lived there very
+merrily, the story being told very well by Plinius.
+
+"This is a different sort, then," says Billy, "because there ain't no
+cities here, nor people neither."
+
+[Sidenote: The Mountain]
+
+I laughed at this, and then proposed that we should climb up the
+mountain from the place where we stood, namely, the edge of the lake,
+in which we had already drunk.  For a great while Billy would not be
+persuaded, but I prevailed with him at last, and we set off up the
+mountain side, finding it a great toil, so steep was it, and rugged;
+and being shod myself, I did not think enough of the pain to Billy's
+bare feet, which he endured nevertheless without a murmur.  There were
+many pieces of jagged flint lying on the mountain-side, and Billy
+seeing one that was flat and had a sharp edge, he picks it up and slips
+it in his pocket, saying that we could break open our cocoa-nuts more
+easily with it than by striking them against the tree-trunks or the
+rocks.  We had not gone above half way up the mountain when we were
+seized with the same violent pains I have before mentioned, which made
+us helpless for some while, and caused us, as I have said, to forswear
+the water of the lake.  But recovering by and by, we continued on our
+way, and, taking heart from the perfect stillness, there being no
+rumbling nor any shoot of boiling water as on the day before, we came
+at last to the very top, and stood at the brink of the cup, or the
+crater, as we say.
+
+We were so much terrified at our own boldness that, having reached the
+top, we immediately ran some way down the slope, as if some dreadful
+monster were at our heels.  But coming to our senses again, we
+resolutely made our way once more to the summit, and, holding each
+other by the hand, we crept to the edge and peeped over.  I own I was
+very much surprised at the seeming innocence of the crater.  The walls
+were very steep, and made of some massive sort of stone, and so jagged
+that we could easily have climbed down, as on steps, for a depth of two
+hundred feet at least.  But then the sides of the crater drew in
+towards the centre, and we could see that it had no floor, but a hole
+that looked very black and terrible; and the thought that one slip
+might hurl us down, we knew not how far, into the bowels of the
+mountain amid fire and brimstone, made us shrink back.  Our curiosity
+was satisfied, and I do not remember that we ever looked into that
+yawning pit again, though we had occasion to climb the mountain more
+than once.
+
+We then turned about and looked back over the island and across the sea
+beyond.  It was a magnificent fair day, the sky of a light blue colour
+and very clear, and from our high perch we could see a prodigious great
+distance on every side.  Far away, like a cloud on the horizon, and
+south-by-east, as we knew by the sun, was the island whereto the seamen
+had set their course, and the remembrance of them set Billy in a rage,
+and he cried out on them for taking away our raft.  To the westward we
+spied two or three islands close together, and nearer to us, though not
+much, than the island to the south-east.  I could not think that all
+these islands were uninhabited, and became again not a little uneasy in
+my mind, for supposing our own island had no people on it, of which I
+was by no means assured, yet it might be visited sometimes by savages
+from other islands, and it would be a fearsome thing for us if any
+should land and discover us.  Billy scoffed when I spoke out my thought.
+
+"Why," he said, "d'ye think, master, they'd be such fools as to come
+here to this old smoker?  And water what gives you the gripes too!  No,
+we shan't see nobody, black or white, never no more, and we shall live
+here for ever and ever, if we gets enough to eat and drink, and then
+when we're very old we'll be dead, and no one to put us away decent,"
+and at that he burst into tears, and begged me not to die first,
+because he couldn't bear it.  I was a good deal touched by the honest
+boy's trouble, but I bid him cheer up, for we were both sound and well,
+though I own I felt a great lump in my throat as I thought of our
+present solitude and of my dear friends at home.  To divert his
+thoughts, and my own too, I pointed to the big red rock of which I have
+spoken before, and which seemed more monstrous still, seen from this
+side.  There were birds sunning themselves on its bare top, and the
+sight of them set me thinking that there were many birds on our island,
+and there must also be eggs, which we could use for food, though I
+remembered afterwards that having no fire we could not cook them, and I
+could not eat them raw as I had seen some do.
+
+We walked round about the crater, observing, but not at first with any
+minuteness, the many rocks and boulders of strange shape that were
+scattered about, having been cast up at some time, I suppose, from the
+depths of the mountains.  Billy laid his hand on one great boulder, and
+immediately started back in a fright, crying that it was burning hot,
+which somewhat alarmed me too, not supposing that the mountain sent
+forth aught now but hot water.  But in a moment I saw that we had no
+cause for terror, for the sun was by this time high in the heavens, and
+the stone was made hot thereby, and by nothing else.  When I said this
+to Billy he was in a rage with the stone for giving him a start, and
+shoved it very hard, and it being poised insecurely, it set off
+a-rolling down very fast until it struck another boulder of even
+greater size, and split with a mighty crash.  "Serves you right," says
+Billy, and we both clambered down to see what had happened to it.  We
+were surprised to see some bright streaks in the rock where it had been
+fractured, and Billy declared that there must be iron in it; indeed, it
+was of the brightness of steel.  This set me on to think of the great
+wealth that might lie a-hiding in our island, and of the great delight
+it would have given my uncle if his adventure had gone as he wished;
+but the discovery brought no comfort to us in our helpless situation;
+indeed, it only made me the more sad.
+
+We had gone but a little farther when we saw a spring of hot water
+bubbling out of the rock and running down in a cloud of steam.  We
+followed its course, picking our way very slowly, for the side of the
+mountain was steep, until we came to a place where it dropped over a
+sheer cliff, and fell a perfect cascade into the sea.  Then we crept
+round from this side of the mountain until we overlooked the long slope
+of blackish rock that ran down to the beach on which we had landed, and
+we descended slowly on the left side until we came to a strip of
+woodland.  Here we found more bread-fruit trees, at which we were not
+so well pleased as if they had been cocoa-nut palms, because we had no
+present means of making a fire for cooking.  Billy offered to make fire
+in the native way, but I said that he might do that afterwards, as I
+wished to see what this end of the island was like.  So we went through
+the wood, and came out at the edge of a cliff, and saw below us the
+promontory with the archway through it, of which I have spoken.  Here,
+too, we had another view of the monster rock, and observed that this
+face also was steep and straight like the others, so that it must be
+quite impossible to scale the rock unless its seaward face were more
+practicable.
+
+[Illustration: PALM TREE ISLAND]
+
+[Sidenote: Reflections]
+
+We had now traversed the whole of our island except the north-east
+corner, and having seen no living things except birds and small
+animals, we began to be pretty sure that we were the only human beings
+upon it.  This, while it put away from us the present fear of being
+slain by savages, or despitefully used, yet brought home to us the full
+meaning of our loneliness.  We sat down on the cliff, and looking over
+the sea, which stretched away without any sign of land, nor even the
+sail of a ship, we gave ourselves up to gloomy meditation.  I knew that
+but few ships ever ventured into this southern ocean, and the chance
+that any ship would sight this tiny island was very small indeed.
+Still less was it likely that a vessel would draw in so close as to
+observe any signal that we might make.  I remembered how Alexander
+Selkirk had lived four years on his desolate island before a friendly
+ship hove in sight, and that island was near the mainland, whereas ours
+was in the midst of a vast ocean, remote as well from populous lands as
+from the track of merchant ships.  It seemed to me that we were doomed
+to a lifelong imprisonment, and though I had before bid Billy to be of
+good cheer, I was now myself utterly cast down, as one without hope.
+
+Being thus a prey to wretchedness I sat with my head in my hands, not
+heeding the heat of the sun, which was now beating fiercely down upon
+us, until I felt very sick and dizzy, and then I got up and looked for
+Billy, who had disappeared.  But he had only gone into the wood to find
+food, it being nigh dinner-time.  He came back and told me that there
+was nothing but bread-fruit, and that we could not eat, so we had to
+make our way to the cocoa-nut wood, which we did by descending to the
+beach and climbing up the slope as before.  In going along the beach
+Billy picked up two or three shell-fish which he called clams, the
+purple kind, not the larger sort, which were very heavy; indeed, one of
+them would have made a meal for a family.  We saw, too, several crabs
+of a very large size, some above two feet long; and Billy, idly poking
+his cudgel into a hole beside a rock, he could not draw it back, and
+when he peeped in to see what held it, he cried out that it had been
+seized by a great crab, and though he pulled very hard, he could not
+draw it out.  When we came to our wood we ate cocoanuts and quenched
+our thirst with the juice, Billy striking them open with the sharp
+flint he had in his pocket; but I could not forbear wondering how we
+were to live without fresh water, of which we had seen none but what
+was in the lake, and that was a medicine we were by no means inclined
+to.  Having appeased our hunger and thirst we were too listless to walk
+any more, and too miserable to talk to each other, and so we laid
+ourselves down and fell asleep.
+
+[Sidenote: Weapons]
+
+When I awoke I saw that Billy had been fashioning for himself a new
+club in place of that which had been seized by the robber crab, only
+this time he had made a better one.  Having observed that the sharp
+flint, of which I have before spoken, had two notches on its blunt
+side, he had conceived the notion of binding it to his club, and so
+using it as an axe-head.  At first he was much exercised, as he told
+me, how to fasten the two together, and sighed for some iron-wire, or
+at least some stout cord; but glancing around he spied a creeping plant
+with very long and slender tendrils, which he proved to be very tough,
+and breaking off some lengths of this with his flint, he had nearly
+finished binding the flint to his club.
+
+"What d'ye think of that, master?" says he, very proud of his
+achievement.  I told him it was a villainous, murdering instrument, and
+asked him what he purposed doing with it.  "Why," says he, "fight, to
+be sure.  It would kill a savage, or even a lion."  At this I laughed,
+saying that we had seen no lions or other wild beasts, and as for
+savages, if we encountered them they would certainly shoot him with
+their arrows or pierce him with spears before ever he was near enough
+to strike them with his club.  But he answered stoutly that a club was
+better than bare fists, and an axe than a club, and as for its
+ugliness, he would like to see me make a prettier one, on which I said
+no more.
+
+[Illustration: Billy's Axe]
+
+I had fallen into a doze again, when I was suddenly awakened by Billy,
+who shook me by the shoulder and when I sat up, pointed through the
+trees to a little open space at the edge of the wood.  I looked and saw
+a number of little pigs--strange little creatures, with heads very much
+too large for their bodies--grubbing in the ground with their snouts,
+and a monstrous big sow near by.  Billy springs up, and whispers he
+will catch one of the piglets, and then he starts off and begins to
+steal quickly through the wood towards the family group.  I got up on
+my feet to follow him, and seizing the club that lay nearest, found
+that I had taken Billy's instead of my own, he having taken mine in his
+excitement.  Billy had just arrived at the open space when, being very
+simple in his nature, he gave a great shout, and instantly the pigs set
+off scampering away, with him hot-foot after them.  However, he had
+gone but half-way across the clearing when I saw a great boar with
+monstrous curved tusks charging from the left-hand side.  Billy caught
+sight of the beast just in time, and turning about, he brought my club
+down upon the beast's head very sharply; but it was not heavy enough to
+do any great mischief, and, indeed, though it caused the boar to turn a
+little aside, it did but increase its fury.  The beast wheeled about,
+and rushed upon Billy, who, though he smote it again, was carried off
+his feet and lay sprawling, the club being struck from his hand as he
+fell.
+
+[Illustration: "THE BEAST WHEELED ABOUT, AND RUSHED UPON BILLY."]
+
+[Sidenote: Billy has a Fall]
+
+When I saw the unhappy posture of my companion, I ran towards him as
+fleetly as ever I could, being in a terrible fright lest the boar
+should rend him with its tusks before I could come up with him.  My
+very speed incommoded me when, coming to the spot where Billy lay on
+the ground, with the boar over him, I brought the flint-headed club
+down upon the beast's skull, for the blow was not near as straight and
+heavy as it might have been had my rush not been so headlong.  However,
+it served to make the boar turn round to spy at its new adversary; and
+having now come to a standstill and collected myself, I dealt it such a
+blow behind the ear, with a full swing of the club, that it fell over
+sideways, and I did not observe that it made any movement after.  I
+picked Billy up, and saw with great trouble that the boar had rent a
+great hole in his breeches and made a gash in his leg, which was
+bleeding very freely.  "That's nothing, master," says he, when I asked
+him if he was much hurt; "but what d'ye say about my ugly murdering axe
+now?  Ain't it a good one?" he asked triumphantly.  "Wouldn't it kill a
+lion or a savage?"  I owned that it had proved a very serviceable
+instrument indeed, and said that I would certainly make one like it for
+myself; but first I begged Billy to bathe his wounded leg in the lake,
+which he did, and in a little the bleeding stopped, and we went back to
+the wood, Billy declaring that he would certainly make fire in the
+native fashion, and we should have pork for supper.  But when we got
+back to the dead boar, we found it already surrounded by a pack of
+dogs, which were tearing its flesh very gluttonously.  They snarled and
+growled savagely when we essayed to drive them away, and knowing that
+it is an ill matter to part a dog from his bone, I did not think it
+prudent to provoke the rage of such a fierce regiment, though Billy
+cried out valorously that he would fight them all sooner than allow
+them to eat his pork.  However, he gave in to my entreaty, vowing that
+he would have pork to eat before many days were past, and as for the
+dogs, he would teach them a lesson, that he would.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE SIXTH
+
+OF OUR SEARCH FOR SUSTENANCE AND SHELTER; WITH VARIOUS MATTERS OF MORE
+CONSEQUENCE TO THE CASTAWAY THAN EXCITEMENT TO THE READER
+
+
+This little adventure with the pigs was, I verily believe, the means of
+saving us from the lethargy into which we had like to have been cast by
+brooding on our solitude.  The knowledge that there were on our island
+animals that might be formidable, and were certainly good for food,
+proved to us at once the necessity of being watchful, and of setting
+our wits to work to devise a means of cooking.  And a thing that
+happened the same night showed to us that if we were to make the best
+of our situation, and have any comfort in our solitary life, we must
+take some measures for our shelter.
+
+[Sidenote: A Storm]
+
+This event was nothing less than a violent storm of wind and rain which
+sprang up suddenly in the middle of the night.  We had returned to our
+first shelter, the make-shift hut, or rather lean-to, which we had
+constructed of boughs and leaves around a great tree.  The wind broke
+this down utterly, scattering the materials of it far and wide, and the
+rain drenched us to the skin, or I should say, soaked us to the bone,
+we having no garments but our shirts and breeches.  That night was the
+most miserable of all my life, I assure you.  We huddled together for
+shelter under the thickest trees, listening to the howling of the wind,
+and sometimes hearing great crashing noises that made us fear almost to
+remain under shelter at all, lest the trees should fall upon our heads
+and kill us.  Never a wink of sleep had we that night, and when
+daylight came, we staggered forth from the wood, two shivering
+miserable mortals, who would have given the world for a roaring fire
+and a hot posset to comfort us.
+
+We needed not to climb trees for our breakfast, for the wind had
+strewed the ground with cocoanuts, and had indeed uprooted many trees,
+one of which had narrowly missed the very spot where we had lain.  As
+we ate our food, very wretched, we considered how we were to construct
+some sort of hut, in case another storm should visit us.  There was
+timber in plenty, but neither Billy nor I had any knowledge of sawyers'
+or carpenters' work; nor if we had should we have been much better off,
+having no tool save the rough axe of Billy's fashioning.  Necessity,
+they say, is the mother of invention, and so it proved in our case, as
+will be seen more fully hereafter.
+
+After breakfast the first thing that Billy did was to try his axe on
+one of the big fallen trees.  He was able after very great labour--I
+taking my turns when he was tired--to lop some of the branches off, but
+the flint was so much blunted by it that we saw it would serve us
+little longer.  Accordingly we set off up the mountain-side to find
+other flints of which to make axe-heads, and on this little expedition
+we were followed by the pack of dogs, which watched our proceedings as
+if they took a great interest in them, but always remained at a
+reasonable distance.  By midday we had collected a fair number of
+sharp-edged flints, small and big, and Billy having made me an axe like
+his own--he would not let me do it, saying that he was sure he could
+make a better one than me--we felt a deal more comfortable both in body
+and mind, being satisfied that we should not lack tools, though rough,
+and our clothes being dried with the sun.  Indeed, we found the sun
+rather oppressive, especially upon our bare heads, and we wished very
+heartily that our hats had been spared to us; coats we could do without
+in the daytime, though they would have been a great solace o' nights.
+
+[Sidenote: Plans]
+
+Having thus furnished ourselves with axes, we had to determine the site
+for the hut we purposed building, and we talked very seriously about
+this when we had eaten our dinner.
+
+"One thing is sure," says Billy; "we must build it a good way from the
+old smoker" (so he called the mountain, above which we observed that a
+cloud of steam had again gathered, though it had been clear yesterday).
+If remoteness from the mountain had been the only point to be
+considered, we might have been content with the wood in which we had
+made our lean-to; but after our experience in the storm we did not
+regard it as suitable for a permanent habitation when it might be
+shattered any day or night.  It was certain we could not build on those
+parts of the island that were bare rock, for we could not by any means
+dig foundations in it, and a hut without foundations, in an exposed
+place, might be carried away in a hurricane, and hurled into the sea,
+and we in it.  And then it came into my mind that if we built too high
+upon the island, our dwelling might be spied by the savages of the
+neighbouring islands of which I have spoken, for we could not doubt
+that they were inhabited, and the people would certainly put to sea
+sometimes in their canoes.  This set me on thinking that it would be
+well to make our dwelling less a house than a fortress, in which we
+could take refuge in case savages should at any time land upon our
+island.  It seemed to me, then, that we ought to seek for a remote
+spot, very hard of access, and bethinking me of such a spot which I had
+seen in our course towards the north-east, I had almost resolved to
+choose that spot when I recollected all at once that there was no water
+in that neighbourhood, which was a very serious matter.  Indeed, this
+lack of water gave us much concern, for as yet we had found none but
+what smacked of brimstone, and Billy said that we didn't need
+physicking every day, nor yet every week.  We spent the rest of that
+day, therefore, in roaming over the island once more in search of fresh
+water, and made a more thorough exploration of the western end, in
+which the vegetation was wilder than in the other woodland parts.
+There was never a spring that we could see, and we should have had our
+search for nothing but for a discovery that Billy made.  He had climbed
+a bare and very rough hillock, just beyond a patch of wood at the
+south-west corner of the island, and I saw him suddenly stoop, and when
+he rose to the erect posture he held something white in his hand, and
+began to caper with every token of delight.  Then he came running down
+towards me, and shouted a word that sounded like "aig! aig!" which
+puzzled me exceedingly, until when he came close to me and opened his
+hand I saw what was certainly the likest to a hen's egg that I had ever
+beheld, and concluded that "aig!" was the manner of calling it at
+Limehouse.  I could scarce believe it was indeed a hen's egg, for we
+had seen no fowls save those I have mentioned before, nor had we heard,
+amid the noises of the island, the clarion voice of any cock; yet it
+was like nothing else, and Billy declared with great positiveness that
+there must be roosters, as he called them, on the island, whose eggs
+would form an agreeable addition to our fare.
+
+[Sidenote: Eggs]
+
+He was not by any means cast down when I said that we had no fire for
+cooking, avouching that he had sucked 'em raw many a time, but added
+that this being the first egg we had found, it belonged by right to me
+as king of the island (so he called me in sport), and he would at once
+set about making a fire, as he had often said he would do, and roast it
+for me, we having no pan for boiling.  When he spoke of boiling, I
+remembered all of a sudden the spring of hot water we had seen on the
+other side of the mountain, and thought it might very well serve to
+cook the egg; so we made all haste to that spot, Billy saying that if
+the water would cook an egg, it would also cook pig, and boiled pork
+was very good, though not so good as roast.  We came to the spring, and
+laid the egg in the bottom of a cup-shaped hollow through which it
+flowed, and having neither watch nor sand-glass, Billy set himself
+patiently to count the seconds as well as he could, saying that the egg
+must not be overdone nor underdone, but boiled just proper.
+
+"We will give it four minutes, master," says he, "instead of three,
+'cos we ain't sure the water is on the boil, not what you would call
+real boiling."
+
+Accordingly, the four minutes being expired (though I think he missed
+count when just past a hundred and fifty), he took out the egg and,
+breaking the shell at one end, gave it to me to taste, which I did, but
+instantly spat it out of my mouth, and cast the egg down upon the
+rocks, bespattering them with white and yellow.  I told Billy with much
+spluttering that the egg was addled, and indeed the taste of it was
+very foul, and remained in my mouth a long time, till, having returned
+to our wood, I cured it with a copious draught of cocoa-nut juice, the
+acid of which was very grateful.  Billy was much cast down at this
+unfortunate beginning of his cookery, and wanted to go instantly and
+kill a sucking-pig; but since it was already growing late, and would be
+dark ere he could go and come and finish cooking, even if he found a
+pig at once and caught it without trouble, I persuaded him to return
+with me to the wood, where we had to rig up another shelter for the
+night, in place of the one that had been shattered by the storm.
+
+I will say here that we found more eggs afterwards, always in places
+that were hard to get at--on ledges in the land side of the cliffs, and
+in hollows of rocky eminences; and though we for some time saw no fowls
+and were much puzzled in consequence, we discovered by and by that they
+roosted high up in the trees, and concluded that they did this to take
+refuge from the rats and dogs, and kept silence for the same reason.
+There were very few of them on the island, their broods being no doubt
+much preyed upon when young and unable to fly.
+
+I had almost forgot to mention a strange discovery we made while we
+were yet on the mountain.  It chanced that Billy, prodding the ground
+with his axe, dislodged a lump of rock which rolled down into the
+spring, and had no sooner touched the water than it set up a great
+hissing noise, and we saw a cloud of dirty yellow smoke rise up from it
+into the air, with such a horrible stench that we choked and coughed,
+and ran away to some distance until the fizzing and smoking ceased.  I
+had never seen or heard of the like before, and as for Billy, he said
+that Old Smoker was worse than he thought him, carrying such poisonous
+stuff in his inside.  This made us careful how we trod, for we did not
+know but there might be rocks of other kinds, which might "go off," as
+Billy said, when we touched them.  However, we did not find any such,
+and we almost forgot about the fizzy rock, as Billy called it, until a
+time came when we discovered a use for it.
+
+[Sidenote: The First Hut]
+
+To come back to the matter of our house.  Having sought in vain for a
+suitable site in the rougher parts of the island, we went down next day
+to the lake-side, where we should at least be within reach of water,
+though unpalatable.  We found that the lake was very much swelled with
+the recent heavy rains, and the water was not near so clear as
+formerly, though it was much less nauseous to the taste, and we had a
+good drink of it without suffering any ill effects.  This quite
+determined us in our choice, for we supposed that it would rain very
+frequently, as in England, so that the lake would be constantly
+replenished and the sulphurous character of its water be thus
+qualified.  We found in course of time that rain did not fall near so
+often as in England, though usually much heavier; and that the effect
+on the lake was not quite so great as we expected, at least in regard
+to the taste, for the many rills and rivulets that carried water from
+the high parts of the island ran over sulphurous soil, some of which
+they washed down into the lake.
+
+[Illustration: Our Flint Scraper for Sharpening Axes]
+
+Being set on building a substantial house, or rather fortress, as I
+said, we saw that with our rude tools it would take us a very long
+time, and so we first took in hand to make a small hut which would
+shelter us while the other was a-building.  This we determined to place
+at the edge of the wood above the lake, and we found much material in
+the trees which had been uprooted in the storm, and in young straight
+saplings which we could either pull up, the soil being thin, or cut
+down with our stone axes.  These axes of ours soon became blunt, but we
+found a means to sharpen them by whetting on the hard rocks by the
+shore, and it became our constant practice to begin each day with
+bathing in the sea, and then sharpening our axes, which sharpened our
+appetites also, I do assure you.  Having got a sufficiency of these
+slender poles for our walls, we stuck them in holes which we made with
+our axes, and held them together with tendrils of the creeping plants
+that grew very plentifully in the woods.  We thus made walls about ten
+feet high, about a space twelve feet square, and it was not until the
+walls were up that we began to consider of how to put a roof to them,
+having no ladders nor any means of mounting to such a height.  This
+made us see how needful it was to take thought beforehand, though we
+never succeeded in foreseeing all the difficulties that we should meet
+with, and I suppose no one ever did.  All we could do about this roof
+of ours was to carry up small rocks from the shore, and pile these one
+on another until we made a stand high enough for us to lay saplings
+from wall to wall.  Since it was clear that this roof would protect us
+but little, the rain being able to come through the interstices, we put
+up stands of rocks inside the hut, and supported on these we made shift
+to weave grasses and creepers among the poles, finding it very hard
+work, and very long too, we having to take the stands down and build
+them up again as we moved from place to place in the hut.  As for the
+walls, we filled up the interstices in them with earth from the
+hill-side above us, which we found to be of a clayey sort, and soon
+hardened in the sun, though after a little it began to crack and
+crumble.  We carried this earth in our hands, a very troublesome and
+slow manner of doing it, but we had no vessels, nor did we at that time
+think of making any.
+
+This hut took us above a week in building, at least I think so, for
+after the first day or two we neglected to take any account of the
+passage of time.  It was a poor sort of thing when finished, and could
+not have stood against a hurricane; but the weather was very fair, and
+besides, the place we had chosen was not near so much exposed as our
+first habitation, on higher ground.  We hoped it would serve us until
+we should have made our proposed fortress, and the building of it was
+exceeding useful to us, for it took up, with the getting and eating of
+our food, every minute of the daytime, and by keeping our thoughts
+busy, as well as our hands, hindered us from dwelling on our loneliness.
+
+I had almost forgot to mention two or three things: first, that every
+morning and evening one or other of us went up the mountain-side, to a
+spot whence we had sight of the sea all around, to spy whether a sail
+was visible.  The second thing is, that Billy went out one day, and
+brought back a little sucking-pig, which he had killed with his axe.
+We cut off its hinder legs, and carried them to the hot spring, and
+found that they cooked very well; and though the meat had a slight
+savour of brimstone, it was vastly more agreeable than the salt junk we
+were used to have aboard ship.  Indeed, Billy said that it only wanted
+pease-pudding to make a meal fit for a king, and he ran all the way to
+the wood and back again to fetch a bread-fruit, to see if that, when
+boiled, would supply the place of pease; but the fruit only boiled to a
+pap, and when Billy tasted it, he declared that it spoiled the flavour
+of the pork, so we ate the meat by itself.
+
+[Sidenote: Failure]
+
+This failure made Billy determine again to try his hand at making fire,
+which we had no time for when building our little hut.  He picked up a
+straight twig, that seemed to promise well for his purpose, and
+sharpening his flint axe, he peeled the twig and cut it so as to make a
+stick about a foot long, one end of which he brought to a point.  But,
+finding the wood too soft for the use to which he designed it, he went
+prowling about to discover a tree hard enough, testing them with his
+axe, and after a long search, lighted upon a tree that was very hard,
+and whose sap was of a blood-red colour.[1]  Having cut a stick of
+this, he sharpened one end to a point, and then took two chunks of
+wood, one of a soft kind, the other of the new-discovered tree, which
+we called redwood, and in each of these chunks he made a little hollow,
+one in the soft wood for the sharp end of the stick, the other for the
+blunt.  Then, fitting the stick into these hollows, he gave me all
+three pieces of wood to hold, and while I held them tightly clamped
+together, he began to twirl the stick between his hands as fast as he
+could, as he had seen the savages do, though often they used a
+bowstring.  He continued this for a good while, until his hands, hard
+as they were, grew sore and his face was running with sweat; but
+whether that the wood was damp, or that Billy was not dexterous enough,
+I know not, only that there was never a sign of smouldering, though the
+wood was hot when we felt it.  Billy insisted that I should take a
+turn, which I did, and twirled the stick even faster, I believe, than
+he did, though not so long; but it was all no good, and at last we
+threw the wood from us, concluding that if we were to obtain fire, it
+must be in some other way.  I do not mean that we never tried the
+native way again: we were not so easily discouraged; we tried more than
+once in the intervals of doing other things, and I think that with
+perseverance we might have succeeded at last, only it was not
+necessary, as will be seen hereafter.
+
+[Sidenote: Building Materials]
+
+This failure, though it annoyed us at the time, was of use to us,
+inasmuch as it set us on noticing
+
+
+
+[1] This appears to have been what botanists call _Rhizophora
+mucronata_.--H.S.
+
+
+
+the differences between woods, which until that time we had thought
+little about, but was now become a matter of importance, with our
+fortress in view.  We needed a hard, strong wood, yet not too hard to
+be worked with our clumsy tools, and we spent a day or two in testing
+the varieties of trees that grew on our island.  The cocoa-nut palm was
+by far the most plentiful, and the bread-fruit tree came next: but we
+did not think of cutting down either of these to make posts of, because
+they were food trees, and, being ignorant how often they bore fruit, we
+did not venture at the first to diminish the source of our provision by
+so much as one.  Besides, we found, when we tried to cut a cocoa-nut
+tree which had been cast down in the storm, that the wood was exceeding
+hard, and so heavy that it sank in water.  After this testing, I say,
+we discovered a tree on the hill-side whose wood was neither too hard
+nor too soft, and as it existed in great numbers, and bore no fruit,
+none that was edible, at least, we determined on this as the material
+for our house.  I never knew the name of it, but it seemed to be a kind
+of pine.
+
+I had now, as I say, clean lost count of the days, and had no means of
+keeping a journal, even if I had had the patience.  You must therefore
+think of us as getting up every day with the sun, and going to bed
+every night when it became dark.  I say, going to bed, though indeed we
+had little that deserved the name, our couch consisting of nothing but
+the bare ground and such leaves and grasses as we found serviceable.
+It was a mercy that the climate was so even, and the nights were not at
+all cold, or I do believe we should have perished, our clothing being
+so light.  Indeed it was not long before we began to look with concern
+upon our garments, which were much rotted already by the drenchings
+they had had, and were becoming rent and frayed from hard usage.  We
+had no means either of repairing them, or of making others, and we
+could only think that in course of time we should have to go naked,
+like the savages.  However, this did not trouble us at the moment,
+since we had so much to do and to think about, what with getting our
+food, and preparing our house, and fending off the dogs, which were
+very troublesome, keeping at a distance, indeed, by day, but prowling
+around our hut at night, and scratching at the walls so that they often
+disturbed our sleep.  Between sunrise and sunset we worked very
+diligently, and resting one day in seven--or it might be five, or six
+sometimes, since we kept no strict count; but I did not think God would
+be angry with us if we were not very exact in this, since we did as
+well as we could.
+
+We set to work getting material for our big house, as we called it,
+immediately after our little house, or hut, was finished.  At first we
+were greatly disheartened, for though we chose small trees of which to
+make our logs, both for easiness of felling and of moving when they
+were felled, we found that our clumsy axes were very poor tools.  Not
+only did the flints need sharpening every few minutes, like a mower's
+scythe, but being attached to the handles only with creepers, and not
+very skilfully, they continually worked loose, and we had to desist in
+order to bind them again, which mightily exasperated us.  At the end of
+the first day, seeing what little progress we had made, we were ready
+to despair.  "It will take us a hundred years, master," says Billy,
+"and the corner posts will be rotted before we get the roof on.  I
+don't believe in none of your Robinson Crusoes; and we'd better have
+been drownded; and I warrant you Hoggett and Chick and great fat
+Wabberley are just enjoying themselves somewhere, and I'm sick of my
+life."
+
+[Sidenote: Billy Scoffs at Romance]
+
+I have forgot to say that when we were eating our meals, or resting, I
+had told Billy the surprising story of Robinson Crusoe, of whom he had
+never heard, encouraging both him and myself with the tale of how that
+good mariner, after tribulations like to our own, came at length
+happily to his own land again.  But I own I thought our case was much
+worse than Crusoe's, for he had clothes, and corn food, and good
+liquors, and firearms, and good tools, though few; and, indeed,
+everything he needed save company, and that came to him at last;
+whereas we had absolutely nothing except the fruits of the island and
+what things we could make for ourselves.  Yet in reckoning up our
+situation and his, I felt very thankful that I had a companion, for the
+worst of evils are tolerable if we have some one to share them, and I
+wonder that Crusoe did not go stark mad, being alone for so many years
+till his man Friday came.  Billy often scoffed when I told him what I
+remembered of Crusoe's story, and said he wasn't near so badly off as
+we were, and if he--that is, Billy--only had what Crusoe had, he would
+do as much as he, or more, especially if he had a forge and
+blacksmith's tools.  And in particular, when I told him of Crusoe's
+horror when he saw a footprint in the sand, he burst into a laugh, and
+asked why there was only one footprint, and made me go down to our
+little bit of sandy beach there and then, and showed me the prints he
+made with his own feet, and asked me triumphantly whether the man whose
+mark Crusoe saw was a one-legged man, or what.
+
+Another thing I must mention, before I forget it, was that the first
+time we went down to the shore we saw that the second boat, which,
+being broken, the mariners had left, had been washed away.  We were
+very much vexed at this, and wished we had had the forethought to drag
+it higher up, where the waves could not reach it.  I do not think we
+could have mended it enough to make it seaworthy, but we might have
+tried; and it would at least have provided us with planks which we
+should have found useful.  However, it was gone, and there was no use
+repining.
+
+But to come back to our house.  We were, I say, in despair at the small
+result of our first day's hard labour, especially as we saw no way of
+improving our tools, and had no other means of felling the trees.  It
+came into my mind that if we only had fire, we might have burned them
+down, and we tried again for a good while to make fire with the stick
+and the chunks of wood.  But we had no more success than before, and
+Billy cried out that he wished he could get some of the fire that set
+the mountain water a-boiling, but he supposed he would be burned alive
+if he tried to get any.  I smiled at his simplicity, and to ease his
+thoughts a little, I asked him to accompany me up the mountain, it
+being my turn to take our nightly look-out over the sea.  It chanced
+that as we strayed over the mountain-side we lighted upon one of the
+splinters of the boulder which Billy had broken before, and the gleam
+of metal in it catching my eye, I said to Billy that it was desperately
+plaguy to be where metal abounded, and not be able to use it.
+
+[Sidenote: Making Fire]
+
+"Why, master," says he, "who knows as how we can't use it?  We ain't
+tried.  Why didn't we think of it afore?"  And straightway he picks up
+the splinter, and I found a flint, and he struck them together, and
+fairly danced with delight when he made a spark, though he stopped
+dancing and howled next moment, having hurt his bare feet on the sharp
+rock.
+
+I felt as great a delight as Billy, it being plain that we now had the
+first means of making fire, and if only we could discover anything to
+serve as tinder we might soon have a fire as large as we pleased.  We
+went back to our hut by the wood very quickly, being eager to try
+before it was dark; but though we collected plenty of dry grass and
+struck spark after spark out of the flint, we could not kindle a flame,
+and, to our great disappointment, ate cold supper again.  The next day
+also we were no more successful, though we neglected our work while we
+tried again and again, and should have been very sorry for the loss of
+time but that time mattered very little to us.  However, in the
+afternoon, when we went into the wood to get cocoa-nuts, I sat myself
+down on the trunk of a great tree which had been thrown down by a
+storm, I suppose--not our storm, but earlier, for the leaves were all
+withered.  I sat myself down, I say, but went lower than I intended,
+the trunk, that appeared solid, giving way under me, so that I toppled
+over backwards in a cloud of dust.  When we looked at the tree, we saw
+that the inside of it was completely rotted away, with the dry rot, as
+we say, and we both cried out at the same moment that this might be our
+tinder.  We immediately broke off a strip of the bark, and collected
+some of the dust upon it, and then striking a spark, we caught it on
+the tinder, which was, however, so dry that it flared up and burnt out
+in an instant, without kindling the bark.  We remedied this very soon
+by mingling some dry grass, rubbed small, with the wood dust, and this
+burning more slowly, it caused the bark to smoulder, from which we blew
+up a flame, and in a few minutes had a very pretty fire of sticks.
+Billy leapt around it in an ecstasy, and I could not help but liken him
+to a fire-worshipper, whose religion I understood better now than
+before, after all the trouble we had had.
+
+"Now we can bake some bread," said I.
+
+"And roast some pork," says Billy.
+
+"We had better make bread first," said I.
+
+"My mouth is watering for the crackling," says Billy.
+
+"Bread will be the sooner done," I said.
+
+"But the taste of pork stays in the mouth longer," says Billy.
+
+It nearly came to a quarrel between us, as to which should be cooked
+first, meat or bread; but when we were in the heat of the argument we
+perceived that our fire was going out, and that brought us to our
+senses.  We piled more sticks on it, and broken cocoa-nut shells, and
+Billy, yielding to my desire for bread, went out into the wood and soon
+returned with two or three fine large fruits, weighing, I should think,
+about three pounds apiece.  We had seen the native way of cooking this
+fruit, paring off the rough rind and baking the inner part, between the
+rind and the core, in an oven; but having no oven, though we promised
+ourselves to build one soon, we laid the fruits as they were on a red
+part of the fire, turning them about as you do chestnuts, and after a
+while we took them up and, having broken away the rind, ate the bread
+hot, and I do think I had never in my life before made such a hearty
+meal as I now did, though, to be sure, the bread had a slight flavour
+of burnt wood.  However, we ate a good supper, and went to bed much
+happier than at any time since we first came to the island.
+
+[Sidenote: Bread]
+
+We made our breakfast in the same way when we awoke, but finding that
+it took some time to get a fire, we considered whether we could not
+keep it constantly alive, yet without needing to replenish it too
+frequently with fuel, which would have been a trouble, as well as a
+hindrance to our work.  After some thought, we devised a kind of
+covered-in grate, which we built four-square of stones and pieces of
+rock, filling up the spaces between them, where they did not fit, with
+the clayey earth I have before mentioned, which we moistened with
+water, fetched from the lake in half a cocoa-nut shell, and then worked
+with our hands into a kind of mortar.  We made a cover to this grate
+with small boughs plaited with grass and smeared all over with earth,
+and at the bottom of the grate we left two small holes by which air
+might enter, not a great current, but enough to keep the fire
+smouldering without burning much fuel.  This device answered our
+expectations very well.  We found that by casting into the embers a
+quantity of dry brushwood, and blowing upon them, we could obtain a
+brisk fire in a very little time, and when we had no more need of it
+for the present, we laid on a heap of grass and twigs, not too dry, and
+shut down the lid, and so found that we could keep our fire alive for a
+whole day with no more tending.  We discovered, moreover, that by
+making a second enclosure about our grate, and covering this in also,
+we had a very convenient oven, in which we could lay in the morning the
+bread-fruit we needed for our dinner, and at midday find it very well
+cooked, neither too much nor too little.  I must not forget to say that
+our neighbours the dogs watched these proceedings very curiously, and
+the first time we left the grate they went to it, to investigate with
+their noses; but the stones being very hot, their noses were burnt, and
+they ran yelping away, and came to it no more except the first time we
+roasted some pig's flesh, and then, being in a perfect frenzy at the
+savoury smell, they scratched down the walls of our oven and ran away
+with our meat, hot as it was, so that we had none for dinner.  At this
+Billy flew into a fine rage, I assure you, and we had to consider of
+some way of preserving our meat from these greedy maws, of which more
+in its place.
+
+[Sidenote: Wood-cutting]
+
+Having now fire at our command, we set about putting it to the use for
+which we had so greatly desired it, namely, the felling of trees for
+our big house.  We kindled fires against the trunks of four trees of a
+fair size which we selected for our corner posts, at first setting the
+fire all round, until we saw both that the wind, which was fairly
+strong that morning, blew the flames all one way, and also that it
+would be more convenient to burn the tree on the opposite side from the
+direction in which we wished it to fall; then we put out the fires
+except on the windward side.  We found it no easy matter to keep the
+flames at a just height, so that they did not burn more of the trunks
+than we desired.  Every now and again we chipped away the charred wood
+with our axes, and so the fire ate deeper and deeper into the trees,
+and we cut deeper and deeper also, until by the close of this day the
+trees stood, as it were, but by a thread.  We wished we had ropes,
+wherewith we might pull the trees to the ground, but having none we
+threw ourselves with great violence against the trunks, and so cast
+them all down but one, which we left for a little more burning on the
+morrow, and went to our hut very well satisfied with our day's work.
+
+We were sitting at our supper when of a sudden Billy gave a jump and
+cried out, "What if any savages have seen our smoke!"  Our fires had
+given a good deal of smoke, especially the damper woods with which we
+fed them; but I said that even the nearest island was too far off for
+our smoke to be easily seen from it, and as for any savages who might
+be cruising in canoes, they would suppose it came from the mountain.  I
+could not doubt that our island was an object of terror to the peoples
+of the neighbouring islands, and I said we ought to be thankful to God
+that it was so, since it was better to be lonely than to be made
+slaves, or eaten by cannibals.  This comforted Billy, though he said
+that we had better use the driest woods we could find for our fires, so
+that the smoke would be less.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE SEVENTH
+
+OF THE BUILDING OF OUR HUT, TO WHICH WE BRING MORE ENTHUSIASM THAN SKILL
+
+
+I have not said anything about the plan of our big hut, but it must not
+be supposed that we began to work without any design.  We often talked
+about it, and so made a general plan, though we forgot many things and
+did not foresee others.  What this plan was will be made clear as I go
+on: if I set it down here all in one place it would be like writing the
+same thing twice over, which would be tedious.
+
+Having felled the four fairly large trees we designed for our
+corner-posts, the next thing was to bring them down from the wood to
+the level plateau where we intended to build.  We lopped off some of
+the branches and burnt off the rest, but then found that the trunks
+were too heavy for us to drag, even though it was downhill.  Thus we
+were put to it to make rollers, which was not such a tedious matter as
+felling the trees, for there were many young trees of a shape and size
+fit for this use when we had taken off their branches.  But when we
+came to place the rollers under the first of our trunks we could not at
+first by any means do it, the tree being so heavy that the two of us
+together could not raise it an inch from the ground.  How to get over
+this difficulty puzzled us for some time; indeed, we might never have
+thought of a way but for what I may call an accident.  We had gone down
+to the shore for our morning swim, and as we walked over the beach we
+spied a crab scuttling away under a small rock.  Billy had felt a
+grudge against crabs ever since one had robbed him of his club: so he
+cries out, "We'll have this old crab for dinner, master," and with that
+he takes his axe and prises up the rock, and then gives the crab a
+great knock, which did it not the least harm, it being large with a
+thick shell.  However, he was not to be baffled, so, setting down the
+rock again, he bids me watch it, and runs off to the wood, returning
+presently with a long bit of creeper, in which he had made a loop or
+noose at one end.  This noose he slips over one of the claws of the
+crab, and drew it tight, and then set off at a run, dragging the crab
+after him.
+
+[Sidenote: A Crab]
+
+We ate the crab for dinner, and liked it very well, but the more
+important matter was that seeing Billy prise up the rock gave me a
+notion of the right manner of moving our trees.
+
+"We must carry two rocks up to the wood," I said, "and cut two stout
+poles, and then I will show you how the trees can be moved."
+
+"'Tis desperate hard work, master," says Billy with a prodigious sigh.
+"We don't get on very fast.  I wish we could find a cave where we could
+live like that old Robinson Crusoe, without any building at all."
+
+"But he built all the same," said I.
+
+"But not without tools," says Billy.
+
+However, he agreed to my proposal, and we carried a rock between us,
+with a great deal of sweating, up to where the fallen trees lay, and
+then Billy says, "Ain't we fools!" and showed me that we could save a
+deal of labour by fastening strands of creeper to the second rock, and
+dragging it up instead of carrying it in our arms.  This being done we
+cut two stout poles, which took us a long time, and then, putting the
+rocks one on either side of the first trunk, we took a pole each, and,
+resting them on the rocks, put the one end under the tree and pressed
+heavily on the other, and so contrived to lift the weight which our
+unaided strength was quite unequal to.  I do not mean that we had never
+seen levers before, but we might never have thought of them unless
+Billy had prised up the rock after that crab.  The use of levers was
+indeed a mystery to him, I mean the explanation of them, he saying that
+we were no stronger than before, and there was certainly no strength in
+two dead poles, and when I reminded him of the pulleys and the windlass
+on board ship, which also helped to raise things, he said that poles
+were not pulleys, nor a windlass neither, and he didn't see what that
+had to do with it.  However, there was the trunk lifted, and while I
+held it so with my pole, Billy slipped a roller under it, and working
+thus from the end towards the middle, we brought the roller along by
+degrees, and then found that we could slip the second roller under the
+other end without the help of the poles.
+
+Then, with much pushing and hauling, we set the trunk a-moving on the
+rollers down the slope.  It was still hard work enough, for where the
+earth was soft, the rollers sank into it under the heavy weight of the
+tree, and when we came to a part that was hard and pretty smooth, the
+trunk set to a-rolling so fast that it almost ran away with us, and
+Billy, who was in front, was very nearly sent headlong down, which
+would have been very terrible if he had fallen plump into our grate.
+We brought the other three trunks down to our plateau in the same way,
+and thus had the four stout posts which we intended for the corners of
+our house, though there was a great deal to be done to them before they
+could be erected.  They were about the same thickness, being sixteen or
+eighteen inches across, but not the same length, and we had first to
+make them equal, which took us a long time; I think we were ten days at
+the work.  When we had finished it, the trunks were about fourteen feet
+long, that being the height we had determined on for our house,
+allowing for some portion of the posts to be driven into the earth.  We
+did not peel the bark off the trees, but left it on, thinking it would
+do no harm.
+
+[Sidenote: Choosing a Site]
+
+We marked out the lines of our house, on the level plateau near the
+lake, which was almost the only even spot on the island, and allowed us
+a space of about twenty feet square, which I thought was large enough,
+thinking besides of the great labour we should be put to if we tried to
+make too big a house.  But when it came to erecting our corner-posts we
+were in a great quandary.  The ground was pretty soft, and deeper than
+at other parts of the island, which I guessed was due to the heavy
+rains washing earth down from the hill above.  With spades or shovels
+we might have dug holes to a considerable depth, and then slipped the
+trunks in, and having thus disposed of a part of the dead weight of
+them, we might have raised them to an erect position with levers, or by
+pushing them up with our hands as men raise a long ladder.  But with no
+tools save our blunt axes we saw that such excavation would demand
+unconscionable toil, and besides, after we should have accomplished it,
+we should be hard put to it to make the earth around the timber
+sufficiently firm and compact; so we had to consider another way, which
+gave us a great deal of trouble.  Indeed, it baffled us for several
+days, in which, however, we were not idle, but occupied ourselves in
+other concerns.
+
+[Sidenote: A Flagstaff]
+
+One of these was the erecting of a signal-post.  Although, when we
+talked matters over--as we often did, both in the daytime and
+especially at night before we fell asleep--when we talked things over,
+I say, we always concluded that there was little or no chance of being
+rescued, and made our plans as if we were to remain on this island for
+the rest of our lives; yet we thought it right to take our measures for
+attracting any friendly ship that might heave in sight.  We must not,
+of course, attempt to raise any permanent signal, for such a thing
+would beyond question be discovered by the savages of some neighbouring
+island when going about in their canoes, and the last thing we could
+wish was to bring savages into our peaceful domain.  On the other hand,
+unless we had some means of signalling, a ship might easily pass us by
+before we could communicate with it, for the island was so small that
+no vessel would heave to on the mere chance of finding water, since its
+most important river, if it had one, could not be more than a mere
+brook in size.  Being thus decided that we ought to have some kind of
+signal ready, in such a case, we determined that nothing could be
+better than a flagstaff, even if we should never have a flag.
+
+As for the spot where to erect it, we had no difficulty in choosing
+that; no better could be found than the wooded hill above the lava bed,
+whither we climbed every morning and evening to take our lookout.  At
+the top of this hill, and somewhat apart from the rest of the trees,
+there stood a tree very straight and tall, overtopping the others, so
+that it formed a very clear mark.  Since our flagstaff was not to be
+permanently in sight, it seemed best that we should have one that we
+could take to pieces, and put together when it was necessary to hoist
+it, and I had already seen, at the edge of the lake, what I thought
+would serve our purpose to a marvel.  This was a cluster of trees, or
+rather shrubs, like what is called bamboo, the stalks being tough and
+hollow, with joints or knuckles here and there.  We cut down three or
+four of these stalks, choosing them all of different diameters, and
+having burnt out the pith inside them, for some distance from the top,
+we contrived to make a kind of telescope tube by fitting them together,
+it reaching a length of near thirty feet.
+
+This being made, we cut, in the top of the trunk of the tall, straight
+tree before mentioned, a groove large enough to form a socket for the
+bottom end of our flagstaff, and when we had fitted it to our
+satisfaction, we ventured just before sunset to raise the staff, and it
+made a sort of topmast to the tree, standing some twelve feet above the
+summit.
+
+"This is prime," says Billy.  "Now all we want is an ancient or a
+pendant to fix to the top of it, and there you are."
+
+"We have nothing but our shirts," said I, "and those we cannot spare."
+
+"But we don't need to raise our flag until we see a ship over yonder,"
+says Billy, "and if we do see one I can strip off my shirt in no time."
+
+"But we can't fit the staff in no time," I replied, "and we must
+practise ourselves in that until we are very speedy in it."
+
+We did this accordingly, several evenings in succession, always at
+dusk, so that our proceedings should not be seen by sharp-eyed savages;
+and we found in a few days that we could fit the joints of the staff
+together, and set it up in its socket, in the space of five minutes, as
+near as I could guess.  We kept the several joints in the tree, so that
+we should not have the labour of hauling them from the ground every
+time, fastening them to the boughs with strands of creepers.
+
+While on this matter of the flagstaff, I must say that it came into my
+mind one day that I had seen the native women making a kind of cloth
+out of the bark of a tree, though I had not observed what tree it was.
+I thought we might contrive to make a pendant in the same way, and
+after some trials of the bark of different trees we discovered that the
+bread-fruit tree was best fitted for our purpose, and by diligently
+beating with stones upon a broad strip of the bark, moistened with
+water, we flattened and stretched it until it became a sort of thin
+fabric, which would serve for a flag, though a makeshift one.  But
+having made it, we could not at first devise a means of attaching it to
+the staff, having no nails, or anything that could be used in their
+stead.  There did, indeed, come out of the bark as we bruised it, a
+sticky substance which we hoped might serve as glue, but we found that
+it was not sufficiently tenacious.  However, after some thought I hit
+upon the device of stringing the flag on a strand of creeper, and then
+knotting the ends of this about the pole.
+
+Our success in this particular gave us much contentment, and Billy
+declared that now that we knew how to make cloth we must discover a
+means of making needles and thread, so that we could patch our shirts
+and breeches, which were already miserably rent and tattered.  But this
+was too great a puzzle for us at the moment, though we solved it
+afterwards, as I shall tell in its place.
+
+[Sidenote: Pottery]
+
+Having started to tell some of the matters that occupied us while we
+were pondering the means of setting up the posts of our house, I may
+mention here another notion that came into my head.  We had used some
+of the clayey earth of the hill-side to fill the interstices of our
+small house, and being often at a loss for vessels in which to cook our
+food, and also to carry water--as yet we did not drink it much, for
+very good reasons--I thought of trying to make some pots and pans.  I
+had, to be sure, no turning wheel, nor could I make one, nor had I the
+prepared flints or the lead for glaze, such as were employed in my
+uncle's factory.  But I had seen the native people making pottery on
+the island at which we touched, and that being, so to speak, my own
+line of business, I had taken more particular note of it than of any
+other of their devices.
+
+Their manner was to put a piece of calabash, or some such thing, under
+a lump of clay, to make it turn freely, and then to turn it slowly, but
+very deftly, by hand, fashioning thereby a vessel of such regular shape
+that I am sure my uncle, could he have seen it, would scarce have
+believed it had not been thrown, as we say, on the wheel.  Such vessels
+they first dried in the sun, then, when a group of them had been
+moulded, a fire was kindled round and over them, and so they were
+baked.  I had no calabash, but I tried my prentice hand with the half
+of a cocoa-nut shell, and found it very serviceable.  But what gave me
+a deal of trouble was the clay.  When I had mixed a great lump of it,
+moistening it with water and pounding it with stones, and had moulded a
+sort of porringer upon the shell at first, the vessel would not keep
+its shape, even so long as it took me to set it upon the ground to dry.
+After making several trials of it, and being always disappointed, I saw
+that I must mix some other substance with the earth to give it
+consistency.  This was a thing that baffled me for days, since all our
+scouring of the island did not bring to light any substance that would
+be of use, and we had no means of grinding into powder the flints which
+lay around in plenty.  How strange is it that we may look afar for what
+we have at our very doors!  All of a sudden it came into my head that
+the sand of the seashore, at the edge of the lava tract, which we trod
+every day in going to bathe, might be the very substance I needed, and
+I found, when I came to try it, that it not only gave the clay the
+consistency I desired, but added a glaze to it when I baked the first
+vessel I made with it.  I soon had a row of basins finished, not very
+comely in shape, but serviceable, and all of a size; and Billy, having
+heard me deplore that I had nothing larger than a cocoa-nut to mould
+them on, went a-prowling on the shore one day, and came staggering back
+with a great dome-shaped stone, and when he set it down in front of me,
+"Oh, ain't I a fool!" says he.
+
+[Illustration: Billy's Plate and Mug]
+
+"What's the matter, Billy?" I asked.  "'Tis the very thing I have been
+wanting this long time."
+
+"I know it is, master," says he, "but what I don't know is why I was
+such a silly ass as to sweat myself a-carrying of it, when I might have
+rolled it on its edge."
+
+"Well, you won't do it again," I said, smiling at his woebegone look.
+
+"No, I take my davy I won't," says he.
+
+"What is 'davy'?" I asked, never having heard that expression before.
+
+"Why, don't you know that?" says he, opening his eyes very wide.
+
+"No.  What is it?" I said.
+
+Then he scratched his head, and looked at the ground, and after a great
+deal of consideration says: "Well, master, I can't say, not to be
+certain, what a davy is; but suppose I said to you, 'I eat forty
+cocoa-nuts at a go,' and you said to me, 'You're a liar,' and I said,
+'I take my davy on it,' you'd have to believe me or else fetch me a
+crack on the nob: at least, that's what they do Limehouse way."
+
+This may seem a very trifling matter, and not worthy of setting down in
+a serious history; but I quote the words to show that we did not pass
+the days without discourse, from which indeed I for my part got much
+entertainment.
+
+With the round stone which Billy brought me, and others we afterwards
+discovered, I made several pots of different sizes, which we found very
+useful, more and more, indeed, as time went on.  And as I became more
+dexterous with practice, the shape and fashion of the pottery likewise
+improved, so that I grew proud of my handicraft, and wished my uncle
+could have seen it.  As for Billy, he was very jealous of my work, and
+lamented that he had not a forge and an anvil and the other implements
+of a smith's calling, and he would show me what he could do; but as he
+lacked these things, and so far as he could see was never like to have
+them, he very sensibly employed himself in helping me, and in getting
+and preparing our food, and the various materials needed for our house.
+I must not forget to mention, too, that it was Billy who first thought
+of using the red sap of the wood I have before spoke of, in giving a
+dye to my pottery, which became thereby a bright red colour, very
+pleasing to the eye.
+
+[Illustration: Some of my Pottery]
+
+All this while we had been thinking very deeply of the matter of our
+big hut, and at last we hit upon a means of erecting the four
+corner-posts.  First we drove the handle of one of the axes--the wood
+being hard and the earth soft, as I have said--for some distance into
+the ground, and then having withdrawn it, we were able to drive into
+the hole a somewhat thicker pole, the end of which we sharpened to a
+point with our axes.  Then we took the first of our corner-posts,
+sharpened the end of it in like manner, this costing us much labour,
+and charred the same end with fire, both to make the driving of it into
+the earth easier, and to preserve it from rotting.  The more serious
+difficulty, of raising the heavy post and driving it in, was solved in
+the following manner.  We made three long ropes by twining strands of
+creepers together, and these we tied very securely to the top of our
+post.  Having made a hole in the earth, as aforesaid, to the depth of
+about four feet, we brought the pointed end directly over the hole, and
+then raised the other end gradually with levers, propping it up
+continually, as we tilted it higher, with a pile of small logs and
+stones, which we increased moment by moment as required.  I leave you
+to judge what a slow and tedious business this was.
+
+[Sidenote: Building under Difficulties]
+
+When by this means the top end of the post was raised to a considerable
+height, the pointed end slid into the hole, though not straight; but
+the post was now tilted sufficiently for us to get under it and heave
+it up with our hands until it was fairly upright, and then the point of
+it sank some little way into the hole, but not far.  Then, while I held
+it upright, Billy went to a distance of a few yards, and drove a wedge
+of wood like a tent-peg into the ground, using for hammer a long stone;
+and this being done, he bound one of the three ropes (so I call them)
+firmly about it.  He did likewise with two more tent-pegs and the two
+other ropes, so that when he had finished, the post was held erect and
+stoutly supported by three ropes, the lower ends of which were so
+placed as to be at the angles of what is called in the _Elements of
+Euclid_ an equilateral triangle.  This work took us a whole day,
+reckoning in the time for our meals.
+
+The next part of our design was to erect a scaffolding about the post.
+For this we chose and cut down stalks of the bamboo-like plant of which
+we had made our flagstaff.  These we lashed firmly together with
+creeper ropes--or rather Billy did it, he having a seaman's dexterity
+in such things; and driving their lower ends into the ground, we
+contrived to construct a scaffolding four-square about the post, each
+face of it about nine feet long, and carried up a little higher than
+the top of the post, so as to clear the ropes that held this in
+position.  The scaffolding being finished with a prodigious deal of
+labour--for having no ladder we were obliged to make standing-places of
+stones, which were very insecure; indeed, both Billy and I tumbled off
+them more than once, and grew very angry at having to collect the
+stones and build them up again: the scaffolding being finished, I say,
+we made a light platform of straight branches upon the top of it, but
+not quite covering it, so that the top of the post was not hidden.
+
+"It won't bear us, that I'm sure," says Billy, when we had made the
+platform.
+
+"Try," said I.  "You are lighter than me: you go first."
+
+Billy clambered on to the platform very nimbly, and though the
+scaffolding trembled and swayed so that I thought to see it instantly
+collapse, it did no such thing, and I ventured to climb up on the other
+side and join Billy.  I was much more clumsy than he was, and pretty
+nearly lost my balance, but managed to steady myself, and then we both
+stood on the platform, and found that it bore the weight of us both
+very well.
+
+The next thing was to haul up the implement which, after much
+consideration, we had devised for driving in the post.  'Twas a massy
+stump of a tree, which, both together, we could heave about two feet
+above the ground--such a thing as resembled in some sort the big wooden
+pummet which road-menders use for hammering down the cobbles in the
+streets, though our pummet had no handle either at the top or the side,
+but must be heaved up by main force from the bottom.  We tied it many
+times round with our creeper ropes, and, having mounted again on to the
+platform, we began to haul.  But the weight of the pummet, and our
+heaving, and the being both on one side of the platform, was too much
+for our frail support; the scaffolding fell apart, down we toppled
+headlong after the pummet, and the strain upon the sustaining ropes
+being too great, one of them snapped, and down came the post, falling
+very luckily in the opposite direction from us, or we might have been
+killed, or at least had our heads broken.
+
+Billy fairly howled with disappointment at this overthrow of our hopes,
+and let forth many of the ugly words which he had learnt, either at
+Limehouse or aboard the _Lovey Susan_.  Indeed, it was a most vexatious
+accident, for the labour of a good many days was undone in a moment,
+and we had to begin over again, both to erect the corner-post and to
+construct a scaffolding.  Billy, who was like a child in some things,
+declared and vowed he would work no more on the big hut.  "I take my
+davy I won't," says he.  "What's the good?  Here's another big hole
+tore in my breeches.  Why should you and me work like slaves when there
+ain't no call for it, victuals growing free?  And as for lodgings, the
+small hut is good enough for me.  We don't want a castle when there
+ain't no one here but dogs and pigs; and I tell you what it is, master,
+we don't eat enough pork, and I wish we had some onions;" and so he
+talked on, and I said nothing, for I knew he would grumble until he was
+tired, and then readily take up his work again.  So in fact it proved,
+for after a day's idleness, or rather change, we spending the day in
+hunting for eggs, we set to work to weave more ropes and put together
+another scaffolding, which when we tried it stood very steady, even
+when we hauled up the pummet.  With this pummet we drove the
+corner-post into the earth inch by inch, lifting it with our hands (it
+was as much as we could do) and then letting it fall plump on the head
+of the post.  'Twas terribly slow work, and hard too, and we thought
+our backs would break across the middle, they ached so much, only we
+had to pause in the driving every now and then to let down our
+platform, in proportion as the post went deeper into the ground, and
+this of course took a great while.  However, we drove the post at last
+to the depth of four feet, and then Billy was just as elated as before
+he had been cast down, for the post stood so massive and solid that it
+seemed nothing short of an earthquake could move it; and that was
+strong enough for us, for against an earthquake, if it came, of course
+we could do nothing.  Having succeeded with our first post, we did not
+take quite so long about erecting the other three; but it was near six
+weeks, I should think, before we got all four in position, I mean six
+weeks after we had felled the trunks, they having then to be pointed
+with our rude axes, and the scaffolding having to be built up afresh
+with the same care for the fourth post as for the first.
+
+When we had the four posts up we were very well satisfied with our
+handiwork, but desperately weary, for we had stuck to it day after day
+without respite except to get our food and perform the other articles
+of our regular life--bathing, and going up to our watch-tower, as we
+called it, and so forth.  Accordingly I said to Billy that we would
+take a week's holiday before we made the walls of our house, on which
+Billy sighed very heavily.
+
+"Why, don't you want a holiday?" I asked him.
+
+"'Course I do, master," says he, "but how can you have a holiday
+without any beer?"
+
+He then told me that when his father took a holiday, he drove to some
+country part near London--Islington, or maybe Hampstead--and spent the
+day in playing skittles and drinking beer.  This put a notion into my
+head, and the first day of our holiday we played skittles with some
+short posts set up in the sand on the beach, bowling at them with
+cocoa-nuts.  'Twas as good a sport as we could devise at that time,
+though we soon came to invent a better, as you shall hear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE EIGHTH
+
+OF MY ENCOUNTER WITH A SEA MONSTER; AND OF THE MEANS WHEREBY WE
+PROVIDED OURSELVES WITH ARMS
+
+
+I think it was on the second day of our week's holiday that we had a
+terrible fright, which affected us the more because hitherto there had
+been so little to alarm us.  We had eaten our dinner, and were roaming
+idly along the high ground in the west of the island, when, looking
+over the brink, Billy spied some nests among the rocks in the face of
+the cliff.  We had never been able to obtain near so many eggs for our
+food as we wished, the hens laying their eggs, as I have said, in
+secret places which required much searching for, and for that we did
+not on our working days care to spend time.  But spying these nests,
+Billy was set on clambering down to them to see if they contained eggs,
+which would make us a very good supper.
+
+There was a narrow ledge that ran down the face of the cliff, ending
+not far above the sea, which at this spot washed the base, there being
+no beach of sand.  The descent was so steep, and the ledge so narrow,
+that I was in some doubt whether the attempt were not too dangerous;
+but Billy, as I say, was set on it, and when I saw him actually begin
+to clamber down, I could do naught but accompany him, and soon
+outstripped him, because he stopped more often than I did to pry in all
+the crevices.  The face of the cliff was much scarred, and certain
+large boulders in it seemed to me to be very loosely embedded; indeed,
+now and again a piece of rock would become detached when I catched hold
+of it to steady myself, and rolled and rumbled away until it fell into
+the sea.  You see by this how carefully it behoved us to go, and if the
+ledge had not been a little wider than it appeared from the top, I
+think I should have given up the enterprise.  However, we persevered,
+and in the course of our descent rifled of their eggs such nests as
+came within our reach, the rightful owners of the nests, which were
+sea-birds, wheeling about our heads with a clamour of shrill and
+plaintive cries.  We put the eggs in our pockets, having no other means
+of carrying them, and when Billy sighed for a basket I said that we
+would try to make one the very same day, there being plenty of material
+for weaving.
+
+[Sidenote: A Sea Monster]
+
+Here and there in the face of the cliff there grew trees, not of great
+size; indeed, it was a marvel that any grew, the ground being so hard
+and rugged.  When we came near the sea, we saw a little cluster of a
+kind of pine tree[1] (at least I judged it so by its exceeding pleasant
+smell) which jutted out over the sea, one of the tallest of them,
+covered with great bunches of flowers of a bright yellow colour, very
+pretty, reaching up to the edge of the narrow path down which we were
+climbing.  It was a strange tree, for instead of having a trunk thicker
+at the bottom, like other trees, it divided into a number of shoots,
+which entered the ground in the shape of a pyramid.  I was just
+reaching forward
+
+
+
+[1] Probably the screw-pine (_Pandanus odoratissimus_).--H.S.
+
+
+to pluck one of the blossoms when I felt a strange tickling about my
+ankle, and immediately afterward a sharp pain like that of a gad-fly's
+bite, only worse.  I thought a scorpion or some such thing had bitten
+me, and turned myself a little, for the ledge on which I stood was too
+narrow for great movements, and drew my leg back so that the reptile
+should not sting me again.  But I felt then as if my ankle had been
+caught in a noose, which was being drawn constantly tighter, and I
+could not free my leg from the grip, though I kicked as much as I
+dared.  Looking down to see what was holding me, I was annoyed, yet
+relieved at the same time, to find that my leg was caught in nothing
+worse, as it appeared, than a big brown, or rather brownish-purple,
+leaf, into which I supposed I had unwittingly put my foot.  Yet I
+wondered that a mere leaf could grip me so firmly, and as I took out of
+my belt the axe without which I never went abroad, intending to cut the
+impediment away, my eye chanced to travel along the leaf towards its
+furthest extremity, where it was partly hidden by a cluster of fruit.
+
+And then I felt a shiver run down my spine like a trickle of cold
+water, for there, beyond the cluster, I saw two horrid eyes, like a
+parrot's, gleaming in the midst of a big shapeless body, which I knew
+to be alive by its pulsations.  I had never in my life seen or heard of
+such a thing, and knew not what it was or whether it was dangerous or
+no; but the mere sight of it filled me with a sickening dread, and when
+I saw the loathly monster drawing nearer to me, working its way, as it
+seemed, by the tentacles wherewith it had attached itself to the tree,
+and its body throbbing, I was as near overcome with sheer terror as any
+man could be, so that I could not think, nor even cry out to Billy, who
+was some few yards above me.  All that I could do, and that was only by
+instinct, was to resist the creature's pull, which had all but
+dislodged me from my narrow foothold.
+
+It was Billy's voice that roused me from this palsy of the mind.  "My
+pockets won't hold no more, master," he said, being quite ignorant of
+what was passing beneath him.  Then I cried out to him that a monster
+was attacking me, and at the same time I bent down and slashed
+furiously with my axe upon the tentacle that gripped my leg, and turned
+sick again when the axe-head encountered the slimy mass.  But my
+strokes, doubly redoubled, caused the monster somewhat to relax its
+grip, and immediately afterward a big jagged piece of rock, hurled by
+Billy, smote full upon it with a sickening thud, and rebounding fell
+with a splash into the sea.  The monster, as if stunned by the shock,
+loosened its hold on the branches to which, as we now saw, it had
+anchored itself, and in a little while fell into the sea and
+disappeared from our sight.
+
+[Illustration: "I CRIED OUT TO HIM THAT A MONSTER WAS ATTACKING ME."]
+
+"I never did see such a wicked villain," says Billy.  "Why, master,
+you're as white as a sheet!" and, indeed, I was not far from swooning,
+the horror of that great beast being still upon me.  Billy was not near
+so much affected, not having felt the monster's grip nor seen closely
+its baleful eyes; and I think Billy was a trifle scornful of the terror
+I could not conceal, though afterwards he said he didn't wonder at my
+feeling pretty bad.  It was some little time before I was sufficiently
+recovered to attempt the upward climb; but, with Billy's help, I
+presently clambered to the top, and threw myself very thankfully on the
+grass, never heeding Billy's lamentable outcry when he found that two
+of the eggs he carried had broken in his pocket.
+
+This terrible encounter, and most happy escape, set me on thinking
+first what a mercy it was I carried my axe, and then how perfectly
+defenceless we were against any human enemy that might come against us
+armed.  I said to Billy that we must spend the rest of our holiday in
+making weapons, though when I spoke I had not the least notion of what
+we could make that would be of any avail.  Billy was for making huge
+clubs, and sticking pieces of flint into their knobby ends, which would
+beyond doubt have proved very formidable weapons at close quarters;
+but, as I had told him already, we should be shot down with spears or
+arrows before we could come within reach of the enemy, and therefore we
+could do nothing against them unless we made weapons like their own.
+Whereupon Billy declared for spears, since we had no strings for bows,
+and we spent a day cutting light poles for the shafts and in searching
+for sharp flints that might serve as the heads.  But we had such a
+difficulty in fastening the heads on, and the spears were so exceeding
+rude and clumsy when made, that I despaired of ever making serviceable
+defensive weapons of them, and being by no means satisfied that it was
+beyond our capacity to fashion bows and arrows, I seized occasion while
+Billy was cooking our supper (which was baked bread-fruit and fried
+eggs, the latter stronger in flavour and not near so pleasant as hens'
+eggs, having a fishy taste)--I seized occasion, I say, to make a first
+trial for a bow-string, which Billy had very shrewdly perceived would
+be the greatest difficulty.
+
+[Sidenote: Making Arms]
+
+I tried first of all a very thin strand of a creeping plant, but though
+that was tough enough, it was not at all elastic, so that I gave that
+up at once.  Next I bethought me of the fibres in the husks and leaves
+of the cocoa-nut, and wondered whether these could be woven into a
+cord; and if any are surprised that I should so much as mention this,
+having seen cocoa-nuts, perhaps, only as they appear in our shops, I
+will explain that the nut itself is enclosed in a tough fibrous husk of
+about two inches in thickness, while the leaf is covered for two or
+three feet of its length with a fibrous matting, very fine and strong,
+which acts as a kind of brace to the stalk and keeps it steadily fixed
+to the trunk.  I had taken note of this fibrous substance, and, indeed,
+thought I remembered that the native people made thread of it; but when
+I came to the actual experiment, I found that the thread so made was as
+tough as you please, and it served us excellent well afterward in many
+ways, as will presently be seen, but it was quite lacking in that
+spring without which a bow-string is impossible.
+
+[Illustration: Spearhead]
+
+I do not mean to say that I made all these discoveries while Billy was
+cooking the supper, but only that I began to make my trials then.  It
+was, indeed, several days before we lighted on something that was
+suited to our purpose, and that by a kind of accident.  We had gone up
+the mountain, as was our daily custom, to make our survey, and coming
+down again we left our usual path, for no reason that I can remember,
+and came upon a patch of plants of a kind that we had not observed
+before.  We had become by this time so knowing in the vegetation of our
+island, though quite ignorant of the names of the plants, that we
+stopped to examine this new kind, and plucked some of it, which we
+peeled as we went our way.  It seemed to me that the bark of it had a
+certain stretch in its fibres, and when we got back to our hut we
+pulled the fibres out and twisted some of them together in the manner
+of a cord, and fastened the ends of the string thus made to the ends of
+a short pliable twig, and to our great joy, when I pulled the string
+and released it suddenly, it shot back with a twang as like that of a
+true cord as can be imagined.  In my delight I cried out that I would
+be Robin Hood and Billy should be Little John, which he took at first
+to be an affront on his shortness of stature, he being eight inches or
+more less than I was at that time; he grew afterwards till there was no
+more than four inches betwixt us.  But on my telling him what stories I
+could remember of Robin Hood and his bold men in Lincoln green--Friar
+Tuck and Maid Marion and the rest of the company--Billy, who had never
+heard of any of these before, was greatly delighted, though he doubted
+whether they were quite so good marksmen as the stories said, and
+professed that of them all he would have preferred to be Friar Tuck,
+who had a nice taste in venison, just as Billy himself had in pork.
+However, he agreed to be Little John, reminding me very pertinently
+that we had not yet made our bows and arrows.
+
+I had already made up my mind as to the wood we should use for making
+the bows.  It was that same red wood of which I have spoken once or
+twice, and which, being flexible as well as hard, seemed to me the
+fittest for our purpose of all the woods in the island.  Accordingly we
+chose two strong saplings of this tree growing to my own height, or a
+little more, and having uprooted them, we cut off the branches and
+twigs, peeled the bark off, and then pared them for three or four
+inches in the centre, so as we might grip them easily.  This done, we
+shaved the ends as well as we could with our axes until they tapered,
+and about two inches from each end we burned a notch in which we
+purposed fitting the strings.  Thus with an easy day's work we had two
+fine bows, not very cunningly shaped, but strong and serviceable--at
+least, we hoped so.
+
+[Illustration: Billy's Bow and Arrow]
+
+Billy took upon himself to make some arrows while I made the strings.
+For this purpose he chose some straight light shoots, about as thick as
+your finger, peeled off the bark as we did with the saplings, and
+trimmed them with his axe and other sharp stones, rubbing them also
+with sand, until they were wonderfully smooth.  Billy was more patient
+in this work than I had ever seen him, and as each shoot was prepared
+he held it up to his eye and looked along it as if to see whether it
+were a trifle out of the straight, and if he thought so, he would rub
+and polish again until he was satisfied.  He had near a dozen of these
+shoots prepared by the time I had finished the strings for our two
+bows, and he then began to point the heads; but it appeared that he was
+quite ignorant of the use of feathers, so while he was pointing the
+shafts I roamed about the woods in search of feathers, and found a good
+number on the ground, and these we stuck on the tail end of the shafts
+as I had seen them in pictures, for as for the actual things, I had
+never had them in my hand.  This made me wish, and so did many other
+matters, that I had given more heed to the construction of things, for
+barring pottery and rabbit-hutches I was a perfect simpleton in using
+my hands.  Of course, when the first arrow was finished, I tried it
+with the bow, and found that it did not fly near so well as I hoped;
+nor did the second and third that we made, which was a great trouble to
+us.  The flight of these arrows was neither far nor steady, and for a
+long time we could not make out in the least why we had failed.  It was
+Billy that discovered the reason, though I believe it was more by guess
+than by deduction.
+
+[Illustration: Billy's Scraper for rounding Arrow Shafts]
+
+"Why, master," he said, "I do believe 'tis all along o' those silly
+feathers you've been and gone and stuck in, so that the tail's heavier
+than the head."
+
+I saw that there might be something in Billy's notion, so we first of
+all tried the experiment of making one of the arrows taper towards the
+tail; and when we found that it certainly flew from the bow much better
+than the others, I thought of improving still further by fitting stone
+heads to the shafts.  We split up some pieces of flint, and using a
+flat corner of the lava tract as a kind of anvil, Billy chipped away at
+some of the smaller pieces with a heavy lump of the rock containing
+iron until we had a little heap of flakes shaped something like a leaf.
+Some of these we lashed to shallow grooves in our shafts by means of
+pieces of the string I had made; others we drove into clefts in the top
+of the shafts; and when we came to try these new-tipped arrows on the
+bow, we found that they flew very much better than any that we had made
+before.
+
+By the time we had furnished ourselves with the bows and a dozen arrows
+our week's holiday was past, and we ought by rights to have gone back
+to our work on the house.  But arrows were not made merely to be looked
+at, nor to be shot off only for fun, as Billy said, and he was bent on
+employing our new weapons in the useful work of providing food.  We had
+had nothing but bread-fruit, cocoanuts, and eggs, and pork twice, ever
+since we had been on the island, which I reckoned to be now a matter of
+three or four months or so, and I own I agreed with Billy that we
+should be none the worse of a more frequent change of diet.  Of late we
+had seen very little of the wild pigs, being so much busied with our
+building work and pottery, and other things; but the dogs were frequent
+spectators of our proceedings, though not so constantly as at first,
+finding no profit in them, I suppose.  However, we now set off with our
+bows and arrows, fiercely bent on slaughter.
+
+We tramped for a good long time across the island before we discovered
+a herd of pigs in a little open space beyond a wood.  They were
+grunting, as pigs do, and poking their snouts into the ground as if in
+search of food, though I doubted whether they would find anything fit
+to eat, even for them, which are not particular, as everybody knows.
+We crept up very stealthily to the edge of the open space, so that they
+did not perceive us, and then, selecting the two nearest animals, we
+let fly our shafts both at the same moment.  The arrows flew very
+swiftly from the bows, but clean over the pigs, so that we did not hit
+one of them, and the twang of the bow-strings being very audible, the
+pigs instantly took fright, and scampered away, all but one old boar,
+as he seemed, who stood with his snout lifted, grunting very loud, as
+if angry with being disturbed.
+
+"I'll have a shot for old father bacon," says Billy, fitting an arrow
+to the string, and taking aim as well as he could, he shot it; but
+having seen that his first shot went too high, he aimed the second too
+low, and it stuck in the ground a yard or so in front of the solitary
+boar.  And then Billy flew into a mighty rage, I assure you, for the
+boar marched up to the arrow, sticking out of the earth, and sniffed at
+it with very loud grunts for a moment, and then snapped it up and broke
+it in two.  "There's half-a-day's work spoiled," cried Billy, who was
+already angry enough at having missed his mark twice, and he rushed
+out, calling the boar by many very unseemly names.  The beast was taken
+by surprise, and instantly turned tail and scampered after the rest of
+the herd, with Billy at his heels, and me not far behind, for
+remembering the scrape that Billy had fallen into once before, I did
+not like to let him go out of my sight.  And so we pursued those pigs
+for above half-an-hour, I should think, and never came within fifty
+yards of them, nor getting any chance to take a shot at them, because
+they were never still.  We gave it up when we were thoroughly weary,
+and were going back to our hut, much disappointed of our expected meat,
+when Billy remembered that we had left two arrows where we had first
+encountered the pigs.
+
+"We must go back for 'em," says he, shaking his fist in the direction
+whither the pigs had fled.  "They are easier shot than made, and easier
+broke than shot, drat it; but I'll make 'em porkers pay for leading us
+this dance, see if I don't."
+
+I agreed that our arrows, made with such toil, were much too precious
+to be wasted, and we went back to the place where we had shot them, not
+finding it by any means easy to light on the spot again.
+
+"We shall have to practise, Billy," I said on the way; "we can't expect
+to be good marksmen all at once."
+
+"I s'pose we can't," says Billy ruefully; "we do have to have three or
+four goes at a thing afore we does it proper.  But I did want some
+pork."
+
+Coming at length to the open space, we searched for a good time before
+we found the two arrows; but as I was stooping I made a discovery that
+quite banished my disappointment and more than made amends for our long
+tramp.  The pigs, as I said, had been grubbing the ground vainly, as I
+had thought; but I now saw that it was not so, for there before me lay
+a long round root as big as a man's head, and of a dark brown colour,
+which I immediately recognized as a yam.  I called Billy to come and
+see it, and remembering that we had ate some that time we sojourned on
+the island, and found them very like potatoes when boiled and mashed,
+but sweeter, we were exceedingly pleased, and Billy at once said that
+we must certainly make some pork sausages to go with our mashed
+potatoes.
+
+"Provided the pigs have left us any to mash," said I, for I now saw
+that they had grubbed the ground pretty thoroughly, and though we
+searched it for some time, we did not find above six yams, which we
+carried back to our hut, and boiled one of them for dinner.  Unless we
+should find another plantation of them on the island, which I scarcely
+hoped for, it seemed that our supply would be soon exhausted; but it
+then came into my mind that we might plant some of those that we had,
+and so grow them for ourselves.  We knew nothing about the season for
+planting, nor the right kind of soil for them, but supposed they would
+be something like potatoes in their nature as well as in their taste,
+and so determined to eat no more of them for the present, but to keep
+them until such time as seemed fitting for planting.
+
+This question made us think of times and seasons, which, living from
+day to day as we did without concern for the morrow, we had not yet
+troubled ourselves about.  It was summer when we first came to the
+island, and we were now, as I guessed, about the end of autumn, though
+there was little in the weather to show it, nor very much, so far as we
+could tell, in the varying length of day and night.  But the near
+approach of winter came upon my mind with a kind of shock.  We knew not
+what the winter was like in these latitudes, nor whether we should be
+afflicted with severe cold; but we could tell from the ripeness of the
+fruits of the island that they would not hang much longer upon the
+trees; indeed, some had already fallen; and I began to wonder what we
+should do for food in the winter.  We had discovered that the
+bread-fruit, when plucked, remained good for three or four days, if the
+rind was not pierced; but we had never kept any for a longer time, and
+I was not a little dismayed as I thought of the straits we should be
+put to if we could not preserve the food in some way.
+
+Billy reminded me that the native people with whom we had dwelt for a
+fortnight had given us a bread-fruit pudding, which was delicious.  I
+asked him whether he had seen it made, and he said that he had not, but
+it looked uncommon like batter pudding when it was baked, and indeed I
+remembered it was just such a rich brown colour as well-cooked batter.
+I had many a time seen my aunt Susan make batter, and though we had
+neither milk nor flour, we had eggs, and it seemed to me at least worth
+the trial to attempt a batter of bread-fruit.  Accordingly we took two
+large bread-fruits, very ripe, and having cut away the rind and
+rejected the core, we put the white pulpy part into one of my earthen
+vessels, and pounded and worked it with a thick stick until it looked
+very like a thick batter.  Billy meanwhile had beat up an egg, and when
+we added this to the other, and mixed it, Billy cried out it reminded
+him of pancake day, when his stepmother always made two thick pancakes
+for herself and his father, and he had a thin one if there was any left
+over.  Since all the earthen vessels I had made were round-bottomed,
+and we had nothing at all resembling a frying-pan, we were thinking of
+boiling the mixture, and hoped it would not burn, being so thick, when
+Billy asked why we shouldn't bake it.  I pointed out that we had no
+baking tins, and without something to hold it the batter would indeed
+become as flat as a pancake; but Billy was equal to this difficulty.
+
+"I've seen my mother--she ain't my real mother, 'course--put a piece of
+greasy paper round a dough-cake before she popped it in the oven, and
+it came out all right, only a bit burnt sometimes, and then, my eye,
+didn't she make a row!"  When I said that we had no paper, he at once
+replied, "But we've got leaves, and I don't see why a leaf of a leaf,
+as you may call it, shouldn't be as good as a leaf of paper, or better,
+the name being such."  This appeared to me to be quite a good notion,
+so we got some leaves and wrapped some of our batter in them, making
+little oblong parcels about four inches long and two broad, and these
+we put into our oven, which I have before mentioned, and when we took
+them out and removed the leaves, we found our cakes to be of a fine
+brown colour, and they smelled exceeding good and tasted better: in
+fact, we had made the bread-fruit pudding we had so much liked before,
+only ours was richer by the addition of the egg.
+
+We were very well pleased with this, but I own I was still better
+pleased two or three days after, for I then came upon a portion of the
+batter which we had left uncooked in the pot and forgotten, and found
+that it was perfectly sweet and good, being not in the least offensive
+either in taste or smell.  It then came into my head all of a sudden
+that if the bread-fruit pulp would keep good for days even when exposed
+to the air, it might keep good for weeks and months if kept from the
+air, and thus all our anxiety about our winter food would be removed.
+When I suggested this to Billy he shook his head, saying, "We used to
+keep potatoes in a cellar, but then they had their jackets on, and I've
+never heard tell of fruits keeping.  You can't keep an apple, 'cause
+I've tried, only I ate it afore it was quite rotten."  But I was
+determined to make the experiment, though having no cellar or other
+confined space I was at first at a loss how to form a large enough
+receptacle for our store.  After considering of it for some time I had
+a notion of digging a hole in the ground and lining it with pottery
+ware, but to this Billy said that we might use leaves and so save a lot
+of time.  So we dug a hole, not very deep, and lined it well with large
+thick leaves, and into it we poured a great quantity of the bread-fruit
+pulp that we had mashed--not mixing it with eggs, of course--and then
+we covered it over with leaves, and put heavy stones on the top, and
+waited for a week to see what came of it.
+
+[Sidenote: Archery]
+
+While we were waiting the result of our experiment at storage we
+practised very diligently with our bows and arrows, and I observed that
+Billy was pitting himself against me, though he did not say so, at
+least not then, but he told me afterwards that he meant to try whether
+Little John could not beat Robin Hood.  At first we chose broad trees
+for our targets, but we found after a time, when we began to be able to
+hit them, that our arrows were very much blunted against the bark,
+which made us think of devising a target, for the arrows took so long
+to shape that it was important to us they should not be injured.  This
+making of a target gave us no trouble, for we had only to stretch
+leaves across a light framework made of twigs; and to mark the centre
+of it, for what I believe is called the bull's-eye, we smeared a circle
+with the sticky substance which, as I have said, came out of the bark
+of the bread-fruit tree when we beat it to make our flag, and then
+sprinkled the sticky circle with sand, which stood out, light in
+colour, against the dark green of the leaves.
+
+We set up this target at varying distances, which we made greater as we
+grew more proficient, and we found that our arrows took no hurt from
+striking against it, passing through the leaves, indeed, so that we had
+to make another target by and by; but not very soon, because it was
+some time before either of us hit the target at all, and as for a
+bull's-eye, we thought we should never do it.  Indeed, when we had
+practised for about a week, Billy declared that he was sure there never
+was a Robin Hood (he had made the same declaration before about
+Robinson Crusoe), and he thought the tales about these two heroes must
+have been invented by the same liar, because the one was Robin and the
+other Robinson.  When I said that was impossible, because Robin Hood
+lived five or six hundred years before Crusoe was heard of, Billy said
+'twas no matter; the stories of both were all pure fudge, and he
+wouldn't believe until he saw it that any one could ever hit the
+bull's-eye at a greater distance than ten yards.  It chanced that our
+target was thirty yards away at that moment, and fitting an arrow to
+the bow, I let it fly without any nice calculation, and Billy was
+fairly dumfoundered, and so was I, when we saw the arrow sticking in
+the circle of sand, a little to the right of the exact centre.  For a
+moment Billy looked foolish; then he flushed, and turning truculently
+to me he said, "I lay you a dollar you don't do it again, not in ten
+shots."  This put me on my mettle, and it did not occur to either of us
+that we had no dollars nor any such thing; but I fired my shots one
+after another with the most careful aim I could, and missed the target
+altogether six times, and the other times only grazed the outer rim.
+Whereupon Billy began to caper, and said I owed him a dollar, and a
+pretty fine Robin Hood I was, with more of that boyish sort of talk,
+which made me angry, and I flung down my bow, intending, I own, to
+punch Billy's head.  When he saw this, he flung down his bow also, and
+squared himself, and put up his fists in such a remarkable way, calling
+to me to come on, that I could not keep from laughing, and then he
+laughed too, and so we were friends again at once.  This was the first
+time things got so near to a fight with us, and though we had little
+disagreements that are not worth mentioning, we never fought but once
+all the time we were on the island, and of that I must tell in its
+place, if I think of it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE NINTH
+
+OF PIGS AND POULTRY, AND OF THE DEPREDATIONS OF THE WILD DOGS, UPON
+WHOM WE MAKE WAR
+
+
+It was after about a week of this practice in archery that we removed
+the covering from the hole where we had stored the bread-fruit, and
+looked to see how it was.  To our great delight it was perfectly good,
+though it had changed its colour, being now somewhat yellowish, and
+also its smell, which was now something like that of yeast.  This made
+me think that the paste was fermenting, as indeed it was; but it seemed
+to be none the worse, and we cooked a little and ate it with relish,
+finding it rather acid, like cheese.  Being satisfied on this point, we
+immediately set to work to dig a larger hole, which we filled in like
+manner with a great quantity of bread-fruits, mashing them to a paste
+first in our earthen vessels.  And having our anxiety thus relieved on
+the score of provision for the winter, we ought to have gone back to
+our work on the big hut, but we were so bent on improving our
+marksmanship, Billy being determined to go pig-hunting, that we spent
+nearly all our time in practising with our bows and arrows.  By this
+means we made ourselves pretty fair marksmen at the stationary target,
+but when Billy talked about going out to shoot pigs, I said that he
+would find it a very different matter to hit a moving thing.  However,
+he would not listen to me, but left me making some new arrows while he
+went off by himself.  He came back after a long time, empty-handed and
+very crestfallen, having lost two arrows and broken a third, without
+hitting a single pig.
+
+"I tell you what, master," says he, "you carry the target while I take
+a shot at it: that will be as good as a running pig, and learn me to
+shoot 'em."
+
+"And suppose you hit me?" I said.
+
+"Well, I might, that's true," he said, "you being bigger than a pig.
+Don't I wish I knew how that there Little John aimed when he was
+shooting at a deer!"
+
+[Illustration: Clay Saucepans, and Tongs of Wood]
+
+This made me think whether we could not devise a moving target, and
+though I could not hit upon any means for several days, I did at last,
+and we tried it, and it answered my expectations very well, and
+moreover furnished us with a kind of sport, which was very grateful to
+us in our loneliness.  What we did was this: we made a target somewhat
+larger than our first, in the same manner, but shaped like a man, that
+is, the top was smaller than the rest, but we did not attempt to make
+limbs.  We made it very light, for this reason: that we strung it to a
+thin rope made of the fibres of the plant I have mentioned before, this
+rope being tied to two trees, about twenty yards apart, and at the
+height of a man from the ground.  We hung the target (or the Guy
+Fawkes, as Billy called it) to the rope by a large loop, and to this we
+tied another rope, but thinner, so that the guy could be drawn easily
+along the rope from tree to tree.  Then we took turns, the one shooting
+at the guy with his arrows while the other drew it along as quickly as
+he could, and we tried which of us could plant the most arrows in the
+figure while it moved over this space of twenty yards, the loser having
+to prepare the food for next day's meals.  We found it very good sport
+and very good practice too, and there was not much to choose between
+us, though I think I became a trifle more expert than Billy, he
+excelling me in muscular strength, but I having, or acquiring, a
+certain knack with which strength has nothing to do.
+
+You may be sure that as soon as we had attained to any skill in hitting
+our running man Billy was mad to go out once more and shoot pigs, and
+we were talking about doing so, as we ate our breakfast one morning,
+when we heard a great uproar in the wood just below the mountain,
+running out towards the natural archway.  It seemed as if all the dogs
+in the island were barking and yelping at once.  Wondering what the
+cause might be, we snatched up our bows and arrows, having also our
+axes as usual, and hasting across the lava bed towards the noise, we
+came upon a great sow with a litter of tiny pigs, and twenty or more
+dogs around them.  This amazed us, for we had never seen the dogs
+attack the pigs before, and I guessed that they would not have done so
+now, only the sow was limping as if one of her legs was broken, and I
+thought she might have fallen from a height, the ground hereabouts
+being very rough and jagged.  However, she was making a good fight of
+it against the dogs, and we stopped to watch the struggle, forgetting
+our own errand.
+
+The dogs, as I have before shown, were possessed of a certain degree of
+cunning, and while some of them held the sow at bay, others rushed in
+among the litter and carried off at least one of the piglets; the
+mother, threatened on all sides, being unable to defend all her family.
+After we had watched the scene for a little, Billy whispered to me, "I
+say, master, you ain't a-going to let the dogs have all the pork?"  I
+agreed that we had as good a right to it as they, so we ran forward
+shouting, and the dogs, which had seized enough of the litter to make a
+very good meal, ran away with their booty, being plainly afraid that we
+should attempt to take it from them.
+
+When the sow spied us she knew that we were as dangerous enemies to her
+family as the dogs; at least she guessed it, for she made a very savage
+rush at Billy, who was nearest to her, and would have overthrown him
+but that she was lame and he was nimble.  We took counsel together what
+we should do, having a mind to capture her and lead her to our
+settlement by the lake, for we knew that the little ones would follow
+her, and Billy had a great notion of starting a piggery.  But we saw
+that, her leg being broken, we should have great difficulty in leading
+her over the hill, even if our united strength could pull her: yet we
+did not like to leave her to the mercy of the dogs, which would
+certainly worry her slowly to death, helpless as she was.  Accordingly
+we thought it best to kill her outright, and while Billy did this with
+his axe, I easily caught two of the little ones, which remained near
+their mother, and held them by the legs until Billy came to my
+assistance, and then we tied their legs together with creepers, so that
+they could not escape.  Then Billy caught another one, and reached
+after the fourth, which, however, had become alarmed and scampered
+away, only to be snapped up by the dogs.
+
+Now the question was, how should we bring the dead sow and the live
+piglets to our hut by the lake?--for we had determined to eat the sow
+and to keep the little ones alive.  The sow was too heavy for one, or
+even both of us, to carry over the steep and rocky hillside; the little
+pigs were too small to be driven and must be carried.  If we took the
+sow and left the pigs, they would be seized by the dogs; while if we
+took them and left the sow, there would be very little remaining of her
+by the time we came back.  We settled that I should carry the pigs
+home, and bring back ropes for dragging the carcase, over which Billy
+would keep guard; so I took a little squealing one under each arm, and
+Billy slung the third to my back with a creeper, and I was about to
+start when Billy said: "What if old father bacon hears their squeals
+and comes after you?"  In that case I should certainly have to drop one
+of the pigs to wield my axe: my bow and arrows, of course, I could not
+carry; but I must take the risk, and so set off, very well laden.
+
+I came safely to our hut, and shut up the pigs inside (which was a
+trouble to us afterwards, but there was no help for it at the time, we
+having no other place in which to secure them), and then, taking some
+of our ropes, I hastened back to Billy.  But I had no sooner got to the
+top of the slope above the lake than I heard the same barking and
+yelping and snarling as before, and in the same direction.  This made
+me hurry my steps, and 'twas well I did so, for when I came upon the
+scene, there was Billy by the sow, and the pack of dogs leaping with
+great uproar about him, he having his back to a rock, and very manfully
+wielding his axe to keep off the furious animals.  The moment I saw
+this I gave a great shout, having before observed that nothing was more
+likely to scare these wild creatures, and rushed upon them, and seeing
+me they turned tail and scampered away into the wood.
+
+I found Billy in a very sad case.  He told me that I had not long
+departed when the dogs came creeping up, and then, being worked into a
+frenzy by the sight and the scent of the carcase, and emboldened by
+seeing only one instead of two boys, they had made a rush upon him.  He
+shot at them when he perceived that they were closing in, and I found
+that one arrow had killed a dog, another was sticking in the ground,
+and a third had broken against a spar of rock.  Then he could no longer
+shoot, because they were upon him, but he killed two with his axe, not
+before he had been severely bitten about the legs, as he tried to
+prevent them from mangling the sow, and indeed he was in very great
+danger when I appeared to his rescue.  The carcase had been so torn by
+the dogs that I did not care to have anything more to do with it;
+besides, Billy was so severely hurt, though he did not complain, that I
+saw he could give me little help in dragging the carcase home; for
+which reasons we decided to leave it to the dogs, and I only regretted
+that we had not done so before.  I was so anxious about Billy,
+wondering whether his blood would be poisoned by the bite of the dogs,
+that I forgot to pick up our bows and arrows until he reminded me of
+them, and indeed he insisted on my gathering up two of those he had
+shot, the third being broken, saying that we could not spare any now
+that we had to reckon the dogs as our mortal enemies.  Leaving the
+carcase, then, which the dogs were at instantly, we returned to our
+place, and then I bathed Billy's wounds with water from the lake, and
+tore a great strip off my shirt to make bandages, for which Billy
+blamed me, but what else could I do?
+
+[Sidenote: A Pig-sty]
+
+Since we could not endure that the pigs should be with us in the hut
+(they had been there too long already), we had to build a sty for them,
+or rather I had to, for Billy tried very bravely to help me, but had to
+give up after a short while.  For some days he wore a very troubled
+look, asking me whether I thought he would go mad; but he cheered up
+wonderfully as the days passed and he did not take a dislike to water.
+I made as good a sty as I could with logs and branches, tying up the
+pigs inside so that they could not get away, but we were awakened in
+the middle of the night by a loud squealing, and when I ran out I found
+that the dogs had come and scratched away a part of the weak fence, and
+I was only just in time to save the piglets from them.  Since I could
+do nothing to strengthen the sty in the darkness, I built a great fire
+near it, and sat by it for the rest of the night, in no very agreeable
+frame of mind, I assure you, and wishing that we had not brought the
+pigs, for being wild they were scarce likely to thrive in captivity.
+However, Billy was so set upon commencing swine-herd that I gave in to
+him, and next day began to build another sty, somewhat farther from the
+hut, and very much stronger, in which we put two of the pigs, killing
+the third and roasting a part for our dinner, hanging the rest up in
+the smoke of our fire to cure it.  For roasting we made a tripod like
+to those that gipsies have, and not having any metal we made it of
+pottery ware, moulding the clay about three straight saplings.
+
+[Illustration: Our Pig-sty]
+
+We had had so little flesh-meat hitherto that we had not felt the lack
+of utensils, such as knives and forks; for bread-fruit needed nothing
+but our fingers, and eggs we always boiled hard.  But now that we had
+the means of procuring flesh, I began to think of knives and forks and
+other things which we commonly use at home, though I have been told
+that our forefathers employed nothing but their fingers up to not so
+very long ago.  Seeing that we should not be able for a few days to
+take up our work on the new hut, while Billy was recovering of his
+wounds, I thought it a fair opportunity to provide ourselves with
+articles of this sort if we could.  We had no lack of material for
+handles, and it was not a very hard matter to shape a two-pronged fork
+of wood with the axe; but it was different with the knives, since we
+had nothing that would serve for blades except flints.  However, by
+searching about the hillside I found several thin and fairly flat
+pieces of flint which we contrived to split still thinner and to
+sharpen by continually grinding them against the rocks, and when we had
+fixed them into handles which we made of the hollow shoots of a certain
+tree, we had knives, clumsy indeed, and not very sharp, but good enough
+to sever the limbs of the animals we killed for food, and also to part
+the meat into pieces when it was cooked.
+
+[Illustration: Knives and Fork]
+
+[Sidenote: Salt and Water]
+
+This same matter of meat put it into our heads to get salt for
+ourselves, and fresh water; for neither could we relish the food
+without the one nor quench our thirst without the other, cocoa-nut
+juice after pork having very disagreeable effects.  We got water from
+the sea in some of the shallow pans that I had made, and found that by
+leaving these exposed the water in course of time evaporated, leaving a
+very rough and common kind of salt behind, and mixed with other
+substances.  As for fresh water, we found when we boiled water from the
+lake, and allowed it to stand till it cooled and then poured it off,
+that it almost wholly lost the sulphurous taste, and we could drink it
+without hurt, which was a great comfort to us.  We also put some of our
+pans out when rain fell, which happened pretty often, so that I have
+forgot to mention it; and with our fare thus enlarged, and being
+provided with conveniences that we had not dreamt of at first, our lot
+was much improved; and indeed we only wanted some means of replenishing
+our wardrobe to be set up for life.
+
+[Illustration: Clay Pail, the Handle of a Tough Root, bound on with
+Shrunk Hide]
+
+What with one thing and another, I think near a month must have passed
+before we returned to our work on the big hut.  There may be some who
+will blame us for this dilatoriness, and say that we ought to have
+continued on one task until it was finished; but I will say to them
+that if we had done so we might not only have fallen ill for want of
+change in our food, but we might have starved in the winter through not
+laying up a store; and besides, these critics have never been, I dare
+say, alone upon a desolate island.  However, we did go back to our
+work, and the four corner posts being set up, as I have said, we had
+next to build the walls, which we did in the following manner.
+
+[Sidenote: The Hut]
+
+Between the corner posts, and about six inches apart, we planted strong
+poles about three inches across, leaving a gap on the side farthest
+from the lake, this being our doorway.  On the outside of these upright
+posts we lashed a number of thicker logs, twice as thick indeed as the
+others, by means of creepers, laying the logs horizontally one upon
+another.  This was only done with prodigious labour, as you may guess,
+all the poles and logs having to be felled and trimmed by us with our
+rude instruments, and if I had hitherto been able to keep count of the
+days, I should have clean lost it now, for we did not desist from our
+work until the walls were finished, and every day was like the one that
+went before and the one that came after.  When the walls were finished,
+and it was a question of the roof, we deliberated for a little whether
+to make it flat, or to give it a pitch, like the roofs of cottages at
+home in England.  What determined us was the discovery that water was
+beginning to ooze through the flat roof of our small hut; the rains
+becoming heavier and more frequent as we drew near to the winter
+season.  Accordingly we gave a pitch of about four feet to our roof,
+thus forming a fair slope on each side to carry off the rain water.
+The framework of the roof was formed of bamboos lashed together, and
+resting on grooves which we cut with much toil in the tops of the wall
+posts.  In order to keep out the rain we decided to thatch the roof
+over, and for this purpose we collected a great quantity of grasses and
+reeds from the borders of the lake.  Billy told me that the thatched
+roof of a cottage belonging to his uncle at Plumstead was full of
+fleas, and as we did not desire to be visited by any such creatures we
+soaked our materials very thoroughly in the sulphurous water of the hot
+spring, thinking this would repel them, afterwards drying it in the
+sun.  We need not have troubled ourselves in this matter, for during
+all the time we dwelt on the island we saw neither fleas nor any other
+noxious insect; indeed, the grasshopper was the only kind worth
+mentioning, and we grew to like their cheerful song in the evenings.
+
+The thatching took a long time, neither of us having the least idea how
+to set about it, and I doubt not a true thatcher would have laughed at
+our botching and bungling; but we did as well as we could, and were
+mightily pleased with ourselves when the work was done.  There only
+remained the door, and if it had not been for the wild pigs and dogs on
+the island we should never have troubled about a door at all, the
+climate being such, even in winter, which was now upon us, that we need
+never have closed our house to keep out the cold.  But seeing that we
+should never be secure from molestation by these beasts without a door,
+we made one of stout logs lashed together, a little wider than the
+doorway, and since we could not hinge it, we contrived so that when we
+wished to close the hut at night or when we left it, we slid the door
+between the wall and two stout posts which we drove into the ground
+inside.  As for a window, we did not need one, since we were up at dawn
+and abed with the dark, and had the doorway always open when we were in
+the hut during the daytime.
+
+I said we were abed with the dark, but we did not always sleep at once,
+and oftentimes lay talking, so that we knew pretty nearly all about
+each other before we had been many months on the island.  Billy's life
+had been so hard before he ran away to sea that I believe he was more
+contented now than ever before, having got over his first fears of
+savages and starvation, and the old smoker, as he called the burning
+mountain.  (This, I ought to say here, had not been violently active
+since we first came to the island, though we sometimes heard faint
+rumblings, and saw spurts of steam and water, but never so great as at
+first.) I was not near so contented as Billy, for my life had been very
+easy and comfortable at Stafford, and I remembered my kind friends
+there, and sometimes felt in the lowest deeps of misery when I thought
+I might never see them again.  But when I reflected I saw that I ought
+to be thankful that I was not cast on a barren island, or among
+savages, and there was always a hope that some navigator might sail
+towards our island and spy our flagstaff, though we often vexed
+ourselves with the thought that a vessel might pass us in the night and
+we know nothing about it.  I think by this time we had altogether
+forgotten the men of the _Lovey Susan_, and did not in the least
+trouble ourselves to guess at what had become of them, though Billy did
+say once that he was sure they were eaten up by savages.
+
+[Sidenote: Clothes]
+
+Our large hut being finished, I thought we deserved another holiday,
+having never left working at it for many weeks, or perhaps months.  But
+the very first day we purposed being idle, a great storm of rain
+overtook us as we roamed over the hills, and drove us back to our house
+for shelter.  We were drenched to the skin, and our garments were so
+old and tattered that we thought they would fall to pieces when we
+stripped them off to dry them; and moreover, though the air was not
+cold, as we know cold in England, yet it was chilly sometimes,
+especially at night, and I feared sometimes when we got wet, that we
+should be seized with an ague.  We began to consider whether we could
+not by some means contrive to make ourselves clothes, and I reminded
+Billy that we had made a kind of cloth for our flag out of the bark of
+the bread-fruit tree.
+
+"Yes, but we ain't got no scissors," says he, "and there's a deal of
+cutting out to be done in making clothes.  My mother--not my real
+mother, you know--used to make my breeches out of father's, and you
+should have seen her snipping at 'em, gnashing her teeth together all
+the time.  We can't cut out with our axes, or them things you call
+knives."
+
+This was true, but I suggested we might beat out the strips of bark
+till they became of the proper shape.  Billy scoffed at this.  "What
+about patterns?" he said.  "She used to have paper things, and lay 'em
+on the cloth and cut round 'em, and you can't make sleeves without 'em,
+that I'm sure of.  Besides, where's our needle and thread?"
+
+"We've made thread out of the fibres of the cocoa-nut," I said, "and as
+for needles, couldn't we point some thin sticks, and try them?"
+
+"We can try," says he, "but it won't be no good, and you've forgot all
+about thimbles."
+
+We did try, and I was not very much surprised when we failed, for
+though we could point a stick with our flints, we had nothing with
+which we could pierce the eye, and we found that tying the thread to
+the end was by no means satisfactory.  However, we did contrive to put
+a few patches into our breeches by sticking on some of the bread-fruit
+cloth, which was soft and brown, with the sticky stuff that came out of
+the bark when we beat it.  I should mention that we were not able to
+use this stuff immediately, for it did not make the cloth adhere; but
+we found that if we left it for a day, it became hard, and being then
+heated in one of our pots over a fire, it turned into a very fair glue.
+Besides patching our breeches thus, we made ourselves long coats, or
+rather cloaks, for they had no sleeves, being simply a long piece of
+cloth with a hole in the middle, and though we laughed at each other a
+good deal when we put them on, they covered us from neck to heel, and
+were very useful in keeping off the rain.  And while we were about
+this, we thought we might as well make hats too, if we could; and after
+many failures we managed to fashion some bonnets out of cocoa-nut
+leaves, which kept our heads dry, and when the summer came defended
+them from the sun's heat, and our necks too, for we stuck on flaps at
+the back.
+
+[Illustration: Billy's Palm-leaf Hat]
+
+We had started a piggery, as I have mentioned.  At first it was a great
+deal of trouble to us, for the dogs came yelping round the sty at
+night, and the wild pigs also tried to reach the two piglets we had
+captured, and we had to be constantly on the watch lest the walls of
+the sty should be broken through.  However, these wild inhabitants of
+our island in course of time seemed to accept the piggery as part of
+the order of things, and left us in peace.  But our troubles were
+started again when Billy all of a sudden conceived the notion of a
+poultry run.  In the course of our second holiday, after our new hut
+was finished, we chanced to discover several nests of hens, which we
+had formerly sought for in vain, they being cunningly concealed or else
+very inaccessible.  Domestic fowls do not seem in general to be very
+plentifully endowed with wits, but the fowls on our island, having to
+provide against the rapacity of rats and dogs and pigs, certainly had
+more intelligence than ordinary; and the hens were not particular about
+the comfort of their nests, so long as they could find a shelter--some
+secluded nook among the rocks where they could lay their eggs.  Billy
+had said more than once that he would like to have a poultry run, but
+though we now and then found eggs, and once or twice managed to bring
+down a fowl with our arrows, which we roasted or boiled, we had never
+yet been able to catch one alive.  They frequented mostly the little
+patch of woodland in the extreme west of the island, and there we
+sometimes saw them roosting in the upper branches of tall trees.  It
+was near this spot that we found the nests I have mentioned, but the
+birds were very wary, and flew away at the first sign of our approach.
+
+[Sidenote: Fowling]
+
+It was clear that if we were to catch them, we must snare them in some
+way or other, and having not thought of making nets, which we might
+have done with cocoa-nut fibres--indeed, we did afterwards--we wondered
+whether the sticky substance that came from the bread-fruit bark might
+serve us as birdlime.  We tried it, but we found that it hardened too
+quickly for our purpose; at least, that was how we explained our want
+of success; and we thought that if we mixed it with some other
+substance that would keep it moist the result might be different.  We
+tried bread-fruit, and then shredded cocoa-nut, but neither was
+effectual; and then, almost as a last resource, we made the experiment
+with a nut that I have not before mentioned, because we had not found
+it of any use as food.  It grew on a tall and very leafy tree, and the
+ground was at this time strewed with the olive-green fruits which had
+fallen, being over-ripe.  We easily removed the outer covering, and
+within was a hard shell, something like a walnut, only smooth, and
+inside the shell was a whitish kernel, which we had found was not very
+palatable; but it was very oily, and we thought this, when pounded,
+might mix very well with our glue, as I may call it.[1]  Accordingly we
+did this, and taking a quantity of the mixture to the spot which the
+fowls haunted, we smeared a fallen branch with it, and having spread
+some small pieces of baked bread-fruit as bait, we went among the trees
+to await the issue.
+
+[Sidenote: A Fowl-house]
+
+Billy was patient enough when work was a-doing, but he never could bide
+patiently, for which reason many holidays were not good for him.  He
+ran so often to the edge of the wood to see if any birds were snared,
+that I am sure he was the cause why we had to wait so long, the birds
+taking alarm at his movements.  At last I persuaded him to go with me
+back to our house, and when we returned after a long interval we
+suspected by the unaccustomed cackling we heard that our birdlime had
+proved successful; and so it was, for when we came to the branch, there
+was a fine hen fluttering her wings and cackling most lamentably, and
+also a kind of wood pigeon, which did not make near so much noise.
+Billy wrung the neck of the pigeon in an instant, saying it would make
+a tasty morsel for dinner, and then we tied the legs of the hen, and
+carried her home.  But one hen does not make a poultry run, and it was
+a considerable time before we caught any more fowl, the fate of the
+first seeming to have warned the rest.  However, we did succeed in
+catching four or five more at intervals, and we turned our small hut
+into a fowl-house, putting poles across for them to roost on.  It is a
+strange thing, but after a little while the fowls, which had before
+scarce made a sound, began to cackle and crow just as the fowls do in
+England, and Billy said that finding they were now safe from their
+enemies, and fed regularly, they were much happier than before, and
+showed it by their singing.  How that may be I know not, but I am
+inclined to think that they had better kept silence, for one morning
+after a night of wind and rain, during which we heard that strange
+sound we heard on our first night, we found the gate of our poultry run
+open and all the fowls gone, leaving only a great quantity of feathers
+scattered about, both inside and out.  This told us pretty plainly what
+had happened, and if we needed assurance, we had it in the footprints
+in the sodden ground.
+
+[Illustration: Our Small Hut turned into a Fowl-house]
+
+"'Tis them rampageous dogs, master," cried Billy in a fury.  "The
+thieving villains!  And one of the hens beginning to sit, too!  I wish
+we could poison 'em."
+
+"We can't do that," I said, "but we shall have to make war on them, or
+we shall never feel safe, either for our belongings or ourselves, for
+they attacked you, and I am pretty sure that if one of us was hurt and
+could not count on the help of the other he would soon be torn in
+pieces.  We must teach them a lesson."
+
+"Yes, but how?" says Billy.  "They're such cowards that they won't
+stand still to be shot at."
+
+"Nor would you, if you were a wild dog," I said.  "I think we had
+better set a trap for them."
+
+[Sidenote: War on the Dogs]
+
+"Yes, and catch 'em alive oh!" says Billy, and we straightway began to
+consider of the kind of trap that would serve us best, Billy favouring
+a running noose, which seemed to me not very sure, so I proposed a pit
+covered over with branches and leaves.  We tried this, and before we
+went to bed we put a good-sized piece of roast pork (Billy having shot
+a pig that day) on the covering of the pit, hoping that the dogs would
+be drawn to it by the smell and then would tumble into the pit, where
+we should find them in the morning.  In the middle of the night we
+heard a yapping and yelping; but we did not get up, for one thing
+because it was dark and we could scarcely have seen to deal with our
+captives.  However, in the morning we found the pork gone and also the
+dogs, and when we examined the pit we saw that some had fallen in but
+scrambled out again up the sides, though how they did it we never could
+tell, the hole being of a pretty good depth.  This failure did not
+slacken our determination, and we soon thought of a more subtle trick,
+to which there was one drawback in the fact that we had no means of
+making a good torch, which seemed essential to it.  We could, of
+course, have made a great blaze with our fire, which we had never let
+go out since we had first kindled it, except when a great rain put it
+out; but that would as like as not have defeated our own ends.
+However, it chanced that one evening we made a discovery which was
+useful to us in this particular, and much more afterward, as will
+appear.
+
+I have mentioned the nut we pounded and mixed with glue to make our
+birdlime.  Well, since we did not wish to use up too many cocoa-nuts or
+too much of our bread-fruit paste for feeding our two pigs, which were
+thriving wonderfully, we gave them these other nuts, which they
+appeared to like very well.  On this evening I speak of, in
+replenishing the fire to cook our supper, we happened to throw into it
+two or three nuts which had got among the fuel, and we observed that
+they burned with a very bright flame, quite different from the flame of
+wood or cocoa-nut shells.  We did not think any more of it for the
+moment, but when I lay in bed (I say bed, but it was only leaves and
+dried grass), our house being pitch-dark, I thought all of a sudden
+that perhaps we could make a candle of these nuts if we wished, though
+we had no need of a light, having nothing to read.  I called out to
+Billy to know if he was awake, and telling him of my notion, he said,
+"What's the good?" which I remember he always did say when I suggested
+anything new.  However, I resolved to see whether I was right, and next
+day I put two or three kernels together, and kindled them, and they
+burned with a light like a candle's, but with a rather offensive smell.
+
+We at once set about making a torch, and finding that we had a
+difficulty in getting the kernels entire out of the shells, which were
+very hard, we thought of boiling them, and then found that the shells
+cracked with the slightest tap, so that the kernels came out whole.
+When we had some twenty of these kernels we skewered them together on a
+thin, hard stick, and so had a torch, and there being now no obstacle
+to the trick I purposed playing on the dogs, we took one of our pigs
+into the house, and surrounded the other with a kind of stout stockade
+inside the sty, and at nightfall we left the gate of the sty open, but
+contrived that we could easily close it by means of a rope which we
+carried into our house.  We did not go to bed, but waited, holding our
+torch ready, with flint and tinder, and also a couple of the spears I
+have before mentioned, which, although rude weapons, were the fittest
+for the work in hand.
+
+It was not long before we heard the light patter of feet, and soon
+after the squealing of our decoy.  We waited a little, so as to give
+our expected guests plenty of time to establish themselves, knowing too
+that they would not be able to do any harm to the pig, and then we
+pulled the rope, so closing the gate upon the intruders.  Then I
+kindled the torch, and holding it aloft in my left hand, I rushed out
+with a spear in my right hand, and Billy armed in like manner.  The sty
+was a good way from the house, and before we got to it the dogs that
+were outside, alarmed by the unwonted glare and by our shouts,
+scampered away into the darkness, leaving their comrades howling and
+yelping in the sty, and the pig squealing too in a terrible fright.
+Having the prisoners now at our mercy, for they could not leap the
+walls of the sty, we doomed them to instant execution, and when some of
+them fled for refuge into the covered part of the sty, we took off a
+portion of the roof, and so fell on them again, and did not desist
+until we had killed every one.  We left them there until the morning,
+and then carried them forth, nine in all, and Billy insisted on
+skinning them, saying that their coats would make fine mats for our
+house-floor, which indeed they did when they had been well washed in
+lake-water and dried in the open air.  The vengeance we took had an
+excellent deterrent effect on the rest of the pack, which no more
+molested us, at least in that part of the island.  We caught more fowls
+to replace those that had been stolen, and captured the litter of
+another sow, which we killed for food, and were happy in the thought
+that by natural increase our fowls and pigs would in course of time
+provide us with as much food as we needed, or even more.  We kept the
+hides of those we killed, though we had no immediate use for them.
+Billy said he wished he could make a pair of boots, for the rough
+ground was very troublesome to his bare feet, and my boots were very
+much worn and, indeed, scarcely held together.  But we knew nothing of
+bootmaking, and for some time did not attempt to provide ourselves with
+footwear, though afterwards we contrived to make some strange and
+uncouth foot-gloves: I can call them by no other name.
+
+
+
+[1] This was clearly the candle-nut, of which more is said
+presently.--H.S.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE TENTH
+
+OF THE NAMING OF OUR ISLAND--OF A FLEET OF CANOES, AND OF THE MEANS
+WHEREBY WE PREPARE TO STAND A SIEGE
+
+
+We had now fairly established ourselves as the owners of the island,
+having a comfortable house, domestic animals, and a sufficient store of
+food, the only article in which we were lamentably deficient being
+clothes.  The necessity we were under of working hard with our hands
+left us little time for commiseration, and I verily believe that we
+were in the main as cheerful and happy as we could have been anywhere.
+And now that the completion of our hardest tasks left us a little
+leisure, it came into our heads that we ought to give our property a
+name, or rather it was Billy that thought of it, he saying that since I
+was clearly king of the country, it was ridiculous not to be able to
+say what country it was.
+
+"Call it Smoking Island," says he, "because of that old smoker up
+there."
+
+To this I objected that it was not a pretty name, and besides, the
+mountain was not always smoking.
+
+"Well then," he said, "call it Lonely Island, because it is lonely, and
+so are we."
+
+To this I replied that a more cheerful name would suit me better, and
+suggested that we should call it Perseverance Island, since all our
+present comforts sprang from our persevering in the face of
+difficulties.  But this Billy would by no means agree to, saying that
+it looked like bragging, and besides he hated the word perseverance,
+because he had to write it so many times on his slate at school, and it
+made him think of raps on the knuckles.  He told me that he had been
+for a few months at a charity school, but he played truant so often
+that the master refused to have him any longer, at which he was very
+glad.  After considering sundry other names, to which either Billy or I
+had some objection, we finally settled on Palm Tree Island, both
+because most of the trees of the island were palms, and because we got
+our first comfort, when we were deserted, from the cocoa-nut palms on
+the hill-side.
+
+The general country being thus fitted with a name, we proceeded to name
+the several parts of it.  The mountain we called simply The Mountain,
+though to Billy it was always Old Smoker; the slope leading up to the
+crater we called Rocky Hill, and the wood beneath Bread-fruit Wood.
+The big rock at the north-west corner was Red Rock, and the two smaller
+ones at the south-west were The Sentinels.  And so we named various
+parts as we thought of it, not all at one time, and many of them not
+until I made my map, of which I may say more hereafter.  I must
+mention, however, that Billy insisted on giving my name to the wood
+where we slept on our first night, and in my turn I gave his name to a
+sandy bay on the west of the island, and Billy was very proud when he
+spelt out Bobbin's Bay on the aforesaid map.
+
+[Sidenote: Plantations]
+
+So the winter passed away, not like the winter in England, for we had
+no frost or snow, nor did the leaves fall from the trees; the only true
+sign that it was winter was the absence of flowers and fruit on the
+trees; and even this was not the case with all of them, for the
+cocoa-nut palm bore its fruit all the year round, so that on the same
+tree there were nuts in all stages of ripeness, which I thought a very
+wonderful thing.  We had a considerable amount of rain, and this became
+greater as we came into the spring season.  We had kept for this season
+the yams which we saved from the pigs, as I related a while ago, and we
+now planted them, choosing two places, since we did not know on what
+soil they would thrive best, whether where we had found them, or near
+our house.  We had kept the yams in one of our pans, and we guessed it
+was time to plant them because we saw sprouts growing out of them, as
+you sometimes see the eyes of a potato sprouting.  We cut these
+sprouting parts off, keeping the other parts for boiling, and set them
+in the ground, some on the ground just below our house, the others in
+the glade where we had discovered them.  Knowing that we stood no
+chance of getting a crop unless we defended the plants from the wild
+pigs, we put fences of hurdles (made of twigs and reeds) round our
+plantations, which were at first only a few yards square, and waited
+with what patience we might for the result.  I will say here that the
+yams we planted near our house came to nothing, why I know not; but the
+others throve exceedingly, and though we had some trouble with the
+pigs, which broke down the fence more than once and did some damage, we
+got a very fair crop in the summer, which supplied us with mashed
+potatoes, as Billy said (for which we used dripping from the pigs we
+cooked), and also with seed for another sowing.
+
+[Illustration: Jug with Bent-wood Handle and Cup]
+
+[Sidenote: Articles of Toilet]
+
+Though our great work in the building of our hut was finished (at least
+we thought it was) our days were by no means idle, for we had our
+animals to feed and our fences to keep in repair, and moreover we made
+more pots and pans, also arrows and spears, thread and rope.  One thing
+that gave me much amusement was the brush that Billy made.  Of course
+we had not been able to attend to our toilet since we came to Palm Tree
+Island, beyond bathing and washing our heads: I mean we could not brush
+our hair, which was now grown down to our shoulders for want of
+scissors, nor trim our finger-nails, though our hard work kept these
+pretty short.  But on going down to the lake one sunny day to fetch
+water I saw my image reflected, and afterwards bemoaning my exceeding
+unkempt appearance, though in truth it mattered nothing, Billy took it
+into his head to make me, secretly, a brush and comb, which he
+presented to me with great glee.  "There, old king," says he, for he
+sometimes called me king instead of master since we named the island,
+"there you are, and I hope you'll use 'em to keep your old majesty's
+head tidy."  His manner of addressing me was not, you perceive, very
+reverential; but I will say this for Billy, that though he was very
+sturdy and independent of spirit, he was never insolent, being a
+gentleman in his nature, and so we were rather good comrades than
+anything else, and the talk of kings and so forth was mere fun and
+play-acting.  I did use the brush and comb which he had made for me,
+but not, I confess, very often, and I cannot help thinking what a great
+number of things that we are accustomed to we could do without; indeed,
+though we had made ourselves knives and forks, we did not use them very
+much either and you might have seen us at dinner-time squat down on the
+floor of our house, with two mats of leaves in front of us, on one of
+which was our meat (pork, or a pigeon or fowl), on the other our yams
+or bread-fruit, boiled or baked, with a little heap of salt in the
+corner, and little clay mugs filled with cocoa-nut juice or water at
+the side.  Then we would take a yam in one hand and a shank of pork, or
+a leg of fowl, in the other, dip them in the salt and take a bite, and
+then a bite of the yam, and so go through our meal very comfortably
+till only the bones were left.  Afterwards we thought of making stools
+and chairs and a table, as much to employ our time as for any
+conveniency of them, and then we ate our meals again in the civilized
+way, though I own I thought it not a whit better nor much cleaner than
+the other, for we could always wash our hands.
+
+[Illustration: The Brush Billy made, showing also the manner of it]
+
+[Illustration: Comb of Spines]
+
+I said that we could not cut our hair, but when it grew so long that it
+covered our shoulders, and Billy said I should soon be an old woman, we
+thought of shortening it by burning; so we each became barber in turn,
+holding the hair away from the head with Billy's comb, and then burning
+the ends away with a torch.  Billy was much more hairy than I was, and
+though he was three years younger than me his cheeks and chin already
+showed signs of black whiskers and beard, and one day I found him
+trying to shave with a flint, having made soap by boiling fat with the
+ashes of wood; but he succeeded so ill, only making his chin raw, that
+he gave it up, and said he supposed he would have to look a fright.
+
+[Illustration: "ONE DAY I FOUND HIM TRYING TO SHAVE WITH A FLINT."]
+
+[Sidenote: A Fleet of Canoes]
+
+One day, about a year after our first coming to the island, as we
+judged by the ripeness of the breadfruit, Billy went up Flagstaff Hill,
+as we called it, to take the survey which we never omitted, each of us
+doing it in turn, though we sometimes went together.  I was moulding a
+new pan, when all of a sudden I heard a great shout from the hill-side
+above, and looking up I saw Billy leaping down towards me with a speed
+that seemed very dangerous, waving his arms and shouting, though in the
+distance I could not distinguish his words.  My heart leapt into my
+mouth, as the saying is, for from his excitement I surmised that he had
+descried a sail at sea, and I thought he was calling to me to help him
+raise our signal.  I ran towards him, and as we drew nearer to each
+other, I saw plainly on his face the marks of great agitation, and then
+in a breathless way he called the one word "Savages!" and I was
+instantly in a terrible fear lest they had landed on the island and
+were coming to attack us.
+
+However, when we met, Billy told me that from the hill-top he had seen
+a fleet of canoes on the north side of the island, passing from west to
+east.  They were filled with savages, though whether armed or not he
+could not tell, they being a good distance out at sea, nor was there
+anything to show whether they purposed landing.  It came into my mind
+with a shock at that moment that we were very ill able to defend
+ourselves in case they should land and attack us, for we had very
+little provision in our hut, and if we took refuge there they might
+keep us shut up until we died of hunger, or thirst, which would be
+worse.  I blamed myself very much for lack of prudence in not making
+provision for such an emergency, but the truth is that after spending
+so many months without seeing a human form we had become careless, and
+went from day to day as though there had been no human beings in the
+world except our two selves.  However, it was too late to make up for
+this neglect now, if the savages did indeed land, and I saw that in
+that case we could only take to the woods and trust that our hut and
+plantations, being inland, might pass undiscovered.  Accordingly I
+accompanied Billy back up the hill, and we went round the wood where
+our signal-tree was, to a place nearer the crater, whence we had a more
+extensive view.
+
+"There they are!" cried Billy, pointing out to sea, and I saw eight or
+nine long canoes filled with brown men, who must have numbered near two
+hundred in all.  But I saw with inexpressible relief that they had come
+past the Red Rock, and were proceeding steadily eastward, and knowing
+that there was no beach on the north side of the island where they
+might land, we had great hope that we should not be troubled with them.
+Keeping out of sight behind rocks, though indeed there was perhaps
+little danger of our being seen, we watched the fleet until it became
+no more than a speck on the eastern horizon, and then we went down to
+our hut, relieved of present danger, but by no means easy in mind about
+the future.
+
+[Sidenote: Fortification]
+
+We knew not whether the fleet was going or returning, but whichever it
+was, I was surprised it had not put in at our island for rest and
+refreshment, for the nearest land to the west was at least twenty miles
+away, and on the east it could not be less, for we had seen but the
+dimmest line in that direction.  Billy said the savages were without
+doubt afraid of the old smoker, and even though he was harmless at
+present, the island had a bad name, and so they would not land on it
+except under very great stress.  This I devoutly hoped was the true
+explanation, for if it was, we had a reasonable hope that we should
+never have to deal with savage enemies.  Yet the fright we had had
+determined us to do something to provide more efficiently for our
+safety, and the first thing we did was to make loopholes in the walls
+of our hut, so that if we were at any time forced to take refuge there,
+we might at least be able to make some resistance by shooting arrows at
+the enemy.  Then we carried a great number of cocoa-nuts into the
+house, which would provide us both with meat and drink, and we
+determined to dig a hole in the floor when the bread-fruit was fully
+ripe, and store it with the pounded pulp as we had done outside.  Then
+it came into my head of a sudden that, our hut being built wholly of
+logs and thatch, the enemy might easily set fire to it and burn us
+alive, and to hinder this we carried down great quantities of the
+clayey soil of which we made our pottery ware, and mixing it with sand
+and small stones, we made a kind of rough-cast with which we covered
+the whole of the outside of the hut, roof and all, so that we not only
+concealed the joints of the walls, but also, as I hoped, protected the
+hut from fire.
+
+This work took us a long time, as you may guess, and before we had
+finished it, we saw the fleet again.  One or other of us went up the
+hill several times a day to watch the eastern horizon, and on the third
+day, I think it was, after we first saw the canoes, a little after
+sunrise, I saw some tiny specks in the east, and recognizing them by
+and by for canoes I watched them with great anxiety.  I feared lest we
+might have two enemies to deal with, the savages and the volcano, which
+had been rumbling for a day or two at intervals, and sending up puffs
+of steam or smoke, and we wondered whether there was going to be
+another eruption like that at the time of our first coming.  As soon as
+I saw the canoes, I signalled for Billy to join me, and the moment we
+caught sight of them he cried: "Why, there's only six; there was eight
+or nine before," a fact which had escaped my notice.  They were plainly
+heading straight for the island, and not in a course that would bring
+them past the north side with a good offing as before.
+
+"I don't want to be eat," said Billy, going pale under his sun-tan;
+"but we can't fight over a hundred savages, can we, master?"
+
+Before I could reply there was a loud rumbling beneath us, and being
+not a great way from the crater, we set off at a run, going down
+towards the Red Rock, there being no lava on this side.  We had run
+barely twenty yards when a great puff of steam or smoke was shot up
+into the air for near two hundred feet, I should guess, and a shower of
+pumice stones fell around us.  This frightened us so much that,
+forgetting all about the canoes, we did not stop running until we came
+to the edge of the cliff opposite the Red Rock, and then, there being
+no more signs of activity in the volcano, we were thinking of climbing
+up again to our watching-place when, to our great joy, we caught sight
+of the canoes making round the north side, and indeed bearing away
+northwards away from us.
+
+"Three cheers for old smoker," cried Billy.  "He's scared 'em away,
+sure as nuts, and they won't eat us after all."
+
+We stood watching the canoes as they made their way very toilsomely
+against wind and current, and did not go down to our hut until they had
+quite vanished from sight.  It was long past our usual dinner-time, I
+am sure, and as we had had no breakfast we were mighty hungry, and ate
+with very good appetites, having lost our fear; and taking up our mugs
+of cocoa-nut juice, and knocking them together in the way of folks
+drinking a toast, I cried out, "Here's to old smoker!" and Billy
+shouted, "God bless him!"
+
+This happened, as I say, three days after our first alarm, and we did
+not cease from our efforts to put ourselves in a good posture of
+defence if we should ever again have reason to fear an attack.  We had
+already made our hut fairly fire-proof, and cut loop-holes in the
+walls, these at varying heights, so that we might shoot down from a
+height upon the enemy at a distance, or on a level with them if they
+came to close quarters.  Since a man behind walls is equal to at least
+three outside, I should think, we considered that we two, though hardly
+come to man's estate, could make a very good fight of it; our only
+trouble was the matter of water, for while we had no fears in the
+matter of food, we did not see how by any means we could store
+sufficient water in the hut, even if we filled all our pots and pans.
+
+[Sidenote: Sinking a Well]
+
+I was lying with Billy one evening outside our hut overlooking the
+lake, when the solution to this puzzle came all at once into my head.
+The ground behind the hut sloped pretty steeply down to the lake, the
+length of the slope being about twenty feet, and the vertical height
+about six feet--that is, between the floor of our hut and the usual
+surface of the water.  For I must observe here, lest I forget it, that
+the depth of water in the lake varied very much at different seasons,
+being far greater after a period of rainy weather than in drought, the
+variation being at least equal to the height of a man.  And in regard
+to this variation a circumstance caused us much wonderment, for though
+when the rains were heavy the lake rose very rapidly to a certain
+point, we observed that it never came higher than that point, no matter
+how long the rains continued.  When I pointed this out to Billy he saw
+nothing to wonder at in it, saying that the lake must be just like the
+sea; for though it had rained hundreds and thousands of times since the
+beginning of the world, the sea had never drowned the world since the
+Flood, and it surely would have done so unless there was some hole at
+the bottom that opened when the sea was getting too full.
+
+"That can't be," said I.
+
+"Well, then, how is it?" says he.  "You pour water into a cup, and
+it'll slop over presently.  The lake's a cup, though a big one; why
+don't it slop over after all these rains if there ain't a hole in the
+bottom, as I say?"
+
+"But it can't be in the bottom, Billy, or the lake would sometimes be
+drained quite dry," I said.
+
+"Well, it is, pretty nearly," he replied, but I would not admit that,
+for though the water subsided slowly after the rains had ceased, it had
+never sunk so low as to let us see the bottom.  At low water we hunted
+all round the lake to see if we could find an outlet through which the
+water ran away, but we saw none, and remained in our puzzlement for a
+good while longer.
+
+However, I was beginning to tell of the notion that came into my head
+as we lay that evening above the lake.  Being so little distant from
+it, I thought, why should we not sink a well in the floor of the hut,
+and connect it with the lake by a pipe?
+
+"What's the good?" says Billy, when I put the question to him.  "For
+one thing, the water won't run up into the hut without a pump; at
+least, I've never seen water run uphill yet; and then, as soon as any
+savages come, you may be sure they'll spy it, and then where are you?"
+
+I said that as for the latter point, we should, of course, take care to
+show no sign outside of what we had done; and as for the former, I did
+not despair of finding some way to raise the water to our level, even
+if we could not make a pump.  Billy talked till it was dark about the
+difficulties of what I proposed--the difficulty of digging a hole, of
+preventing the earth from falling in, and so forth--until you would
+have thought he was the poorest-spirited creature that ever lived; but
+that was only Billy's way, and I often observed that he was never so
+active and eager, aye, and never so hopeful too, as after he had been
+talking in this gloomy manner.  At any rate, next day he set to work
+with me to make a trial of my notion.
+
+It happened that, the weather having been dry for a good while, the
+water was now low, indeed, within a foot of the lowest point to which
+we had ever known it to sink, which was favourable to our plan; for it
+was necessary that our pipe should enter the lake below the water's
+surface, even in the driest weather, and moreover if the latter had
+been full, we should have found it very troublesome, and perhaps
+impossible, to do as I shall now relate.  This was nothing less than to
+dam up the water of the lake for a little space, so that we might cut a
+passage through the side of it towards our hut.  To make this dam we
+felled a number of logs and dragged them down to the bed of the lake,
+where we arranged them in the shape of a great V, the point of the V
+being out in the lake, the ends resting on the shore.  We lashed the
+logs together very firmly, and coated them with clay, and so made a dam
+which we found to answer very well.  Of course we had to bale out the
+water which was first between the arms of the V, and Billy grumbled as
+we did this, saying that he was sure there would be a heavy rainstorm,
+and all our work would be for nothing; but in this he turned out a
+false prophet, since we had no rain at all for many days.
+
+[Illustration: Spade cut out of a log]
+
+When the inside of the V was dry, its floor was about three feet below
+the level of the water outside of it; and within that dry space we
+could work very comfortably at making a cutting through the bank
+towards the hut.  To do this we had to make spades, which we fashioned
+out of hard wood as well as we could with our axes, and they served our
+purpose excellently well, though they would not have done so had not
+the earth been soft; if it had been rocky, I know not what we should
+have done.  With these spades we began to cut away a portion of the
+sloping bank of the lake, continuing till we had, as it were, taken a
+slice or a wedge off it, up to within about three yards of our hut.
+This took us two whole days, for the earth, though soft compared with
+rock, was pretty compact, and our clumsy tools made us sigh often, and
+sweat too.
+
+Having come, as I say, to within ten feet or so of our hut, I thought
+we might then give over digging and endeavour to pierce a way to a
+point directly beneath the centre of the floor, or at least near enough
+as that we might sink a shaft to meet it.  We surveyed the position for
+some little while, so as to take our bearings, as Billy said: and then,
+having got a pretty good notion of the course our proposed passage
+should take, we shoved into the earth, horizontally, a pole we had
+sharpened to a point, and when we found we could push it in no further,
+we drew it out and gave it another mighty shove, directing it in such a
+way as we thought would bring it midway between the two corner posts,
+though of course several feet below the floor.  We found after a time
+that, though we tried to drive the pole straight, nevertheless it
+deflected somewhat towards the right; and when we pulled it out to give
+it another shove, it met with some obstacle, which I was afraid might
+be the bottom part of one of our posts, though I could not conceive how
+we had gone so far out of our reckoning.  But with a little more
+pushing the pole, being in a certain degree flexible, went past the
+obstacle, so that if this was one of the posts, it had not been met
+squarely in the middle.  The pole being now wholly in the earth except
+just enough of it to hold by, we judged that we had driven it as far as
+was needful, and mighty glad of it we were.
+
+Leaving the pole in the earth, we set about boring in the floor of our
+hut, not beginning midway between the door-posts, as we should have
+done if we had encountered no obstacle, but a little to one side.  We
+proceeded here in the same manner as we had done in the bank of the
+lake, using a sharp-pointed pole, only we drove it down in a vertical
+direction; but we soon found that this would not effect our purpose, as
+indeed we might have known before if we had thought about it, for it
+was necessary that we should make a clean hole, which could not be done
+by driving in a pole.  After considering of it, we determined to get a
+large piece of bamboo stalk, at least five inches across, and to drive
+that into the earth with the pummet we had used in building the hut.
+This we did, and placing the bamboo (a piece about three feet long) in
+the hole we had already begun to drive, we dealt it several heavy blows
+with the pummet, by this means driving it into the ground, and at the
+same time forcing some earth up into its hollow interior.  Then we took
+the bamboo out, and carrying it outside the hut, poked all the earth
+out of it, and when it was empty, put it once more into the hole, and
+smote it again as before.  This was a very tedious business, for as the
+hole went deeper we had to use a longer piece of bamboo, and when we
+had near finished the bamboo broke in the middle, and we had to dig to
+a depth of three feet or more around the hole before we could reach the
+lower portion to pull it out again, at which Billy was very wroth,
+because the excavation had to be filled in again, so as to bring the
+floor to its former level.  However, we continued until the hole was
+seven or eight feet deep, at which depth we thought we should come to
+the pole we had driven through the bank; but it would have been
+scarcely less than a miracle if we had bored the hole to the exact
+spot, and we had indeed to enlarge its circumference until it measured
+full thirty inches across, and not till then did we come to the pole.
+When we did strike this we were both very joyful, for we had been
+working at it for four full days, and had yet got but a very little way
+in our design.
+
+[Sidenote: A Surprising Discovery]
+
+We went back now to the lake-side, and using bamboos as we had done in
+the hut, but with longer and larger stems, we made little by little a
+sort of tunnel about five inches wide running to the well we had sunk.
+We then sank this latter a few inches below its former level, so as to
+make a kind of cistern or reservoir for the water when it should flow
+in from the lake; and in order that the water might not run away
+through the soft earth, we let down a quantity of clay with which to
+line the bottom, intending to bake it with fire after we had rammed it
+until it became hard and tight.  Billy took this work of ramming,
+performing it with a long and stout pole, which he lifted high and then
+brought down with great force, he always delighting to show the
+strength of his muscles.  However, he had just made a stroke of
+particular power, when the beater pole slipped from his hands and he
+fell flat on his face over the top of the well.  He was on his feet
+again in an amazing short time, and I laughed as he ran to the door,
+holding his nose, I thinking he was running to the lake to bathe it.
+But in a moment I was aware of a very evil smell which came without a
+doubt from the well we had sunk, and it was so powerful, and also
+noisome, that I very quickly beat a retreat too, and joined Billy
+outside the hut.
+
+"I'm poisoned," says Billy, spluttering and spitting on the ground.
+"What did you do it for, master?  I said as how 'twould be no use."
+
+"You're a Job's comforter," said I, somewhat tartly, such a speech as
+Billy's only sharpening the edge of adversity, to my thinking.
+
+"You're another," says Billy, who did not in the least know what I
+meant, his acquaintance with the Bible being at that time, I fear, very
+slight.  "There's the bottom knocked out of the well, and dead men's
+bones below, that's what it is."
+
+It did come into my head for a minute that we might have opened up some
+grave, or at least a place where human folk had been overtaken and
+buried by lava from the mountain; but I soon gave this up, for the
+earth was soft, and not a whit like lava, and as for a grave, no one
+would have dug it so deep down in the earth.  I was just as much vexed
+as Billy was at this untoward event, but I think I was even more
+curious to learn what was beneath our unlucky well, and I went back
+soon into the hut, intending to examine the place.  However, the evil
+smell was so overpowering that I was fain to seek the open air again,
+and it was some time, an hour or two, maybe, before the air became
+clear enough for us to enter the hut with any comfort.  Bethinking
+myself that the clearing of the air showed that there might be nothing
+very terrible below, the foul smell being due to the sudden release of
+air long imprisoned, I got a length of our rope, and let it down with a
+stone on the end until it touched the bottom, which we found to be
+twice as deep as before; and when I did this, I perceived another thing
+which seemed to me mighty strange, which was nothing less than a
+current of air passing up through the well.  There was, it is true, a
+passage now between the lake-side and the hut, but we had felt no
+current when the connection was first established, and yet we could not
+conceive of a current coming from the very bowels of the earth.  Billy
+declared, in something of a fright, that we had got down to the roots
+of the mountain, whence came the steam and the hot water; but I
+answered that this was plainly absurd, the current of air that we felt
+being perfectly cool, though not very fresh.
+
+I thought we might let down a torch into the well, whereby we should
+perhaps be able to see something of what was below.  Accordingly we
+kindled a torch of kernels and let it down at the end of a rope, and
+very evilly it smelled, I assure you.  We observed that the flame
+flickered a great deal until it descended to the first bottom of our
+well, or perhaps two or three feet deeper; then the torch burnt more
+steadily, but the flame did not rise straight up, but seemed to be
+swayed a little to either side, and I could not help thinking, by the
+look of it, that it was burning in a greater space than when it was in
+our narrow well-shaft.  Considering of some means of proving whether
+this was so or not, I could at first see none, short of enlarging the
+shaft until one of us could descend it, which indeed neither Billy nor
+I was disposed to attempt.  It was next day when an idea came into my
+head, and that was occasioned by my seeing the spring-back of Billy's
+bow when he shot at the running man, at which we exercised ourselves
+now and again, seeing that we might have real men to shoot at some day.
+The spring of the bow, I say, gave me a notion, and taking a flexible
+strip of wood of the same tree, I tied one end of it to a long pole,
+and then bent it double, not fastening it in that position, but
+inserting it thus bent into the shaft, the sides of which prevented it
+from springing back.  Then I lowered the pole, and the bent piece of
+wood scraped the sides of the well until it reached what had been the
+bottom and a little beyond it; but then, as I still let down the pole,
+the bent wood sprang loose, like as Billy's bow did, which showed very
+plainly that the shaft was much wider below.
+
+This discovery perplexed, nay, disquieted us.  For one thing, it was a
+mercy that we had not lighted on this hollow chamber, for such it must
+be, when we were driving in the posts for our hut, for then we might
+have broken our necks.  As yet we were ignorant of the extent of this
+open space, though we knew its depth, nor could we tell whether it in
+any way endangered the firmness of the hut.  Billy said that if he had
+known there was such a cellar beneath us he would not have lifted a
+hand to help me build, and I own that if we had discovered it when we
+were beginning to build, I should have assuredly chosen another
+situation.  But after spending so many months of hard work in putting
+up our hut, I was very loath to leave it now and begin all over again,
+though it was a staggering thought that at any moment of the day or
+night we might sink, and the hut too, and maybe be cast into another
+hole, for we could not tell but that the second bottom might give way
+like the first.  Moreover, even supposing that our hut was no less safe
+than before, all the labour that we had been put to in devising a means
+of supplying ourselves with water from the lake had gone for nought.  I
+think this was the heaviest blow we had had since we took up our abode
+on the island, and for a time we stood stock-still, contemplating the
+dark hole that was the grave, so to speak, of our hopes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH
+
+OF OUR SUBTERRANEOUS ADVENTURE, AND THE MANNER IN WHICH THE WILD DOGS
+PROFITED BY OUR ABSENCE
+
+
+"Billy," said I, after we had stood silent a good while, "we must find
+out what is below."
+
+"What's the good?" says Billy; "and how can you do it?  Neither of us
+can scrooge ourselves down through this hole, and I ain't a-going to
+try, that's certain."
+
+"But you can help to make the hole wider," I replied.
+
+"And suppose I fall in," says he, "who'll pull me out?"
+
+"I should certainly do my best," said I.
+
+"And suppose you fall in too?" says he, being very persistent.
+
+"Then we shall help each other out," said I.
+
+"And suppose we find ourselves in the old smoker's kitchen, or get
+buried alive or something?" says Billy.
+
+"We won't suppose any more, but just set to work," said I.  "I will dig
+out the earth, and you can carry it away, and then there'll be no
+chance of your tumbling in."
+
+The matter being put thus, Billy would by no means agree to it, but
+insisted that he would take his turn with me at digging.  He asked me,
+however, how the earth was to be carried away, for if we did it with
+our hands it would take a month of Sundays.  I answered that we must
+certainly make some baskets, which was a pretty easy matter after a
+little practice, there being plenty of rushes and such-like things
+growing at the borders of the lake.  Having made two very fair baskets,
+that would hold about a bushel apiece, we began with our spades to cut
+away the earth around the hole, Billy carrying it outside the hut when
+I dug, and I doing the same when he dug.  This work was exceeding
+laborious, since when digging we had to be very careful not to let the
+earth fall down the shaft and choke it up, and also the basketfuls of
+earth had to be hauled up every few minutes.  We were several days at
+the work before we came to the bamboo pipe we had driven in from the
+lake side--not, of course, that we did nothing else, having our other
+duties to attend to, and besides we now went up to our watch-tower
+three times, and sometimes four, every day, so that the savages should
+not come in their canoes and take us by surprise.
+
+[Sidenote: The Cavern]
+
+Having got down to the pipe, which, as I have said, was but a few
+inches above the cavity into which we had broken, we saw that we must
+be even more careful, for if the earth should give way all of a sudden,
+as it did before, we might for all we knew be hurled into a bottomless
+abyss.  All the time we had been digging we had felt the current of
+cool air striking upward against us, from which it was plain that the
+chamber below was not a perfectly closed vault, and the only comfort we
+had of this was that we were certainly not coming to the old smoker's
+kitchen, as Billy called it, for then the air would have been hot.  To
+avoid this headlong fall, I considered we should now cease to stand on
+the ledge of earth at the side of the hole, and rig up a rope ladder
+which we might attach securely to the doorposts above.  Billy was
+digging when this idea came into my head, he being lighter than I, and
+after I told him of it he scrambled up very quickly by means of steps
+we had cut in the side, confessing he was glad to get out in safety.
+
+It took us some time to make a rope ladder, but when it was done, and
+fastened to the doorposts, I descended and hacked away with my spade at
+the sides of the hole below me until I had made it big enough for my
+body to go through.  Then I got Billy to hand down to me a lighted
+torch, and bending as low as I could, I clung to the ladder with one
+hand, and with the other held the torch in the space below, being
+nearly suffocated by its stinking fumes.  However, by moving the torch
+backwards and forwards I made out that the space was a small chamber,
+oblong in shape, but not regular, and with a floor, but, so far as I
+could see, no outlet, though I knew there must be one, because of the
+current of air.  Feeling by no means sure of the depth of the floor
+below me, I clambered up again and pulled the ladder after me, and we
+lengthened it by some three feet before I descended again.  By the
+light of my torch I then saw that I could drop to the floor without any
+danger, and I let go the ladder, and fell upon my feet on hard rock.
+
+"What cheer, master?" calls out Billy, with his face close to the top
+of the shaft above.  I told him that I was safe and what manner of
+place I was in, and said I would explore further, and when I did so I
+found that we had no need to trouble ourselves about the safety of our
+hut, because the walls of this underground chamber were of hard rock,
+like the rocks on the sides of the mountain, and the roof the same,
+except at the place where we had dug our shaft.  How this came to be I
+did not trouble to think,[1] nor did it concern us, the great matter
+for us being that our hut had a solid foundation, which was a great
+comfort.  When I told this to Billy, by shouting up through the shaft,
+the sound of my voice echoing very strangely, he cried back that he was
+glad to hear it and that he was coming down to see.  "No, no," I cried
+at this; "you keep guard above while I seek further; and besides, the
+ladder does not reach the ground, and perhaps you couldn't get up
+again."
+
+"Then how will you get up, master?" says Billy.
+
+"Why, you can draw the ladder up while I go exploring, and by the time
+I come back you can lengthen it," was my answer.
+
+This he agreed to do, only he begged me not to be long.
+
+[Sidenote: A Tunnel]
+
+When I came to examine the chamber, I found it to be neither so large
+nor so lofty as I had first supposed.  The general height of it was not
+above five feet, though in parts it rose to ten feet or more.  I had
+soon made a tour about the chamber, the compass of which was perhaps
+sixty or seventy feet, and in one corner of it I at last discovered an
+opening, through which, I did not doubt, came the current of air I have
+before mentioned.  It was, as I found when I held my torch to it, a
+very low and narrow passage, not above four feet high, and the draught
+of air was so strong that it made my torch flare, and, indeed, was like
+to blow it out.  This made me consider whether I had not better rest
+content and go no further; but curiosity was strong within me, and so I
+went into the passage, or tunnel, having to bend my body very low, and
+crept along with great caution, holding the torch in front of me lest I
+came unawares upon a chasm and broke my neck.  The passage seemed to me
+to incline slightly downward, though I could not be sure of this, since
+there were not only several crooks and turns in it, so that not many
+yards of it were straight, but also it was in some parts pretty near
+choked with rocks and stones, which I supposed had fallen from the roof
+and sides.  However, I picked my way among these obstacles when they
+occurred, and found as I went on that the passage became both wider and
+loftier, so that I was able to stand upright.
+
+After I had gone some distance through this tunnel, wondering whether
+it was natural or had been made by men's hands, and inclining to the
+former belief, I perceived that it was joined by another passage which
+ran into it from my right hand, and the two passages thus joined in one
+became a tunnel which increased both in width and height the further I
+went.  Whereas at starting from the cavern I had had to bend low, with
+little space on either side of me, I now found myself in a passage
+which in some parts was as much as twenty feet high, as near as I could
+guess in the deceitful light of my torch, and so wide that five or six
+men could easily have walked abreast in it.  And as I still kept my
+eyes cast down, being heedful of my footing, I perceived by and by on
+the floor of the passage sundry small whitish objects which, when I
+stooped to examine them, I found to be shells, and they became more
+numerous the further I went.  I began now to question with myself
+whether this tunnel did not communicate with the sea, and whether the
+sea ever came up through it so far into the interior of the island, for
+the cavern whence I had started on this journey was directly below our
+hut, and that was situate at least half a mile from the sea-shore.
+
+I went on, being eager to satisfy myself on this point, and holding my
+torch about the level of my head, when all at once I felt the skin of
+my hand scorched, and, looking up, saw that the flame was burning very
+low, which had escaped me, so much were my thoughts taken up.  I had no
+mind to pursue this journey in darkness, for though I had come very
+well to this point, I knew not whereto the tunnel would bring me, nor
+what perils might be lurking in the way.  Accordingly I turned myself
+about, purposing to acquaint Billy with what I had discovered, and to
+come again, either with him or alone, with sufficient light to hold out
+to the end.  But I soon saw, to my exceeding discomfort, that I had
+already presumed too much upon the endurance of my torch, which was
+flickering lower and lower, and within a little, though I made what
+haste I could, went out altogether.  At this I was mightily vexed,
+though not alarmed, for the floor of the tunnel was perfectly sound,
+albeit rough, and I did not look for the least difficulty in making my
+way back to the cavern.  Though not alarmed, I say, I was vexed, for I
+could not go nearly so fast in the dark, and I began to think that
+Billy might be a little uneasy at my long absence.  As to myself, there
+was only one thing to trouble about, and that was to keep to the right
+hand, so that I should not fail of re-entering the passage by which I
+had come when I arrived at the place where the other passage joined
+with it.  To make sure on this point I felt with my hand along the wall
+at my right, and found this a help to me for some distance; but by and
+by I had to leave it, so as to get past some rocks that stood in my
+way, and in a little while after I returned to it I stumbled clean over
+another obstacle, hurting my hands and knees, though luckily my head
+did not strike the ground.
+
+[Sidenote: Lost]
+
+When I rose up, I could not find the wall at once, the passage here
+being exceedingly rough with loose rocks and stones.  I stumbled on,
+and now for the first time the thought came into my head, how awful it
+would be if a man were lost in such an underground passage as this, not
+at first thinking of this plight as likely to be mine, though soon I
+did begin to be very uneasy, and indeed I was almost overcome with
+horror when all of a sudden I thought, "What if there be a perfect
+network of these passages in the island, and I can never light on the
+cavern again?"  I wished now very heartily that I had let Billy come
+down to me when he offered it, but there was no use in wishing, so I
+groped my way onward, having now got my hand upon the wall again.
+
+I had noticed for some time that the floor of the tunnel was ascending,
+and it seemed to me steeper than I had thought it to be when I came the
+other way; but I paid little heed to this, because a hill always seems
+steeper when you ascend than when you descend.  But all of a sudden I
+felt that the inclination was downward, and I was trying to recollect
+if I had gone up and then down as I came from the cavern, when I felt
+something cold about my feet, and, taking a step forward, splashed in
+water.  Instantly I turned about and rushed back, stumbling and
+falling, and in a great dismay, for I knew now that I had lost my
+bearings.  There had been no water in the passage when I came; either
+water had rushed into it suddenly, though how that could be I knew not,
+or else I had come into another passage.  Whichever it might be, my
+situation was exceeding serious, for I might be drowned, or I might
+wander for hours and never come to the cavern.  I picked myself up when
+I fell in my haste, and as I leant against the wall to recover myself,
+something scurried past my feet, which made me shiver until I thought
+that it could not be more than a rat or some other small beast.  But
+being now so confused that I knew not whether I had come from right or
+left, I lifted up my voice and shouted the seaman's call "Ahoy!" for if
+I was anywhere near the cavern, Billy might hear me, and that familiar
+word would bring him, I did not doubt, to my help.  I was startled by
+what ensued upon my shout, for the whole space about me was filled with
+noise, which at first I did not know to be the reverberation of my own
+voice.  The noise, the like of which I suppose had never been heard in
+that place before, terrified all the denizens of it, and I felt several
+small animals brush against my legs as they scurried past.  When the
+sounds had rolled away, I listened very intently for some answering
+cry, but there was none, even though I shouted again, and I could not
+but conclude that the din, great as it was, had failed to reach Billy's
+ears.  And since it now seemed plain that I must depend on myself
+alone, and to stay still where I was would not help me a jot, I began
+in sheer desperation to grope my way along the passage, not knowing in
+the least whether I was going right or wrong.  But supposing that I had
+overshot the entrance to the passage leading back to the cavern, and
+that I was now retracing my steps, I crept along by the wall on my left
+hand, every now and again stopping to shout and listen, but always in
+vain.  And it came into my mind presently that while the sound of my
+voice might carry a good way along the portion of the tunnel in which I
+then was, yet it would not penetrate far along the passage that ran
+back at a very sharp angle from it, so that I would do better to save
+my breath until I arrived at the fork, and I went on again, holding my
+peace.
+
+The tunnel seemed to me now to be full of strange whispers and little
+silent noises which I had not perceived when I travelled along with my
+torch.  I have not a doubt it was my imagination playing tricks upon
+me, helped very much by the darkness; but I did not think of this at
+the time, and my skin crept, and broke out into a cold sweat, at the
+rustlings and echoes that I heard, or thought I heard.  I stopped two
+or three times to listen more intently, and then heard nothing but the
+beating of my heart, and so on again, until I thought I must surely
+have come to the fork of the two passages.  Halting, I groped with my
+hands to discover if the passage was wider, and then I felt sure I
+heard a rustling, and another sound, as of an animal breathing heavily,
+and at that moment something cold and clammy touched my outstretched
+hand.  Instantly I drew back, and scarce knowing what I did let forth a
+great shout, which rang, I doubt not, with the very accent of fear, and
+immediately it was answered by a shout, which I took at first to be the
+echo of it, for the hollow tunnel prolonged the sounds so that nothing
+was clear.  But in a moment I heard, quite near to me, that ill word
+which had wont to be on Billy's lips, but which, since I reproved him
+for it, he had never used.  I cried his name in a burst of joy, and he
+called back, "Is that you, master?" and the next moment we were
+together, and I confess I threw my arms about Billy, and would not let
+him go until he asked me in a quavering voice what I was afraid of.
+
+[Sidenote: Found]
+
+He told me that, being uneasy at my long absence, when he had expressly
+charged me not to be long, he had let himself down by the rope ladder
+into the cavern, and came with a torch in search of me, and it was his
+hand that had so scared me.  "But there you are!" says he.  "First I
+knocked my head against the roof, and then my funny-bone against the
+wall, and then I tumbled head-first over a rock that some one had put
+in the very middle of the way; over I went, and my torch was knocked
+out of my hand, and the flame was put out.  I hadn't got flint and
+steel on me, course not; and so I couldn't light the torch again
+without going back all the way, and I couldn't find the torch at first,
+and when I did find it, things had got so mixed up that I didn't know
+no more than Moses which was for'ard and which was aft.  But I set a
+course straight ahead, and here we are."
+
+"But where are we?" I said.
+
+Billy of course could not tell me this, having lost his bearings just
+as completely as I had done.  All that we knew was that the cavern was
+not reached by the passage along which I had been going, for neither
+Billy nor I had encountered water in our outward journey.  It seemed to
+me that we had both wandered into the passage which I had observed to
+run into the other from the right hand, and if this was so, we had but
+to go in the same direction as I had been going when Billy met me, and
+to cling to the wall on the left side, and we should by and by find
+ourselves at the fork of the two passages.  And, indeed, we had not
+gone above a dozen paces when Billy, who was in front, cried that the
+wall turned a corner, and when we reached it we wheeled round in the
+same direction, and in due time came to the cavern, which, though it
+had seemed dark to me before, was now light by comparison with the
+blackness of the tunnel we had left.  I asked Billy whether he had
+lengthened the ladder, and when he confessed that he had not, I
+wondered how we were to ascend to our hut again, for the bottom of the
+ladder was out of my reach.  But Billy solved this difficulty by
+getting on to my shoulders and then grasping the ladder, by which he
+very nimbly climbed to the surface.  There being no room in the shaft
+for him to bend down and assist me, I had to wait until he had
+lengthened the ladder, which he did very quickly, blaming himself for
+not having done it before.  Thus we came safely to our hut again, and
+both having had enough of underground passages for that day, we
+determined to go on another expedition later, indeed, very soon, for
+Billy was eager to explore the tunnel to its end, when I had told him
+of the largeness of it, and of the shells on its floor.
+
+I did not tell him my tale at once, for the moment we came up into our
+hut we were aware that it had been visited in our absence.  Having made
+our discovery of the cavern by accident, and gone down into it without
+premeditation, we had not thought to shut the door of the hut, which,
+being open, those rascally dogs of which I have spoken more than once
+had made an irruption.  By great good luck there was nothing that they
+could destroy, but they had thrown down a pile of cocoa-nuts we had in
+one corner, and these lay scattered all about as if they had played
+ball with them.  I doubt not they would have made an attempt, as they
+did afterwards, to plunder our poultry-run, but it would appear that
+they had not discovered our absence for some time, and had been
+startled away by the sound of us returning.  We determined, when we
+should descend again into the cavern, to close our door very firmly.
+
+The discovery of the cavern made us alter our plan of bringing water to
+the hut.  We had intended to make a reservoir just below the pipe, into
+which we might let water from the lake whenever we needed it; but we
+contented ourselves now with putting a plug into the end of the pipe,
+with a small hole in the middle of it, which we could stop or un-stop
+at will, so that by removing the stopping we should have a small
+trickle of water which we could collect in one of our vessels, and draw
+up into the hut.  Having fixed these plugs, we went to the lake and
+filled in with our spades the excavation we had made in the side,
+heaping rocks about the ground that had been disturbed, so that there
+should be nothing to betray our device to any one who might chance to
+come.  We then removed our V-shaped dam, and hastened back to the hut
+to see whether the plan answered our expectations.  We found when we
+took out the stopping that there was a continual drip of water, which
+pleased us very much, for we now knew that, however long we might be
+shut up in the hut, we should never lack for water, and so we might be
+quite easy in mind.
+
+[Sidenote: Exploring]
+
+When we had finished our work in this matter of the water supply, which
+was a day or two after our adventure in the tunnel, we set off again,
+both together, to make a further exploration, only this time you may be
+sure we took several torches of a large size, so that the same trouble
+of darkness and bewilderment should not overtake us.  This time also we
+took the precaution to close and fasten the door, for though there was
+little or nothing in the hut to which the dogs could do serious hurt,
+we preferred their room to their company, as the saying is.
+
+We went through the tunnel together, and came to the spot where my
+torch had gone out, and had not gone very far from thence when we found
+our way blocked by water, which came right into the tunnel, and which
+we knew by its salt taste to be the sea.  It was quite plain from this
+that there was an outlet to the shore, but we could not tell how far it
+was from us, the place being exceeding dark, so that the flames of two
+torches held together scarce seemed to penetrate the blackness.  Billy
+was greatly disappointed at finding our further progress thus checked,
+and asked me whether he should swim through the water until he came to
+the opening on the shore; but this I would by no means consent to, for
+I could have given him no light, and we could not tell what perils of
+sunken rocks or other things we might encounter in the darkness.  And
+it was a mercy that Billy paid heed to my words, and was not obstinate,
+for if he had done what he proposed, and entered the water, I doubt not
+I should never have seen him again.
+
+[Sidenote: The Dogs Again]
+
+When we came back to our hut we heard a mighty cackling from the
+fowl-house, which, as I have said before, was the smaller hut we had
+used while the larger was a-building, and stood some little distance
+from the latter on the edge of the level space.  Our fowls being in the
+main quiet birds, we suspected that something was amiss; indeed, Billy
+declared at once that he was sure 'twas the dogs at their old tricks,
+and was for opening the door and sallying out upon them at once.  But I
+bethought myself of a better way, and moreover one that would help us
+to prove in some measure the efficacy of our defences; so I took out
+the plug from one of the loopholes we had made in the wall facing the
+fowl-house, and peeping through I saw nigh a dozen dogs assembled about
+it, and some scratching diligently at the earth below the palisade.
+They had never molested our creatures since the time when they were so
+sore discomfited at the piggery, and I was not a little amazed at their
+coming now, for none of them had seen us descending into the cavern.
+But I suppose it was as Billy said, that they were cunning beasts with
+the second sight; indeed, he said he had heard of witches, and
+sometimes fair princesses, being turned into the shape of dogs, but he
+knew these villainous rogues were not princesses.  However, they did
+certainly seem to have discovered that we were no longer on the surface
+of the island, and were, as I say, striving to gain an entrance to our
+poultry-run.
+
+I whispered to Billy, so as not to disturb them, to take the plug out
+of another loophole, and then to shoot an arrow through when I gave the
+word.  This he did, and our arrows flying forth almost at the same
+moment, by great good fortune (and perhaps some little skill) struck
+two of the dogs, which fell writhing.  I expected to see the rest of
+the pack take warning and flee instantly, but this they did not do,
+which shows that there is a limit to their reason; for seeing no enemy
+they did not connect the fate of the two with any external cause, but
+immediately set upon them, tearing them in pieces with horrible
+yellings and snarlings.  While they were at this cannibal business
+Billy and I sent more arrows among them, and six dogs in all had fallen
+to our weapons before the rest came to any understanding and sought
+safety.
+
+"We could hit savages better," said Billy, as we sallied out, "because
+they are bigger than dogs."
+
+"I hope we shall never have the need," I said, taking a long shot at
+the rearmost of the dogs as they disappeared in the bushes.
+
+When we came to the poultry-run, we found that the dogs had already
+scratched a good-sized hole beneath the palings, and within a little
+they would have been able to scramble through and work havoc among our
+fowls.  We set about recovering our arrows, and soon had them all but
+the one I had shot last, which, when I came to the place where I
+expected it to be, was not there, nor could we find it, though we
+searched for some time.
+
+"You must have hit the villain, master," says Billy.
+
+I could hardly believe this, for the range was long, and the dog was
+moving; but on looking closely upon the ground I saw a trace of blood,
+and suspected that I had in fact hit the dog, which had, however, run
+on with the arrow in him.  Being curious on this matter, I determined
+to follow up the track, and sent Billy back to the hut for a spear or
+an axe, as well to defend myself if the animal should turn upon me as
+to put it out of torment if its wound should be grave.  The track was
+sometimes faint, but mostly clear, and ran in almost a straight line,
+so that I followed it with ease, where it led me through the wood
+eastward of the hut, bearing to the right round the base of the hill.
+But I did not see the dog for some time, until all of a sudden I caught
+a glimpse of it limping into the undergrowth some way ahead of me.  I
+made speed to overtake it, and the animal turned, snarling very
+fiercely upon me, and standing as if to dispute my advance; but I
+perceived that the creature was already far spent, for it tottered, and
+recovered itself with great difficulty, so that I was very glad when
+Billy came up, and with one thrust of the spear ended the poor beast's
+life.
+
+"There you are, you villain!" cried Billy with a kind of savage joy as
+he dealt the stroke; but I own I felt in a manner sorry for the
+creature, and thought it a pity that we should have to wage war against
+them, though I saw it was a necessity, they being, in their wild state,
+as fierce and dangerous to us as wolves.  Maybe my softness was partly
+due to my recollection of a terrier we had at home, and I was
+contemplating the beast Billy had slain, striving to make out some
+likeness between her (for 'twas a bitch) and my uncle's terrier, when
+Billy cried, "What's that?" and I was aware of a faint yelping near by.
+Penetrating a little further into the undergrowth, I saw three little
+puppies, their eyes just open, but they were not yet able to crawl.
+
+"They are very pretty when they're young, Billy," I said.
+
+"Pretty!" says he.  "I'll show 'em.  They shan't never grow up to
+plague us;" and he was on the point of piercing one of them with his
+spear when I stayed his hand.
+
+"But why and what for?" says he, looking at me in amazement.  "They'll
+only starve, or be eaten by the other rascals when they find 'em.
+Better kill 'em now and have done with it."
+
+[Sidenote: Our Pets]
+
+But I had been thinking that we were two lone creatures on this island,
+and we might perchance find some solace and amusement in keeping pets,
+which we could not do with pigs or poultry, the former being too
+swinish and the latter too silly.  And I confess the little things
+looked so pretty that I had not the heart to kill them, and so I
+proposed that we should carry them back to the hut and do our best to
+bring them up.
+
+"What's the good?" says Billy.  "They won't live.  I had some rabbits
+once, and they died; and some guinea-pigs, and my mother drownded
+them--she wasn't my real mother; and they may be pretty now, though I
+can't see it, but when they grow up, bless you, they'll be as fierce as
+those other villains, and we may as well kill 'em first as last."
+
+"Billy," I said, "my aunt Susan used to say, 'Never climb up to the
+chimney-pots to meet the rain'----"
+
+"No one would but a fool," says Billy, interrupting, and when I tried
+to explain what my aunt meant he said that was all very well, but where
+did the chimney-pots come in?  However, to shorten the story, he gave
+in to my wish, and we carried the puppies to our hut, and made them up
+a bed of grass and leaves in one of our large pans.  We were hard put
+to it to know how to feed them, and indeed, the food we gave
+them--bread-fruit made into pap, and scraps of chicken, and the like,
+as well as broth sometimes--did not agree with them very well, because
+they were so young, so that I doubted whether we should succeed in
+rearing them.  One died in three days, but the others survived, and I
+ought to say that Billy was fully as diligent as myself in tending
+them, and showed a marvellous ingenuity in the preparation of their
+meals.  As they grew up, we used to watch them anxiously, expecting
+that one fine day they would leave us and join themselves to their own
+kindred in the wilds, and Billy said he hoped his dog would not leave
+us the first, for he would never forgive it.  But we saw with great
+satisfaction that they showed no inclination towards the society of
+their kind; indeed, it was the contrary; they shunned them, and showed
+every mark of enmity if they approached, so that we saw they would
+prove to be very good watchdogs when fully grown.  Billy called his dog
+Robin, which he said was a good name for a dog but not for a man, and I
+called mine Little John to match; and they soon learnt to answer to
+their names.
+
+
+
+[1] Probably the fissure had at one time extended to the surface, but
+had been gradually filled up with soil brought to the spot by drainage
+from the high ground.--H.S.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE TWELFTH
+
+OF A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION BETWEEN BILLY AND THE NARRATOR--OF AN
+ENCOUNTER WITH A SHARK, AND THE BUILDING OF A CANOE
+
+
+We now began to consider ourselves as the possessors of considerable
+wealth, compared with our condition when we first came to the island.
+We had a fair estate, with none to dispute our title, at least, none
+had yet done so; a substantial and commodious house, by no means a
+mansion, and very plainly furnished, but having the necessary things,
+to which we could add the others, and did.  We had food, both of the
+animal and vegetable kind, of our own breeding and growing, so that we
+were always sure of its freshness.  We looked abroad on our little
+domain with a great deal of honest satisfaction, seeing our own
+handiwork in it, and being ever urged on to other achievements by what
+we had already done.  This summer, for an instance, finding that our
+yam plantation throve exceedingly, and needed hoeing because of the
+very fertility of the soil, we made ourselves rakes and hoes, the
+former of wood and bits of bone (these took us a long time), the latter
+of scallop shells bound with cords about crutched sticks.  Then, when
+the yams were ripe, and we had to bring them to our house from the
+plantation, which was at some distance, we thought of making a
+wheelbarrow, which also employed us for a good time, and was indeed one
+of the most difficult jobs we took in hand, the want of nails being a
+great hindrance.  The body of it was made of wicker-work closely
+plaited, and the wheel a disc of pottery, which answered very well
+until it broke in going over rocky ground, and then we had to carve out
+a wooden one, which was a very tiresome job.  We made also a sort of
+bench-table out of the stump of a tree, which we split down the middle
+by driving in flint wedges, and when we had split it we took one half
+and planed the inside of it with scrapers, also of flint, and then
+scoured it with sand, not being content until it was as smooth as a
+sawyer's plank.  It was on this that I drew the map I have mentioned
+before, using a mixture of charcoal and oil pressed from candle-nuts,
+and Billy was very proud when he saw BOBBIN'S BAY marked on it in
+pretty neat, big characters.  We made also some rough stools and
+chairs, using always strong cords of cocoa-nut fibre in the place of
+nails.  Billy and I had a little difference about the stools, he
+preferring them to be of three legs, and I of four, my reason being
+that the four-legged sort were the more stable, while his reason was
+nothing but a contrariness of temper that sometimes seized him; in
+which frame of mind if I said I should like pork for dinner he would
+immediately declare for chicken.
+
+[Illustration: Rake Head and Scallop-shell Hoe]
+
+[Illustration: Our Wheelbarrow]
+
+[Illustration: Our Table]
+
+[Sidenote: A Difference of Opinion]
+
+It was this that brought about the fight between us, which I think I
+mentioned before.  We had just finished making our first stools, his
+being three-legged, and he sang a trifle loud because he was finished
+first, he being always more handy with his fingers than I was, except
+in delicate work and the making of pottery.  He taunted me about my
+slowness, asking what was the good of bothering about four legs when
+three would do quite as well, and saying that he supposed I must have
+one more than he, because he was only the son of a poor blacksmith of
+Limehouse; and more to the same effect.  Now this, I thought, was very
+unjust, for I had never stood upon any difference in rank there might
+be between us; nor indeed did Billy as a rule allude to it, much less
+express any discontentment, but called me "master" very simply and
+naturally.  What came over him this day I know not, but he sat on his
+three-legged stool with a very gloomy face, grumbling and growling
+until I could endure it no longer.
+
+[Illustration: My Chair; Billy's Stool]
+
+"For goodness' sake, Billy," I said, "leave me to my work.  Go and get
+the dinner ready, or something."
+
+"I won't," says he.  "Why should I get your dinner?  I ain't your
+servant, though I ain't got a mad uncle what's got more money than
+wits.  Money! what's the good of money when you ain't got no sense for
+the spending of it?  Why, if it hadn't been for your uncle I'd 'a been
+rich by this time, working for decent wages in London, instead of
+sweating for nothing."
+
+"You're an ass," said I, as pleasantly as you please.
+
+"I may be an ass," says Billy, "but I'm blowed if I'm a silly ass, and
+that's what _you_ are."
+
+[Sidenote: A Fight]
+
+And then I own I clean lost my temper, and, leaving my work, I went to
+him and dealt him a blow that sent him and his stool to the ground.
+Whereupon he sprang to his feet, and came at me tooth and nail, as you
+may say, butting me with his head, and grappling me, seeking to throw
+me by main force.  He was very muscular, as I have said, and he came
+very near to effecting his purpose with me; but I shook him off, and
+being longer in the arms than he, and possessor of a little more
+science, I contrived to ward off his blows until he was pretty tired,
+and then dealt him a stroke which fairly knocked the wind out of him.
+He sat on the ground for some time looking about him in a dazed and
+stupid way, and presently, when he was somewhat collected, he said,
+"You give me a rare good 'un that time, master," and went on
+cheerfully: "You do look comical with your nose a-swelling."
+
+I was already aware that something was amiss with that very prominent
+feature, and I might have felt aggrieved at this allusion to it but for
+the good-tempered manner in which Billy spoke.  It was plain that he
+had quite lost his ill-humour, and bore me no malice for the beating I
+had given him; indeed, he appeared to think of me all the more highly
+because of it.  But I was exceeding vexed with myself for losing my
+temper over such a trifle, and when we were sitting together by and by,
+bathing our wounds, I spoke very solemnly about it, saying that it was
+nothing less than sinful, after the mercies that had been vouchsafed to
+us, our preservation from manifold dangers by land and sea, to give way
+to our angry passions and fight each other with hate in our hearts.
+Billy heard me patiently for a while, and subdued his naturally jocund
+countenance to a decent solemnity; but presently he burst forth with a
+laugh, and said, "Lor, master, how you do talk!  What's a round of
+fisticuffs and a black eye or two?  I got a walloping and deserved it,
+and you and me will be all the better friends," which I believe we were.
+
+[Illustration: Our Fish-hooks]
+
+[Illustration: Our Gaff and Landing-net]
+
+[Sidenote: Fishing]
+
+Now that our heavy labours in building our hut and securing our supply
+of food were over, we had leisure to indulge ourselves in lighter and
+more sportive avocations.  We practised diligently with our arrows at
+the running man, and greatly improved ourselves in shooting: and we
+also began to consider whether we could not catch some of the fish
+which came about the coast sometimes in great numbers, particularly
+where the water was deep and big rocks lay near the surface.  We
+usually had intimation of the arrival of a shoal of fish by the
+unwonted number of sea-birds we saw flying low and diving into the sea,
+and indeed gorging themselves.  Billy said he had often fished for
+tiddlebacks in the ditches near his home, though he seldom caught any,
+and I myself had some angling in our country streams; and our only
+difficulty being hooks, for we had lines in plenty, made of that fibre
+of which I have spoken, we set our wits to work to invent hooks, Billy
+saying what a pity it was we hadn't even a bent pin.  We did devise
+after a time hooks of various sizes, made out of the bones of small
+birds, and then nothing would satisfy us but we must have a gaff, which
+we made of tough wood hardened in fire and greased with pork fat, and
+also a landing-net, which we made of fibres stretched basket-wise on a
+frame of bent wood.  Armed with these implements, and with lines and
+rods, and bits of shellfish for bait, we went down to the sea and
+fished from rocks that stood out of the water at low tide, and were
+little more than covered at high.  We did not have very much success,
+the hooks being easily broken, and I remember one of the first fish we
+caught made us very ill, so that for some time after we thought no more
+of this addition to our food.  But after a while we determined to try
+again, and it came into our minds that we had seen the natives of the
+island we stayed on catching fish with spears, which manner we had not
+thought of at first, the hook and line being the English way.
+Accordingly we made some light wooden spears, or rather harpoons, and
+with these in our hands we stood on the rocks until we saw fish that
+took our fancy, and then flung our spears at them, as we had seen the
+natives do.  We missed a great many times, for it was not often that we
+had the chance to throw our spears perpendicularly straight, and except
+when we could, we were not able for a great while to take good aim,
+because we did not allow for that strange effect water has of making
+things appear to be in a different place from where they are.[1]  We
+should have been in great danger of losing our spears had we not
+foreseen this want of success, and attached a thin line to each of
+them, which we held when we made our cast.  After many disappointments,
+and diligent practice, we contrived to make the needful allowance for
+the apparent bending of the harpoons, or rather their turning aside
+from the straight path as soon as they entered the water, and indeed we
+became fairly dexterous, and could depend on getting a good basket of
+fish whenever we chose.  Our first experience having made us wary, we
+were careful not to eat freely of any fish until we had proved whether
+it was good for food, and the course of this proving was somewhat
+painful to us, for we found that certain fish, even in the smallest
+portions, caused sickness and giddiness.  But after a time we learnt to
+know the wholesome from the unwholesome, and then we often had fish at
+our meals, broiled, baked, or boiled, and we cured a quantity, both
+with salt and with smoke, against the time when they should not be so
+easily got.
+
+[Illustration: Our Harpoons]
+
+One of the best fishing grounds about our coast was a spot just beyond
+the little sandy beach at the south of the island, where it joined the
+lava tract, a number of jagged rocks there jutting out of the cliff.
+We were able to leap from one to another of these rocks until we came
+to a somewhat larger one about fifty or sixty yards out to sea, to
+which fish, both large and small, seemed to be marvellously attracted.
+This rock appeared to us to be shaped like a mushroom, having a broad
+top rising a little in the middle, beneath which the fish lay, for
+forty winks, as Billy said.  There was little rise and fall of the
+tide, but at flood the top of the rock was just awash, and it was
+covered with marine plants and limpets, which caused us to be very
+careful of our footing.  Here we sometimes caught so great a quantity
+of fish that we had some trouble in carrying them ashore, so that we
+made it a practice after a time, whenever we went to this rock, to take
+with us a stout bag, made of a coarse broad grass that grew abundantly
+on the shore of the lake; and we placed our catch in this, and then,
+instead of springing from rock to rock, which had some peril, we being
+so laden, we attached a line to the bag, and hauled it ashore as soon
+as we reached the base of the cliff.
+
+We became, I say, fairly dexterous in course of time with our harpoons,
+which we lost now and again, in spite of all our care, when the fish we
+had speared were big ones, and too strong for us to hold.  Once,
+indeed, I was dragged right into the water, a great fellow suddenly
+sounding when I had driven my harpoon home; and that time I not only
+got a thorough drenching and several bruises through falling on the
+rock, but lost fish, harpoon and line together.  To prevent the like
+mishap from happening again, we accustomed ourselves to wind the end of
+the line about a spar of rock, so that if any fish proved too strong
+for us, either the line snapped or the harpoon became disengaged.  In
+either of these cases, to be sure, we lost the fish, and if the line
+snapped we lost the harpoon as well; but we did have a security against
+being drawn into the sea ourselves, which in itself would have been a
+trifle, seeing that we could both swim and thought nothing of a
+wetting; but at certain seasons we had observed that sharks were
+numerous off the coast, and we had a great dread of being snapped up by
+one of these monsters, so that at such times we were careful not to go
+above our middle when we bathed.
+
+[Sidenote: A Shark]
+
+I remember very well one day, when we were on this mushroom rock, and
+the fish being very plentiful, we remained on it longer than our wont,
+until, indeed, it was pretty nearly a foot deep in water.  I had just
+harpooned a fine fellow near three feet long--a sort of cod from which
+Billy promised to cut some fine steaks for broiling--and Billy with the
+gaff was helping me to land him, when all of a sudden I spied the fin
+of a shark making straight towards us, and only a few yards away.  In
+another moment the beast turned over and heaved itself clean out of the
+water and half on to the rock, and snapped up the prize under our very
+noses.  I think we were first more angry than affrighted, Billy fuming
+against the impudent rogue that had snatched away what would have been
+a welcome addition to our larder.  We had two or three spare harpoons
+floating in the shallow water behind us, and attached by their lines to
+the spar of rock.  These we seized, and just as the shark was jerking
+himself back into deep water we hurled our weapons at him, and were
+lucky to hit him before he sounded.  In a moment the sea about us was
+like a boiling caldron; we were swept off our feet by the lines, which
+the wounded shark was dragging crosswise over the rock, and before we
+could recover our footing one of the lines, which was somewhat shorter
+than the other, snapped.  But the other held, and we saw that the
+shark, instead of plunging in a straight course away from the rock, was
+heading up the coast, and moving in a circle of which the line was the
+radius.  We expected that this line also would snap in a moment, and
+then we should have lost both our harpoons; but we were astonished by
+and by to see that there was less and less strain and movement in the
+line, until it ceased altogether.
+
+[Illustration: "THE BEAST HEAVED ITSELF CLEAN OUT OF THE WATER."]
+
+"I do believe we've killed him, master," says Billy.  "Heave ho! we'll
+soon see."
+
+Accordingly we hauled upon the line, and drew it in little by little,
+until we saw the body of the shark at its end quite motionless.
+
+"We've got him and both the harpoons," cries Billy, "and the fish too,
+for he ain't had time to swallow him proper."
+
+We passed a couple of lines round the monster's tail and dragged him to
+the shore, and there Billy immediately set to work to open him, and
+disgorged the fish of which we had been robbed.  However, having no
+mind to eat what the shark had partly swallowed, I persuaded Billy to
+throw the fish into the sea, and Billy laughed at me finely afterwards,
+I assure you, when I was eating with great relish a shark-steak he had
+broiled for our supper.
+
+"If you can eat the shark, master, why couldn't you eat the fish?" says
+he.
+
+I own I could give him no answer except that my gorge rose at the
+thought of it, and this led me to consider of the strange
+inconsistencies of men in matters of food, as in other things.  My aunt
+Susan would have been aghast at the idea of eating a snail, but she
+would eat a chicken which she had herself fed on snails; and when I
+mentioned this, Billy said that he didn't see any difference between
+eating a chicken full of snails and the snails themselves.
+
+"Billy," said I presently, "I never thought I should see you eating
+worms."
+
+"Why, whenever did you see me do that, master?" says he; "I never done
+it.  I'd be sick."
+
+"But we had a chicken for dinner, and you may be sure it had eaten
+worms," I said.
+
+He began to see what I was driving at, and looked very grave for some
+minutes, as if endeavouring to probe the comparison.  Then a broad grin
+spread over his face, and he said, "I reckon the chicken eats worms for
+the same reason as we eat chickens, 'cause they're nice," and I am sure
+he believed he had solved a very knotty problem.
+
+[Sidenote: A Canoe]
+
+It was partly this adventure with the shark, and partly our natural
+wish to circumnavigate the island, that set us on trying to make a
+boat.  We had many times been sorry that we did not think of securing
+the boat of the _Lovey Susan_ which had been staved in on the beach,
+and therefore abandoned by the seamen, but which we might perhaps have
+patched up if we had hauled it away from the sea.  Unhappily, neither
+Billy nor I had the least knowledge how to build a boat, nor if we had
+would our rude tools have availed us much, so that though the idea had
+come into our heads more than once, we had never done anything towards
+putting it in action, partly from this ignorance of ours, and partly
+because we had been so much occupied with other matters.  Now that the
+notion had come back to us with more force, however, we determined to
+see what we could do in digging out the trunk of a tree to make a
+canoe, something like those we had seen from our look-out hill, though
+not near so large.  Since we required it only to hold two, there was no
+reason to make it large, whereas there were many for making it small,
+for a large one would have needed a terrible amount of work, and if we
+could have made one, we might have had great difficulty in bringing it
+down to the beach and then in launching it.  Yet we resolved that,
+though it should not be large compared with those that held twenty or
+thirty men, it should be of such a size as to ride the sea with fair
+stability, for we did not want a cockle-shell or any cranky thing.
+
+For this purpose we chose a tree, of what name I know not, though I
+think it was a kind of pine, which grew on the slope above the sandy
+beach I have mentioned more than once.  We chose it as much for its
+position as for the nature of its wood, for being on the slope we
+thought that we could more readily bring it down to the sea than if we
+felled a tree further from the shore.  We felled it as we did the trees
+for our hut, with the aid of fire, and a notion came into my head by
+which we made a great improvement on our former rough method.  Our
+difficulty had been to make a fire sufficiently large to burn away the
+trunk rapidly, and yet not so large as to burn or scorch the tree
+higher than was necessary.  The idea that came into my head was to put
+a bandage about the trunk, and so keep the fire within bounds, and when
+we considered of the best material to use for this purpose, we decided
+that clay would be the most serviceable, because it would not only not
+burn itself, but it could be easily kept sodden.  Having chosen our
+tree, therefore, we clapped a thick bandage of wet clay round the trunk
+about three feet from the ground, and lit a fire all round the tree,
+and let it burn very fiercely for a time, and then we raked it away and
+chipped off the charred wood with our axes; and having again wetted the
+clay, we kindled the fire again, so that it would burn away the fresh
+surface of wood that we had exposed.  We continued thus until we had
+thus burnt and chipped away a deep incision all round the tree, and
+meanwhile we had debated whether we should make our canoe on the top of
+the slope (in which case we should let the tree fall on to a little
+patch of fairly level ground on the west side of it), or whether we
+should cause the tree to fall down the slope over the cliff on the
+western side, and so to the beach.  Billy declared for the former
+course, saying that if we let the tree go over the cliff it would
+assuredly be smashed, and the trunk once split would be useless for our
+purpose.  In answer to this I said that, however vexatious it would be
+to have to fell another tree, how much more vexatious would it be if
+any mischance happened to our canoe when we had finished it and were
+bringing it down to the beach!  In the one case we should have lost
+merely the time and labour of felling the tree; in the other, there
+would be the additional loss of the longer time and greater labour
+expended on the canoe.  Billy agreed with this reasoning, so towards
+the finish we built all the fire on the land side of the tree, until
+with a little hauling and shoving it snapped off and toppled with a
+mighty crash over the cliff.  We ran down to see what had happened to
+it, and though some of the larger branches had been broken off, the
+main trunk, so far as we could tell, was not hurt in the least.
+
+We burnt off the top and the remaining branches, both Billy and I
+tending our separate fires, of which we had many, so that the work was
+made much lighter than it would have been if every single branch had
+needs be lopped with a clumsy axe.
+
+Having thus got a log of wood clear of branches, and, as I reckoned,
+about fifteen feet long, we peeled off the bark, and set to work to
+hollow out the vessel.  It was plain that this would be a work of long
+time, for the trunk was about three feet thick, and I do not know how
+many months we might have been about it if we had not brought fire
+again to the aid of our axes.  We found that we could save time by
+allowing fires to smoulder for long periods in the top of the log,
+which we wished to hollow out; and by starting these fires at
+intervals, we found that when we had chipped away the charred wood
+beneath the first, the wood beneath the second was ready to be chipped
+away also, and so on all down the log.  Billy and I were thus employed
+the whole livelong day, and many days in succession, in building and
+removing fires, and chipping away the charred wood, by which means we
+gradually dug deeper and deeper into the heart of the log, rejoicing as
+we saw it, by almost insensible degrees, receiving the semblance of a
+canoe.
+
+The tree had fallen, as I said, over the cliff on to the sandy beach,
+and we were in some trouble of mind lest a high sea, or peradventure a
+violent storm, should carry our canoe away before it was finished.  It
+lay a little above high-water mark, it is true; but for our greater
+security we moored it, when we left work upon it, by means of ropes to
+some heavy rocks, which we trusted would preserve it from any such
+untoward event.  And it was indeed lucky we did so, for when we had
+been for some weeks (as I guessed) at the work--not continuously, for
+we had many other things to attend to--one night a violent storm got
+up, with great fury of wind and rain, and also some rumbling in the
+mountain, which made us feel very uneasy; and when we went down in the
+morning, the storm having ceased, to see what had happened to our
+canoe, we found that it had been lifted and tossed about by the sea,
+being indeed half full of water; but mercifully the waves had not
+dashed it against the rocks at the base of the cliff, or it would
+assuredly have been shattered, or at least very much damaged.
+
+This was the first really great storm we had had since our big hut was
+built, and the result of it, especially as it was followed by a period
+of rainy weather, was to make us leave work on our canoe before it was
+finished, and turn our hands to another task.  Our hut, as I have said
+before, was built on a little level tract, above and below which the
+ground sloped, on the one side towards the cliffs, on the other to
+Brimstone Lake, as we called it, from its medicinal water.  The slope
+above the hut was gradual, indeed, but it was a real slope all the
+same, and during this period of heavy rain the water swept down in a
+wide torrent from the heights, flowing past and through the hut, which
+was flooded, and very uncomfortable.  We suffered in this way, Billy
+and I, more than our fowls, for they had poles to roost on.  As for the
+pigs, we did not trouble about them, and I do think that the more
+sodden the ground the happier they were.  We did our best, in dry
+intervals, to make our walls watertight, but could not wholly succeed
+in this, for the doorway faced the upper slope, and we could not by any
+means make the door fit so closely as to keep out the water.  Since the
+floor of our hut was thus sodden, we could not sleep on it, but had to
+make our bed on the bench table, and very hard it was.
+
+[Sidenote: Cutting a Trench]
+
+It was a day or two before we thought of any means of curing this very
+disagreeable state of things, but then, all of a sudden, a notion came
+to us--whether first to Billy or to me I do not remember--of digging a
+trench round the hut, with outlets opening into the lake.  We set about
+this at once, finding the earth easy to work, even with our rude
+spades, because it was so sodden, and after two or three days' work we
+had made a shallow trench about the upper end of the hut, shaped like a
+half-circle, so that when the rain-water fell down the slope it would
+be intercepted by the trench, and so carried into the lake.  We
+observed again, at this time, that though the amount of water that
+flowed into the lake was very much greater than we had ever known
+before, yet the surface never rose above the certain level of which I
+have already spoken, and we were still very much puzzled to know, at
+least I was, how the surplus water was carried off; Billy saying that
+it didn't matter to us, and we shouldn't be any better off if we did
+know.  My way of looking at things was different, and I own I felt a
+great curiosity always to learn the reasons and causes of matters which
+were not easy to understand.  Yet it was, after all, little more than
+an accident which brought about the discovery of this matter, and of
+that I doubt not I shall tell in its place.
+
+
+
+[1] A rather long-winded allusion to refraction.--H.S.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH
+
+OF OUR ENTRENCHMENTS; OF THE LAUNCHING OF OUR CANOE, AND THE DEADLY
+PERIL THAT ATTENDED OUR FIRST VOYAGE
+
+
+While we were busy making the trench to keep the rain from our hut,
+another notion came all of a sudden into my mind, which, in a kind of
+merry sport, I at once made known to Billy.
+
+"We will make a moat about our castle, Billy," said I.
+
+"What's a moat, and where's our castle?" says he, leaning on his spade,
+and looking all around.
+
+"Why, every Englishman's house is his castle, as they say," I answered,
+"and as to a moat, you must know, Billy, that in the olden times----"
+
+"The times of Robin Hood or Robinson Crusoe?" says he; "for if it is I
+don't believe a word of it."
+
+"This is quite true, I assure you," I said.  "In the olden times, I
+say, when every great lord lived in his castle, there was a great ditch
+or trench all round it, to keep enemies away, for in those times lord
+often used to fight lord."
+
+"Like rats," says Billy.  "Go on, master."
+
+"Well, that ditch was called a moat, and it could only be crossed by a
+drawbridge," I said, "that is, a bridge that was let down over it from
+the castle gateway; and so, when the bridge was up, and the moat filled
+with water, no enemy could get into the castle, and the people inside
+were safe."
+
+"And suppose they were," says Billy, "what's the good unless they'd got
+enough victuals inside to last 'em ever so long?  If I was the lord
+outside I'd stop there till they either starved or came out and had a
+good fight."
+
+[Sidenote: Beginning a Moat]
+
+I answered that no doubt that was what they did, and went on to say
+that if we continued our trench and made it wider and deeper, bringing
+it close against the walls of our castle, we might add very greatly to
+the strength of our position if ever the savages came to the island and
+we had to defend ourselves against them.  As to the matter of food, I
+said that we had in the cavern below the castle as good a storehouse as
+we could wish for, and I resolved that we would start at once, or at
+least as soon as we had finished our canoe, to convey a great store of
+bread-fruit and yams, and salted pork and fish, into the cavern, for
+which purpose we should have to increase the number of our pots and
+pans.  But since this storehouse would be of little use to us if we
+were driven out of the castle, Billy consented to help me to dig a
+moat, though he said it would take us ten years to finish it, if we
+made it deep enough and wide enough to be of any avail.  And, indeed,
+we were not long in finding out, when we began the work, that it would
+take us a very great time, if not ten years; for to be of any defensive
+use the moat must be at least six feet deep and about twice as wide,
+and we were aghast when, at the end of a day's work with our spades, we
+saw the exceeding smallness of what we had achieved.  I was minded to
+give up the attempt, though it always vexed me to leave a thing half
+done, and the partial excavation we had made gave an untidy appearance
+to the place which displeased me mightily.  Moreover, the rains
+ceasing, and a season of dry weather ensuing, the ground became so much
+harder that we found our progress even slower than before, so that we
+did give it up, and went back very cheerfully to our canoe, which we
+had neglected all this time.
+
+We had hollowed out the log sufficiently for our purpose, though when I
+looked at the clumsy product of our toil I had a great doubt whether we
+should be able to sail in it.  It had none of the nice curves and
+shapeliness of a boat, and was the same at the one end as at the other,
+so that to talk of its prow cutting the water, or cleaving the waves,
+as fine writers say, would always have been ridiculous.  However, we
+had first to bring it to the water, and that we found a prodigious
+task.  The log, even hollowed out as it was, was much heavier than
+those we had used in building our hut, and all our pushing and pulling
+did not avail to move it an inch.  We tried the plan of the rollers,
+whereby we had brought the trees down the hill-side, and by levering up
+the end of the canoe we managed to slip one of our round poles beneath
+it, and then others, and when we had several in place, we shoved it and
+moved it a few feet towards the sea.  But the weight of it was so great
+that the poles were driven into the sand, and so far from being
+rollers, there they stuck, and we had no means of removing them except
+by digging them out.  This was a pretty check at the outset, and I do
+not think anything could have been more vexatious.  Billy and I stood
+beside our ungainly vessel, cudgelling our brains for some means of
+moving it, and Billy said he wished the worst storm that ever was would
+spring up, so that the waves would come dashing up the beach to the
+cliffs, and so carry back the canoe into its rightful element.
+
+"What makes water so strong, master?" he said, when he had uttered this
+prayer for a storm.  "The sea could lift this here ugly thing as easy
+as if it was a cork; but water ain't got no muscles, and it's muscles
+what does it."
+
+I could only answer that such was the nature of things, and that made
+me think how feeble even the strongest man is, and how a puff of wind
+or a wave of the sea can undo in a moment the labour of weeks and
+months.  I might have said something of this to Billy, though he was
+always impatient of such talk, only he broke in upon my musing: "Well,"
+says he, "I suppose we'll have to go and cut some more poles, and make
+a regular road of 'em down to the sea, and that'll take us a week or
+more."
+
+"Time doesn't matter to us," I said.
+
+"Oh, but it does," cried Billy.  "Suppose Old Smoker took it into his
+head to go a-blazing?  Suppose there was an earthquake?  If we had the
+canoe afloat, we could lie off a bit until Old Smoker's temper was
+over."
+
+"But why suppose such things?" I said.  "Here have we been two years or
+more upon this island, and nothing has happened to harm us----"
+
+"Except that ugly monster with the long legs," says Billy, interrupting.
+
+"True; and----" I began.  But he interrupted again.
+
+"And the shark," says he, "and the pig what tumbled me over, and the
+dogs what bit me.  It's all very well for you to talk, master.  Things
+ain't fair, that's all I've got to say.  You don't get hurt, but I do.
+Why, even fleas, now.  We had a lot of fleas at home, but d'you think
+they hurt my mother-in-law?  Not a bit of it.  They plagued me awful,
+till I could screech; but my mother-in-law never felt 'em at all, and
+that wasn't fair, 'cause she was big and I was little--at least, not so
+big as her."
+
+I said it was true that Billy had suffered more mishaps than I, but
+perhaps my turn would come some day; meanwhile we had as yet discovered
+no way of moving the canoe, unless we tried Billy's plan of laying a
+kind of roadway of poles from the cliff to the sea, and we supposed we
+should have to do that, arduous as the work would be.  We left it for
+that day, and for the next, too, being loath to begin a task we did not
+like; and then we saw another way of achieving our purpose, which I
+wonder we had not thought of before.  We had rigged up over the hole in
+the floor leading to the cavern a sort of windlass, by means of which
+we lowered provisions into our store-room, and it was when we were
+letting down a basketful of yams that the idea came into my head.
+Could we by any means devise a windlass which would give us a
+sufficient purchase to haul the canoe to the sea?
+
+"'Course not," said Billy, when I put it to him.  I never knew Billy's
+like for the seeing of difficulties.  "Nothing but oaks would be strong
+enough."
+
+[Sidenote: Launching the Canoe]
+
+But I was by no means satisfied that the plan was impossible, and I
+went down to the shore at low tide to look about me.  I ought to say
+that the windlass in the house was a very simple machine.  We had stuck
+two young stout saplings into the ground, one on each side of the hole,
+having shortened their stems so that the fork where the lowest branches
+were stood about three feet above the earth.  Across these forks we
+laid a short round pole for the drum of the winch, at one end of this
+we lashed two slighter poles for the handle, and about the drum we
+wound and unwound the rope by which we lowered things.  Now it was
+quite certain that we could not move our heavy canoe unless we had a
+contrivance very much stronger than this, and the difficulty was that a
+windlass for this purpose must be erected on the sand, and below
+low-water mark, or it would not bring the canoe to the water.  There
+were certainly no trees of any kind growing in the sand, so that it
+seemed that any contrivance of the kind must be made there by our own
+hands.
+
+But as I was walking along the beach, endeavouring to see my way
+through this difficulty, I observed a rock, not above three feet high,
+which had a deep jagged groove across the top of it, resembling in some
+degree the fork of a tree.  I looked about for a companion rock near at
+hand, but all that I saw were flatter and much smaller, not one having
+any groove to match the other.  But why should we not rig up, I
+thought, something that should serve as well?  After a great deal of
+consideration I hit upon a plan, which Billy and I proceeded at next
+low tide to carry out.  We got two stout poles, and drove them into the
+sand with the pummet, one across the other, so that the tops of them
+made a big letter V, the point of which was at the same height as the
+groove in the rock.  We next laid a stout pole across from the V to the
+groove, smearing it at the resting-places very plentifully with fat, so
+that it would turn easily: this made a drum.  Then we plaited a thick
+and long rope, and wound one end about the drum and knotted the other
+end to the nose of the canoe through a hole we made with our axes.
+Last of all, we fastened a handle to the drum in the same way as we had
+done with the small windlass in the hut.
+
+When this rough piece of machinery was ready we began to turn the
+handle, both of us heaving at it, because the canoe was so heavy that
+it needed all our strength.  At first, indeed, we could scarcely move
+it, and feared that all was again for nought; but when we had greased
+the drum again with pork fat where it fitted into the supports, we
+managed to turn it a very little way, and that giving encouragement, we
+persevered, and had the joy of seeing the canoe coming inch by inch,
+with much creaking and groaning of our machine, nearer to the water.
+If the canoe had had a keel, I doubt whether we could have moved it,
+for it would almost certainly have ploughed into the sand and stuck;
+but being rounded and not pointed, it slid down, though slowly and with
+many checks.  And so, having drawn it down to a spot where the depth of
+water when the tide came in would be sufficient to float it, we let
+forth a shout of delight and went home to dinner with cheerful minds
+and keen appetites, I do assure you.
+
+We had left our mooring-rope attaching the canoe to the rock, so that
+it should not float away while we were at dinner; and when we had
+finished the meal we went down to the shore again, very impatient to
+try the vessel's buoyancy.  The tide was not yet come near high enough
+to float it, and we waited for a good while, watching the ripples
+crawling up over the sand, every moment a little higher.  At last the
+water was washing around the canoe; then it floated, and no sooner did
+it float than Billy pushed it out with a great shove into deeper water
+and leaped aboard, and I laughed heartily at what ensued, for he turned
+a somerset and went souse into the sea, and the canoe filled and sank.
+Billy came up spluttering, and the first words he said were, "What's
+the good of the silly thing!"  And, indeed, I saw that maybe the matter
+was not one for amusement, for if the vessel toppled over, or turned
+turtle, as they say at sea, whenever we tried to board her, we should
+have had all our labour in vain.  However, we could but wait until the
+tide fell again, when she would be left high and dry, and meanwhile we
+went back to the house, as well to dry Billy's clothes (what there was
+now left of them) as to consider how we might improve the stability of
+the vessel on which we set such store.
+
+[Sidenote: The Outrigger]
+
+I remembered that when we were on the island where we sojourned for a
+time (how long ago it seemed!) we had seen some strangely-shaped canoes
+which very much moved my curiosity.  There were cross-pieces of wood
+let into the side of the canoe, and bent over, being fastened at the
+lower extremity to a pole or plank which floated on the water.  This
+odd contrivance I had heard the seamen call an outrigger, and the
+purpose of it was to keep the vessel on an even keel, as one may say,
+though having no keel it would be better to say plainly, to keep it
+steady.  I was now much more alive to the benefit of this contrivance
+than when I had merely seen it as a spectator; things do take on very
+different aspects according as we are personally interested or not; and
+we immediately set to work to fashion an outrigger for our vessel,
+which took us two or three full working days to make, and another day
+to adjust.  When it was done, we floated the canoe once more, and got
+into her, and felt exceeding pleased with ourselves for the space of
+perhaps a minute, and then our complacency received a wound, for by
+some shifting of our position the balance of the vessel was altered,
+the outrigger rose up and made best part of a circle in the air, and
+Billy and I were cast into the water.  It was plain that the outrigger
+was too light, and we made another one, using this time the heavy wood
+of the cocoa-nut palm, which being very hard, too, gave us a deal of
+trouble to fashion to the right shape; but we managed it at last, and
+when we fixed this new outrigger to the canoe, we found that we could
+sway from side to side without any danger of capsizing.  Billy was
+greatly uplifted at this, and wanted to set off there and then on a
+voyage; he even said that perhaps we might rig up a sail and voyage to
+England; but I told him that we had not yet proved the vessel, and did
+not even know whether she would ride through a sea of any roughness;
+and as for England, it was impossible to think that we could ever cross
+the immense ocean in so clumsy a craft, though the mention of it set me
+a-longing, and I felt more miserable than I had done for many a day.
+
+We had not yet made any paddles for propelling our canoe; Billy very
+sensibly saying that 'twas no good wasting time on them until we had
+proved whether our vessel would float.  However, now that we were
+assured of this, we made some paddles, finding it a pretty hard job,
+for we had no means of splitting planks from the trees, and we had to
+content ourselves with short poles, with blades made in the following
+manner.  To one end of the pole we lashed a thin flexible rod, bent to
+the shape of a circle, and we made a kind of basket-work on this by
+crossing and re-crossing with threads of cocoa-nut fibre, which we drew
+as tight as we could.  When we had coloured it red with the sap of the
+redwood tree of which I have spoken before, we had a very serviceable
+paddle, and not ill-looking either.  We paddled about in shallow water
+near the sandy beach, not venturing to go further out as yet, from fear
+of capsizing where we might be snapped up by a shark.  Our vessel
+behaved very well, though with no grace of movement, to be sure, and we
+found after a little practice that we could sit on the crosspieces of
+the outrigger, which joined the sides of the canoe, and work our
+paddles very well.
+
+I asked Billy what we should call our vessel.
+
+"Blackamoor, that's what I say," said he.
+
+"But she's only black inside," said I; "her outside is fair enough; and
+now I come to think of it, we can paint her and make her look better
+still."
+
+[Sidenote: Naming the Vessel]
+
+Accordingly we did this, expressing oil from the candle-nuts of which I
+have spoken, and mixing this with sap from the red-wood tree.  We made
+a paintbrush of thin spines, and with this we painted the sides of the
+vessel, which took us above a fortnight, I should think, for it was
+wonderful what a prodigious quantity of paint we used, and what a
+prodigious number of nuts we pressed before we got enough oil for our
+purpose.  When the painting was finished, Billy said that we ought to
+call the vessel _Painted Sally_, or some such name; but I thought she
+deserved a more respectful appellation, and suggested _Esperanza_, a
+name which I had come upon somewhere in my reading, and which I thought
+had a pleasant sound.  However, Billy would not hear of it.
+
+"It's French, that I warrant you," he said, "and I can't abide 'em.
+Besides, what's it mean?  I suppose it means some rubbish or other."
+
+"Well, I think it means 'hope'," I said, "and I think it a much
+prettier word."
+
+"I don't," says Billy bluntly; "it's too soft like."
+
+"And therefore it suits our vessel," I said, "for you know, Billy,
+ships are always given ladies' names."
+
+"Yes, and the _Lovey Susan_," says he, "she went to the bottom, and
+_her_ name was soft enough, and I don't believe any boat with the name
+_Esperanza_ would ever have the strength to ride through a storm.  I
+likes a plain straightforward name, I do, like my own; you won't find
+any man," says he, "with a better name than Billy Bobbin."
+
+"Well, shall we call her Billy?" I asked.
+
+Billy looked very serious at this, and after considering for a minute
+he said he wasn't going to be called a "her" or a "she" for anybody,
+not even on a boat, and then added, "Call her plain _Hope_ and settle
+it, master, and never mind about your _Esperanzas_."
+
+"Fair Hope would suit a lady better than Plain Hope," I said very
+gravely, and Billy, who was quite unconscious of the verbal point
+('twas a very small one, I own), agreed that _Fair Hope_ wasn't bad;
+and so we got some powdered charcoal and mixed it with oil, and printed
+the name in black letters on the larboard bow, as Billy called it, and
+having done this, we thought we might now venture to make a short
+expedition up the coast.
+
+[Sidenote: We go Sailing]
+
+It was a fair bright morning when we set out on this our first voyage,
+and we were very much excited, as you may imagine.  We had been by my
+reckoning, which was pure guess-work, above two years on the island,
+and though we had become pretty reconciled to it, regarding it indeed
+as our home for the rest of our lives, there were times when our lot
+seemed to be that of prisoners, and the prospect of getting beyond our
+bounds, though ever so short a distance and for ever so short a time,
+seemed like the loosening of fetters and the removing of prison bars.
+This made me think what a blessed thing is liberty, and when I
+remembered unfortunate people whom I had read about as falling into
+captivity I compared our lot with theirs, and saw how much we had to be
+thankful for.
+
+However, to return to our voyage.  We had been taught a certain caution
+by sundry incidents that had already happened in our life on the
+island, so we put some food and two or three pots of fresh water in the
+bottom of the vessel, and our spears, axes, and bows and arrows as
+well.  While Billy carried these things down to the vessel, I went up
+to our watch-tower, to see whether any canoes were in sight, for we
+should have been very sorry if we had run among a fleet of savage
+vessels.  However, there was not a speck to be seen, only the low dusky
+line on the western horizon that we believed to be the coast of some
+island.  Accordingly we set off in perfect ease of mind, and paddled
+slowly along, keeping close to the shore, and following its
+indentations as well as the rocks and shoals would permit us.
+
+The seaward aspect of the familiar parts of the island was very
+interesting to us, and we amused ourselves with guessing what places in
+the interior were opposite to us when the cliffs hid them from sight.
+For some distance we passed beneath low cliffs; then the shore took a
+great curve inward, making the bay we had called by Billy's name; the
+head of this bay we judged to be the point of the shore nearest to our
+hut, which was not itself visible from any part of the sea, lying as it
+did in a hollow.  We paddled out to the nearest of the big rocks that
+stood like sentinels guarding this side of the island, and found a
+great quantity of clams upon it, some of which Billy insisted on taking
+into the boat, to see if they tasted any different from those we found
+on our own shore, and in reaching over he pretty nearly upset the
+vessel.  From thence we went on to the second rock, some little
+distance out to sea, and Billy wanted to get out and climb the rock,
+which stood almost perpendicular, but with jagged sides, so that
+climbing was possible; but the base of it was so thickly covered with
+slimy seaweed that it would have been difficult to maintain a footing,
+so I persuaded Billy to forego the enterprise.  Leaving this rock, we
+continued on our course, and came by and by to the rocky spar that was
+what may be called the land's end of this part of the island.  Here the
+cliffs were very steep, indeed, almost perpendicular, as we had
+discovered before when we had tried to walk round the coast, and found
+our way blocked.  When we had turned the corner, we found another
+little bay, but no beach, except a very small strip of sand at the foot
+of the cliffs.  We saw a great quantity of driftwood on this beach, and
+when we paddled up to it, a huge eel darted away from beneath a
+water-sodden log, on which Billy made a great lamentation because we
+had not brought our fishing lines and hooks.  Among the driftwood we
+saw two or three very old planks, worm-eaten and covered with moss, and
+we wondered whether they were planks of the boat of the _Lovey Susan_,
+which we might have had now if we had been more thoughtful.  We took
+them on board, not that they would be of any use to us, but that we
+might keep them as mementoes.
+
+[Sidenote: The Cave]
+
+Paddling out of this bay, we were coasting along by more high cliffs
+when we came all of a sudden to an immense opening, which appeared to
+run a great way into the shore, though we could not tell how far, for
+its depths were very black.
+
+"A cave, master!" cried Billy, full of excitement, and I was excited
+too, there being I know not what of mystery and fascination about a
+cave.  "Let us go in," says he.
+
+You may think it strange, but I felt a great reluctance to paddle into
+that gloomy place; my imagination, more active than Billy's, saw it
+peopled by sea-urchins and hobgoblins, and I could fancy I already
+heard strange noises, the fruit, I suppose, of my reading that
+wonderful play of Shakespeare, _The Tempest_.  However, I could not
+show the white feather before Billy, so we paddled into the entrance,
+finding a considerable depth of water there, and so for twenty or
+thirty yards, there being more light in the cave than we had thought
+when outside, because it was lofty, and the water threw up reflections.
+But when we had come some twenty yards into it, it made a sudden bend
+to the right, and at the same place became very much darker, so that
+though we peered in we could see but a few yards in front of us.  We
+stayed for a little, looking about us, and seeing nothing but what
+appeared to be considerable patches of seaweed floating on the water;
+nor did we hear any noises, but all was as still as death, so that even
+Billy was oppressed by the silence, and even more by the hollow echo
+when he spoke.
+
+"I don't much like the look of this place, master," he said.
+
+I did not tell him that my feeling was the same, but affected to laugh
+at him, though at the same time I dipped my paddle to bring the vessel
+round with her head pointing to the opening.  As I did so, I observed a
+sort of heaving and undulating movement in one of the patches of
+seaweed, and marvelled at it, for there was no current on the surface,
+and the vessel was perfectly steady.  But supposing there must be an
+under-current of some kind, I paid no more heed to it, but continued to
+paddle, and we soon brought the vessel out of the cave and among a
+little labyrinth of rocks, partly above the surface and partly
+submerged.  We had but just got there, however, when we found our
+vessel begin to lose way and our paddles to stick in the seaweed, as we
+supposed, which was now very thick on the surface, and which was the
+greater impediment to us because of the outrigger.  We strove as hard
+as we could to force the vessel through, but it was like tugging at a
+rebellious slip-knot; the harder you tug the more you tie yourself up.
+We were thinking of backing the vessel, so as to go round about the
+obstacle, when all of a sudden, as I took notice of how the tendrils of
+the seaweed were clinging about the outrigger and curling up towards
+the side of the canoe, I was seized with the horrid suspicion that we
+had not to deal with seaweed at all, but with a monster, or maybe
+several, like to that terrible creature which had almost dragged me
+down when we were searching for eggs, as I have related.  This thought
+made me shudder with a sickening apprehension, especially when the
+notion struck me, as it did at that moment, that this cavern could not
+be very far from the steep and rugged cliff by which we had descended.
+Even before I could whisper my dread thought to Billy, some of the
+tentacles, as I had now no doubt they were, were creeping over the
+side, and one of them touched my leg and immediately held fast.  For an
+instant I was perfectly overcome with horror, as I was on the cliff,
+and, as it were, paralyzed in my will; but then, making a great effort,
+I jerked myself free, at the same time calling aloud to Billy and
+chopping with my axe, which I had seized, at the tentacles that held
+the canoe in their grip and had altogether stopped its motion.
+
+[Sidenote: A Shoal of Monsters]
+
+"The monster, is it?" cries Billy, who hated the thing with the same
+aversion as I did, but seemed to be quite exempt from its fascination.
+"I'll monster him," says he, and he dropped his paddle and took up his
+axe and began hacking away with all his might at the horrid feelers
+that were crawling over the vessel.  There were the two of us, then,
+slashing and chopping with desperate energy, running, or rather
+creeping as quickly as we could, from end to end of the canoe whenever
+a tentacle showed itself above the gunwale, with the result that the
+grip of the creature (or creatures, for we knew not whether we had to
+do with one or many)--the grip of it, I say, relaxed, and we thought we
+could leave our axes and take to the paddles again.  But we had not
+gone above two yards when the vessel was brought up again, and this
+time the paddles themselves were seized, and though I struggled with
+all my strength, my paddle was drawn out of my hands and I saw it no
+more.  Billy was more lucky, and kept his, but he had to drop it into
+the bottom and take to his axe again, as I did to mine, and so we fell
+to it again, slashing and chopping at these hideous tentacles that came
+up over the side, parts of them falling into the bottom of the vessel
+as we severed them and writhing there.  Once more we beat off the enemy
+thus, and then I seized Billy's paddle in feverish haste, and plied it
+with all my might, Billy doing what he could also with two spears held
+together.  And this time we got clear of the rocky labyrinth, to my
+unutterable relief, though with some scraping of the outrigger, for you
+may be sure we were in so great a hurry to get away that we could not
+stop for nice steering; and we kept on paddling hard for some minutes
+after we were a fair distance along the shore, and, indeed, did not
+cease until we found ourselves in the channel between the island and
+the red rock, and then we had another alarm, but of a different kind,
+for our vessel was caught in the mighty current which rushed through
+the narrow passage, and was swept on as if it had been a cork, we
+gripping the thwarts and fearing every moment that we should either be
+dashed against the rocks on one side or the other, or be totally
+submerged in the boiling torrent.  However, we came out at the further
+end safe, though very wet and terrified, and were carried on, though
+not so violently, past the place where the cascade fell from the
+mountain, and so on towards the long spit of land that had the natural
+archway at its end.
+
+[Sidenote: The End of the Voyage]
+
+We still had cause for alarm, for as yet we had no mastery of the
+vessel, and feared we should be carried by the current right out to
+sea.  But by dint of great efforts, Billy with the paddle, which he had
+taken from me, being the more muscular, and I with the spears, we
+managed to take the vessel across the current and towards the land on
+our right hand, and by and by got into pretty calm water near the
+archway.  Here, in the steep wall of the cliff, we saw a small cove,
+where we might have beached the canoe; but after what we had come
+through we had little disposition to linger, and so we paddled through
+the archway and turned the corner, and went along by the lava beach
+until we came at length to the sandy beach whence we had started.  We
+were fairly worn out, I assure you, as well with our frights and
+terrors as with our exertions, and besides, we had eaten nothing since
+the morning, though we had provisions with us, having had too much to
+think about otherwise.  Never did mariners land with more thankfulness
+than we did.  When we had tied up our vessel we went to our house and
+built a roaring fire, to cheer our spirits as well as to dry our
+clothes; and when we had eaten a comforting meal and fell a-talking, we
+spoke of our satisfaction in the seaworthiness of the Fair Hope, and
+also in having circumnavigated the island.
+
+"I'd like to kill that monster," says Billy, as we talked about that
+part of our adventure; "and I will, too, if he'll come out of that cave
+where we can see him proper."
+
+"I think we had better leave him in possession undisturbed," I said,
+with the horror of the creature still upon me.  "Perhaps there is a
+shoal of the monsters there; the rocks we saw would make a very good
+home for them.  And I don't think we'll go that way again, Billy; I
+seem to see those dreadful tentacles crawling all about me, and the
+leathery feel of them when I chopped makes me shudder still."
+
+"Cheer up, master," says Billy.  "After all, we did 'em more damage
+than they did us, and taught 'em a lesson, I warrant you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH
+
+OF OUR VOYAGE TO A NEIGHBOURING ISLAND, AND OF OUR INHOSPITABLE
+RECEPTION BY THE SAVAGES
+
+
+We did not take another voyage for some days, for my dreams were
+haunted by visions of the monster, and I felt a shuddering reluctance
+even to look at the canoe, upon which I seemed to see tentacles
+writhing.  And when we did again embark, it was only to paddle out to
+the fishing-ground I have mentioned, though by and by, when the
+recollection of the monster had become somewhat dimmed, we cruised
+about the coast sometimes for the mere pleasure and exercise of it, and
+to make ourselves more expert in the management of our vessel.  After a
+time the notion came to us of rigging up a mast and sail, and trying
+what we could do in real navigation.  We had some difficulty in
+stepping the mast, which was a straight pine sapling; but the way we at
+length hit upon was as follows: we fastened two straight logs athwart
+the canoe, setting them parallel, and just so far apart as gave room
+for the mast.  Having set up the mast between them, we lashed two more
+logs, but shorter, crosswise upon the first two, close up against the
+mast, which was then, as you perceive, gripped pretty firmly by the
+four logs.  The sail gave us little trouble, for we had become expert
+by this time in weaving, and we wove a sort of huge mat with long
+grasses, which we found to serve excellently well.  Spars and cordage
+were also easily made, though they took a prodigious time, and we one
+day hoisted our sail to see how our contrivances would act.
+
+[Illustration: Our Canoe]
+
+[Sidenote: Rigging]
+
+We were much disappointed when we found that as soon as the sail caught
+the wind our vessel heeled over, so that we had to lower the sail
+immediately, or we should have been capsized.  After some thought we
+hit upon a remedy, which was to make some alterations in the weight of
+the outrigger, and also in the length of the outrigger beam; and when
+we had spent a deal of time in making experiments, and running some
+risks of losing the vessel, we managed so that she ran perfectly steady
+with an ordinary breeze.  And then we discovered that, our stability
+being assured, we could sail marvellously close to the wind and at a
+very fair speed, much faster, indeed, than we could paddle, and it then
+became our delight to make little trips round the coast and some
+distance out to sea, always very carefully looking out first from our
+watch-tower to be sure that no savages were in sight.
+
+[Sidenote: The Red Rock]
+
+On one of these expeditions we sailed round to the north side of the
+island, and it came into our heads to see whether it was possible to
+make an ascent of the big red rock, the sides of which, so far as we
+had been able to examine them from the cliffs and the hills, appeared
+to be unscalable.  We took care not to let our vessel drift into the
+current that ran between the rock and the island, and running round to
+the north side of it, we found that it was not near so precipitous here
+as on the other sides--indeed, there was a very convenient
+landing-place at the foot, and a little cove where the vessel might
+safely lie, tied by the painter to a crag, while we satisfied our
+curiosity by making the ascent.  You may be sure that we tied the
+vessel up very securely before leaving her, for if she had drifted
+loose I do not know what we should have done, for we could scarcely
+have swum to the island, the current being so strong, and I suppose we
+should simply have stayed on the rock until we were dead.
+
+There was no pathway up the rock, on which we were perhaps the first
+human beings that had ever set foot, and we found the ascent a great
+deal more difficult than it had appeared from below.  We had to clamber
+up from point to point with the aid sometimes of stunted bushes--very
+sturdy they were, too--that grew out of fissures; and choosing the
+easiest way, we made a very zigzag course, sometimes losing sight of
+the sea altogether.  Here and there we disturbed sea-birds which had
+made their nests in the face of the cliff, but there were not near so
+many of these as we might have expected.  After climbing thus for about
+three hundred feet, as I calculated, we came to a sort of broad terrace
+that ran in a fairly easy slope round the northern and eastern faces of
+the rock, and pretty well covered with shrubs and moss.  From this we
+made our way, rather laboriously, to the southern side, and came by and
+by to the ledge, or platform, which jutted out from the rock to the
+island, and which I mentioned a while ago.  Billy, you remember, had
+spoke of leaping the gap, which would have been an impossible feat, for
+not only was the distance too great, it being, I should think, at least
+twenty feet, but, moreover, the ledge on the rock was somewhat higher
+than the promontory of the island.  Looking down upon this latter as we
+now did, the gap seemed even less than it had appeared from the other
+side, and I had really to be very stern with Billy when he declared
+again that he knew he could jump it.
+
+From this ledge or platform we found the ascent to the summit of the
+rock pretty easy, and when we got there, we saw that it was flat in
+general, but a great deal cut up by fissures and jagged bosses, so that
+it was not near so smooth as it appeared when we overlooked it from the
+side of the mountain.  Some of the fissures were of considerable depth,
+and when I flung a small fragment of rock into one of them, to test it,
+there came a faint splash from below, by which we knew that it
+contained water; and yet the splash was not so faint as to come from
+the sea, so that we concluded the water at the bottom of the fissure
+was fresh, and had collected there from the drainage of the sort of
+tableland on which we stood.  There were thin shrubs and lichen growing
+on the rock, but we saw nothing to interest us, and so, having got but
+a poor reward for our labour in climbing, we descended again, and found
+the descent little less laborious than the ascent; indeed, I thought it
+more difficult, for the looking down made me a little dizzy.  We were
+both pretty tired by the time we reached the canoe, which was just as
+we left it; and I should not have thought it worth while to say
+anything about this fruitless expedition but for some surprising events
+that happened later.
+
+[Sidenote: Preparing for a Voyage]
+
+It was some little while after this, I think, that I suffered a spell
+of home-sickness, and was more miserable and down-hearted than I had
+ever been since we came to the island.  I have no doubt it was because
+we had more time on our hands than heretofore, for with the making of
+our canoe it seemed that there was little else left for us in the way
+of handiwork, and the tending of our animals and plantations was by no
+means enough to fill all our days.  The servant of the ingenious
+gentleman in the tale--Sancho Panza is his name, I think--in his
+simplicity invoked blessings on him that invented sleep; and I would
+match him by a similar invocation on the inventor of work, for I am
+very sure that while we work we have no leisure to be discontented, and
+when our work is done there is blessed sleep to refresh us.  I did not
+forget the saying that "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,"
+and Billy and I, as I have said, did some little in the way of play,
+with skittles, and shooting at the running man, and in sailing our
+canoe, which was a very fine sport, I assure you; and we spent some
+time in trying to teach our dogs, which were growing apace, to perform
+tricks, with but little success.  However, I mention my home-sickness
+because it was when I was in that black fit that Billy spoke again of
+sailing to England.
+
+"Why not make a bigger canoe, master, and put a great store of food and
+water aboard, and sail away?" he said.  "When our water was done, we
+could touch at some of them islands we passed and get more, and maybe
+after a bit we might fall in with a proper ship and get a passage home."
+
+I pointed out in answer to this that we should not find it an easy
+matter to launch a vessel large enough to carry provisions for a
+lengthy voyage.  "If we had a chart and compass," I said, "and other
+things useful in navigation, about which neither you nor I know much,
+we might perhaps set off and go from island to island on our stock of
+food, until we came maybe to one of the possessions which the Dutch
+have, I believe, in the Indian Archipelago, or maybe to some place in
+Spanish America where we might find a friendly ship.  But suppose our
+food gave out and we could not make land," I said, "what could we do
+without a chart or any means of taking observations?  If luck went
+against us, we might sail for weeks, and indeed months, without ever
+seeing land at all.  And besides," I went on, "suppose nothing of this
+sort happened to us, but we chanced upon an island where the native
+people were hostile----"
+
+"We would fight 'em," says Billy, interrupting me; "that's what we made
+them bows and arrows for, and we can shoot straight now, and we could
+make a few thousand arrows so that it wouldn't matter if we lost some."
+
+I could not help smiling at Billy's simplicity, admiring at the same
+time his stoutness of heart; but I showed him that with all our
+expertness we could not hope, being two, to contend with great hosts of
+savages, who would very soon overwhelm us.  However, Billy was not at
+all convinced that his idea of a voyage to England was impracticable,
+and he talked so much about it that I was in course of time prevailed
+on to consider it, at least so far as to consent to make a little
+experiment.  In short, we resolved upon making a voyage of several days
+from the island.  We had to consider of the well-being of our live
+stock during our intended absence, and that gave us some trouble, for
+though we might take our two dogs with us, we could certainly not
+transport our pigs or our poultry, nor did we wish to do so.  On the
+other hand, if we left them in their usual habitations, and we were
+away longer than we expected, they would certainly starve, while if we
+let them loose the fowls would as certainly be devoured by the wild
+dogs, and the pigs the same, or else return to their wildness, but most
+likely the former, for animals that have become domestic are no match
+in fighting for wild animals of their kind.  We might have left a large
+quantity of food, that's true; but knowing the nature of beasts we knew
+that they would devour it gluttonously without any forethought, and
+maybe kill themselves with over-eating, and at any rate there would be
+none of it left after the first day.  It was a good while before we hit
+upon any way out of this difficulty, and then it was Billy who thought
+of a way, and very ingenious it was, in my estimation.  As he very
+truly said, we needed some contrivance that would enable the pigs to
+get their food, but not too fast, and his device for this was to make a
+long trough with holes in the bottom of it, and to raise this above the
+ground just so high that the pigs by lifting up their snouts could
+nibble through the holes at what the trough contained.  I say I thought
+it an ingenious notion, and we considered how such a trough could be
+made, for we could not make one of planks, and it would be a tedious
+business to burn out the inside of a tree as we had done with our
+vessel.  But it came into my head that we could make one by moulding
+clay on such a tree, which we did, and having broken a number of holes
+in the clay when it was moist, we burnt it hard, and thus the trough
+was finished, in much less time than the hollowing of a tree would have
+taken.  We put some yams into it, and made a trial of this new
+contrivance, and we found it answered our expectations almost too well,
+for owing to the height of the trough when we had propped it up, the
+smallness of the holes, and the unwonted postures to which the pigs
+were enforced, they could only eat very slowly, which must have been a
+great trouble to animals accustomed to rapid gobbling of their meals.
+We saw that we should have to make a special trough for the smaller
+pigs, or else give them one end of the trough to themselves, for
+otherwise the larger animals would never have let them eat at all; and
+in the end we put up a fence between the smaller and the larger pigs,
+and tilted the trough a little, so that it was lower at one extremity;
+and this end also we filled with pounded bread-fruit as well as yams,
+as being more fit for the younger stomachs, besides being not so hard
+to get at through the holes.  From the trial we made we saw that the
+trough, when full, would hold enough food for three or four days, and
+if we were absent longer than that, the pigs must needs sing for their
+supper, as Billy said.
+
+As for the fowls, we could not for a long time think of any manner of
+supplying them with food.  We were accustomed to fling their food to
+them over the fence of their enclosure, and Billy said that what we
+needed was some contrivance for dropping supplies down among them at
+intervals.  I remembered having read somewhere of a device for
+releasing a catch by a candle burning a thread passed through it at a
+certain distance from the top, but we could not make with our
+candle-nuts a candle that would last near long enough, and besides, if
+we could there was the danger that it would cause a conflagration.  But
+this set us on thinking towards the plan which we resolved on, and that
+was to support a basket of food by a catch, and tie to the catch a
+strip of raw hide, which, when it contracted with the sun's heat, would
+release the catch.  The manner of our doing this was as follows.  We
+suspended the basket from the roof of the fowl-house by slings, one on
+each side, and to one of the slings we fastened a long strip of raw
+hide, the other end of this being attached by a wooden peg to the wall,
+and the hide being stretched pretty tight in a horizontal direction.
+The contraction of the hide would thus pull the sling from under the
+basket, and so cause it to fall.  We found when we tried this at first
+that the basket fell too soon, which was due to the too rapid
+contraction of the hide; but we devised a remedy for this by wrapping
+the hide round with wet grass, which prevented it from contracting so
+soon.  We put enough food in the basket to last about two days, being
+unable to put more because it would then be too heavy for the catch.
+
+"If we are away longer than two days, and they eat it all too soon,"
+says Billy, "they must make the best of it, and maybe it'll learn 'em
+not to be greedy."
+
+The supply of water for our animals gave us no trouble, for with our
+numerous pots and pans filled there was enough for over a week.
+
+[Sidenote: A Certain Lecture]
+
+All these arrangements having been made--and we grudged the time for
+them, so eager were we now to go a-sailing--we determined to set forth
+the very next day.  As we lay in our hut that night, before we went to
+sleep we talked over what was before us, and I own I was in a very
+serious mood, for we were certainly braving the unknown.  We might be
+caught in a storm, and knew not in the least how our vessel would then
+behave.  We might encounter savages, who would be hostile to us, and
+maybe kill us, or make us captives.  We were leaving a comfortable and
+secure home, and embarking on what might prove to be a very sea of
+troubles; and when, in talking to Billy, the manifold dangers to which
+we might be exposed became more deeply pictured in my mind, I was
+almost ready to give up the design.  But when I threw out sundry hints
+to this effect, Billy spoke so slightingly of these imaginary perils,
+and so glowingly of the delights of roving and going a voyage of
+discovery, that I resolutely stilled my qualms, and, indeed, felt some
+little ashamed of my timorousness.  For an example, when I said that we
+might never come home again, Billy said, "Why, master, you _are_ a
+croaker.  We might have gone to the bottom with poor Captain Corke and
+poor Mr. Lummis, and we didn't.  We might have been took into that boat
+with Hoggett and Wabberley and that lot, and we warn't, and mighty glad
+I am of it, for I wouldn't be within call of Hoggett for a thousand
+pound.  And if so be they're alive anywhere now, and Mr. Bodger is with
+'em, he wishes to goodness he warn't, that I warrant you."
+
+"But suppose we come back and find our house ruined with an earthquake
+or smothered under ashes from the mountain?" I said.
+
+"Why, we shall think ourselves uncommon lucky," says he, "as we was not
+here to be ruined and smothered too.  I call that nothing but croaking,
+master."
+
+I took some pains to defend myself from this charge, and to show Billy
+that there is all the difference in the world between a settled habit
+of looking on the dark side of things and a prudential survey when some
+great enterprise is in question; but I might as well have talked to the
+pigs, or to our two dogs, for all the impression I made.  And it is as
+well 'twas so, for his confidence and resoluteness to see only the
+bright side were wonderfully cheering to me; and I have often since
+thought that it is a great affliction to be able to see too much.  To
+use a homely instance, the donkey in the tale starved because he could
+not make up his mind between the two bundles of hay; if he had seen
+only one at a time he would have had a very good meal.
+
+When we rose in the morning I was quite as ready as Billy to embark on
+our voyage.  At the last moment something put it into our heads to
+convey all our spare provisions and some of our tools to the cavern
+below, which already held a great store, and to conceal the opening,
+which hitherto we had only covered with loose logs.  We now laid these
+logs very close together across the top of the shaft a little below the
+floor level, and over these we laid grass, and over this again a
+quantity of earth like that of which the floor consisted; and then we
+rammed it down, and laid on it flags and rushes with which we were used
+to strew the floor, so that no one would think, to look at it, that
+there was a cellar beneath.  Then, having already strengthened the
+fences of our poultry-run and pigsty, to keep out the wild dogs, we
+carried down to the vessel a good store of provisions and water, also
+our spears and bows and arrows, the arrows in neat quivers we had made
+out of palm leaves.  We then waited for the full tide to launch our
+canoe and set sail.
+
+[Sidenote: We go a Voyage]
+
+This happened in the afternoon.  We had talked over the direction of
+our course, and had resolved to sail to the westward, for no other
+reason, I think, than that we had seen the seamen of the _Lovey Susan_
+make for the east, and we had no wish to meet them again if perchance
+we had to land for any purpose.  If any one says it was a foolhardy
+thing to attempt a voyage without a compass, and asks how we could be
+sure of finding our way back again, I will remind him that it was very
+rarely indeed Old Smoker had not a crown of steam or smoke upon his
+head, and he stood so high that he could have been seen for a distance
+of thirty or forty miles, I am sure, and we did not purpose to go near
+so far as that.  Our design was, indeed, to make direct for the island
+which we had seen as a dim line on the western horizon, and we set
+forth in the afternoon because we thought it best to approach this
+island under cover of night, for if our coming was observed by the
+people of the island while we were still a great way off, they would be
+able, if hostilely inclined, to prepare an ambuscade for us, which
+might be our ruin; whereas if we surprised them by an unexpected
+arrival on their coast, they would not have had time to get ready for
+us, and so we should not be in near so much danger.
+
+[Sidenote: A Coral Island]
+
+The breeze blew gently from the north-west, and the _Fair Hope_,
+beating up against it, proceeded but slowly, though she sailed with a
+steadiness which, now that we were farther from land than we had ever
+been before, gave us much contentment.  Our progress was so slow,
+indeed, that darkness was upon us before we had got half-way to the
+island, and we had to steer by the stars, which shone out with
+exceeding brightness in a sky perfectly clear.  There is something
+inexpressibly moving in sailing thus upon a calm sea, in the deep
+silence of the night, and neither Billy nor I had much to say to each
+other.  We tried to sleep a little now and then, taking it in turns to
+steer, for the vessel needed no other management, so tranquil were the
+elements; but neither of us could sleep soundly, and at length we gave
+over the attempt, and were content to float idly on.  Some while before
+daybreak we heard the sound of breakers on our leeward side, and we
+instantly brought the vessel to, having no mind to run upon a strange
+shore in the darkness.  When the dark lifted, we saw that we were
+within a mile or so of a low island which, from our former experience
+when sailing in the _Lovey Susan_, we knew to be a coral island.
+Between it and us there was a reef over which the sea was breaking, and
+we could see no opening in it, but we knew that there always is an
+opening in such a reef, giving admittance to a broad lagoon.
+Accordingly, we hoisted our sail again, and, still beating up to
+windward, we came after some time to a gap in the reef at least a
+hundred yards broad, so that we ran through it with ease, to find
+ourselves, as we expected, in the shelter of the lagoon.  We saw
+immediately that our coming had not been unobserved, for on the farther
+side of the lagoon there was a crowd of naked brown people in a little
+clearing among the trees, who we knew had seen us, at first by their
+gestures, and then by the proceedings of some few of them.  For while
+we looked, we saw a half-dozen or so running along the shore away from
+us, and Billy cried that they were affrighted, and they must be a lot
+of cowards.  But I very soon perceived that he was quite mistaken in
+this, for the goal of the runners was plainly a little cove about a
+mile up the coast, where there were certain long dark objects drawn up
+on the beach which I judged to be canoes, though I could not see them
+clearly at so great a distance, especially as we were on the sea-level.
+
+We were about two hundred and fifty yards from the place where the
+natives were congregated on the shore of the lagoon, so that we could
+see them plainly, and we observed that the men were armed with clubs
+and spears, but we saw no bows and arrows.  They made no signs of
+welcome such as were made by the people of the islands at which the
+_Lovey Susan_ had touched, nor did they make signs of hostility, so
+that I thought they were waiting for some indication from us as to our
+friendliness or the reverse.  Accordingly I stood up in the canoe, and,
+raising my hands above my head, waved them in the air, upon which many
+of the natives did the same, only their hands held their weapons.  But
+they shouted also, and there did not appear to be anything unfriendly
+in the tone, so we continued our course towards the shore, to which
+Billy had indeed been slowly paddling all the time.  As we drew nearer
+the shouts of the people grew more vociferous, and I observed that the
+women and children among them had now got behind the men, which I
+thought might be out of nothing but shyness, but on the other hand it
+might be for security; and when we were, I suppose, about sixty yards
+from the shore, I directed Billy to cease from paddling, so that we
+might hold a parley with the people, if we could, before venturing to
+land among them.  But though he shipped his paddle, I observed that we
+still drifted shoreward, the tide coming into the lagoon through the
+gap in the reef; and being by no means ready to come within the power
+of these people until we were sure of them, I caught up my paddle, and
+began to use it so that we might keep a constant distance from the
+shore.  It was very fortunate I did this, as it proved afterwards, for
+it precipitated the attack which would have otherwise been made upon us
+later, when we might not have been able to get away.  The people, no
+doubt, supposed from my action that we were going to paddle out of the
+lagoon, which did not suit their bloodthirsty minds, for at the first
+stroke I made they burst into a great roar, the ferocity of which was
+not doubtful, and a perfect cloud of spears hurtled through the air,
+one of which, narrowly missing me, struck Billy in the arm, and another
+completely transfixed his dog Robin, which fell dying in the bottom of
+the canoe, and was immediately licked with every demonstration of grief
+by its companion.  Other spears hit the canoe, and some stuck in its
+sides, but the most fell into the water.
+
+[Sidenote: An Attack]
+
+Billy was in such a rage at the loss of his dog that he seized his bow
+and arrows, and in spite of his own hurt was going to shoot among the
+savages; but I saw that we were in very great danger and sharply bade
+him drop his weapon and help me run our vessel out of harm's way.  We
+set to with our paddles, therefore, making all haste to get out of the
+lagoon, and not at present hoisting the sail, for the lagoon being
+sheltered by a thick belt of trees, we felt scarcely at all the
+north-westerly wind, and went much faster with paddles than we could
+have done with the sail.  The savages cast more spears at us, but none
+hit us again, and we were soon out of range and thought we should
+easily escape through the gap, when I observed that three of the canoes
+which had been lying on the beach were now launched, and were coming
+towards us very fast.  It was plain that the native village was in that
+direction, for though not above half-a-dozen men had hastened thither
+along the shore, there were at least forty men in the three canoes,
+which now, I perceived, were making slantwise across the lagoon, with
+the plain intent of cutting us off from the entrance.  This sight made
+me feel very anxious, for though we might very likely outdistance the
+canoes if we could hoist our sail in a fair breeze, we were no match
+for them in the sheltered lagoon, our vessel being, I think, heavier
+than theirs, and having only two paddles to their dozen at least.  We
+had less distance to go than they, that's true, but they moved I doubt
+not three feet to our one, so that I could not help thinking we had a
+poor chance of escaping, especially as Billy could use only one arm.
+We worked as hard as ever we did in our lives, I assure you, Billy
+doing the steering, and all the time he muttered terrible threats of
+vengeance against the savages for killing his dog.
+
+We had been so intent upon the canoes that were speeding to cut us off
+that we had had no eyes for a nearer danger.  When the savages on shore
+had discharged their spears, a good number of them leapt into the water
+and set off swimming after us, of which we were not aware until on a
+sudden we saw their black heads on the surface not many yards away.
+They were very fine swimmers, that is certain, for some of them had
+overhauled us, and were indeed almost within reach of our outrigger
+before we saw them.  I own I got a fright then, for if they once
+managed to grip the outrigger, they could haul it beneath the surface
+and so upset our craft, and all would be over.  In this extremity I
+called to Billy to keep them off with his spear or axe, though this
+meant a slackening of speed which we could ill afford in face of the
+canoes drawing nearer so rapidly to the gap; and besides, it gave
+opportunity to others of the swimmers to come up with those that had at
+first outstripped them.  You see, then, how desperate was our
+situation, I having both to paddle and to steer, and Billy having to
+rush from end to end of the canoe to beat off the men, which would soon
+become an impossible business, for while he jabbed at the men aiming at
+the stern cross-piece, another made a dash for the bow-end, and there
+were others ready to clutch at the beam.
+
+I was pretty nearly mad with despair when, as we came out of the
+shelter of the trees lining the land side of the lagoon, I felt the
+breeze blow stronger against my cheek and a flush of hope within me.
+Crying to Billy to keep up for a minute longer, to which he answered,
+"Trust me, master," in a breathless kind of way, I dropped my paddle,
+caught at the halyard, and ran the sail up the mast.  Instantly it
+filled and took the wind, but in the moment when the vessel came to a
+stop at my ceasing to paddle, two of the swimmers laid hands on the
+beam of the outrigger, and I felt the vessel give a dreadful lurch.  My
+heart was in my mouth, as we say; but Billy, with a desperate stroke of
+his spear, drove one of the men away, and the next moment the sudden
+filling of the sail caused the vessel to plunge forward, so that the
+man who still clung to the outrigger was drawn along and prevented from
+exerting his strength to upset us.  And while he still hung on Billy
+reached over, and brought his axe down with great force on the man's
+head, almost losing his balance; and the man gave a yell and let go his
+hold, falling back among his companions, who had now abandoned the
+pursuit.
+
+[Illustration: "BILLY REACHED OVER, AND BROUGHT HIS AXE DOWN ON THE
+MAN'S HEAD."]
+
+Just as, before, our attention had been kept from the swimmers by the
+canoes, so our tussle with the swimmers had prevented us from observing
+the oncoming of the canoes.  Being now free from the former danger, we
+saw that our vessel and the canoes were about equal distances from the
+gap, and I perceived with a terrible sinking of the heart that though
+the _Fair Hope_ was making much greater speed than when we drove her by
+paddles alone, yet the canoes were going still faster, the men in them
+plying their paddles with amazing force and dexterity.  Within a few
+moments it became clear to me that the foremost canoe and our vessel
+must reach the gap almost at the same instant, and Billy, who seemed to
+have forgotten the perils in the excitement of the race, cried out,
+"Don't let it be a tie, master.  I'd rather be beat than come in a
+tie."  But I saw that to be even with them would be as good as a
+beating, for if we came so much as within spear-throw of them, we could
+not by any means escape as we had escaped from the men on shore.  And
+though I now took to my paddle again, having fixed the sail, and strove
+with all my might, I perceived that within a minute the savages' first
+canoe must reach the gap before us, and I was on the point of giving up
+for lost, grasping my bow with the resolution to make the best fight I
+could before being overwhelmed.  Billy had already taken his, though I
+knew by the set of his face that he was suffering much pain from his
+wounded arm, and catching my eye, he said, "This is what we made 'em
+for," and looked with great determination at the savages in the canoes.
+
+[Sidenote: Escape]
+
+But in that critical moment I saw something that set me on taking
+another resolution, and carrying it out too, all in an instant, as it
+were.  We had been making, as I have said, for the gap in the reef,
+through which the sea flowed inwards very smoothly.  Upon the reef
+itself the water was very much broken, more at some points than at
+others, and in that flash of time I had observed that the part nearest
+to us, on our right hand, appeared to lie some little distance below
+the surface, for the water above it was not near so restless and
+foam-crested as at some other parts.  There were swells and eddies,
+indeed, but it seemed to me that the water was deep enough to take our
+vessel, and, as a drowning man will catch at a straw, I seized on this
+as a bare chance of escape.  In the twinkling of an eye--for I saw and
+thought and acted all in a breath, so to speak--I thrust my paddle into
+the water at such an angle as would divert the canoe towards this part
+of the reef, telling Billy what I was about, and bidding him be ready
+for anything that might happen.  The vessel's head swung round to the
+reef, we scudded across it with a scratching and scraping that made me
+shudder, and it was well I did not know then what I learnt from a
+mariner afterwards, how if we had struck upon any small pinnacle of
+hard coral we must have been overturned to a certainty; that knowledge
+might then have made a coward of me.  But I did not know it, and we
+scraped and bumped across the reef, which was very narrow, and so came
+into the open sea, where, feeling the full force of the wind, we sped
+away right merrily.
+
+"You did that prime, master," says Billy, "and now I'll have a shot."
+
+But by the time the foremost of the three canoes had come through the
+gap, and Billy had adjusted his aim, we were clean out of range, which
+rejoiced me as much as it disappointed him.  "Can't we lay by and have
+a shot or two?" he said; "the wretches killed my little dog."  But I
+thought it was more pertinent that we should make good our escape,
+especially as it yet remained to be proved that the canoes could not
+overtake us.  It was a mercy they had no sails, for the paddlers drove
+their craft along at a prodigious pace, so that for a time we did not
+draw very much away from them, and when we did, immediately afterwards
+there was a lull in the wind which made them gain upon us, so
+alarmingly that I took to my paddle again to assist the wind.  The
+savages shouted with joy when they saw the gap between us lessening,
+and even when the wind freshened again they did not give up the
+pursuit, taking encouragement, no doubt, from what had lately happened,
+and hoping that the wind would drop again, and for a longer time, until
+they came within spear-throw.  In this posture of affairs I saw that
+Billy might be right, and that it would be really a wise thing to
+discourage them more effectually, especially as we had done nothing to
+provoke them, but on the contrary had intended to deal with them in the
+most friendly way.  Accordingly, I luffed a little, as seamen say, and
+so allowed the first canoe to make upon us, and then I fitted an arrow
+to my bow, and taking as good an aim as I could, let the shaft fly.
+Our vessel was not above sixty yards distant from theirs, and if I had
+been shooting on shore I should have hit the mark as like as not; but
+being not at all accustomed to take aim while moving up and down I
+missed the man at whom I aimed, and indeed did not hit any man, the
+arrow sticking in the side of the canoe.
+
+"Try again, master," says Billy; but I was afraid I should not get the
+chance of another shot, for the savages had stopped paddling, not being
+sure, I suppose, whether I had done any damage or not; and our vessel
+being under sail, was carried on a good way.  But when they saw that no
+one had been hit, they let forth a shout of derision, and set to
+paddling again as if determined to dog us.  I dare say I was nettled a
+little by the mocking note I heard in their shout, which as it were put
+me on my mettle; whether it was by greater care and steadiness or sheer
+good fortune I know not, but certainly my next shot took effect, though
+the range was longer.  The man in the bow of the canoe gave a great
+yell, and at the same moment dropped his paddle, and we saw him tear my
+arrow out of his left shoulder and clap his hand to the wound,
+whereupon Billy gave a shout of delight, and cried, "There you are, old
+dirty-face, and I wish it was you that shot my little dog."  The next
+man in the canoe hurled his spear at us, but it fell some little
+distance astern, and the other canoes having by this time caught up
+with the first, we guessed by the loud chatter of the men that they
+were taking counsel together, even while they still worked their
+paddles.  The result of their deliberation was that they gave up the
+chase, a very reasonable course, for I am sure they could not have
+caught us.  They turned their canoes' heads towards their island, which
+was now, I suppose, about two miles distant, and as soon as we saw that
+they were really leaving us we hove to, and I bathed Billy's wound with
+fresh water from one of our pots, observing as I did so that the
+lurchings and jerkings our vessel had suffered in crossing the reef had
+caused our pots to spill over, so that we had not left above a third of
+the water we started with.  Billy's wound, though he made light of it,
+was an ugly gash, and I was a little anxious lest the weapon that dealt
+it was poisoned.  However, this was not so, and when I afterwards put a
+bandage of leaves upon the wound (for Billy would not hear of my
+tearing a strip from my tattered shirt), his arm was stiff for a few
+days, but then quickly healed.
+
+I bathed his wound, I say, and then we ate a very good meal, and Billy
+gave my dog a double share of food, to comfort him, he said, for the
+loss of his companion.  I asked him if double meals would comfort him,
+supposing I was killed, merely to tease him; but his face became so
+piteous when he said, "Don't say such things, Master, for I can't
+a-bear it," I wished I had never spoken the words.  I had never told
+Billy how the thought that he might die came to me sometimes, and what
+intolerable anguish it caused me, and I did not know that he ever had
+the like thought; but he confided to me a long while after that
+sometimes as he lay awake at night the question would repeat itself in
+his mind: "What if Master should die?" and it gave him such a dreadful
+feeling of loneliness that he would put out his hand to touch me lying
+near him, to make sure that my flesh was still warm with the blood of
+life.  When he told me this I remembered having once felt his hand upon
+mine, and how it tingled, and when I spoke he tightened his grasp and
+said, "Good night, old king," and I knew by his tone that he had a
+great affection for me; but I never supposed he was troubled in mind,
+or I might have shown him, perhaps, more plainly how great was my
+affection for him.
+
+However, to return to our vessel.  We ate a meal, and considered what
+we should do: whether continue our voyage in another direction, or
+return at once to Palm Tree Island.  Billy thought we had better go
+a-cruising, "For," said he, "we don't know but what these savages will
+spy on us, and see where we go to if we go home at once, and then they
+may come after us some day, and we shall have a deal of trouble."
+
+"But they may spy on us even if we don't go home at once," I said, "and
+never leave us until they find out where we came from."
+
+"Not they," says he; "they won't have the patience."
+
+[Sidenote: We return Home]
+
+I thought Billy's reasoning far from conclusive, for if they meant to
+spy on us they would do so, and could not tell whether we were going
+home or not.  However, it did not appear that they had any such
+intention, for by this time they were out of sight, and very thankful
+we were that they had drawn away from us, for towards midday the wind
+dropped, and the vessel lay almost idle for a long time, her sail
+hanging very limp and sad.  If the canoes had been near us now, we
+could not have got away from them, and thinking of this made me haul
+down our sail and unship the mast, lest they should be seen from some
+elevated place in the island we had just left--a tree-top, maybe, for
+the surface of coral islands is mainly flat.  We could see our own
+island very clearly, the mountain standing up against the sky; but I
+began to be afraid that we should not reach it that day, because of the
+calm, and we could not go fast enough with paddles alone.  I did paddle
+for a while, in order to increase our distance from the coral island,
+which became dimmer on the horizon until we could scarce see it; but I
+had begun to think that we should have to spend the night out at sea
+when, as the sun sank, a breeze sprang up, which, if it held, would
+bring us to our island, I guessed, very soon after dark.  We hoisted
+the sail, and sped along very merrily, being perfectly enchanted with
+the qualities of the _Fair Hope_; but distance at sea is very
+deceptive; we were farther away from our island than we thought, and it
+was long after dark before we arrived at the little sandy beach, though
+not so dark but we could see the giant form of the mountain upreared
+against the stars, and so we did not lose our way.  We were very tired,
+and when we had moored our vessel to the rock we employed for this
+purpose, we left everything in her, food and weapons and all, being
+desirous of nothing but to get back to our house, eat our supper, and
+go to bed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE FIFTEENTH
+
+OF THE SEVERAL SURPRISES THAT AWAITED BILLY AND THE NARRATOR AND THE
+CREW OF THE _LOVEY SUSAN_; AND OF OUR ADVENTURES IN THE CAVE
+
+
+"I say, master," said Billy, as we toiled up towards our house, "you
+and me'll think twice afore we go a-cruising again.  I ain't never been
+so tired in my life, and I shan't be awake to eat no supper."
+
+"Very well," said I, "we won't trouble to make up our fire, but----"
+
+[Sidenote: Unexpected Visitors]
+
+The words died on my lips, and we both stood stock still at the same
+moment, for there had come to our ears on a sudden, from the direction
+of the house, the sound of loud and boisterous laughter.  Little John
+yelped, Billy clutched my hand, and you will scarce believe it, but we
+were both trembling like leaves in the wind; for imagine if you can
+what a shock it was to us, after our loneliness on the island, to hear
+the laughter of men.
+
+"They've got here first," says Billy in a whisper presently.
+
+"Who?" said I.
+
+"Why, the savages," he said.  "They've spied on us.  We'd better go
+back for our spears and things."
+
+I agreed that this was a prudential measure, and we trudged hastily
+down again to the canoe, and took our spears and bows and arrows, and
+then retraced our steps, the dog accompanying us.  We crept up with
+exceeding caution until we reached a spot whence we could overlook the
+hollow in which our house was situated; but or ever we got there we
+were aware of a red glow, as from a huge fire, and when we came to the
+summit of the crest and looked down the long slope towards the hut,
+near half-a-mile away, we saw that in front of it a very large fire was
+kindled, which lit up all the country around, and on the fringe, so to
+speak, of the illuminated space certain dark figures moved.
+
+"They've made the fire ready to cook us," says Billy, his voice
+trembling very much.
+
+"Nay, they're cooking already," I said, and showed him that they had
+set our great tripod over the fire, and something dangled from it
+roasting.
+
+[Illustration: Our Tripod]
+
+"They've stole one of our pigs," said Billy in great anger; indeed, his
+first fear was now swallowed up in this new emotion.  He spoke pretty
+loud, and the dog, knowing from his manner that something was amiss,
+began to yelp.  I bade Billy hold his peace, for we must creep silently
+towards the house and discover who these visitors were: and since the
+dog might betray us if he yelped as we approached, we thought it best
+to tie him to a tree; he would doubtless yelp there, but the visitors
+would suppose he was a wild dog.  We had just left him tied up when I
+remembered that if his yelping brought the wild dogs about him he would
+very soon be torn in pieces, so we had to go back and loose him, and
+then Billy took him in his arms and said he would keep him quiet, which
+he did.
+
+We crept along, being careful to take cover from the trees and shrubs,
+and so not following a straight path, but working round somewhat until
+we came to the back of our fowl-house, whence we could see and overhear
+what was going on.  But before we got there we had another amazing
+shock, and a very disconcerting one too, for as we were walking Billy
+all of a sudden clutched me by the arm and whispered, "That's Hoggett,"
+and then he uttered that profane word which I had never heard upon his
+lips since the first day we came to the island.  And sure enough, when
+we came to the fowl-house, and could both hear and see them, grouped
+about the fire beyond it sat or lay or stood a dozen of Billy's once
+shipmates on the _Lovey Susan_, the mutinous crew of my uncle's
+ill-fated vessel.  Some of them, being on the farther side of the fire,
+we could not see clearly: but on this side there was Hoggett, Billy's
+especial enemy, and Wabberley; and Clums the cook, attending to the
+fine pig, one of our best, that was roasting; and Chick, and Pumfrey
+the ship's carpenter, and others whose names I need not write.  Billy
+was for fitting an arrow to his bow and shooting Hoggett that instant,
+but I forbade him, in a whisper but peremptorily, for the two of us
+could not hope to get the better of a dozen, when they had firearms
+too, for I had spied a musket standing against the wall of the hut,
+near to where Hoggett was lying.  Besides, I own I felt a certain
+tenderness towards these men, rough and brutal, aye, and treacherous,
+as they were; for they were men of our race and speech, and to hear my
+own language from the lips of Wabberley brought back to me those
+evenings when he feasted my uncle with his stories, so that he gave me
+thoughts of home.  However, I felt a natural indignation at seeing
+these uninvited guests making free with our property, and after hearing
+somewhat of their talk I ceased to feel any kindness towards them.
+
+They were talking, I soon discovered, about the house and its owners,
+and Hoggett declared that he was certain sure it belonged to savages,
+an opinion which Wabberley instantly controverted.
+
+"Have I, or have I not, been in these here South Seas afore, Tom
+Hoggett?" I heard him say, and Hoggett growled that he _said_ he had;
+whereupon Wabberley continued, "Well then, I ask you again, didn't we
+leave they two striplings on this very island?"
+
+"You're right, there," says Hoggett, "and one of 'em the sauciest,
+snarliest son of a" (here a dreadful word) "that ever escaped his
+proper lickings."
+
+("That's me," whispered Billy, in a great rage.)
+
+"True, but handy all the same," said Clums.  "He could do a thing or
+two with his tools, and I warrant you he made this;" and so saying, he
+took up Billy's toasting-fork, and held a yam to the blaze.
+
+[Illustration: Billy's Toasting Fork]
+
+"'Twas Billy made it, sure enough," said Pumfrey, "for the other chap
+couldn't ha' done it."
+
+"No, not him," said Wabberley.  "He was a overgrown weed, he was, all
+stalk and no head to it, and I reckon if the truth was known he made
+this; any fool could do it," and he took up, as it chanced, one of the
+two-pronged forks that I had made, and of which I was a little proud at
+the time.
+
+"That's true, Nick," says Joshua Chick, "and what's more, shipmates, no
+savage ever made a fork in his life, and lor' bless you, didn't we find
+a hairbrush and a comb, and what savage ever wanted such, d'ye think?
+And that there pig-sty, now, ain't that like the one where you was
+brought up, Pumfrey, only a bit rougher, maybe?"
+
+This question was very much resented by Pumfrey the carpenter, who
+declared hotly that he had built pig-sties, not lived in 'em, and
+whoever made this pig-sty was a very poor hand at it.  To this
+Wabberley assented, and went on to say that the dirtiest savage as ever
+breathed would have been ashamed of the miserable things we had made in
+the way of pots and baskets and other things.  It was plain that they
+had pretty thoroughly ransacked our hut, and I was on thorns lest they
+should have discovered our secret store-house below, which it appeared,
+from what followed, that they had not done, and thankful I was.  One of
+the men asked what we lived on, for we couldn't eat, he supposed,
+nothing but pork and chickens, and they had found nothing else, except
+the yams in the pig's trough, we having put all the rest of our fruits
+and vegetables in the store-house.
+
+"Ain't there plenty of trees on the island, donkey?" said Clums.  "You
+may take your davy there's bread-fruit and bananas and cocoa-nuts and
+such like, and they pick 'em when they want 'em."
+
+"But where are the young devils?" said Hoggett.  "Ain't that there pig
+done yet, Clums?  The smell makes me want to get my teeth into him."
+
+"One more turn," says Clums, "and then we'll have a better supper than
+we've had many a day."
+
+"I say, where are the young devils?" says Hoggett again.  "D'ye think
+they see us a-coming and sheered off?"
+
+"Like as not," said Wabberley, "but we'll find 'em to-morrow, and they
+shall get our dinner for us, d'ye see.  I believe in taking it easy and
+letting the youngsters do the work, I do.  Did you get all the yams out
+of that pig's trough, Clums?"
+
+"I did," says he, "and there must be some more growing somewhere, and
+'tis to be hoped things ain't so short as they are in our island,
+mates.  Did you ever know food go so fast?  There seemed enough for
+thousands when we landed there, and you wouldn't ha' thought a score of
+men would ha' made such a hole in it."
+
+And then they fell a-talking of the eight or nine men they had left on
+what they called their island, and I judged from their discourse that
+provisions being short with them, these twelve had come away to
+discover a more plentiful land, having promised, if they found one, to
+return and fetch their shipmates.  Pumfrey reminded them of their
+promise, adding that the men would certainly starve if they were not
+brought off, whereupon Hoggett declared with an oath that he for one
+was not going to tug an oar for twenty miles in a leaky boat, to bring
+off a lot of useless blockheads who would soon eat them out of house
+and home.  We pricked up our ears at this, Billy and me, hearing for
+the first time that our visitors had made up their minds to abide with
+us, and Billy ground his teeth, and whispered that we should have to
+fight 'em.  One of the men--I think it was Wabberley--asked what about
+the mountain? and said he didn't like the notion of living where he
+might be boiled or roasted any day.  At this Hoggett made a mock of
+him.  "Ain't it years since we left they boys here?" he said.  "Does it
+look like boiling or roasting, 'cept for pigs?  These here burning
+mountains ain't always a-working, that's plain, and this one here may
+be asleep for fifty years to come."
+
+And then they ended their discourse for a time, devoting themselves to
+the roast pork and the yams of which they had deprived our pigs,
+sighing also very heavily for beer; and finding no cocoa-nuts handy for
+quenching their thirst, and being too lazy to fetch any (besides, it
+was dark), two of them went with pots in their hands to the lake, on
+which there was a very pretty reflection of their fire, and brought
+them back full of water.  Billy chuckled so much at this that I was
+afraid he would be heard; but I was amused too, for there having been
+no rains lately, we knew what the effect of drinking the water would
+be; and, indeed, the next night we heard the men condoling with one
+another, and it was plain that when they were seized in the middle of
+the night with griping pains, they believed one and all that they were
+poisoned.
+
+They had eat such a monstrous supper that they were fit afterward for
+nought but swinish slumber, and the most of them lay where they were,
+never intending to stir until the morning.  Two or three, however, took
+up their quarters in the hut.  We did not observe that they set any
+kind of watch, which was certainly a point of carelessness, and Billy
+said it would be easy enough to steal upon them in the night and kill
+them all, but this of course was not to be thought of.  When we saw
+that all was quiet we stole away back to the canoe, both to get our own
+supper from the surplus of our provisions, and also to have a
+sleeping-place.  Since we did not know how long this rascally crew
+would remain on the island, we thought we ought to convey what smoked
+fish and salted pork we had in the canoe to the thicket on the side of
+the mountain; as for the bread-fruit and cocoa-nuts, there was no need
+for us to trouble about these, the trees being exceeding well laden
+with them.  And considering that it would be foolish to let the men see
+our canoe, when we had taken the food up the mountain, very toilsomely,
+we being so tired, we worked the canoe round the island with extreme
+care, until we came to the little cove in the cliff which we had seen
+near the archway in our voyage of circumnavigation.  There we slept by
+turns till break of day, finding it a matter of the greatest difficulty
+to keep awake when our turns came for watching; and when it began to be
+light we unshipped the mast, and clambering along the base of the
+cliffs we made our way gradually upward until we reached the thicket,
+where we deemed it best to remain in hiding.  We heard nothing of the
+men all the morning, and guessed that they were not in very active trim
+after their medicinal draught of the night before; but in the afternoon
+we heard them talking to one another from various parts of the island,
+from which it was plain that they were searching for us.  Once, indeed,
+they came so near us that we were fearful of being discovered, and kept
+very close in the depth of the thicket; but they passed us by, and I
+wondered that they had been brave enough to come so far up the
+mountain, remembering their panic on the day they landed.
+
+[Sidenote: Dispossessed]
+
+Making our meals chiefly of salt fish, we grew very thirsty, and did
+not dare venture down to the woods where the cocoa-nuts grew, lest we
+should be seen.  But we thought we might creep round the mountain,
+until we came to the place where the hot spring fell towards the Red
+Rock, and there we filled some large leaves with the water, and let it
+stand until it cooled, and then drank it, without any harm.  And as we
+returned to our hiding-place I chanced to see some pieces of that rock
+I have before mentioned, what Billy called the fizzy rock, that which
+belched forth great clouds of poisonous fume when it was touched with
+water.  The sight of this set an idea jogging in my head, which I did
+not tell at that moment to Billy because of his natural impatience; but
+when it was dark, and we had got down safely to the place of the former
+night's watching, and assured ourselves from the men's talk that they
+had no present notion of leaving the island--at this time of night, I
+say, I communicated my notion to Billy, and he applauded it with great
+enthusiasm.  As soon as ever the first glimmer of light came,
+therefore, we might have been seen very busy gathering lumps of this
+rock, which we piled in two heaps, one about the spring near the top of
+the mountain, the other about the spring that flowed down the lava bed.
+We worked very hard at this, and I observed with great satisfaction
+that the cloud of steam above the mountain was a trifle thicker this
+day than it had been for some time past.  Then we waited until the men
+were at their breakfast (we could see them easily from the edge of the
+thicket, which commanded a view of the house and its surroundings), and
+when they were in the midst of it, we hasted to these springs, Billy to
+one and I to the other, and began to topple into them the fragments of
+rock which we had gathered, being exceeding careful to keep to the
+windward side.  The wind was blowing, as it did nearly always, in the
+direction of the house, so that when the dense and filthy smoke rose
+from the rock we had cast into the water, it was carried away into the
+interior of the island.
+
+[Sidenote: A Stratagem]
+
+Having set this storm a-brewing, as you may say, we made haste to
+regain our place in the thicket, whence we could see what went on
+below.  We were delighted beyond measure, and Billy began to caper, as
+he always did when pleased, when we saw the men spring to their feet
+and, leaving their breakfast, set off in a mighty hurry toward the
+beach.  We had not seen the place where they had left their boat, but
+guessed from the direction of their flight that they had drawn it up at
+the east end of the sandy beach, near the lava tract, indeed, at pretty
+nearly the same point as they had landed at three years before.  We
+perceived that one or two of the men halted as they ran, and turning
+about, looked up at the mountain and then called to their fellows.
+Though we could not hear their words, the distance being too great, we
+guessed that they were shouting to their comrades to wait a little, in
+case the apparent explosion turned out to be of no account after all.
+But the other men did not halt, nor even slacken their pace, and Billy
+and I laughed a good deal to see Wabberley, who was much the fattest of
+them, yet easily outstrip the rest, so much did panic lend lightness to
+his heels.  Their manifest terror appeared to shake the resolution of
+the few hardier spirits who were inclined to pause.  Without any
+further delay they sped on after the others, and when they had
+disappeared for a little from our view behind the rocks, we saw a boat
+put off very soon after, going towards the south, whence we presumed it
+had come.  But it had not gone far when it stopped, and we saw at the
+same moment that the fumes were being dissipated in the air, which
+perhaps made the men think that the danger was over.  We could not
+venture to go again to the spring above the lava tract, which was
+plainly to be seen from the sea, but we went back to the other spring,
+where we were perfectly screened, and hurled great quantities of the
+rock into the water, so that we were nearly overcome by the acrid
+fumes.  But we persevered until we had raised an immense cloud of
+smoke, much denser than before; and running to the thicket to see the
+effect of our handiwork, we were almost beside ourselves with joy when
+we saw the boat proceeding at a good pace towards the south-east.  We
+watched it until it had finally disappeared, and then we hastened down
+to our hut, wondering whether it had suffered any damage at the hands
+of our visitors, and also whether they had left any of their own
+belongings which would be useful to us, being exceeding jubilant also
+at the wonderful success of the trick we had played on them.
+
+[Sidenote: We Regain our Own]
+
+When we came to examine our little demesne, we were in a great rage,
+for the men had not only killed our finest pig and two or three of our
+chickens, but had also turned the hut upside down, as people say, and
+ransacked everything.  Of course they got little for their pains except
+the food, and they had not discovered our cellar, nor even the pit
+outside the hut where our bread-fruit pulp was stored, what there was
+left of it, for since we had used the cavern for a store-house we had
+been under no necessity to keep the pit replenished.  They had left
+behind them nothing but one musket, which had no doubt been overlooked
+in their haste, and a cap which Billy declared was Hoggett's, though I
+myself thought it was Wabberley's.  The musket was useless to us,
+having no powder or shot, though it would make a capital club; and as
+for the cap, whether Wabberley's or Hoggett's, neither Billy nor I was
+in the least inclined to wear it, being very much worn, and filthy to
+boot, not fit to be compared to our own light and cleanly bonnets,
+which we wore pretty constantly now, to preserve us from sun-stroke.
+
+Though we had not suffered any great damage, I was very much disturbed
+by this sudden visit of the seamen.  We had heard enough of their talk
+to guess that they had been driven to make their expedition by scarcity
+of provisions, for had they been living in ease and plenty they would
+hardly have risked so long a voyage in a leaky boat.  Whether they had
+visited other islands first we could not tell; but I could not help
+fearing that if it was dearth that had impelled them, they would come
+again, braving the dangers of the volcano.  Cowards though they were,
+they would certainly come to their senses before long, and when they
+considered that we had a fair-built hut, and a plantation, and a
+piggery and fowl-house, which had plainly received no hurt from the
+mountain, they would be pretty sure to come back if they found no means
+elsewhere of stocking their larder.
+
+"Perhaps they think we have gone away from the island," said Billy,
+when I talked over the matter with him.  "They will think Old Smoker
+frighted us too."
+
+I saw there might be some truth in this, but I said that if it were so,
+they would probably keep a careful watch on the mountain for the
+future, and if they saw no signs of its breaking forth they would
+return, confident of enjoying the fruits of our labours.
+
+"But we won't let 'em," cried Billy, stoutly.  "Didn't they leave us,
+the brutes, when they believed we should certainly be boiled or
+roasted?  Didn't they steal our raft?  Did you hear 'em say they'd make
+us fetch and carry for 'em if they caught us?  We've done all the hard
+work and they'll come and enjoy it, will they?  Not if I know it."
+
+"We shall have to fight them then, Billy," I said.
+
+"Well," says he, "and so we will; and we'll make some more spears and
+arrows at once."
+
+"But some of them have got muskets," I said, "and bows and arrows will
+be poor weapons against them."
+
+This made Billy look glum for a moment or two, but then his face
+brightened again, and he said, "I don't believe they've got many
+muskets.  They were all put in the round-house, don't you remember,
+master?  The Captain's orders.  They stole one or two when we were all
+sixes and sevens in the storm, and I don't suppose they've got much
+powder and shot either, maybe none, for they're sure to have used some,
+and it's a long time ago."
+
+This seemed to me very reasonable, and I thought that if we were within
+our walls we might defend ourselves very well for a long time against
+the men, even if they had a musket or two.  But I wished we could in
+some way strengthen our defences, and my mind went back to my notion of
+cutting a moat around the hut, which would be of great assistance to
+us; but the difficulty of cutting it was no less than before, and I was
+afraid if we started it we should never get it done.  Furthermore, the
+only condition of our making a successful defence at all was that we
+should not be taken by surprise as we had been this time, and I said to
+Billy that we must never go a voyage again.
+
+"Well, and I don't want to," says he, "unless we can sail to England.
+I didn't like the look of them brown fellows with the painted faces,
+and did you see the sharks' teeth stuck in a ring round their hair?
+We're better off here, master; and here we'd better bide."
+
+[Sidenote: We Strengthen our Defences]
+
+We had been putting our place in order while we talked thus, and then
+we had our breakfast, eating indeed some of the food which the men had
+been preparing when we drove them away.  And after we had done our
+customary morning's work--fed the pigs and fowls, gathered ripe
+cocoa-nuts, and so forth--we set to work at once to make some new
+arrows and spears, and bows and strings also, in case the others broke;
+and all the while we were doing this, Billy talked very bravely about
+the great fight there would be if the rascals came back.  I said
+nothing to damp his ardour, but my thoughts were very busy with a part
+of the subject which he seemed not to consider, namely, what we should
+do if it came to anything like a regular siege.  I did not doubt we
+could do much execution among the enemy from behind our walls if they
+stood to be shot at; but they could very well avoid this, and since
+there would be many of them against us two, they could strictly
+blockade us; and though so far as food went we could defy them for a
+long time, having our concealed stores below, yet the need for constant
+watchfulness, day and night, would in a short time wear us out.  When I
+asked Billy what we should do in that case, he said, "Why, run out, and
+let 'em chase us; we could dodge them big chaps well enough, and I
+reckon we can run a deal faster."  It was easy enough to show him that
+the hunted life we should lead would be most wretched and precarious;
+but he having suggested that we might escape set me on thinking whether
+we might not indeed elude the enemy, at least for such time as was
+needful to find some defence or shelter.
+
+We had, of course, the means of descending into our cavern; and this
+was so well stocked with food that we might live there for a long time;
+but our disappearance would immediately be discovered by our besiegers
+(so I called them in advance), and they would know our whereabouts the
+moment they entered the hut.  The cavern, therefore, could not be a
+permanent habitation.  But it came into my mind again that we had never
+thoroughly explored the tunnel leading from it, nor found whether it
+had an outlet, though we suspected it had; and I thought that if there
+was such an outlet, or if we could make one, our case would not be so
+hopeless as at the present time it seemed.  Accordingly, we determined
+to descend into the cavern, and make another exploration, going
+together, as we did the last time, both for the company's sake and for
+better security in case of encountering any danger.  So we heaved up
+the covering of the shaft, and having made half-a-dozen torches, enough
+to last us for several hours, we went down, leaving Little John on
+guard, passed through the cavern, and came into the low and narrow
+passage.
+
+[Sidenote: Adventure in the Cave]
+
+When we arrived at the place where the second passage entered this from
+the right, we turned into it, and walked up an ascent, as I had done in
+the darkness, until the floor suddenly took a dip downwards, and then
+by the light of our torch we saw a considerable pool of water,
+extending farther than the light would carry.  We debated for a little
+whether we should attempt to wade through this, and concluded that we
+would not do so until we had failed to find a way out in the other
+direction.  Accordingly we retraced our steps, and went down the
+tunnel, until we came to the wider part where on our last visit we had
+seen water.  The water was lower than it had been then, and we were
+able to go farther, and when we came to the brink of it, we heard very
+distinctly the sound of waves rolling in, so that we knew we could not
+be far from an opening to the sea.  And, indeed, peering across the
+immense cave to which we had come, we saw far off a segment of blue
+sky, and knew that the object of our search was gained.
+
+We stood at the edge of the water, surveying the cave by the light of
+our torches.  We saw that there depended from its roof certain shining
+things like icicles, of rugged form and differing in length, which I
+have since learned are called stalactites; and, moreover, there were
+large boulders and masses of broken stalactites standing up out of the
+water.  Billy gave a shout when he saw this, and cried that he would
+skip from rock to rock until he came to the mouth of the cave, and
+defied me to race him; but the torch I was carrying was now burning
+low, and I stayed to kindle another before going farther; and,
+moreover, I doubted the wisdom of such feats of agility, for it would
+be easy to miss one's footing and fall into the water, and if we both
+did it our torches would be wetted and we should not be able to light
+ourselves home.  I had, indeed, just called out to him to come back,
+when a dreadful shriek ran through the cavern, and raising my torch
+above my head, I saw Billy scrambling up a tall and rugged rock that
+stood ten feet or more above the water, a good way from where I stood.
+He had dropped his torch, and I saw him but dimly by the light of mine,
+and could not discern any cause for his terror; but that there must be
+a very great cause I knew well, for Billy was brave enough.  He
+continued to shriek and call, though his voice rang so in that hollow
+vaulted space that I could not at first make out any words; but having
+started to approach him when I heard his first cry, going from rock to
+rock as quickly as I could, I was presently able to see a number of
+long tentacles clinging to the rock on which he was perched, and others
+waving horribly above the surface of the water, as if some blind
+creature were groping for its prey.  And even as there came to my mind
+the recollection of that loathly monster from whom I myself had barely
+escaped, and I stood as if fascinated by those hideous antic limbs, I
+saw the vast bulk of the beast appear above the surface, and rise
+gradually behind its tentacles up the rock.
+
+Billy was by this time perched on the very summit of the rock, and when
+he saw the monster ascending towards him he let forth another dreadful
+cry which roused me from the sort of trance into which I had fallen.
+Grasping the torch with my left hand and my axe with my right, I leapt
+over the low rocks that stood between me and Billy, scarcely keeping my
+footing, and began to hack with all my strength at the shapeless mass,
+which made such a resistance to that poor clumsy axehead as a thing of
+leather might make.  It did not appear that my strokes were of any
+avail, for the tentacles crept higher and higher; and looking up when I
+heard another scream from Billy, I saw that one of them was beginning
+to twine itself about his leg.  And then all of a sudden, while I was
+bringing my axe down once more on the monster, Billy made a leap
+upwards, to catch at a stalactite that depended from the roof of the
+vault, not far from his head.  He must have been pretty near beside
+himself to do what he did, for if he had caught hold of it he could not
+have held on long; and what did in fact happen was that the stalactite
+broke off with a sharp snap, and down came Billy and it into the water.
+I thought this might be the best thing that could happen, for he could
+swim like a fish, and the monster would take some time in letting
+itself down from the rock; but when Billy rose to the surface, and I
+called to him, I saw by his feeble movements that he must have been
+hurt, so I sprang to a low rock near which he had come up, and held out
+my axe for him to grasp, which he did, and so I got him on to the rock,
+though not without some trouble, it being scarce broad enough for both
+of us.  And immediately afterwards I observed that the monster had left
+the big rock and disappeared into the water, on which I cried to Billy
+to be of good cheer, because I was sure my continual chopping had
+wrought some damage on the monster and maybe killed it.  But the words
+were scarce out of my mouth when we saw, by the ruddy light of my
+torch, a tentacle appear above the water not three feet away.  This put
+me in a shudder lest we were in a perfect den of the creatures, and I
+called to Billy to jump across the rocks, if he could, back to the
+entrance to the tunnel, so that he at any rate, being now the weaker,
+might be out of harm's way.  His terror lending him strength, he
+gathered himself together and leapt from rock to rock as he had done
+before, while I seized upon the axe which I had dropped beside me when
+I landed on the rock, and chopped away in a kind of frenzy at the
+tentacles which were brandishing themselves, you may say, at several
+places around me.  As soon as I saw that Billy was safe I gave up the
+contest and sprang after him, and I was never so thankful in my life as
+I was when I stood beside him at the end of the tunnel.
+
+We were neither of us in any mind to linger there, lest the monster and
+his brood came to attack us, for we were now so terrified that we would
+have believed them capable of anything.  This was the second time that
+we had been baulked of finding an outlet to the sea, and our experience
+had been such that we should scarce attempt it again.  We hurried back
+through the tunnel, and had not gone very far when we had another
+alarm, for whereas it had been dry when we descended, there was now a
+little stream of water running down, which increased as we advanced
+until it became almost a rivulet.  At first I thought that the plug had
+come out of the pipe leading from the lake into the shaft, but when we
+came to the junction of the two passages, we saw that the water, which
+was now above our ankles, was pouring out of the right-hand passage,
+and not from the one that led from the cavern.  This eased our alarm,
+but we did not stay to consider of any attempt to discover the ultimate
+source of this little torrent, but hastened on until we were once more
+in our hut; and then we knew by the mighty pattering on the roof and
+all around that a very heavy rain was falling.  Indeed, when we opened
+the door we saw that it must have been raining ever since we departed,
+for the ground was exceeding sodden, and the trench about the hut was
+half full of water, being scarce deep enough to carry off the drainage.
+Of course the rain had put out the fire which we kept constantly
+smouldering in the grate a few feet from our door, and though a hot
+meal would have been very comforting after our fright and the wetting
+we had got, we could not make one ready, because we had no dry wood in
+the hut, nor indeed did we care to light a fire in it, having no
+chimney to let out the smoke.
+
+[Sidenote: A Mystery Solved]
+
+It continued raining for two or three days, greatly to our discomfort;
+and we made up our minds to two things: first, to have a stock of
+firewood ready dried; second, to build ourselves a better grate, which
+we could cover in with pottery ware, and thus prevent the fire from
+being ever extinguished.  During these days we observed, as we had done
+before, that the lake did not rise above the high-water mark, though
+the rain was the heaviest since we had been on the island; and when I
+sought once more to account for this, and remembered the torrent
+pouring down the passage, it came all of a sudden into my mind that I
+had the true reason of it.  The passage, as I have said, rose
+continually from the cave inwards.  Well, I guessed that its upper end
+opened into the side of the lake, but it then rose until its highest
+point was pretty nearly on a level with what we called the high-water
+mark, and after that descended again.  If it was so, it acted as a
+siphon, the water not flowing down the passage until the lake rose to
+the same height as the highest part of the passage.  When I tried to
+explain this to Billy he said it was all gammon, because if there was
+an opening from the lake into the passage the water would keep on
+flowing through until it couldn't help but run over.  He could not in
+the least understand that water could never rise above its own level
+until I showed him by means of two tanks made of pottery, one large and
+the other small, and then he owned that I might be right, though he
+said it seemed to him like saying that a ten-pound weight wouldn't send
+up a five-pound weight if they were put in the opposite pans of a
+balance.
+
+However, my discovery (supposing my reasoning was correct, and we could
+not prove it)--my discovery, I say, was of no practical advantage to
+us, indeed, rather the reverse, for it seemed to show that the tunnel
+from the cavern to the sea might be sometimes impassable, so that as a
+way of retreat from our hut it was doubly useless.  When I pointed this
+out to Billy he said, "Never mind, master.  We shall only have to fight
+all the harder inside, that's all," which shows how hopeful he always
+was.  The only comfort I had was to think that our fears and anxieties
+might never be justified, and that Hoggett and his crew would never
+more visit us.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH
+
+OF THE ASSAULT ON THE HUT, IN WHICH BOWS AND ARROWS PROVE SUPERIOR TO
+MUSKETS
+
+
+The period of rainy weather which we suffered set me on to think again
+of that project of digging a moat which we had formerly abandoned.
+Several considerable rivulets flowed into the lake from the high ground
+around, of which one, that came down the slope nearest the red rock,
+had a pretty long course, and by the time it fell into the lake, forty
+or fifty yards from the hut, was almost a river.  Observing how it
+washed the soil along with it, it came into my head that we might
+perchance enlist it in our service, and make it do a great part of the
+work of widening and deepening the trench.  Of course Billy must ask
+his customary question, "What's the good?" following this up with
+another, more pertinent.  "How _can_ we, master?  The river--if you
+call it a river: _I_ don't--don't run anywhere near the trench."
+
+"That's true," I said, "but we can make it."
+
+"How's that?" said he.
+
+"Why, by building a dam across it, and so turning its course where we
+please," I said.
+
+"Oh, more building," says he.  "What a one you are, master, for keeping
+on a-doing things!  What's the good?  I lay you a cocoa-nut that before
+you get your dam made, the rain stops, and then where'll you be?"
+
+I think I have already shown that Billy was always a good deal better
+than his word.  He used to remind me of that young man in the
+Scripture, who refused when his father bid him do something, but
+"afterwards repented and went," and was more to be admired than the
+plausible sneak, his brother, who said to his father, "I go, sir," and
+then did nothing of the sort.  I once told Billy about this, and he was
+very much interested, never having heard it before, and said he'd like
+to know that man, and asked me if I could tell him any more things like
+that.  Accordingly I told him at different times all that I could
+remember of the Bible stories, and the one he liked best was the story
+of David, who took his admiration greatly, and whom he always called
+"the little fellow," thinking of Goliath.
+
+However, to return to our dam.  Billy helped me very diligently to pile
+up a dam of rocks, which was pretty laborious, for we had to haul them
+a good distance, and since it rained all the time we were constantly
+drenched, and I wonder we did not take an ague.  We were about three
+days in doing it, and then, sure enough, as soon as it was done, the
+rain ceased, and Billy turned a triumphant countenance upon me, and
+asked what I thought of that.  But I had the better of him next day,
+for the rain came again, and we saw with great delight that the stream
+was diverted by the dam into the narrow channel we had cut to bring it
+to our trench, and before long it was flowing through this in
+considerable volume, and fell into the lake.  It nobly answered my
+expectations, for the loosened earth was not only more easy for us to
+dig with our rude spades, but it became mud as soon as it was dug up,
+and was washed away.  We began to deepen the trench into a moat at the
+two ends opening on the lake, working backwards to the middle; but
+before we had done very much the rain ceased again, and the rivulet
+dried up.  However, we were fairly come to the wettest part of the
+year, and the rainy days were more than the fine ones, so that in the
+course of a few months we had made good progress, and had indeed
+widened and deepened the whole trench, though not near so much as I
+should have liked.  The part directly in front of our door was the
+deepest, and we made a kind of drawbridge, of the nature of a hurdle,
+to throw over it; not at this time, however, attempting any contrivance
+for raising or lowering it.
+
+[Sidenote: On the Watch]
+
+Though we went about our daily work with great regularity, we were
+never, I think, quite so cheerful as we had been before the visit of
+our whilom shipmates.  The thought that they might come back kept us
+continually on the stretch, so to speak; we went up to our watch-tower,
+one or other of us, not twice a day, as before, but three or four
+times, and we never went to bed at night without an uneasy feeling that
+when we awoke we might find our enemies upon us.  For several nights,
+indeed, Billy and I took turns to watch, though we soon gave it up,
+partly because it was so fatiguing, and partly because, when we
+considered of it calmly, we thought it very unlikely that the men would
+arrive in the darkness, for, not knowing the coast, they might very
+easily run upon a rock and lose their boat, a calamity which they would
+not risk.
+
+One day, I know not how many months after we had scared away Hoggett
+and his friends, Billy had gone up Flagstaff Hill to take his turn at
+looking out, and he came running to tell me that he had descried a
+small object on the eastern horizon.  I immediately accompanied him
+back to the station, and when we got there, he told me that the object
+was scarce any bigger than when he first saw it, so that if it was a
+boat, which we could not yet determine, it was moving very slowly.  The
+day was very hot, so that no one would wish to put forth any great
+exertion, least of all the crew of the _Lovey Susan_.  We watched for a
+long time until we made out that the object was indeed a boat, and
+moving with oars alone, there being not a capful of wind.  It was
+heading straight for our island, and we saw that it was a ship's boat
+of European make, and not a native canoe, so that we had no doubt it
+contained Hoggett and his fellows.
+
+"Let's try and scare 'em with the fizzy rock," said Billy; but though
+we raised a dense cloud of smoke by this means the boat held on its
+course, and we saw that this device at least had lost its terrors.
+
+"I wish Old Smoker would wake up," says Billy.  "Wouldn't I like to go
+down and poke up his fire, that's all!  Or to blow it up with bellows
+would be better still."
+
+I could not help thinking it a little unlucky that the mountain-top had
+been for some time clear of smoke, which, indeed, was perhaps the
+reason why the men had ventured once more to make the voyage.  Finding
+our stratagem of no avail, we ran down to the hut to put it, so far as
+we might, in a posture of defence, judging by the slow progress of the
+boat that we should have time.  We took several of the fowls and one
+pig into the house, unwelcome inmates though they were; the rest of the
+pigs we let loose, taking our chance of recovering them later; we saw
+that our bows had sound strings, and laid our arrows in readiness; and
+then we returned to Flagstaff Hill, to watch the boat.  Our own canoe,
+I had almost forgot to say, lay in the little retired cove on the east
+side of the island.
+
+[Sidenote: Return of the Crew]
+
+When the boat drew near to our coast, we lost sight of it, and could
+not tell where the men would land; but we guessed that they would make
+for the little bay on the south-west, where the landing was certainly
+the easiest.  Accordingly we hastened towards that spot, and having got
+to the cliffs we saw the boat at some little distance from the shore,
+so as to avoid shoals or rocks, as we guessed, and going in the very
+direction we had surmised.  When they were opposite the bay they pulled
+the boat's head round, and came in very well, and running her ashore,
+landed, all but two men whom they left in the boat to guard her.  I saw
+with great apprehension that the rest of the party were armed, some
+with muskets, others with cutlasses and other weapons, which they had
+taken into the boats when they left the _Lovey Susan_.  And, moreover,
+there were more men than had come before.  They mounted the cliff more
+briskly than I had expected to see them do it, and when we perceived,
+ourselves being hidden all the time, that they were making a bee-line,
+as people say, for our hut, we immediately made all speed back, lifted
+the drawbridge when we had crossed the moat, and took it with us into
+the hut, where we set up the door, and pulled out the plugs from a good
+many loopholes in the walls, both that we might have a little light,
+and also to be in readiness to defend ourselves.
+
+Through the loopholes we spied the men presently, coming towards us
+from the high ground between us and the cliffs.  "They are coming
+mighty fast," says Billy.  "Won't they sweat!  What's the hurry, I
+wonder?"  Their pace was indeed more rapid than I should have chosen on
+so hot a day.  They were coming straight towards the house; but all on
+a sudden all but one of them turned aside into the wood on their right
+hand, and while we were wondering why they had gone out of their
+course, we saw some of them swarm up the cocoa-nut palms that were on
+the fringe of the wood, and knock down the fruit to their comrades
+below, who immediately broke them open and quaffed the liquor.
+
+"Them's our cocoa-nuts, master," says Billy, with indignation.
+"They're poaching."
+
+But I paid no heed to him, being intent on watching the one man who had
+not swerved from the course with the others, but came straight on.  It
+was Hoggett.  I observed that he looked about him with great curiosity
+as he came nearer, and having reached the edge of the trench he stood
+and pulled at his beard, looking this way and that like a man that is
+puzzled.  It was plain he saw that the appearance of the place was
+somewhat altered since he saw it before, and from the glances he cast
+at the hut I thought he seemed to question whether there was any one in
+it or not.
+
+[Sidenote: Hoggett]
+
+"Shall I shoot him, master?" says Billy eagerly in my ear.  I own I was
+tempted to say yes, for we could have killed him easily, he being but a
+few yards away, and the loss of their leader would very likely have so
+much daunted the others that they would have withdrawn themselves.  But
+I could not bring myself to take him thus unawares, nor indeed did I
+wish to be the first to open hostilities, so I bade Billy hold his
+hand; and immediately afterwards Hoggett hailed us in seaman's fashion.
+"Ahoy there!" says he, and putting my mouth to the loophole I shouted
+"Ahoy!" back, and we laughed to see the start he gave, though if he
+hadn't expected an answer, why did he shout, as Billy said.  But if he
+was startled it was only for a moment, for he lifted up his voice,
+which was a very boisterous one, and with many oaths bade me to come
+out, calling me by name, and when I refused he cursed me again,
+uttering terrible threats of what he would do to me if I did not
+immediately obey him.  The others, hearing the shouts, left the wood
+and came straggling up, and when they called to Hoggett to know what he
+was about, he shouted that the rat was trapped, at which Billy could
+contain himself no longer, but called out, "Don't you be so sure of
+that, you thieving villain!"
+
+"So there's two of you, is there?" shouts the man, who had not known up
+to this moment that more than one was in the hut, and then he unslung
+his musket, and, taking good aim, fired through the loophole at which I
+had been speaking, which he could very easily do, the range being so
+short.  But of course his taking aim had given me time to slip away,
+and the slug passed clean through the hut, doing no damage, but merely
+striking the wall on the other side, and setting Little John barking
+furiously.  I was somewhat amazed that after all these years the men
+had any powder and shot left, and considered that they must have
+husbanded their stock with remarkable care.  However, I did not lose
+any time in replying to Hoggett, but went to a loophole near the roof,
+which was pretty well concealed on the outside by the thatch that
+overhung the wall an inch or two; and standing on the little platform
+beneath it I fitted an arrow to my bow and let fly, aiming to hit the
+fellow's shoulder, for I was loath to take his life.  It happened that
+just as I shot he shifted his posture, so that the shaft, instead of
+striking his shoulder as I intended, transfixed his forearm; whereupon
+he dropped his musket with a howl as much of rage as of pain, I think,
+and pulled out the arrow, while the rest of the men, who had plainly
+not looked for anything of this sort, instantly took to their heels and
+ran until they were out of range.  Hoggett was a man of sterner mettle,
+and held his ground, shaking his fist at the hut, and vowing with
+horrible imprecations that he would have his revenge.  Billy was
+fingering his bow very restlessly, and asked me if he might shoot now,
+but I would not let him, for at present we were in no danger; so
+Hoggett, having picked up his musket, was suffered to go and rejoin his
+comrades, which he did at length, stopping at every few yards to hurl
+more curses at us.  Then they stood in a group at the edge of the wood,
+and seemed to take counsel together.
+
+"Wabberley ain't so fat, master," says Billy all of a sudden.
+
+I owned that he had fallen away somewhat.
+
+"And Chick's pretty near a skellington," Billy goes on.  "And
+Pumfrey----"  He broke off, then cried, "Why, master, I do believe
+they're famished."
+
+[Sidenote: The Interlopers]
+
+Indeed, having leisure now to observe the mariners more carefully than
+it had been possible to do before, I saw that they were all very
+woebegone in appearance, and not at all equal to what they had been.
+They talked together for some time, and there did not seem to be
+perfect agreement among them, for they grew very heady, and their
+gestures began to be so violent that we looked for them to come to
+blows, and Billy was delighted at the prospect of seeing them fight.
+The chief parts in their discourse were taken by Wabberley and Hoggett,
+and I saw the former point more than once towards the mountain, which,
+as I have said, was clear that day.  We could not even guess at the
+subject of their deliberation, but presently the group broke up, and
+the men went severally in different directions, and quite disappeared
+from our view.  We durst not leave the hut to follow them, lest they
+were practising a trick on us, to entice us forth; and so we remained
+for the rest of that day in a miserable state of uncertainty, not
+knowing whether they had sailed away, or what they were doing.
+However, when it began to be dark, we saw through the trees towards the
+cliffs the glow of a fire, and guessed that they were camping; and not
+long afterwards Little John growled, and then we heard the squeal of a
+pig, by which we guessed that some of the pigs we had turned a-loose
+had come back to their sty, and one had fallen a victim, which we were
+quite unable to prevent.  But as soon as it was full dark I thought it
+pretty safe to go forth and spy out what they were doing, so I straitly
+charged Billy to keep a good watch, and went out, creeping along very
+stealthily by the edge of the wood as long as I could, until I came to
+a place where I could easily see the men.  They were, as I expected,
+sitting around the fire eating their supper, and there came to my
+nostrils the savorous odour of roast pork.  I wished I could draw near
+enough to them to hear what they said, but this I durst not do, because
+the top of the cliff here was pretty open, so after a little I went
+back to the hut, and we had our own supper, and then settled on what we
+should do for keeping guard during the night.
+
+[Sidenote: The Mariners Depart]
+
+Neither of us had much sleep, for when our turn of watching was done,
+we were uneasy at the chance of being attacked in the darkness, and so
+slept but fitfully.  However, nothing happened to alarm us, and in the
+morning when we looked forth we could see none of the men, and supposed
+that they were either still asleep or had already gone a-hunting their
+breakfast.  But when the sun rose in the heavens and we had not yet
+seen a man of them, we fell into that same uneasiness that we had felt
+before, until I could endure it no longer, but resolved to sally out
+and see what had become of our visitors.  I told Billy to be ready to
+pull the drawbridge from the moat if he should see any of the men
+approaching, and when he asked how I should get over if the bridge was
+gone I told him not to worry about me, because, knowing the island as I
+did, I could find some remote spot, and hard of access, if I should be
+pursued.  Accordingly, I left the hut, but instead of going directly
+towards the cliffs, I made my course at first towards the mountain,
+intending to make a circuit and so come near the place where I had last
+seen the men.  But I had not gone above half the distance when, looking
+over the sea, I was beyond measure amazed to see the boat departing
+under sail and oars, only instead of returning to the eastward, whence
+it had come, it was going westward.  It was soon hidden from my sight
+by the shape of the cliffs, but I made great haste to go up to our
+watch-tower, whence there was a view all round the island, and
+perceived with as much puzzlement as joy that our enemies were in very
+truth sailing clean away, and not merely cruising about the coast, as I
+thought might be their design.  I watched until the boat was almost out
+of sight, and then went back to the hut to acquaint Billy with our
+surprising good fortune.  He immediately asked me whether I had counted
+the men, and when I said that I had not thought of doing so, and
+besides the boat was already too far off when I saw it, he cried, "Then
+I take my davy 'tis a trick, and they have left some behind to trap
+us."  This fairly startled me, for such a notion had not come into my
+head; and though I thought it unlikely that the boat would have gone so
+far if the men's intention had been to return, yet I saw it was needful
+we should be still on our guard.  However, when half the day was gone
+and we had seen never a sign of the men, but on the contrary some of
+our pigs came back and entered their sty like wanderers returning home,
+we thought it was ridiculous to be scared at mere fancies, and resolved
+to set forth and see if any man had indeed been left.  We took our bows
+and arrows, and our axes in our belts, and went abroad very valiantly,
+yet with caution; but though we spent the rest of the day in searching
+the island, we found no man, nor indeed any trace at all of the
+seamen's visit save their camp fire and signs of cooking, and also a
+jack-knife, which one of them had without question left by mistake.
+
+When we were pretty well assured that we were still alone on the
+island, we debated together what had brought the men back to our shore,
+and why they had so soon gone again, especially after Hoggett had been
+wounded and had uttered such terrible threats of vengeance.
+
+"What could they do, master?" says Billy.  "They couldn't conquer us so
+long as we stayed in the hut, and they couldn't starve us out, because
+they'd have starved first; and 'tis my belief that, what with the trees
+having no fruits to speak of, and Old Smoker, and the griping water of
+Brimstone Lake, they considered this island to be an uncomfortable sort
+of place, and so sheered off."
+
+[Sidenote: Story of the Mariners]
+
+We afterwards discovered that Billy's guess was very near the truth,
+and for the better understanding of my story, I deem it convenient to
+relate here what we only learnt at a later time.  The seamen of the
+_Lovey Susan_, when they left us on the island the first time, went
+away to the south-east, and by and by came to a small island,
+uninhabited as ours was, but pretty well furnished with fruit trees,
+and there they took up their abode, and for many months lived in
+plenty, their fare, in addition to the fruits, being fish and
+birds--when they could catch them--and pigs, of which there were a few.
+They made simple grass huts for themselves, not taking the trouble to
+build substantial houses, and when this was done, they being not at all
+diligent, did nothing else but quarrel among themselves, and their
+laziness and improvidence in due time found them out.  They lived very
+comfortably while their supplies of food lasted, but they hunted down
+the pigs until one day they were astonished to find there were no more;
+and as to fish, that was very plentiful at certain seasons and scarce
+at others, and during the time of plenty they did not trouble about
+curing any--at least, only two or three men did, one of whom was Mr.
+Bodger, and these gave up doing it when they found that the others
+expected to share with them.  But their principal food at all times was
+bread-fruit, because they got less tired of this than of cocoa-nuts and
+other fruits; yet they were so reckless that they consumed the fruit
+when it was ripe without any thought for the morrow, having no notion
+of preserving it.  The season of bread-fruit being over, they subsisted
+on cocoa-nuts, but they being a score of ravenous men, and the island
+small, they had well-nigh consumed all the cocoa-nuts before the next
+bread-fruit ripened; thus they had at one time more than they could
+eat, and at another very short commons, and at these times they became
+very sour in temper, and there were constant bickerings and
+recriminations amongst them.
+
+One day a fleet of canoes filled with savage warriors came to their
+island, and the savages having landed, there was a sharp fight betwixt
+them and the mariners, in which the latter came off victors by virtue
+of their firearms, though not without suffering considerable loss, two
+of them being killed and nearly all wounded.  When we heard of this
+fight, Billy and me, we guessed that the savages were those we had seen
+one day from our watch-tower, though, of course, we could never prove
+it.  Saving for this fight, the mariners were unmolested on their
+island; but in course of time the scarcity of food drove them to make
+voyages in search of islands that would afford better sustenance,
+which, however, they failed to discover.  Then it was that one of them
+proposed that they should return to our island, which they knew from
+what they had seen of it to be fertile--at least, in parts--but they
+had so clear a recollection of the terrors of the volcano, especially
+Wabberley, who had been scalded the worst by the boiling water, that
+they were some time in making up their minds to the voyage, but did so
+at last.  This was the occasion of their first visit to our island,
+when they discovered our hut, and were driven to panic and flight by
+our invention of an eruption.  The boat being leaky, they had not
+ventured to lengthen their voyage, lest they should not be able to get
+back to their own island, where there was at least present security,
+and where they had left some of their number.  Thither they returned,
+and lived there as best they could until the pinch of want again
+compelled them to set forth.  Having seen from the slopes of our island
+the dim line on the western horizon betokening other land, they
+determined to sail thither; for though they suspected that their
+enemies the savages might have come thence, the bolder spirits among
+them thought it better to risk sudden death at the hands of savages
+than slow starvation on their island prison, especially as there was a
+chance that they might find friendly savages on some island or another.
+Accordingly they did what they could to patch up their boat for the
+voyage, and set forth, all of them this time, for four being dead--two
+slain by the savages and two by disease--the boat would hold them all.
+Their design was to touch at our island on the way for rest and
+refreshment, and see, also, whether there were still signs that it was
+inhabited, for on their former visit they believed that we had been
+driven away by fear of the volcano, so that they did not think of
+settling on the island themselves.  But when they landed, and Hoggett
+saw that, so far from being scared away, we had remained--or, at any
+rate, returned--and improved our settlement, he was for capturing our
+hut and entering into possession of the island, and was deterred from
+attempting this design only by finding that we could defend ourselves
+and by the overruling of his companions when they found, on roaming
+over the island, that it was not near so fertile as they had supposed.
+They did not discover our yam plantation, and feared that their case
+here would very soon be no better than it had been on their own island.
+Accordingly they sailed away, westward, as I have said, to accomplish
+the purpose with which they had set forth.
+
+All this, I say, we did not learn till a good while afterwards, and
+having set it down for the better understanding of those that read, I
+will now return to the place where I left our own story--like a child
+standing in a drawn circle and forbid to move till he is told.  We were
+greatly rejoiced to find that our visitors had quite left us, and went
+with cheerful hearts about our work, a part of it on this day being the
+gathering together of our swine which we had released.  Some came back
+of themselves; others had struck up acquaintance with some of the wild
+pigs that were still on the island, and appeared to be indisposed to
+return to civilization, though one did indeed come in what I thought
+was a shamefaced way above a week after all the rest, and him I called
+the prodigal son.
+
+"The what son?" says Billy.
+
+"The prodigal son," said I; and then I told him the story, which he
+heard with the same eagerness and pleasure as he heard all my stories,
+whether out of the Bible or out of profane history.  When I came to
+that part where the wretched young man "would fain have filled his
+belly with the husks that the swine did eat," Billy interrupted me,
+saying it was clear they did not feed their pigs half so well in that
+country as we did, and he warranted that Wabberley and the other seamen
+would be pleased enough if they got as good food as our pigs, for he
+persisted in believing (which turned out to be true) that the men were
+famishing, and he went on to declare that he was sure they would come
+back again.
+
+"For why?" says he.  "Why, they know we've been here these ever so many
+years" (it was about four by my reckoning), "and living comfortable,
+and wherever they go they'll either have to work, which they hate, or
+to fight, which will be worse, for their powder and shot won't last for
+ever, and I wonder they've any left at all.  They must have been
+uncommon careful of it."
+
+I did not think that Billy's prediction would come true, for they had
+certainly found no great stores of food on our island, and if it was
+food they were seeking they would surely suppose that, though we were
+alive, we had no more than supplied our own needs.  However, there is
+no folly in being prepared for anything that may befall, so Billy and I
+set ourselves to think very seriously again of what we should do if our
+hut were besieged closely for any considerable length of time.  Our
+situation would not be pleasant, between exasperated besiegers on the
+one side and the terrible monsters on the other, and I set my wits to
+work very earnestly to see if I might devise some means whereby we
+might extirpate those hideous creatures and so clear a way to the sea.
+To make an attack on them with our weapons held no great promise in it,
+for, as Billy said, they seemed to be terribly tough, and while we were
+disposing of one, others might cling around us and lug us to perdition.
+Besides, the very sight of the monsters made our blood run cold, and
+Billy said he would sooner face a thousand stepmothers than one of
+them, though he thought he might prefer one monster to three Hoggetts.
+
+[Sidenote: Experiments]
+
+It was after the matter had been beating in my head for several days
+that the notion came to me to try how the fizzy rock would affect the
+creatures.  We knew what dreadful choking fumes came from it when it
+was thrown into water, and it seemed to me not impossible that these
+fumes might dissolve in water and poison it, and 'twould then be only a
+question of getting a sufficient quantity to destroy the whole nest or
+lair of the monsters.  Considering that it would be a very laborious
+matter to bring down to the cliffs enough of the rock for our purpose,
+we determined to make a trial of it first, and the creature we selected
+for the _vile corpus_ (which is pretty nearly all the Latin I remember)
+was one of those robber crabs which I think I have mentioned.  We
+caught one on the shore, and put him into one of my pots, which we
+filled with water and then cast in one or two lumps of the rock.  There
+was a great fizzing and spluttering, with dense and suffocating fumes,
+and when they had cleared off and it was safe for us to go to the pot,
+we found the crab perfectly black and quite dead, and when Billy took
+it out of the pot he declared that the water stung his hand.  We were
+very well satisfied with this trial, and immediately set about
+collecting a great quantity of the poisonous stuff, bringing it down
+from the mountain in baskets which we slung at our backs, and heaping
+it up on the cliff just above the entrance to the cave.  I proposed
+that we should carry it down to the shore, and convey it to the
+monsters' haunt in our canoe, but this Billy would not hear of for a
+moment, avouching that he would sooner be eaten by savages than hugged
+by the slimy arms of the beasts.
+
+[Sidenote: Billy is Reflective]
+
+We had been digging out the rock, and carrying it to the cliff, for a
+matter of two days when a terrible storm of rain came on in the night,
+and when we got up in the morning and went to the cliff, we saw that
+all the rock we had so toiled in collecting had spent itself, and left
+a black desolation all around the spot where it had lain.  This gave us
+a great deal of annoyance, as much at our thoughtlessness as at the
+thing itself; but we did not give up our design, resolving rather to be
+the more careful in our preparations.  It took us a very long time to
+assemble as much material as we had before, because we had to dig
+deeper into the side of the mountain for it, and when we got it we
+covered it over very scrupulously, so that the rain could not touch it.
+Billy remarked that of course, after our taking all that trouble, there
+would be no more rain for a month, and he was right; but I pointed out
+to him that we should have been very foolish if we had not taken these
+precautions, and he said it was a pity you could not tell things
+beforehand, adding, as if it had never struck him before, that you
+never could tell what might have been, because all we knew was what
+was.  And then he was silent for a time, and when he spoke again, he
+said: "Ain't it terrible, master, to think you never can catch a minute
+what's gone?"  Billy so seldom said anything of a reflective nature
+that I looked at him in some alarm, with a kind of superstitious fear
+that he was sickening for something; but I was relieved in a moment
+when, in the same breath, he said: "It do make you eat hearty, though."
+
+When we had heaped up on the cliff a good many hundredweights of the
+rock, we waited for the flow of the tide, and then, choosing a place
+where the cliff ran down very steep and straight to the mouth of the
+cave, we flung the stuff into the water between the mouth and the rocks
+where we first encountered the shoal of monsters.  We watched eagerly
+to see what happened, and saw a vast number of bubbles come to the
+surface, and a certain quantity of smoke that floated away on the
+breeze, but not near such a smother as we had experience of, which made
+us hope that there was all the more poison in the water.  There was a
+slight current at the foot of the cliffs, setting past the cluster of
+rocks towards the channel between Red Rock and the island.  We walked
+along for a little space, in the same direction as this current, to see
+if there was any sign on the surface of the water of our experiment
+having had any effect.  For some little while we saw nothing, and had
+begun to believe that the monsters were proof against what we had
+fondly hoped was poison, when we observed some tentacles appearing
+above the water by the rocks, and also at the base of the cliffs, and
+by and by the palpitating bodies of the monsters themselves, crawling
+up as if the water did not very well agree with them.  We pelted these
+creatures very hard with stones and lumps of the strange rock, and
+though we missed pretty often, yet we hit them pretty often too, and
+had lively satisfaction when we saw them loose their hold and tumble
+back into the water as soon as the rock began to fizz.  But we could
+not see that any of them were killed, and had to conclude that the
+water about the rocks was too deep, and the current moved too fast, for
+our poisonous substance to work its full effect, and so we went back
+disappointed, with the problem of making a safe way through the tunnel
+to the sea as far from solution as ever it was.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE SEVENTEENTH
+
+OF THE END OF THE SEA MONSTERS; AND OF THE EVENTS THAT LED US TO
+RECEIVE THE CREW AS OUR GUESTS
+
+
+We had failed to destroy the monsters from the cliff top, and I
+concluded that we must still fail, unless we could, find some means of
+attacking them in an enclosed space, where there was no current to
+carry away the water as soon as it was rendered poisonous.  It was
+Billy who suggested the plan which we ultimately found successful.
+Though he had refused point blank to approach the cave in our canoe, he
+would not mind, he said, "having a go" at the monsters from the tunnel,
+for there at least we had dry land to run back to, whereas if the canoe
+were caught in the embrace of one of the large creatures there would be
+little chance for us.  And since we had already learnt that the
+monsters came into the cave, as well as haunting the rocks outside, I
+agreed, when Billy suggested it, that even if we could not kill them
+outright we might make the water in the cave so exceeding noisome that
+they would depart thence and seek more savorous quarters.  We saw great
+difficulties in the way, first, to the conveying a sufficiently great
+quantity of the rock to the cave; then the possibility of heavy rains
+falling before we had accomplished our task, with the consequent rise
+of the water in the lake and the flooding of the tunnel, which would
+not only render it a perilous place for us ourselves, but would use up,
+or decompose, as they say, the material we had collected before we got
+it to the proper place.  As to the first difficulty, we were already so
+well accustomed to hard work of various kinds that we thought nothing
+of it; while for the matter of the rain we could only take our chance
+and resolve to be as philosophical as possible if all our labour was
+undone.  With this in mind, we determined to collect the lumps of rock
+first of all in our hut, and not to begin to convey them through the
+tunnel until we had as much as we wanted: which accordingly we did,
+going backwards and forwards for many days between the hut and the spot
+on the mountain-side where we found an inexhaustible supply of the
+rock.  When we had got together a sufficient quantity, we carried above
+two-thirds of it in baskets to the entrance of the cave, and very
+laborious it was, because the way was so rough and in places so narrow,
+and we barked our shins and elbows pretty often.  But it was done at
+last, and then we laid up a similar heap on the cliff, at the same spot
+as we had put it before.
+
+[Illustration: Our Baskets]
+
+[Sidenote: End of the Monsters]
+
+When all things were in readiness, we went along the tunnel one day,
+carrying torches in our hands, until we came to the place where we had
+put our heap of rock, at the brink of the pool.  Now that the moment
+for our great enterprise was come, we were in a fever, I assure you,
+both from the importance of what we had taken in hand to do, and from
+our shuddering horror of the monsters.  We held our torches above our
+heads, searching the cave for signs of them, expecting every moment to
+see the hideous tentacles emerge from the black water at our feet, and
+fancying we saw these dreadful enemies on all the rocks that strewed
+the floor of the cave.  "What are we waiting for?" says Billy in an
+awful whisper, and seeing that certainly nothing was to be gained by
+delay, we stuck our torches into crevices in the wall, and then with
+two great heaves cast the pieces of rock into the water, and retreated
+instantly into the tunnel to escape the choking fumes that arose.  We
+had to go a good way before we felt ourselves to be in safety from
+them, and indeed it promised to be so long before we could venture to
+go down to the cave again that we thought we might as well return to
+our hut and run down to the cliff, to see if any of the creatures had
+been driven forth.  Accordingly we made great haste, and when we came
+to the cliff and looked over, we saw first several of the smaller
+creatures floating at the mouth of the cave, and quite dead as far as
+we could tell; but immediately afterwards there came slowly swimming
+out a huge monster that far exceeded in size and ugliness that which
+had seized me on that day when we climbed down the cliff for eggs.
+Whether it was the same that had nearly caught Billy I know not,
+because we never saw that clearly; but we were perfectly amazed at the
+hugeness of it, being as big round as my aunt's round table in the
+parlour, and its tentacles stretching on all sides like the roots of an
+immense oak.  Though we were far above it, and in safety, we shuddered
+when we beheld it, and our cheeks became pale; I saw that Billy's did,
+and he told me afterwards that I was as white as a ghost.  We both felt
+beyond measure thankful that we had been so mercifully preserved from
+falling a prey to this terrible giant, which could have crushed the
+life out of us in a few minutes.
+
+The monster swam slowly along until it came to the rocks I have before
+mentioned, and there it heaved itself up until the greater part of it
+was out of the water.  "He's going to sit there till he's got the stink
+out of his nose," said Billy, "and then he'll go back, and all our
+work's thrown away."  I feared that it would be as Billy said, and saw
+that we should have no security unless the monster were driven clean
+away or else killed outright.  We took up some of the lumps of rock we
+had collected on the cliff and hurled them at the creature, but it had
+so lodged itself that we could hit nothing but its tentacles, and our
+missiles seemed to do them no hurt.  If the creature would only expose
+its body, a great round bag of jelly as it seemed, we might shoot
+arrows into it and perhaps find a mortal spot.  I bade Billy run back
+to the hut to fetch our bows and arrows while I still kept the monster
+in sight, and when he returned with them, we hurled pieces of rock just
+beyond where the creature lay, on the seaward side of it, hoping that
+the fumes would drive it from its perch towards us, so that we might
+take a fair aim.  And that is what happened, for the monster after a
+little shifted its posture, and moved slowly away from the poisonous
+fumes that beset it, back towards its old haunt in the cave.  "Now
+we've got him," says Billy, in great excitement.  "You shoot better
+than me, master; you have a go at him while I keep on flinging the rock
+t'other side of him, to keep him on the move."  Accordingly I shot
+arrow after arrow at the great central mass, as fast as I could fit
+them to the bow, while Billy flung stone after stone just beyond it.
+He cried out in amazement when the arrows clean disappeared in the
+creature's body, and yet it moved, and he asked me in a whisper whether
+I didn't think it was the devil himself, and so couldn't be killed,
+except by God.  But I bade him continue his throwing, and I shot at
+least a dozen arrows, I think, before I thought the creature moved more
+slowly, as if it had suffered some injury; and it being then close up
+against the cliff, directly below us, I said to Billy that we would
+topple down on it the whole of the lumps that were left, and see if
+that would not deal the finishing stroke.  This we did, casting over
+above a hundred-weight of the stuff, some of which struck the creature,
+and the rest fell with great hissing and smoking into the water around
+it.  The stench almost overpowered us even at the height we stood, and
+we withdrew for a little, but returning and peering over we saw the
+monster floating without any motion, and its tentacles curled up most
+strangely around it.  "I do believe he's dead, the villain!" cried
+Billy joyously; and though we stood watching for some time longer,
+there was no motion in the beast, at least no motion of its own, for we
+saw that it gradually drifted on the current towards the Red Rock; and
+then we hastened away across that part of the island until we came to
+the point opposite the ledge, where we could look down into the narrow
+race between; and we had not been there long when the monster,
+perfectly inert, was swept around the corner and through the channel,
+and so carried along past the north side of the island until we lost
+sight of it, and knew that we should see it no more.
+
+For several days after this some of this family of monsters were cast
+up dead on the shore, together with a great quantity of fish of all
+kinds, so that we were in no doubt of the efficacy of this remarkable
+mineral.  Indeed, Billy startled me by saying one night, just as I was
+going to sleep, "I say, master, what a fine thing that stuff would be
+for doing away with mother-in-laws and Hoggetts and such!"  I told him
+this was a horrible notion, and he owned that it was, and he supposed
+it would be murder and he would be hanged for it.  "But," says he,
+"suppose Hoggett and that lot come back and fight us, and we kill one
+or two of 'em--and we can't be sure our arrows won't go straight--would
+that be murder, eh?"  I replied that I thought it was justifiable to
+kill a man if fighting in self-defence.  "Well then," says he, "I don't
+understand it, not a bit.  You kill a man when he's shooting at you,
+and might kill you if you ain't first, and that ain't murder; but if
+you kill him with fizzy rock, so that he don't have a chance to kill
+you, that _is_ murder.  What do you make of that, now?"  I own I could
+make nothing of it (though perhaps I might nowadays), but said he had
+better go to sleep; and he cast that up at me afterwards, saying that
+whenever he wanted things explained I told him to go to sleep because I
+couldn't think of what to say, which was not true in general, though it
+was on that occasion.
+
+But to return to my story.  We found that we had killed or driven away
+all the noxious creatures which had made their home in the cave, and
+since we took care to fumigate the cave at intervals, we were never
+troubled with them again.  The having a direct and safe outlet from our
+hut to the sea was a great source of satisfaction to us, for now if at
+any time we should be hard pressed above, we could very easily make our
+escape and so free ourselves from immediate danger.  To this end we
+brought our canoe round from the nook where we had kept it on the other
+side of the island, and having taken it into the cave, we made what you
+may call a dock for it by piling some rocks together above high-water
+mark, behind which we could lay it up without much fear that it would
+be discovered if any one should enter the cave from the sea.
+
+[Sidenote: Daily Tasks]
+
+After this we resumed our normal way of life, going about our daily
+business with a regularity which no new alarm interfered with for a
+very long time.  We were accustomed to measure the time, so far as we
+did it at all, by the bread-fruit season, calling it summer while this
+fruit was ripening, and winter when we had plucked it all, for we were
+always careful to lay up a good store of it, both for ourselves and our
+animals.  Our pigs and our poultry throve very well, so that we had to
+enlarge their dwellings; and I will say here, in case I forget it, that
+by devoting some part of our time to hunting, we came very near to
+exterminating both the wild pigs and the dogs; and we found that as
+they grew less, the wild fowls increased mightily, because of their
+greater security.  We did not put ourselves to any trouble to molest
+them, both because they were still difficult to approach, and because
+we had enough of our domestic poultry to supply our own wants.  We had
+discovered that these fowl were exceeding fond of a kind of small grain
+that grew near our yam plantation, and to which we had given little
+heed because it was no use for our own food.  But seeing that our fowls
+liked it, we began to cultivate it, and kept a good quantity of it
+stored in the cellar beneath our hut.  We kept there also a large
+supply of our other foods--yams, bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, smoked pork
+and fish, and so forth; and also all our spare implements which we had
+not in constant use, namely arrows, fish-hooks, pots and pans, in short
+all the things we had made, keeping in the hut itself only those things
+which we used constantly, and enough food for the day.  I do not know
+whether I have mentioned one use to which we put our fowls.  We kept
+the feathers of those we killed, and also those that fell in the
+moulting time, and in fights, for they did fight sometimes; and having
+cleaned these as well as we could we stuffed them into pillow-cases
+made of leaves, and so had comfortable rests for our heads at night.
+We used to take advantage of rainy days to patch our clothing, which
+was by this time, as you may guess, the strangest motley that could be
+seen; and besides the overcoats I have mentioned before, we made
+ourselves leggings of raw hide, of which also we made covers for our
+chairs.
+
+So another season passed over us.  We were as happy as any two men
+could be in like circumstances, I believe; we enjoyed perfect health,
+and had discovered for ourselves what great pleasure comes from simply
+_doing things_.  We had quite given up any thought of being rescued or
+ever seeing our native land again, and though there were times when I
+at least pined for the dear ones at home, I was always inestimably
+thankful for Billy's companionship, but for which I do not think I
+could have supported the loneliness.
+
+[Sidenote: A Chase]
+
+It was towards the middle of the winter season, that is, when we were
+just beginning to think of planting our yams, when, going up one
+morning to our watch-tower, a task we never once omitted, I spied a
+number of dark objects on the sea to westward, which I very soon
+discovered to be canoes filled with savages.  They were approaching our
+island, and I thought at first they might pass us by as the fleet had
+done before; but as they drew nearer I observed that there was a ship's
+boat among them, or rather ahead of them, and with white men aboard,
+and when I had watched for a little while I could not doubt that the
+canoes were chasing the boat and were very near overhauling it.  Indeed
+I saw them spread out as if to envelop it, but then there was a shot
+fired and I saw the smoke hover over the boat, and the canoes paused in
+their course, and the boat drew away from them, only, however, to be
+pursued again as soon as it was out of shot range.  I counted ten
+canoes, and each held, as I reckoned, above twenty men; the white men,
+whom I had already guessed to be the seamen of the _Lovey Susan_, being
+no more than about fifteen or sixteen.
+
+Billy was not with me on the watch-tower, it being his turn to cook the
+dinner; but seeing that it would be an hour or maybe more before the
+boat and the canoes could reach the island, I made great haste back to
+our hut, and acquainted Billy with what I had seen.  "I hope the
+savages will catch 'em," says he at once, but agreed with me that we
+must prepare ourselves to meet a greater danger than any that had yet
+fallen to our lot, for we could not doubt that so great a horde of
+savages would easily overcome our few countrymen if they landed, and
+then, if they found our hut, they would most likely turn their attack
+upon us.  Indeed, it seemed to me that our only chance of safety lay in
+the annihilation of the seamen before they could leave the shore, for
+we did not suppose that the savages would come inland into the island
+of the burning mountain, unless they had great provocation or
+incitement to it.  All that we could do was to let the pigs loose
+again, and take up the drawbridge from our moat, which latter, however,
+we did not do until we had been to the cliff to see whether the boat
+was indeed making for our island.  When we got there we found the crew
+at that moment landing, in the desperate haste of men frantic with
+fear, and after we had seen the first of them scrambling up the cliffs
+where they were easiest to climb, we ran back to our hut very quickly,
+pulled up the drawbridge, and set up and barricadoed the door.  We had
+seen that the first of the canoes was but a few yards from the shore,
+and from the fierce outcries and war-whoops of the savages we knew that
+they were resolved upon blood.
+
+I considered with myself whether we ought to lend assistance to the men
+of our colour; but when I thought of the way in which they had treated
+us, and indeed reckoned up the heavy score we had against them, I could
+not believe that their quarrel with the savages was any affair of ours,
+and so resolved to let them fight it out between them.  And when the
+seamen began to appear on the top of the cliffs, and made straight for
+our hut, I saw that the fight would after all perhaps not be so
+one-sided as we had first imagined, for several of the men had muskets,
+and muskets were greatly superior to any weapons the savages carried,
+besides the fear they inspired in ignorant breasts.  The seamen, I say,
+made straight for our hut, and I counted sixteen of them; Chick was
+ahead of all the rest, he being a little man and light of foot; but
+Wabberley, big as he was, was not far behind, being as craven a soul as
+ever I saw; and then came the rest in a group.  When they reached the
+edge of the moat, and found there was no means of getting across it
+save by leaping down and scaling the opposite side, which would have
+taken a long time, they were in a great stew, and some began to run
+frantically up and down to see if there was not some spot where the
+crossing was easier.  But Hoggett came to the part opposite our
+doorway, and cried out in a most affecting voice, "Master Brent, Master
+Brent, sir, let us in, sir, for mercy's sake, or we shall all be
+murdered, sir."
+
+"Yes, 'tis 'Master Brent, sir,' 'Please, sir, would you be so kind,
+sir!' now," says Billy with a sneer.
+
+"If you please, sir," begins Hoggett again, almost echoing Billy's
+mockery, "the savages are right on our heels, sir, and we're
+Christians, and you wouldn't see us all slaughtered like pigs, sir."
+
+"Why shouldn't I?" I cried through a loophole.  "What reason can you
+give why we should interfere?"
+
+Here Wabberley cried out in terror that the savages were coming, and we
+saw several dusky forms appear in the distance.  Hoggett, who was not
+without a certain courage, and coolness too, turned to the men and bade
+them post themselves behind the pigsties and fowlhouse, and let the
+savages have one shot to daunt them, but not more, from which I guessed
+they were very short of powder and shot.  Almost in the same breath he
+continued his pleading with me, and I own he sickened me when he
+declared he repented of the wrong he had done, and if I would only let
+him in, like a "kind Christian gentleman," he would fetch and carry for
+me all the rest of his days.  I think I might have yielded if he had
+not been so abject, which I did not need Billy's mockery to tell me was
+mere feigning; but I resolutely refused, and then we saw Hoggett in his
+true colours again, for the savages beginning to close round, he gave a
+glance at them and then poured out upon me the most horrible
+vituperation and foulest language I ever heard from the lips of any
+man, and then ran to join his comrades who were ensconced behind our
+outbuildings.
+
+[Sidenote: A Fight with Savages]
+
+The savages came on in a pretty compact body, brandishing spears and
+clubs, many of them having bows and arrows, and all looking exceeding
+fierce, their skins being tattooed in strange and hideous patterns,
+their hair bushed up like a thatch supported on what seemed to be a row
+of shark's teeth.  There was much shouting and gesticulating among
+them, and from the manner of their pointing I guessed that they were
+mighty surprised at the sight of our hut and its surroundings, and
+indeed they came to a halt at some little distance from the moat, and
+seemed to be deliberating what course to follow; and all the time the
+seamen, who had regained something of their courage now that they were
+behind cover, closely watched them, but never offered to fire.  The
+clamour of the savages increased to a wondrous degree, and I believed
+they must be working up their courage to charge, and presently the
+group widened out until it was near a half-circle in shape, and then
+the naked warriors, near two hundred in number, rushed forward with
+most furious whoops, their leader being a man of great stature and
+especial intricacy of tattooing.  They had come within about eighty
+yards of the seamen when I heard Hoggett give the word to fire, and
+there were instantly several shots, but not so many shots as muskets,
+by which I saw that there was shortness of ammunition, as I suspected.
+The half-dozen shots, however, were enough to bring the savages to a
+pause, not because of any damage done among them, for the muskets of
+those days were not near so good as the rifles which I hear some of our
+men carried of late in Spain; but because of the noise and smoke, which
+are as terrifying to savage people as they are to animals.  When the
+seamen had fired they began instantly to put in fresh charges, and the
+savage chief stirred his people up to attack again; but I observed that
+some of them had already drawn back, in fear of the muskets.  However,
+others, though they did not advance further, stood their ground and
+began to discharge arrows and spears, which at first did no hurt at
+all, because the seamen were pretty well hidden; which seeing, the
+savages spread out so as to encircle the outbuildings, and then began
+to discharge their weapons again, the white men no longer being all
+sheltered.  What shrieks of joy there were when the savages observed
+that one or two of their missiles had got home!  Taking new courage
+from the sight, they surged forward with blood-curdling yells, and had
+come within about fifty yards of the pig-sty when Hoggett again gave
+the word to fire, and this time they hit one or two of the savages, and
+again brought them to a halt.
+
+"I don't think much of them for fighters," said Billy, who had been
+watching these proceedings very eagerly through his loophole.  "Why
+don't they rush in while the rascals are priming their guns?  They're
+just a lot of donkeys, that's what they are."
+
+[Sidenote: Asylum]
+
+But I saw that this second halt of the savages was only as a gathering
+up of strength, for they were now frenzied, as well with delight at the
+wounding of two of the white men as with anger at the damage done among
+themselves.  Even before the seamen had had time to charge their guns
+again I saw the rush beginning, and I could not doubt that this time
+the savages would overwhelm the little company of white men, or at
+least do terrible execution among them.  And in that moment my mind was
+made up for me, as it were without my consent to it, though I believe I
+must have felt in my inmost heart that it would be a crime to stand
+neutral while men of my own colour were butchered before my eyes.
+However that may be, certain it is that all of a sudden I ran very fast
+to the door and pulled it open, and then bidding Billy come after me
+and bring his bow and arrows, I caught up the drawbridge, threw it
+across the moat, and leapt over, calling to Hoggett to bring his men
+into our hut as quickly as might be.  The sight of me suddenly sallying
+forth seemed to strike the savages with amazement, for they paused in
+the middle of their onset, and thus gave time to the seamen, not only
+to finish their priming, but also to make steps in retreat towards the
+hut; and as they came, Wabberley being first--as might be
+expected--Hoggett and Pumfrey and two or three more of the braver sort
+formed themselves into a rearguard, covering the retreat with their
+levelled muskets.  However, before the second of the wounded men had
+come over the drawbridge the savages got the better of their
+astonishment and rushed on with horrible yells, whereupon I ranged
+myself alongside of Hoggett and the rest, calling to Billy to come too,
+and wondering why he had not yet joined me.  Then we shot all together,
+the men with their muskets and I with bow and arrow, but I could not
+see what the effect of our shots was, partly because of the smoke, and
+partly because the savages were now such a wild mob that everything was
+confused.  But in a moment I saw the big chief leaping with great
+strides before his men, who were close at his heels and no more than
+thirty yards from the moat.  The seamen were helpless, for they had
+fired their pieces and could not recharge them in time; but I plucked
+another arrow from my quiver, and fitting it to my bow took as good aim
+as I could at the chief; and thankful I was that I had had a good deal
+of practice at what Billy called our guy, for when I let fly the arrow
+it sped very true, and struck the savage in the left side of his chest,
+just below the shoulder joint, and he fell upon his face, though I knew
+by his howling that he was not dead.  The fall of their leader fairly
+daunted the rest of the savages, and they halted, and we seized this
+breathing space to get all the men across the moat, and then I caught
+up the drawbridge and ran behind the men into the hut, and we had got
+the door into its place by the time the savages came to the moat.  When
+they saw that they were baulked they let forth the most astonishing
+cries I ever heard in my life, like the yelping of dogs rather than the
+cries of men; and while some carried their chief away, others ran round
+towards the lake side of the hut to see if there was any door there, or
+any weak spot there or at the other sides where they might attack us.
+And then, looking through a loophole, I saw seven or eight prostrate
+forms on the ground, the victims of the seamen's muskets.
+
+The hut was very dim inside, all the light being what came through the
+loopholes, we never having made a window: but little as it was it was
+enough for Hoggett, and one or two more, to see to charge their pieces,
+and putting these through loopholes in different sides of the hut, they
+fired and so scattered the savages, who ran swiftly out of gun-shot.
+We saw them meet together a good distance off, towards the cliff, and
+one of the seamen said they were holding a parliament, and he hoped
+they had punishment enough and would make up their minds to go back to
+their own island.
+
+[Sidenote: What I Owe Billy]
+
+Observing that the seamen were very intent on watching these
+proceedings, I turned to find Billy, to ask him why he had not come out
+with me when I bade him, for I thought his backwardness was due either
+to cowardice or to flat disobedience, and I was as much astonished at
+the one as at the other.  I could not find him at first, for the hut
+was pretty well packed, and indeed the air already began to be foul and
+oppressive; but I did find him, and when I asked him in some heat what
+he meant by it, he took me by the arm and whispered in my ear, "Why,
+you forgot we hadn't covered over the hole into the cellar, and I
+reckoned we didn't want 'em to know about that, at least not yet a
+bit."  And then I shook him by the hand and thanked him for his
+thoughtfulness, and when he said in great surprise, "Why, master,
+that's nothing," I did not dare to tell him the unkind thoughts that
+had come into my mind, for I was sure he would have been very much hurt
+by them.  Certainly it would have been a terrible calamity if the men
+had discovered our secret chamber, and I dare say 'tis due only to
+Billy's presence of mind in that matter of hastily covering over the
+shaft that I am alive to pen these lines to-day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE EIGHTEENTH
+
+OF THE DISCOMFITURE OF THE SAVAGES, AND THE UNMANNERLY BEHAVIOUR OF OUR
+GUESTS
+
+
+There we were then, I say, sixteen seamen and our two selves, with
+Little John, cooped up in a house built for two, with no air nor light
+but what came through the small loopholes in the walls.  It was
+desperately unpleasant; at least, I found it so; as for the seamen,
+maybe they felt it less, being accustomed to the closeness of 'tween
+decks, though to be sure they had lived an open life for so long that
+they had almost had time to forget the forecastle of the _Lovey Susan_.
+There was a great babblement among them, congratulating one another on
+their lucky escape and on their having found quarters, cursing the
+savages very heartily, and hoping they would now sheer off.  I do not
+remember that I heard a word of thanks to us for helping them, except
+from poor Mr. Bodger, who came to me and, in a manner more meek and
+quiet even than when he was aboard the _Lovey Susan_, said it was like
+heaven to find me again, after the terrible life he had led among the
+seamen.  It was from him I learnt what I have already related about the
+men's doings on the island where they landed, and of what had happened
+subsequently to their last visit to us, which was as follows.  They had
+gone to one of the islands to the westward which they had seen from the
+slopes of our island, and made friends with the savages there, which
+they were able to do because, having firearms, the savages thought to
+make use of them in warfare against their enemies.  For a time the
+seamen lived right royally among them, having food and quarters on
+condition of this military service; but becoming insolent and puffed up
+with their own importance, they presently offended the savages, and
+crowned their misdeeds with refusing to fight any more for them, which
+they did because their ammunition was running short.  Learning from a
+savage girl that had a partiality for Pumfrey that the tribe were
+minded to enslave them, they determined to slip away by night in their
+boat, and come back to our island, to see whether their notions about
+it were well founded, I mean as to the scarcity of food on it; and they
+did this, but their departure was discovered before they had gone very
+far, and with the morning light they saw that they were pursued by
+their infuriate employers.
+
+[Sidenote: Besieged]
+
+Mr. Bodger did not tell me all this, and what I have related before, at
+one time, because we were too busy watching the proceedings of the
+savages, and debating about them, to hold long discourse undisturbed.
+The issue of their deliberations appeared to be that they would make no
+attempt to carry our defences by main force, which indeed would have
+been a hopeless undertaking, but to invest us strictly, being no doubt
+confident in their numbers to overwhelm us when we should issue forth,
+as we must some time do, when the pressure of hunger compelled us.  The
+whole body of them split up into five little camps of about forty men
+each, who posted themselves in a half-circle about the front side of
+the hut, and out of range of the seamen's muskets.  One of these camps,
+however, was placed, very likely out of bravado, a good deal nearer to
+our hut than the rest, and Hoggett declared with an oath that he would
+have a shot at them, only he did not care to waste the powder, his
+stock being all but gone.  "Where's Brent?" cries he.  "_Mister
+Brent_," says Billy at once.  "Is that there young scum of a Bobbin
+a-talking?" cries Hoggett.  I caught Billy's arm to keep him from
+answering, fearing lest Hoggett should deal brutally with him; and
+Hoggett said with a laugh, "Where's _Mister_ Brent, then?"  "What is
+it?" said I.  "Send one of your arrows amongst those reptiles, will
+you?" says he, in a tone that I did not at all relish, so that I was on
+the point of taking him up pretty sharply, only I thought better of it,
+for what was the use of making a bother when there were so many of
+them?  Indeed, I was already not a little disturbed in my mind,
+foreseeing that if the fellow would put on this insolency of bearing so
+soon, we should go through rough water presently.  However, to come
+back to my story.  I was not at all disposed to shoot an arrow at
+Hoggett's bidding; yet I thought it were a good thing to show the
+savages that we had our eyes on them; so I said, "Billy, maybe you will
+kindly show Hoggett what you can do."  "Do you bid me, master?" says
+the boy: I call him "boy," though he was at this time, I suppose,
+eighteen or nineteen years old.  "I ask you, Billy," said I: whereupon
+he took his bow and an arrow, and went to one of the loopholes, and
+there was pretty nearly a fight among the men for places at the others,
+for there were not enough for all of them.  As for myself I could see
+nothing, but I heard the twang of the bow-string, and immediately
+afterwards a great shout of laughter from the men, which Billy told me
+was occasioned by the sudden leaping up of the savages among whom the
+arrow fell, and their scuttering like rabbits to a safer distance.  I
+do not doubt their amazement, for their own bows were small compared
+with ours, and had not near so long a range.
+
+"Well shot, Billy!" cries Clums, the cook of the _Lovey Susan_, and a
+good-tempered man on the whole, but a perfect child in the hands of
+Hoggett, who was angered by his praise of Billy, and sharply bade him
+"hold his jaw."  "Why didn't you make a window in this cursed hole?" he
+cried; "I can't see nothing."  "We'll open the door," said I, "for
+they're out of range now, and we can shut it again before they get
+near."  Accordingly we opened it, and I was very thankful for the fresh
+air, and the men, spying in one corner the little pile of cocoa-nuts
+that we usually kept there, seized upon them, and in their haste to
+drink the juice broke them carelessly, so that a good deal was spilled.
+"Give me water instead of that muck," cried Hoggett; "maybe Mr. Brent
+will kindly show us what he can do that way," and having thus mocked me
+he shouted a great guffaw, which some of the men imitated, though one
+or two looked ill-pleased.  I had much ado, I assure you, to command my
+temper, but I did command it, and afterwards remembered a saying of my
+uncle, that to lose your temper is to give a weapon to your enemy.  I
+showed Hoggett our water-pot, and bade him be sparing, for that was all
+we had, and he answered with an oath that he would drink as much as he
+pleased; but Chick then spoke up, bidding him not to be a greedy swine,
+and Hoggett growled out some answer; but I observed that he did not
+drink much, and so I learnt, what I afterwards confirmed, that Chick
+had some sway over Hoggett, I suppose from his speaking little, but
+always to the point.
+
+We thought it prudent to shut the door when night fell, in spite of the
+closeness of the atmosphere; and I never in all my life spent so
+horrible a night.  Some of the men, I know not who, took our pillows,
+so that Billy and I were no better off than the most of them, and we
+lay side by side on the floor, except when we took our turn at
+watching, for the whole company was divided into watches as on board
+ship.  We knew that the savages kept watch also, for we saw the glow of
+their camp fires, and Billy said he wished he could have seen how they
+made the fire, he having never ceased to feel disappointment because he
+had failed in that particular.  There was nothing to disturb us during
+the night, but I rose in the morning so sick and miserable that I
+thought I should die if I had to endure the like again.  We opened the
+door as soon as it was light, and quaffed the air as if it was nectar;
+and the seamen having roused up, clamoured for breakfast, and soon
+finished all the cocoa-nuts we had in the house; and they took off the
+lid of our great breadpan, as we called it, and seeing the bread-fruit
+paste there, cried out to know what it was, and when I told them,
+nothing would satisfy them but that Billy should take some of it out to
+our oven, which was near the hut, and the fire still smouldering.
+There was little danger in Billy's doing this, because the savages were
+still at too great a distance for their arrows to reach us, and if they
+came nearer he would have time to run indoors; but I did not like his
+acting as servant to these men, and said so, whereupon Hoggett asked
+fiercely whether the boy was not a stowaway, and who was he to put on
+airs, and he would show him, and so forth; and I thought it was better
+for the sake of peace and quietness that Billy should cook a little
+bread for them.
+
+There we were, cooped up all that day, and before night all our food
+and water were gone, and the men grew very testy, and in a most
+unreasonable manner turned their vexation on Billy and me, demanding
+why we had brought them into the hut to starve.  To this I found myself
+quite unable to frame a suitable answer, being perfectly overcome with
+the sheer ingratitude of the men; but when it was dark I said that
+Billy and I would go out and get some water and also a few cocoa-nuts.
+I did not purpose to go out by the door at the front of the hut, but to
+cut a hole in the slope of the roof facing the lake, that side not
+being watched at all by the savages.  It was no very long business to
+make a hole of the right size, the seamen's cutlasses aiding our own
+tools, which they scoffed at a good deal.  But when we were on the
+point of going forth, Clums asked me where I should get the water, and
+when I said from the lake he begged and prayed me not to do so, because
+he said it griped them so horribly.  However, I told him that boiling
+it was a means of making it harmless, and then he said go, and "God
+bless you!" which was an exceeding strange saying on his lips, which
+were commonly cursing and swearing.  Billy and I went out through the
+hole, and the men handed out pails, and with these we went down to the
+lake, and filled them, and returned, the savages being no whit the
+wiser.  And the pails being let down, the men kindled a small fire on
+the earthen floor, so as to boil the water, while we went into the
+woods to gather some cocoa-nuts.  We talked on the way about the
+strange change which had come over the posture of our affairs,
+wondering very much what the issue might be.  The savages would no
+doubt contrive to subsist on plants which we had never used for food,
+and if they went a-prowling they would discover our plantation of yams;
+but we had already dug up the most of these and stored them in our
+cellar with the bread fruit, and I could not think there was enough
+fruit left on the trees to support so large a throng of savages for any
+considerable period.  Still, there was enough to last them until we
+were all starved, unless we disclosed our secret store below the hut,
+which I was exceeding loath even to think of.
+
+This second night was not quite such a torture as the first, the hole
+in the roof giving us the much-needed ventilation; but next day the men
+were more quarrelsome than ever, and I was in a constant fear lest they
+should set to work to break each others' heads, which might have rid us
+of some arrant rascals, it is true, but it might also have put an end
+to Billy and me.  They vented some of their ill-temper on Little John,
+who had not taken kindly to them, and showed himself so exceeding
+fierce when they kicked him, that they would have killed him only I
+prevented them.  The savages had made no other attack on us, but
+neither had they given any sign of removing themselves; rather the
+contrary, indeed, for they never let their fires out, and they had
+started to build themselves little shelters at the edge of the cliffs.
+Hoggett began to talk of sallying forth and seeing if we could not work
+such mischief among them as would send them packing, and though
+Wabberley and Mr. Bodger were the loudest against this, Wabberley
+waxing most movingly eloquent in describing the dangers of the plan
+proposed, the others were so desperately weary of the situation that
+they consented to accompany Hoggett, the time chosen for the attempt
+being just after it became dark.  But while we were waiting as
+patiently as we might for the day to end, it came into my head that we
+might find the fizzy rock as efficacious in scaring the savages as it
+had been with the seamen; and since Billy and I had gone out and come
+in safely the night before, we might issue forth on this coming night,
+and get enough of the rock to make a very good smoke in the morning.
+While Billy and I were consulting about this in whispers, one of the
+men--I think it was Pumfrey--proposed that we should all steal out at
+dead of night, and creep down to the boat and the canoes, and make off
+in the darkness, leaving the savages marooned on the island.  This
+notion at first met with acceptance from some, but Chick, who said
+little ordinarily, spoke up very strongly against it, arguing that
+there was little chance of all of us getting to the shore unperceived,
+and asking how we knew the canoes were not guarded.  He said also, very
+pertinently, that if we did get away, we could not take all the canoes,
+and the savages, when they discovered our departure, would set off in
+chase, and being more expert with the paddles they would soon overtake
+us, we having now next to no powder and shot for the guns; and to
+clinch it all, he said that if we were caught in the open it was
+kingdom come for all of us, on which Wabberley declared that Chick was
+very obliging in putting the case so plainly, and he for one would live
+and die with Chick.  Whereupon I said there was no need for any one to
+die, at least not yet, and offered to go out with Billy in the middle
+of the night and put in action the plan I had formed for driving the
+savages away.  Hoggett and some of the rest looked at me with great
+suspicion, and Hoggett said, "How are you going to do it?" and I
+hesitated at first whether to tell him; but reflecting that he was
+bound to know I told him that we had the means of making a great smoke
+and smother, and so might delude the savages with the belief that the
+mountain was active.  There was a very grim look on Hoggett's face
+when, silencing some of the men who were beginning to speak, he asked
+again how we could make that smoke and smother, and I saw no use in
+attempting to conceal it, and so told him about the extraordinary rock
+we had discovered.  His eyes glittered as I was speaking, and when I
+had ended he would not suffer the other men to speak a word, but bade
+me do as I had said.  "Do it proper," says he, "and we'll see."
+
+[Sidenote: The Savages are Scared]
+
+Accordingly, in the deep time of night Billy and I clambered out
+through the hole in the roof and set off with our spades up the
+mountain side, to dig out enough rock to make a big smoke as soon as it
+was light.  Billy said it was a pity I had told the men about the rock,
+and he was sure harm would come of it; but I showed him that our case
+could scarcely be worse than it was, shut up in a narrow compass with
+such unpleasant companions, and that if we drove the savages from the
+island we should at least have liberty of movement, and as for what was
+to happen after, we must leave it to Providence, at the same time
+saying that the seamen would surely not remain long on the island when
+they found it was not very plentiful in food, so far as they could
+tell.  "That's all very well, master," says Billy sorrowfully; "but
+there's enough to keep 'em until the fruits begin to ripen again, and
+there's all our pigs and fowls, which they'll eat up as sure as a gun,
+and we shan't be able to breed no more.  Still, I don't see what we can
+do, unless we poison the whole lot of 'em, same as we did the monsters,
+and I suppose you won't agree to that."  I said that I would not, and
+then reminded Billy that we had triumphed over many difficulties and
+dangers in our four years' residence on the island, and I did not in
+any way despair of coming safely through this present predicament; and
+so we went on up the mountain side, not hurrying or taking any
+particular care, for we knew the savages would not be in this part of
+the island, having a very wholesome dread of the volcano.
+
+Being come to the place where the deposit of fizzy rock was, we worked
+a great quantity of it loose with our spades, and carried it to the
+neighbourhood of the springs, where by the dawn we had two great heaps.
+As soon as it began to be light we threw the rock bit by bit into the
+water, Billy at one spring and I at the other, being careful to keep
+out of sight from below, for we knew that every eye in the camps of the
+savages would be turned to the mountain as soon as they saw the smoke.
+It happened that the cloud of steam over the summit was somewhat denser
+than it had been the day before, which was all in favour of our design.
+We were favoured, too, by the stillness of the air, for, there being no
+wind, the fumes that rose from the rock hung about the mountain and did
+not float away, though that was also a disadvantage to us, inasmuch as
+we could not avoid the poisonous stench.  We had to hold our breath and
+rush into the smoke in order to keep the springs constantly fed with
+the rock, and I began to feel very ill, and, going to see how Billy was
+faring, I observed that his skin was a greenish colour, and so I bade
+him to desist and to come with me and peer over to see whether our
+trick had wrought upon the savages as we hoped it would.  We saw that
+they were standing in a great throng watching the smoke; but they did
+not as yet appear to be infected with panic, which, when I thought of
+it, I considered to be due to the absence of the rumbling noises that
+commonly accompanied the action of the volcano.  Since we could not in
+any way make such a noise as would counterfeit the natural rumbling, I
+racked my brains to think of any other means by which we might work
+upon them the beginnings of fright, for I was sure that if we could
+only start them it would not be long before panic fear got hold of
+them, and then it would sweep them away.  Running back to my spring, to
+cast more rock into it, I observed that there were some big boulders a
+little higher up, below the edge of the crater, that appeared to be
+insecurely poised.  They were at the top of a gentle slope, which fell
+away afterwards into a sheer precipice several hundreds of feet in
+depth.  I wondered whether the boulders I have mentioned could be seen
+from the savages' camp, and creeping up the slope to see, I found that
+the savages were quite out of sight; whereupon I hastened down to
+Billy, and after throwing into the springs enough rock to last a good
+while, we went together to the top of the slope, and shoving with all
+our strength against one of the boulders, we set it rolling down.  The
+moment we had started it we went to another, and so on, until there was
+a sort of cascade of rocks sliding down the slope and then plunging
+over the edge and crashing down at the foot of the precipice, the sound
+coming very faintly to our ears.
+
+Though we chose only the smaller of the boulders, the larger being
+utterly beyond our strength to move, the haste with which we worked
+made us very hot and weary, and when we paused to rest for a moment we
+thought we heard shouts of alarm from below, and then all of a sudden
+there was silence.  Heaving over one more boulder we hastened down to
+the place from which we could see the savages while ourselves unseen,
+and when we got there they had all vanished.  "We've done it, master,"
+said Billy, panting, "and much good 'twill be to us."  But I was by no
+means sure that the savages had actually gone, thinking that maybe they
+had merely shifted their quarters; accordingly I did not think it
+proper to go down at once towards our hut, but remained for some while
+longer feeding the springs with the rock.  However, when we were again
+feeling very sick because of the fumes, and went to some distance for
+purer air, we caught sight of the fleet of canoes making for the
+westward, the savages paddling with great energy; and being very joyful
+at the success of our stratagem, though somewhat apprehensive of what
+was to ensue, we descended the mountain-side and came again to our hut.
+The seamen had already issued from it, and were standing on the cliffs
+watching the departing canoes; but as we approached them we observed
+signs of discontent and anger among them, instead of the gladness we
+expected.  And when we came to them several of them cried out that the
+savages had taken their boat, and now they were marooned; and Hoggett
+came up to us with a very truculent mien, and said that he now knew how
+we had tricked him when he first came to the island--I mean on his
+first visit to us--and he wanted to know what we meant by it, and but
+for us he might have stayed on the island with his mates and lived
+hearty, instead of near starving as he had done, and we had better not
+try no more tricks on him, or he'd show us, and a great deal more to
+the like effect, with plentiful oaths and very foul language.  I
+affected to laugh it off, saying that at any rate our trick had cleared
+the island of savages, whereupon he broke out again: "Yes," says he,
+"and they've robbed us of our boat; and now we've got to stop here, and
+goodness knows how we'll live, for you two fools ain't had the sense to
+grow enough for all of us.  I want my breakfast, I do, and there ain't
+nothing in that there cabin, and you'd better look alive and get me
+something, or I may come to eating you."  This speech made me very
+indignant, when but for us Hoggett and the rest would without doubt
+have been butchered by the savages; but since it was plain that we were
+to live with him and them I saw that no good would come of quarrelling,
+so I laughed again, and said if he was patient he might have a
+breakfast of pork and potatoes (by which I meant yams) and maybe an egg
+or two, unless the savages had scared our hens from laying; and he
+looked very well pleased at this, and called to the other men, telling
+them what the breakfast was to be, and then he stuck his hands in his
+pockets and swaggered off among them, saying to us as he went not to be
+long about it, because he was hungry.
+
+Billy fairly gnashed his teeth as we went to our hut.  He was much more
+put about than I was, resenting on my behalf the domineering airs that
+Hoggett put on.  "There you are," says he, "what did I say?  This ain't
+our island no more.  You ain't the king, and I ain't the prince, or
+whatever you call it, but it belongs to Hoggett."
+
+"Oh no, it doesn't," said I; "Hoggett doesn't become the owner just
+because you and I, to humour him, give him his breakfast."
+
+"Breakfast!" says Billy scornfully; "yes, breakfast, and dinner, and
+supper, and bites in between; and as for humouring him, you might as
+well humour one of they monsters we poisoned, he'll only squeeze you
+the harder."
+
+[Sidenote: Dreams]
+
+I laughed at Billy, for I believed that by showing ourselves friendly
+we should gain the friendliness of the men, so that, if we were
+destined to live on the island together, we might form a peaceable if
+not a happy community.  I dreamt of a little republic, in which all
+should have tasks corresponding to their talents, so that what little
+labour was required should fall very lightly on individuals.  I dreamt
+also of making a boat large enough to carry us all, and sailing away
+some day to England, or at least to some place where we should fall in
+with an English ship.  And I dare say in these my day-dreams I saw
+myself as the head of this little republic; not an autocrat, but a
+kindly and benevolent protector, to whom the others would look up,
+knowing that his whole heart was set on their good.  It was in this
+frame of mind that I willingly helped Billy to prepare a sumptuous
+repast for the men, slaying a pig and several fowls, and boiling yams
+and eggs.  They ate with mighty good appetite, and I am sure thoroughly
+enjoyed the meal, though Wabberley did grumble in the middle of it,
+because we had no beer.  Some of them mocked and jeered at our clumsy
+crockery and other utensils; but Clums spoke up for us on this point,
+saying that a pot was good enough if it didn't run out, and he only
+wished he had had such things in the island where they had been.
+
+[Sidenote: Mr. Bodger]
+
+For the rest of that day the men roamed about the island, and one or
+two of them plucked up courage to climb the mountain, though they
+turned back before they came to the crater.  They discovered our
+plantation of yams, and were pleased to express approval of the manner
+in which we had fenced it in, and Pumfrey said it must be enlarged now,
+for we could not grow enough there to feed them all.  This brought home
+to me the fact that our solitude was henceforth to be peopled, and
+though I might please myself with dreams of ruling over a little
+republic, I own I felt a sort of regret that the happy life Billy and I
+had led together was encroached on and perturbed, a feeling which grew
+into positive abhorrence before the day was out.  The men came
+punctually back to the hut for meals, and Clums, who was a good-natured
+fellow if he was let alone, lent a hand to their preparation, so that
+the work did not fall wholly on Billy and me.  And it was during the
+latter part of the day that I heard from Mr. Bodger more particulars of
+the miseries of his life on their island.  They had saved him at the
+first, it appeared, merely because they thought his seamanship might be
+some time useful to them, but when he never had an opportunity of doing
+anything in that way they used to taunt him, and ask him why he hadn't
+stuck to Captain Corke and Mr. Lummis, and dealt very evilly with him
+in many ways.  It was plain to me that not only had he no authority
+over them, such as a ship's officer ought to have, but that he went in
+mortal terror of Hoggett, so that if it came to a tussle between
+Hoggett and me I could expect no help from Mr. Bodger.
+
+I observed during the day that there were always some of the men in the
+hut, or reclining against the wall outside, and it came into my head
+that they were guarding it, so that Billy and I could not barricade
+ourselves in it as we had done before, and keep them out.  I smiled at
+this, for having let them in of my own accord, and under no compulsion,
+I did not think of going back on this, even though the savages were
+departed.  I thought we should not be so discommoded at night, because
+we had not only the hole in the roof, but could also keep the door
+open, there being no longer any fear of molestation by wild dogs.  In
+my mind I was planning to build other huts, as soon as I could persuade
+the men to it, so that Billy and I might have our own to ourselves,
+which was very much to be desired, considering what stores we had
+beneath it, and the access to our canoe, now laid up in Dismal Cave.
+But just before dark, when we had had our supper out in the open, and
+were thinking of turning in, and I came with Billy to the doorway of
+the hut, there was Hoggett standing in it with his elbows stuck out and
+his legs a-straddle, and Wabberley and Chick just behind him.  He did
+not offer to move aside for me, on which I smiled and said we had not
+foreseen that he would be our guest or we might have made the doorway
+wider; and then he took a step forward, Wabberley and Chick moving into
+the doorway, and thrusting his head out until his nose nearly touched
+mine, he said, very loud: "Look 'ee here, you Brent," says he, "this
+here place is now mine, d'ye see? and I'm a-going to let in my friends
+and no one else, and to-night I'm not a-going to have any one in but
+Mr. Chick and Mr. Wabberley and one or two more, and you two young
+fellows can just rig up a bunk outside, along with Bodger and the rest."
+
+"That's rather a poor return for hospitality, isn't it, Mr. Hoggett?" I
+said as pleasantly as I could, though I was raging inside.
+
+"I don't want none of your fine talk, Brent," says he, "and as for
+Billy Bobbin, if he makes those eyes at me I'll knock his head off."
+
+"No, you won't," says Billy, nimbly stepping back out of reach.  It
+appeared that he had not been able to keep out of his eyes the fury
+which burnt within him.
+
+Hoggett glared at him, and called him foul names, and then turning to
+me he cried: "I've said my say, and I tell you if I catch you inside
+this cabin to-night or any time, I'll flay you alive.  You hear that,
+Mr. Chick?"
+
+"I do," says Chick.
+
+"You hear that, Mr. Wabberley?" says Hoggett again.
+
+"I do," says Wabberley.
+
+"Well, then, Brent has had fair warning, more'n he gave me," says
+Hoggett, "when he sent an arrow through the fleshy part of my arm."
+
+"That's a lie," cried Billy; "you had more warning than I'd give you."
+
+[Sidenote: Turned Out]
+
+Hoggett in a fury caught up a musket that stood against the wall, and
+was presenting it at Billy, but I knocked it up, and bade him, in a
+very different tone from what I had used as yet, have a care.  He
+seemed surprised at my firmness, and put down the musket, and then,
+seeing that the other men had come up, and were standing at watch in a
+little knot, I turned to them, with the intent to appeal to their sense
+of justice, believing that if I could once get them to break away from
+Hoggett's dominance all might be well.  But I had not spoken a dozen
+words when Hoggett, who, as his words had shown, was longing to pay off
+his score against me for wounding him that time, aimed a blow at me,
+which, however, I saw coming out of the corner of my eye, so that I was
+ready for it, and parrying it with my left arm, I dealt him such a blow
+upon his body that he fell doubled up at the doorway.  In a moment
+Chick sprang across him, cutlass in hand, and made for me, and
+Wabberley came after him, and Hoggett called on the other men to seize
+me; and though Billy sprang instantly to my side, I saw that the odds
+were too great against us, and that we had better run for it.  I
+stepped back just in time to escape Chick's cutlass, and at the same
+time Billy thrust his foot in front of Wabberley, so that the big man
+came down very heavily on his face; and then we sprinted across the
+drawbridge, and pulled it after us, so that the men that pursued us
+were brought up on the brink of the moat, and could do no more than
+shake their fists and curse us.  Billy and I went on leisurely with
+Little John, who had come after us, and considering what we should do
+we determined to betake ourselves to the thicket on the slope of the
+mountain, and it was quite dark before we got there.  We made ourselves
+as comfortable as we could for the night, being strangely reminded of
+our first coming to the island and the fears and terrors of that time;
+but we had no such disquietude of mind now, and I think in our hearts
+we were both glad to have broken with the seamen.  When I reproached
+myself for not having the presence of mind to resume possession of our
+hut immediately after the savages had departed, Billy said it wouldn't
+have been much good, because the seamen could not choose but stay on
+the island, their boat being gone, and things would have come to pretty
+much the same pass; but he had no sooner said it than he let forth a
+sharp cry of dismay: "Our canoe, master!"  And then I remembered that,
+having laid our canoe up in the cave, we had no means of getting to
+her, now that the entrance to the cavern was barred, for we could not
+climb down the face of the cliffs, nor had we any other boat or raft to
+carry us there by sea.  This was a very staggering situation to be in,
+and Billy said it was a shame that after we had been so happy all these
+years we should have all our troubles over again.  Sleep overtook us
+before we saw any way out of our difficulties, which stared us in the
+face when we opened our eyes to the new day.
+
+[Illustration: "I DEALT HIM SUCH A BLOW THAT HE FELL DOUBLED UP AT THE
+DOORWAY."]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE NINETEENTH
+
+OF OUR RETREAT TO THE RED ROCK, AND OF OUR VARIOUS RAIDS UPON OUR
+PROPERTY
+
+
+We had one great advantage over the seamen in that we knew every yard
+of the island, and so could find our food without searching.  Billy
+laughed when he thought of them having to get their own breakfast, and
+wishing they had not driven us away; but I said that they had not
+intended to drive us away, but that Hoggett expected to daunt and cow
+us, and so make us his bond servants.  "Well, he _must_ be a fool,"
+says Billy, and chuckled again to think that his old enemy had
+over-reached himself.  Presently we saw that I was right in my surmise,
+for we heard men shouting in different parts of the island, and guessed
+they were seeking us; but we kept close all that day, feeling pretty
+sure that the men would not come up the mountain until they had
+searched other parts.
+
+We were not idle this day, for we at once set about making a raft to
+carry us round to the cave, using saplings and creepers for this
+purpose, fashioning them into a kind of hurdle which we hoped would
+support us well enough, or at least one of us, for the short voyage.
+We laughed again to think that when we should have got our canoe again,
+we might if we pleased sail clean away from the island and seek another
+home without let or hindrance from the seamen; but we never had any
+serious thought of this, Palm Tree Island being now our very home.  As
+for what our course of action was to be, we very earnestly considered
+that while our fingers were busy with the raft.  It was plain we could
+not fight the men, for they had muskets and powder and shot enough to
+kill us, being only two; and we were without any weapons save our axes,
+which we always carried in our belts, all the others being either in
+the hut or in the cellar below it.  If we did not fight them, we must
+nevertheless be either friends or enemies; friends we could not be
+while Hoggett maintained his present insolency, and as enemies we could
+but keep out of their way.  But I saw we should lead a terrible life if
+we remained on the island and were harried from place to place, and
+hunted down, and maybe captured and made slaves of in the end.  We
+might, to be sure, go and live in the cave, where it was little likely
+that we should be discovered, and if we were we could no doubt make a
+very good defence; but we did not relish the prospect of skulking, so
+to speak, in the dim purlieus of the cave and tunnel while our enemies
+were ranging the island free, and enjoying the full use of what we had
+laboured so hard for.  "I can't a-bear to think of Hoggett drinking out
+of _my_ mug," says Billy, with a rueful countenance, "and blunting _my_
+spears, and wasting _my_ arrows, and eating our pigs, too, master.
+What if they eat 'em all, as they did in their own island, and don't
+leave none for breeding?  Oh, that Hoggett!  Wouldn't I like to drop
+some fizzy rock in his water and poison him!"
+
+[Sidenote: Quandary]
+
+This was indeed a thing to be thought of, and we made up our minds at
+least to secure some of our pigs and devise some secret place where we
+might keep them.  But the first matter to settle was our own
+habitation, and it was near the close of the day before the notion came
+into my head that we might choose the Red Rock, which being severed
+from the island would be quite inaccessible, except by a bridge, and
+when we had possession of our bows and arrows we could easily prevent
+them from throwing a bridge across.  It would have been quite foreign
+to Billy's nature and habit if he had fallen in with this plan without
+demur, and he said at once that Red Rock was quite barren, save for a
+few stunted bushes which were of no good either for shelter or food.
+"But," I said to him, "we shall have our canoe, and we can carry stores
+in this from the cavern to the rock, and we can make shift to put up
+some sort of shelter against the weather, which isn't very bad."
+
+"That's true," says he, "but when our stores are all used up, what
+then?  We've got enough in our cellar for three or four months,
+perhaps, and I lay Hoggett would like to get hold of some of our salted
+pork, as good as bacon any day; but it won't last for ever, and what
+then?"
+
+"I can't see so far ahead," said I.  "We can live very comfortably for
+three or four months, and perhaps longer, and by that time something
+may have happened."
+
+"Yes," says he, "Old Smoker may start work again, and if he does I hope
+he'll go strong, so that they'll be scared out of their wits and drove
+to make a raft or boat or something to get away."
+
+Having determined on this, therefore, we made great speed with our raft
+and finished it before dark, but not soon enough to set off that same
+night, nor indeed did we much wish to do so, because we had not forgot
+the monsters that used to live in the cave, and though we had seen none
+since we poisoned them, we were still squeamish about approaching in
+the dark.  Besides, we should need torches to light us up the tunnel to
+our storehouse, and for these we had to collect some of the candlenuts,
+and some dry grass for tinder; the flint and what we called the steel
+Billy always had in his pocket.  We made these preparations before we
+lay down to rest, resolved to start as soon as ever we saw any sign of
+dawn in the sky.  This resolution, as often happens in such cases,
+caused me to sleep fitfully, and it was in one of these wakeful spaces
+that a notion jogged in my head of a plan whereby we might get even
+with the seamen and come into our own again.  I thought of it over and
+over again, and it excited me and tickled my fancy too; but I
+determined to say nothing about it to Billy until I had pondered it
+more carefully, so that I should be ready to meet all the objections
+which I knew he would raise.
+
+It was still dark, but there was a sort of silent stirring in the sky,
+betokening dawn, when I waked Billy, who was snoring very happily upon
+his back, and told him we must convey our raft down to the shore, if we
+would come to the cave before the men were about.  He got up at once,
+and we carried the raft between us across the island, being careful to
+keep a good distance from the hut, which made the way longer but surer.
+Being merely a kind of hurdle, the raft was not heavy and gave us no
+trouble by its weight, though it was troublesome to get it over the
+steep places we had to pass on our way down to the shore.  However, we
+came there without mishap, at the sandy beach, and launched the raft;
+but when I stood upon it I saw that it would not support Billy as well,
+and I proposed to him that I should go to the cave alone and bring back
+the canoe for him.  This he flatly and with great vehemence refused,
+saying that I might never get there, what with sharks and long-legged
+monsters, and that he wasn't going to be left behind, but would share
+everything with me.  When I asked him how he would go, the raft not
+being strong enough for two, he said he would catch hold of it and swim
+along, and as for sharks, he would kick out very hard and so scare any
+that came, and we always had our axes.  But now I took a firm stand,
+and said plainly that I would not allow any such thing, nor did I yield
+to Billy's pleading that I would permit him to make the journey alone;
+and so I set off, and not to make a long story about a short voyage, I
+arrived safely at the cave, and found the canoe just as we had left her
+behind the rocks.  Then I went back for Billy, and when we came to the
+cave again we lit our torch (we had brought only one, having material
+for plenty more in the cavern), and proceeded up the tunnel until we
+reached our storehouse, where we first of all had a good breakfast,
+thinking all the time of the seamen above, perfectly ignorant of what
+was going on beneath them.  We spoke in whispers and moved very
+quietly, so that the men should not hear us, and get an inkling of our
+whereabouts; not that there was much danger of this, perhaps, for if
+they did hear a sound it was like to make them more fearful than
+inquisitive, and Billy said they would be sure to think it was Old
+Smoker talking to himself, and they might then leave the hut as a
+dangerous place.  But I thought it best to run no risks that we could
+avoid, and so we moved very softly, as I have said.
+
+We spent the whole of that day in conveying stores down to our canoe,
+finding it a very laborious and tedious business, because the
+narrowness of the first part of the tunnel, and the roughness of the
+way, did not allow us to bear such heavy loads as we might have done in
+the open.  We felt an itching curiosity to know what the men were
+doing, and how they took our disappearance, and Billy said it would be
+great fun to sail round the island and show ourselves to them, for we
+could run back to the cave at any time, and they would never know where
+we had gone, the cave not being visible from above, and the cliff
+unscalable.  But our posture was too serious for mere fun, especially
+as I did not wish the men even to know we were still alive, because of
+that notion which had come into my head; and it was for the same reason
+that I had resolved not to attempt to transport our stores to the Red
+Rock until the dusk of evening, when the men would have given over
+their roaming and returned to the hut.  When we rested from our work,
+and ate our meals, we paddled the canoe out to the mouth of the cave,
+where we could be in the sunshine and fresh air, and away from the
+exceeding noisome stench made by our torches; and it was really a
+pleasant enough day, the seamen not being able to molest us.
+
+[Sidenote: Retreat to Red Rock]
+
+Accordingly, as soon as it was dusk, with a promise of a full, clear
+moon, we set off, and paddled our well-laden canoe to the north side of
+the Red Rock, where, as I have said, was the only landing-place.
+Having moored our vessel securely to a peak of rock, we set to work to
+carry our cargo up the steep path, and found this the hardest task we
+had ever undertaken, so that though we toiled pretty nearly all night
+we had not above half emptied the canoe by the morning.  It was very
+stupid of us to work so hard, as we saw when we had tired ourselves out
+to dropping, for being on the side of the rock furthest from the island
+we could not be seen from thence, and might have taken three or four
+days over the work if we pleased.  The manner of our carrying the
+stores up was to load baskets and strap them to our backs; but one part
+of the ascent was too steep for us to climb thus laden, and we then
+tied the baskets in turn to the end of a rope, and one climbed up first
+and hauled the baskets after him, with much bumping against the rugged
+side, which made me fear lest we should lose a good deal.  However,
+nothing was lost save two or three cocoa-nuts and the lid of one of my
+pots, which was full of bread-fruit paste, so that I was glad it was
+only the lid and not the pot itself.  The danger thus narrowly escaped
+taught us a lesson, and when it came to our largest pots, instead of
+trying to carry them up full, we emptied their contents into the
+baskets, and so made several light loads instead of one heavy one, thus
+avoiding a particular mishap.
+
+When morning came, as I say, we had carried up but half our cargo, and
+having by that time perceived that there was no need for haste, we
+refreshed ourselves with one or two cocoa-nuts we had, not lighting a
+fire to cook anything else, in case its smoke should be seen by the
+seamen.  This consideration somewhat damped our liking for our new
+abode, for we had been so long accustomed to good and well-cooked meals
+that the prospect of living on nothing but cocoa-nuts, as on our first
+coming to the island, was mighty displeasing; and, moreover, we had
+only a very few cocoa-nuts, not having stored many of these because we
+could get them from the trees all the year round.  However, I told
+Billy that I thought we could light a fire at night, for it was scarce
+likely that the men would be abroad in the darkness at one of the high
+parts of the island, from which alone the top of the Red Rock could be
+seen, and he was comforted at this, saying that he didn't mind cold
+breakfast and dinner if he had hot supper.  After our frugal breakfast
+we laid ourselves down to sleep, under the shadow of an overhung rock,
+and did not waken until the sun was very high.  Being then exceeding
+thirsty I remembered the water we had found at the bottom of a cleft
+when we first came to the rock, and we let down a pitcher by a rope
+into one of the clefts, and when we drew it up we found it full of
+delicious cold water with scarcely any taste to it; and though,
+remembering the water of Brimstone Lake, we drank sparingly at first,
+we found that it did us no hurt, and indulged ourselves with more
+copious draughts than we had ever taken since we had lived on the
+island.  We waited until the heat of the day was past before we resumed
+our unlading, and we did not finish it until next day, sleeping pretty
+near all through the night.  When we had got everything
+up--bread-fruit, yams, salted flesh and fish, ropes, spears, bows and
+arrows, strips of hide and bark cloth, and sundry other things which we
+thought we might find useful--we packed them as snugly as we could
+under ledges and in hollows, and covered over the perishables with
+cloth to keep off dew and rain, and then we thought about ourselves,
+and how we could make the barren rock a habitable place.  It would be
+easy enough to build a cabin or lean-to against the rocky wall if we
+only had the materials; but there was nothing serviceable to be found
+on the spot, and to get them we must venture back to the island.  This
+we could only do in the hours of darkness, or immediately after dawn,
+but the idea of this rather pleased us with its venturesomeness, and
+being now equipped with our weapons we were bold enough.  In the early
+hours of the morning, therefore, we paddled round through the archway
+until we reached the rock by the lava beach, where Billy had perched on
+our first day, and leaving Billy and Little John to guard the canoe, I
+went into the woods with my axe, carrying also my bow and arrows, to
+cut some saplings and rushes, and some creepers to bind things
+together.  I promised Billy I would come back after a while and let him
+take his turn, but I had not been working above half-an-hour, I should
+think, when he joined me, saying he was sure the canoe would be safe,
+because it was hidden behind the rock, and there was nothing to bring
+the men to that part of the island, because he would take his davy they
+never bathed, of which indeed I myself had had good evidence; and
+besides, he said, he had left Little John to guard it.  I was glad of
+Billy's help, for between us we cut a good deal of material in a very
+short time; but I did not like leaving the canoe to the sole charge of
+the dog, and resolved not to come again in the morning, but only in the
+evening, there being much less danger of meeting the men then.
+Accordingly I did not wait until we had got enough material for our
+purpose, but said we would finish the job another time; and we carried
+the stuff to the canoe, making two journeys to do it, and so got back
+to the Red Rock safely.
+
+We spent the rest of that day in making, with the things we had
+brought, a kind of trellis-work to serve as the front and side walls of
+our lean-to, for the back wall was the rock itself.  We had not near
+enough to finish the job, but enough to keep us employed all that day;
+and a little before dusk we set off again to paddle to the island to
+fetch more.  And this time, as soon as we had got enough saplings and
+reeds and things, we went on to the smaller cocoa-nut grove, there
+being a very good moon, purposing to carry away a few ripe cocoa-nuts
+for our own consumption; but when we were gathering them from the trees
+it came into my head that we might as well begin upon that notion I
+have before mentioned, which was nothing less than to starve the seamen
+into repentance and humbleness of spirit.  I had not as yet told it to
+Billy, but I had pondered it myself, and thought I saw my way to it,
+and so I now began suggesting to Billy that we should strip the trees
+of all the ripe fruit.  "What's the good, master?" says he at once, as
+I knew he would: "it will take us a long time to carry 'em all to the
+canoe, and we don't want 'em, not really."
+
+"No," said I, "but Hoggett does want 'em," and then I told him my
+drift.  I was afraid he would spoil it all with shouting, for he opened
+his mouth wide to let it forth, but remembered himself in time, and so
+shut his mouth on a sort of hoarse croak, which might have seemed to
+any one that heard it the croak of some strange animal or bird.
+
+"My eye!" says he, "that's prime, master.  However did you think of it?
+But we'll have to come pretty often, because these here cocoa-nuts get
+ripe so fast.  'Tis lucky the bread-fruit ain't in season yet, and the
+yams is nearly all gone; but there's the pigs and fowls, drat it, and
+if they use all them up too we'll never get no more."
+
+[Sidenote: Stealing no Robbery]
+
+"That's true," I said, "but we shall maybe be able to get some of them
+by and by.  At any rate, let us get the cocoa-nuts now, and we need not
+trouble to take them all to the canoe.  We will take just what we need,
+and hide the rest in the undergrowth."
+
+Accordingly we stripped the ripe fruit from all the trees at this spot;
+there were only about half-a-dozen; and having concealed all the nuts
+but two or three that we wanted for our own refreshment, we carried
+these to the canoe, and paddled back to the Red Rock, where we broiled
+some fish steaks for second supper, our work having made us hungry, and
+so to sleep.
+
+Next day we finished our lean-to, making walls and roof of the
+trellis-work I have mentioned, and being very tired we went to sleep
+without paying another visit to the island.  I thought we were doing
+very well, and the only thing that gave me any concern was our canoe,
+for we had no very safe harbourage for it on the rock, and if a storm
+came I was afraid the sea might wash it from the ledge on which it lay,
+and then we should be in a lamentable fix.  However, as we usually had
+some warning of bad weather, in the low flying of seabirds and other
+signs we had become used to observe, we determined at the first warning
+to take the canoe into the cave and lie up there until the storm was
+past.  Of course we could not do this if the storm broke upon us
+suddenly in the night, but in that matter we must simply trust to
+Providence.
+
+All necessary work on the Red Rock being done, we began to find time
+hang somewhat heavy on our hands.  Our asylum (as I may call it) was no
+more than some two hundred feet square; at least, the habitable part of
+it was no more: and having explored every get-at-able corner of it, and
+finding nothing to reward us except a few seabirds' eggs, we had
+nothing to do; and to lie about looking at each other was vastly
+uninteresting.  We clambered to the highest point, and there, under
+cover of a craggy rock that overhung the island, we looked over the
+domain from which we had been expelled, and I scarce think Adam himself
+was more grieved at the loss of Eden than we were now.  We could not
+see our hut, but a great part of the island between it and the sea, to
+the westward and southward, was open to our view, and of course the
+mountain, and the long slope that ran downwards from the crater to the
+archway.  Once or twice we caught glimpses of the seamen as they roamed
+the island, and then Billy's wrath and indignation knew no bounds, and
+he pleaded with me to land and post ourselves behind trees, and shoot
+the men with our arrows, but this of course I would not consent to,
+having besides in my mind a better way of dealing with them.  And I
+bade Billy remember that they must be very uneasy at not lighting on
+any traces of us, to which he replied scornfully, "Suppose they are,
+what's the odds?  They'll soon believe as how we are drownded, and then
+they'll be jolly enough, using our things and all."
+
+"Maybe they'll be afraid of seeing our ghosts," I said.
+
+"That would frighten 'em, wouldn't it?" says he.  "Fancy old Wabberley,
+now, seeing a thing all white come creeping along, making gashly
+sounds, and all that; wouldn't he holla and cry for mercy!  I wish we
+could turn into ghosts for once, only I suppose we can't till we're
+dead, and I don't want to be dead, do you, master?"
+
+The next night chanced to be stormy, with a high wind, and we heard
+that strange howling I have before mentioned, and of which we had never
+discovered the cause, for it was clear no dogs made it, there being
+none now on the island.  But on sailing our canoe to the cave, for
+safety's sake, we learnt at last what made the noise, which was nothing
+less than the wind blowing across the mouth of the cave.  Billy said
+the sound would frighten the men as well as any ghost could do it, and
+I think he was himself pleased to know that the explanation was so
+simple and natural.
+
+The weather cleared next day, and we returned to the Red Rock.  Being
+determined to set off for the island that very night, and begin to put
+into practice the scheme I had been forming in my mind, we had a good
+sleep in the afternoon, and embarked in the canoe just after sunset.
+The moon was up, but we did not suppose the seamen would wander from
+the hut at night-time, and the moonlight would help us.  When we
+landed, we went up to the cocoa-nut grove, and began to strip the trees
+of all the nuts, ripe and unripe, starting with those that were
+furthest from the hut, and so were the least likely to be known as yet
+by the men.  We conveyed the nuts, in the baskets we had brought on our
+backs, to the canoe; and then, Billy being still mighty concerned about
+the pigs, lest they should all be killed and eaten, we determined to go
+very stealthily towards the hut, to see if we might anyways get a pig
+from the sty, and also to learn what the men had done about our
+settlement.  Spying down upon the place, we saw that the door of the
+hut was open, and that the drawbridge was not laid across the moat, so
+that we supposed all the men were sleeping within.  But as we drew
+nearer, and came close to the fowl-house, we were surprised by great
+snores proceeding from it, by which we knew that some of the men had
+made it their lodging, though we could not guess what they had done
+with the fowls which they had turned out.  They had let them loose, as
+we afterwards discovered, never supposing that they would have any
+difficulty in catching them when they wanted them for food; and we were
+very much amused when we learnt of their anger and amazement at finding
+that the fowls had betaken themselves to inaccessible places, so that
+they never had but two or three all the time they were on the island.
+
+I thought there would be too great a risk in trying to purloin one of
+our pigs, the sty being not above a dozen yards from the fowl-house,
+but Billy would do it, and assured me he would get one of the young
+ones as easy as anything.  Accordingly I let him go, and sure enough he
+came back in no long time carrying one of the piglets close in his
+arms, and I had not heard above one feeble squeal, the reason I heard
+no more being that Billy slipped into the little pig's mouth a bit of
+cocoa-nut he happened to have in his pocket.  But Billy himself was in
+a furious temper, telling me, when we had gotten ourselves safe away,
+that he had seen his best axe, and his own wooden spade, on which he
+had carved the initial letter of his name, lying close by the pig-sty,
+and he was perfectly overcome with anger at the thought that his very
+own tools were being used by these sacrilegious hands.  Nothing would
+satisfy him but that he must go back and bring them away, which he did,
+and we took them and the pig down to our canoe, and paddled back to the
+Red Rock, very well satisfied with our night's work.
+
+The next night we paid another visit to the island, and this time we
+went to the plantation of yams, finding, as we half expected, that the
+men had already made some depredations on it.  Having brought spades as
+well as baskets, we dug up a good many of the yams that remained, and
+carried them to the canoe in two or three trips.  We continued these
+expeditions night after night, finding a certain fascination in them,
+and being tickled with the thought that while the men were lapped in
+slumber we were gradually depriving them of their means of subsistence.
+"'Tis just like housebreakers, ain't it, master?" said Billy gleefully
+once; "only there ain't no watchman to cop us.  And what's more, it
+ain't wrong neither, for a man ain't doing no wrong if he takes what's
+his very own."  Night by night we drew nearer to the hut, and had
+worked so often without the least alarm that we flattered ourselves
+there would soon be no more fruit to gather, and then, as Billy said,
+Hoggett would begin to starve.
+
+One night, the seventh or eighth, I should think, since we began, we
+had brought our canoe to the strip of sand beside the lava beach, and
+had gone up to a small clump of trees which we had not been able to
+strip completely the night before.  Billy had gone aloft, being nimbler
+in climbing than me, and I was about to follow him, when all of a
+sudden he called out, quite loud, his surprise making him to be off his
+guard, that there wasn't a single cocoa-nut left.  Immediately
+afterwards I heard him say, not so loud, "Oh geminy, now I've been and
+done it!" and began to slide down very rapidly; but in a moment I heard
+a loud crackling of twigs close by, and then a shout, "Here's the
+devils!" and I knew that the men were upon us; it was plain they had
+observed how the fruits were disappearing night by night, and had been
+on the watch for us.  Billy came down the tree more quickly than any
+monkey could have done, with great damage to his hands and still more
+to his breeches, as we afterwards discovered, the bark-cloth with which
+we had patched them being clean torn away, so that "the rent was made
+worse," as the Bible says.  His feet were no sooner on the ground than
+we set off a-running with all our might towards the canoe, and we had
+not got above fifty yards when some of the men broke from cover and ran
+after us, shouting the most terrible curses.  We had to go about two
+hundred yards before we came to the edge of the cliff, but being much
+more nimble on our feet than the seamen we did not lose ground, but
+rather gained; and arriving at the edge, we immediately began to
+descend towards the sea, in such haste that I am sure no two men ever
+came so near to breaking their necks.  The cliff, as I have said
+before, was exceeding steep and rough, and the descent was all the more
+perilous because it was night, though moonlit; and to this day I marvel
+that we came safe to the bottom.  There was nothing that could be
+called a path; we could only scramble down as best we might, trusting
+to luck, or rather to Providence; and though we escaped with our lives,
+and our limbs sound, yet our feet and legs were pretty badly cut by the
+sharp edges of rock.  The seamen, when they came to the brink, did not
+dare to follow us, but caught up stones and hurled them down upon us,
+and if they had been able to take good aim we must certainly have been
+killed.  However, we came safe to the beach and to our canoe, into
+which we leapt and paddled away as quickly as we could, and the men
+spying us set up a great howl of rage, and I was vexed they had seen
+our vessel, but it could not be helped.  They ran along the top of the
+cliff watching us, the moon being up, as I said; but we disappeared
+from their view so soon as we had come beneath the cliffs, and then, so
+that they should not know of our refuge on the Red Rock, we lay for a
+good while in the entrance to Dismal Cave, not proceeding further until
+we thought the men would have returned to their quarters.
+
+Billy was exceeding vexed to think that his careless outcry had had so
+untoward an issue.  "I could knock my head off, master," he cried
+passionately, and when I asked him what good that would be he said,
+"Well, I couldn't stick it on again, could I?  Only I have got a silly
+tongue."  I told him that he need not reproach himself, for I was sure
+the men had been on the watch for us, having no doubt observed the
+nightly disappearance of the fruits.  "Yes," says Billy, "but if they
+hadn't spied us they might ha' thought they was taken by goblins or
+such," to which I replied that I did not think goblins fed on such
+substantial fare, and so by degrees I brought him to a more tranquil
+frame of mind.  I thought it very likely that the men would now guess
+what our purpose was, and gather in all the foodstuffs that were left,
+so that there would be none for us to venture for; wherefore we must
+leave the further working out of our plan to time.  Accordingly, we
+went no more from the Red Rock to the island, except once, and that was
+to get another pig as mate to the one we had already captured.  We
+delayed to do this for several days, until we thought the men would not
+be so carefully on guard as they would be immediately after their
+discovery of us; but when we did venture to land and creep near to the
+pig-sty, we feared our errand was impossible, because the men had lit
+an open fire near the hut and we saw two of them on watch.  However,
+Billy said he was not going to be beat, and he asked me to go into the
+woods and make a terrible noise, which he thought would draw the men
+away, and so give him an opportunity of seizing the pig.  I would not
+consent to this at first, for it seemed like leaving the dangerous part
+of the work to Billy; but he insisted that he could get the pig more
+easily than I could, which was true, and so I agreed at last, but
+thought of another way instead of making a noise, and that was to go
+into a clump of trees on the other side of the hut from the pig-sty,
+and there strike a light, which I doubted not would be seen by the men.
+Knowing the country as I did, it would be easy to escape down to the
+canoe, which we had left this time in the little cove on the east of
+the island, guessing that the men would make for the sandy beach if
+they suspected our presence.  There was a risk, of course, that not all
+the men would be drawn towards the light, but we had to chance that,
+and so I departed, bidding Billy have a very great care.
+
+The plan answered perfectly to his expectation, only it took somewhat
+longer than he thought, for I was not so used to striking fire as
+Billy, and I failed so many times that I feared I should never do it.
+But at last I got a light, and set some dry grass on fire, and there
+was a mighty blaze, and Billy told me afterwards that the moment they
+saw it the men who were on watch jumped to their feet and ran towards
+the hut, not being able to reach it because the drawbridge was taken
+away.  I myself heard their shout, and having thrown some more grass on
+the fire, I sped away towards the east, and waited for Billy at the
+edge of the wood on the cliffs, wondering how he would come, whether
+across the lava tract or the very much longer way round the mountain.
+I heard the shouting continue for some time, but it seemed to be going
+away from me, at which I was very glad; and after what seemed a very
+long time, I heard a little noise close at hand, and holding myself on
+my guard I saw Billy staggering along under his burden, and when he
+came near, he said he was sweating horrible, the pig being uncommon
+obstinate.  To deaden the sound of its squealing he had stripped off
+his shirt and smothered the pig's head in it, and he had come right
+across the lava tract, having seen that the men had all gone in the
+other direction, towards the sandy beach.  We carried the pig between
+us down to the canoe, and lay there all night, not daring to paddle
+away until just before dawn, for we could not return to the Red Rock by
+the west side of the island while the men were astir, for they would
+have seen us, nor could we go the other way because of the current.
+But we guessed that not having spied the canoe where it had been
+before, the men would imagine we had some lurking place on the island,
+and after a time would not keep watch on the shore.  Besides, the moon
+would go down before morning; and so, when it was still very dark, we
+left our hiding-place and paddled quietly round the island, and came to
+the Red Rock without having been observed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE TWENTIETH
+
+OF ATTACKS BY LAND AND SEA; AND OF THE USES OF HUNGER IN THE MENDING OF
+MANNERS
+
+
+We calculated, Billy and I, that there was enough food left on the
+island to last the men for about a month, or perhaps longer with
+careful husbanding; but from what Mr. Bodger had told me of their ways
+on their island, and from what I knew of them myself, I did not suppose
+they would practise any stint until they felt the pinch of want.  I own
+I hoped they would not, and if that seems a hard saying, you must
+remember that I had a deep purpose, namely to recover possession of our
+own, which was itself laudable, and also to teach the men a lesson
+whereby they and all of us would profit.  It was necessary to the
+success of my plan that they should come to the verge of famishment
+before the bread-fruit season, for if they endured until the fruit was
+ripe, they would have plenty of food for three or four months
+thereafter, and I could not view with patience the prospect of
+remaining sequestered on the Red Rock for so long.  Having done all we
+could, it would have been simple foolhardiness to risk complete failure
+by making useless visits to the island, and we endured what was a kind
+of imprisonment on the Red Rock as patiently as we could, leaving it
+only once to bring more stores from the cavern.
+
+We were, I assure you, mighty weary of our life before the day came
+when our whereabouts was discovered.  I know not how long it was, but I
+guess five or six weeks.  Having nothing better to do, we often went to
+the edge of the Red Rock, where we could overlook a part of the island
+from behind the vantage of a boulder, and we sometimes saw the men
+moving from place to place, taking care ourselves to keep out of their
+sight, at least I took care, Billy being less prudent, so that more
+than once I had to drag him down when he began to climb the boulder to
+have a better view.  Of course we could have been seen any day if the
+men had climbed the mountain, but they never did this.  I learnt
+afterwards that they had scoured every accessible part of the island
+for us, and after a time suspected that we were on the Red Rock, and
+kept a watch on it, but saw never a sign of us until the day of which I
+am now to tell.
+
+[Sidenote: Discovery]
+
+Our dog, Little John, seldom barked unless there was something to
+trouble him, and we had taken care since we had been on the rock to
+keep him as quiet as possible, so that the men might not discover us
+through him.  But it chanced one day that one of the pigs broke loose
+from the place where we had tethered him, and began to run in a very
+stupid fashion, not heeding in the least the danger of falling over a
+crag and dashing himself to pieces.  Little John no sooner saw the mad
+antics of the creature than he set off in pursuit, barking furiously,
+and Billy set off too with a shout, taking great enjoyment in the chase
+after our period of idleness.  He came up with the pig just as it had
+arrived at the very edge of the plateau, and caught it, and at that
+very moment I heard another shout, and looking over I saw two of the
+men just at the edge of the wood near the rocky ledge of which I have
+spoken before.  It was plain that they had seen Billy, though he
+dropped out of sight immediately he heard the shout, and they came
+forward until they stood at the edge of the cliff, being separated from
+the rock only by the narrow gap.  "That's where the young devils are
+hiding," I heard one of them say.  "Didn't I say so, Bill?"  Their
+words came very clearly to me, for sailor men have not very dulcet
+voices.  "Hail them, Jack," says the other, and the first man put his
+hands to his mouth and let forth a stentorian "Ahoy!" which might have
+been heard a mile away.  At first I paid no heed, but when he shouted
+again I saw no good that could come of further concealment, so I
+climbed up on to the boulder, being followed by Billy as soon as he had
+put the pig back into safety.
+
+"What do you want?" I cried down to them.  You would have laughed to
+see their faces.  Our sudden appearance seemed to have nonplussed them,
+for they stood staring blankly up at us, as not knowing what to say.
+Then says one to the other, "Go and fetch Hoggett," and the fellow
+immediately set off and disappeared into the wood, running towards the
+hut.  The other man stood on the same spot, gazing dumbly at us, and
+never once offered to address us, and we sat down on the boulder, Billy
+smiling and dangling his legs in the most careless way.  Presently we
+saw Hoggett and pretty near all the men coming through the wood, and
+Hoggett had his musket, and I thought that they must have started
+before the messenger came to them, or they could not have got to us so
+soon; no doubt they had heard the shouting.  Well, Hoggett comes along,
+with Chick and Wabberley close behind him, and when he got to the edge
+of the cliff below us (it was two or three hundred feet) he lifts up
+his voice and cries out, "Hi, you Brent, you come ashore sharp now,
+d'ye hear?"  I thanked him very courteously for his invitation, but
+said I was very comfortable where I was, upon which he cursed me
+heartily, and cried out again, "You come sharp now, and no nonsense, or
+I'll come and fetch you," winding up with that opprobrious word which I
+had cured Billy of using.  The threat was such an idle one that I
+smiled at him, and Billy laughed heartily, and putting his thumb to his
+nose, spread out his fingers in that gesture of derision which I have
+observed small boys to use, and which I thought he should not have used
+at his age, being at this time, as I reckoned, not far short of twenty
+years old.  What with my silence and Billy's mockery, Hoggett flew into
+a terrible rage, and clapping his musket to his shoulder, he let fly at
+me; but I was too far above him for him to take a good aim, he being
+never used to fire except on the flat, and the slug struck the rock a
+good many feet below us.  Still, we did not know but he might have
+better luck next time, so we got down off the boulder and disappeared
+from sight, and sat there listening to the furious outcry the men made,
+Hoggett in particular declaring he would flay us alive when he caught
+us.  The men talked together for some while, and then, when the sounds
+ceased, we peeped over and saw them returning in a group whence they
+had come.
+
+We saw no more of them that day, or the next, but on the second day, in
+the afternoon, when Billy got on the boulder to take a look round, he
+called to me that he spied a raft coming towards us from the direction
+of the cave, with Hoggett and half-a-dozen more aboard.  I could see
+that Billy was a little alarmed at this, for he always had a great
+dread of Hoggett; but I told him not to be disturbed, for I was sure
+from our vantage ground, and with our bows and arrows, we could easily
+beat them off if they landed and tried to clamber up.  "Things are
+going well," I said to him.  "They have actually begun to work at last,
+and pretty diligently, too, to make that raft in less than two days."
+"But what's the odds to us, master," says Billy, "if they have begun to
+work?  I think it's a very bad sign, I do."  "We shall see," I said;
+and Billy looked very much puzzled, for I had not told him my design in
+its fulness, because I wished to get a certain assurance of its success
+first.
+
+[Sidenote: Invasion Fails]
+
+It was soon plain that we should not be put to the trouble of defence,
+and we had a hearty laugh at the coil in which the men soon found
+themselves; for coming pretty close to the shore, they were caught in
+the current which ran very swiftly through the narrow gap, and despite
+the desperate efforts which they made with their paddles, the raft,
+which is at all times a clumsy vessel, was swept along and twirled this
+way and that, and the men were in such extremity of danger that they
+ceased to gaze at us, and bent all their energies to prevent the raft
+from being dashed against the rocks on either side and shivered to
+atoms.  They were carried right through the channel, and pretty nearly
+to the natural archway, before they got the least control over the
+raft, and even then they could only manage it enough to steer clear of
+the sides of the arch, and so win to the open sea.  By that time the
+current had lost the most of its force, and we knew very well that if
+they paddled out to the left, and made a sufficiently large circuit,
+they might gain the north side of Red Rock, even with so clumsy a
+vessel as theirs, and discover our landing-place.  However, they had
+been so greatly discomfited that I was not much surprised when, instead
+of steering to the left, they allowed the raft to drift past the
+promontory, and after a little while they disappeared from our sight,
+having clearly determined to return to the place where they had
+embarked.
+
+But though this attempt had been so signal a failure, I saw very
+clearly that we must not be content merely to smile and do nothing, for
+if they were to take thought and go about the enterprise in a
+reasonable way, they might very well come to our landing-place some
+time, and then they might seize our canoe, a loss which we could not
+contemplate without dismay.  Accordingly, Billy and I spent the rest of
+the afternoon in a very serious talk, the issue of which was that in
+the middle of the night we descended the rock and launched the canoe,
+in which we set off, and, rounding the archway, came opposite the lava
+beach.  This we examined as well as we were able by the light of the
+stars, for there was no moon, but not perceiving what we sought, we
+paddled on very quietly until Billy told me in a whisper that he spied
+it on the sandy beach; and there, indeed, was the raft, drawn up above
+high-water mark, and no one attending it--at least, no one that we
+could see.  We had talked over this point very anxiously, for if they
+had set a guard over the raft our scheme would be brought to nought;
+but we both agreed that it would be very unlike them to take this
+precaution, and, besides, there was not a man of them who would consent
+to undertake the office of night watchman so far from the hut while the
+others were enjoying their repose; and so it turned out.
+
+We passed on without landing, until we came to a sort of dell in the
+cliff, where we knew there grew a great quantity of long grass and
+rushes.  We landed there, and having pulled up many armfuls of the
+grass, which we did very easily, the soil being thin, we loaded it into
+the canoe, and then returned to the place where the raft lay.  For some
+little while we waited, listening for any sound that might give token
+of wakefulness among the men, but hearing nothing, we ran the canoe
+lightly in shore, and having landed, we carried our grasses and laid
+them beside the raft.  Then we went on further until we came to a patch
+of thick scrub, where we broke off a quantity of small branches, and
+these we laid beside our other material, going and coming as quickly as
+we could.
+
+[Sidenote: Making a Bonfire]
+
+Our purpose, as you have guessed, was to burn the raft, so that we
+should not have that to fear again, nor did I suppose the men would
+make another, for it must have cost them many pangs to break through
+their indolence to make this one, and if it were destroyed nothing
+would persuade them to undergo the toil again.  We knew, of course,
+that the raft would be wet, at least on the under side, where it had
+not been exposed to the sun after they beached it; but in order to
+assist the fire we purposed to kindle, we had brought some of our
+candle-nuts and some cocoa-nut shells and husks, which are highly
+inflammable and would give a very fine blaze.  But when we came to lift
+the raft so as to push our fuel under it, we found that we could not in
+any wise raise it, for it was bigger than we had supposed from seeing
+it in the water, and would have needed five or six men to move it, I am
+sure.  However, we set to work to scrape a hollow in the sand beneath
+it, or rather several hollows, in which we laid the fuel, and we heaped
+on the top side also a good quantity of cocoa-nut husks.  We had taken
+the precaution to bring a smouldering torch with us, so that we should
+not make a noise in striking a light; and after we had spied round very
+carefully to make sure that we were not observed, we crouched down on
+the seaward side of the raft and blew the torch into a flame, and then
+thrust it into the fuel, first at one place and then at another.  We
+waited only long enough to see that the fires were fairly kindled, and
+then we hastened at once to the canoe, and paddled out to sea for some
+distance.  The fire might blaze and burn itself out without being ever
+seen by any of the men; but it was possible that some of them were
+awake, and if they were they could not fail to observe the glow in the
+sky, and then they would assuredly come over the hill to learn the
+cause of it.  It was for this reason that we drew off from the shore so
+far that we should be outside the circle of light when the raft was
+fully ablaze.
+
+The night was calm and clear, and the sea so still that we were able to
+keep the canoe at the same spot with but a touch of the paddles now and
+then.  It was some time before we saw any considerable flames; indeed,
+we began to fear lest the wood of the raft were too damp to kindle
+properly, and Billy whispered in my ear, "Don't I wish we had some
+turps, or some of that pig fat we've got in our cellar.  That would
+make something like a blaze."  However, I told him he must be patient,
+and a little while after the flames burst from beneath the raft and
+licked the sides, and we heard a mighty crackling, the wood being wet,
+and at last a monstrous big flame and a thick column of smoke rose up
+into the sky, and I could hardly restrain Billy from shouting in his
+joy, he saying to me, in tones much above a whisper, that he had never
+seen a bigger bonfire, even on Guy Fawkes day, and he thought it must
+be something like the Fire of London.  (I discovered afterwards, when I
+had time to remember it, that Billy did not in the least know what the
+Fire of London was, but knew only the phrase; and when I told him that
+a great part of the city was burnt down in that historical calamity, he
+asked me whether that was just another of my stories, like Robin Hood.)
+It was indeed a very fine sight in the blackness of the night, the glow
+lighting up the long slopes leading up from the beach, and being
+reflected magnificently in the sea.
+
+About half-an-hour, I should think, from the time when we first kindled
+the bonfire, we saw some of the seamen hasting down the hill, and the
+glow striking the barrels of the muskets which one or two carried, I
+deemed it expedient to withdraw a little farther from the beach, though
+in truth it was unlikely we could be seen.  We lay to again, and
+observed the men draw near to the fire, some standing about it
+helplessly, one or two trying to scatter the fuel with the barrels of
+their muskets; but they could no nothing, the great heat preventing
+them from coming close enough, and besides, we saw Hoggett pull them
+away, and heard him cry out to them that they were fools, because they
+would only spoil the muskets and not put out the fire.  And Ernulfus
+himself could not, I am sure, have cursed us more comprehensively than
+those seamen then did (you will find his curse in Mr. Sterne's
+ingenious book), and not merely did they curse us, but they added
+sundry strange extravagant threats of what they would do to us, some of
+these things being so horrible that Billy wanted to answer them back,
+only I prevented him, for besides being merely amused at these big
+words from men who were perfectly impotent to harm us, I thought that
+silence would work better for the further acting of my plans.
+
+We stayed until the fire was nearly burnt out, and then got us back to
+the Red Rock, exceeding pleased at having destroyed the only means, as
+we thought, whereby the seamen might come at us.  Another week ran its
+course, we remaining quiet in our habitation, cruising a little off the
+north side in the twilight and early mornings, but not going again to
+the island.  We kept a look-out on it from the vantage ground of the
+boulders, and once or twice caught glimpses of the men in the copse or
+on the cliffs, but they did not come near to the rock again, and I own
+I began to feel a little downhearted, for if they could eke out their
+food much longer the bread-fruit season would come, and then my plan
+would be ruined.  Once or twice, too, we heard sounds as of chopping
+wood in the copse, and we thought that the men were after all going to
+build a raft, which did not give us any concern, for even if we could
+not burn it, we could prevent them from getting a footing on our
+fortress.  However, it was not a raft, as we learnt one day.  We were
+sitting at our dinner one afternoon, and, as we always did (I forget
+whether I have mentioned it), we had tied up Little John, who, though a
+very good dog in many things, could never be taught to know the
+difference between "mine" and "thine" at meal times, so that Billy said
+he was afraid the beast would always be a heathen.  He had reason
+enough to know, after a little experience, that his turn to feed would
+come after us and before the pigs, so that he was accustomed to stand
+in perfect quietness while we ate; wherefore when on this afternoon we
+heard him growling very deeply, and saw him strain at his leash, we
+wondered what was amiss with him.
+
+[Sidenote: A Bridge]
+
+"I guess it's Hoggett," said Billy all of a sudden, and up he jumps and
+runs to the boulder and peeps over.  "Goodness alive, master!" he
+called to me, in a low tone; "they've been and made a bridge!"  I was
+up in an instant, and springing to Billy's side I saw that the men were
+dragging up the slope from the wood a long sort of hurdle, very like
+our drawbridge, only longer and stouter.  They were hauling it to the
+edge, where the cliff approached within twenty feet of the ledge on Red
+Rock, and if they should throw it over the gap, they would have an easy
+passage-way from the island to our fortress, nor did I see any means of
+preventing them, for while we were shooting at some of them with our
+bows and arrows, the rest could come across; and though we should still
+have the advantage of them, being above them and with good defences, I
+did not like to think that it was even possible for them to get a
+footing on our ground.  The narrowest part of the gap was almost
+directly below us, so that if we had some heavy stones we might hope,
+by casting them down on the bridge, either to smash it, or to render
+the passage so perilous that no man would venture to make it.  Though
+there were a great number of large rocks about us, there were none
+small enough to be dislodged or hurled; but I remembered having seen a
+number of loose stones in a fissure about half-way across our plateau,
+and seeing that it would be some minutes before the men came to the gap
+with the bridge, I bade Billy fetch as many of these stones as he could
+carry in a basket, while I held the men at bay.
+
+When he was gone about this, I fitted an arrow to my bow, and taking as
+good aim as I could, I let fly at the foremost of the men, there being
+eight of them carrying the bridge, four on each side.  But not being
+used to shoot downwards at so sharp an angle, I did not hit any of the
+men, though the arrow stuck in the wicker-work near the end of the
+bridge, and the arrival of this silent messenger (and yet eloquent)
+made the men drop their burden and stand irresolute.  Hoggett and
+Pumfrey at once raised their muskets to the shoulder, but they could
+see nothing to aim at, and though they must know, of course, that the
+arrow had come through one of the many gaps above, they could not tell
+which, and their ammunition was much too precious now to be wasted on a
+chance shot.  However, they still held their muskets ready, no doubt
+hoping that I would show myself, and so give them a target; but finding
+after a while that this hope was vain, they lowered their weapons, and
+I heard Hoggett call to the others to take up the bridge again and make
+haste to bring it to the gap.  Then, knowing that they could hardly
+raise their muskets again, take aim, and fire, before I could drop
+under cover, I leapt up in full view of them all and cried in a loud
+voice that I would shoot the first man of them that offered to cross
+the gap.  It was almost an error to do this, for Hoggett was pretty
+near being too quick for me.  Just as I sank down again behind the
+boulder his musket flashed, and I heard the slug strike with a thud
+against the rock.  I moved a little away to another place, and saw
+Hoggett making all haste to prime his weapon, while he shouted to the
+others to rush forward with the bridge and fling it across the gap.  At
+this Joshua Chick, who was the only man that ever stood up against
+Hoggett, cried in a fierce manner, "You come and lend a hand yourself,"
+with an oath at the end; whereupon Hoggett, who did not want for
+courage, flings his musket down and, shoving Chick aside, takes his
+place at the bridge, and, roaring "Now!" the men forgot their fears,
+and raised a seamen's cheer, and with a mighty heave flung the bridge
+across the gap, having tied ropes to each end of it to prevent it from
+falling into the gulf if they missed their aim.
+
+Now my mind was firmly made up that no man should cross the gap if I
+could help it, and recognizing that Hoggett was the men's leader, and
+that without him they would scarce attempt anything, I took steady aim
+at him, not intending to kill him, for I had another fate in store for
+him, but to hit the arm by which he held the bridge.  I was by this
+time a pretty good marksman at a target, whether stationary or the
+running man, but the necessity of aiming down-hill clean put me out, so
+that instead of hitting Hoggett's arm, my arrow pierced the calf of his
+leg.  He let forth a terrible curse, and, loosing his hold on the
+bridge, clapped his hand to his leg and pulled out the shaft, then sat
+down upon the ground and began to bind up the wound with a strip torn
+from his shirt.  The moment of my hitting him was the same moment when
+the bridge was thrown across the gap, and I hoped that it would fall
+from the men's hands into the channel, but it had been well aimed and
+fell plumb on the ledge.  However, when the men saw Hoggett wounded,
+and pretty badly, to judge by his language, they drew back, none of
+them caring to be the first to venture on the bridge and to encounter
+an arrow from above.  Hoggett roared to them to go on, but every man
+looked at other to lead the way.  He cried to Wabberley, but Wabberley
+was much in the rear; and then to Chick, but Chick was not on this
+occasion obliging; indeed, I observed him, being a small man, hiding
+himself from Hoggett's gaze behind Wabberley's more massive frame, and
+Wabberley trying in his turn to put Chick in front of him.  This
+backwardness on the part of the men inflamed Hoggett to an excess of
+rage, and he swore that as soon as he had bound up his leg he would
+cross that bridge and teach those young (here a very bad word) that he
+was not going to be played with no more.
+
+While he was still tying up his wound Billy staggered up with the
+biggest basket slung over his back, filled with five or six jagged
+lumps of rock weighing, as I guessed, about a dozen pounds apiece.  He
+was panting very much, but asked, "Where's Hoggett?" and when I told
+him in a word that the bridge was thrown across and Hoggett intending
+to invade us, he cried, "I'll show him!" and immediately slung the
+basket off his back, and seizing one of the stones, hurled it over the
+plateau to the bridge below, and when he did so I peeped through a
+crevice to see what was the issue.  The missile struck the ledge about
+two yards from the end of the bridge, and then bounding off, fell into
+the gap, but we did not hear the splash as it entered the water,
+because the sea itself made a pretty loud noise as it raced through the
+narrow channel.  The men shrank back when they saw the stone, fearing
+no doubt lest another should light on the head of some one, and they
+were less inclined than ever to pay heed to the words of Hoggett, who
+had roared himself perfectly hoarse.  I told Billy what I had seen, and
+bade him try again, and the second stone he cast, heavier than the
+first, plunged into the gap without striking either the bridge or the
+ledge.  Of course both these shots had been made pretty much by
+guesswork, Billy hurling them over without exposing himself, and only
+able to judge the general direction.  When I told him the result of the
+second cast, he waited a moment or two, to recover breath and to wipe
+the sweat from his brow; and then he took up another big stone, and
+jumped to the very edge of the plateau, where there was no cover at
+all, and setting his teeth, put all his strength into the throw.  The
+bridge was a pretty good target, being not less than three feet wide,
+and Billy's aim was so true that the stone hit the bridge not far from
+the further end, causing it to jump so much that it lay very awkwardly
+askew across the gap, threatening indeed to slip into the sea.  At this
+Hoggett jumped up and rushed to the bridge to pull it back into its
+former place; but meanwhile I had taken another stone and, doing as
+Billy had done, flung it with all my might, and it fell about the
+centre of the bridge, making it jump again just as Hoggett was stooping
+to clutch it.  Billy was at my side instantly with another stone, and
+he aimed this time exactly at the further end of the bridge, purposing,
+as he told me, to hit this and Hoggett too, and he succeeded so well
+that the seaman, bold as he was, started back as the missile sprang up
+and almost struck his head.  Before he could recover himself I had
+hurled another stone down, and I had the satisfaction of seeing this,
+falling a little sideways on the bridge, which was already shifted from
+its first position, shake the end of it clean off the cliff, and though
+Hoggett, braving all things, leapt forward and caught at the rope, he
+was too late; the bridge fell into the gap, and we heard quite plainly
+the splashing sound it made as it came to the bottom.
+
+[Sidenote: The Enemy Retreat]
+
+All this time the men had been looking on in a dazed and silly way, not
+one of them offering to help Hoggett to save the bridge they had been
+at such pains to make; indeed, the moment it fell into the chasm I
+observed Wabberley very gently slink away towards the wood.  It was
+always a great cause of wonderment to me that this big wind-bag of a
+man was tolerated, let alone made a comrade of, by Hoggett, who was
+neither a coward nor a wind-bag, except when he was mouthing futile
+threats against me and Billy.  But I have lived a good many years since
+then, and have seen other instances of the same sort.  However, to keep
+to my story, the men stood for a little while, unable to say a word to
+the ravings of Hoggett, who, between the pain of his wound and the
+bitter disappointment at his rebuff, was as near frenzy as ever I saw a
+man; and then, seeing, I suppose, that nothing was to be gained by
+staying, they presently departed, Hoggett last of them all, walking
+very slowly and with a limp.  I saw one or two of the men turn back to
+speak to him, but he waved his arms and roared at them, so that they
+very soon faced about and left him to himself; in some circumstances
+would-be sympathizers only aggravate a man's trouble.  So Hoggett went,
+baffled and solitary, never turning aside until he came to the edge of
+the wood, and then the passion that he had been brooding on broke all
+bounds, and he wheeled about suddenly, and shook his fist most
+vehemently at us, shouting words which in the distance I could not
+catch.  I think we should have laughed at this exhibition of impotent
+wrath if he had done it before; but there was something, I know not
+what, strangely moving in the spectacle of this big rough man walking
+alone, unable to endure the speech, or even the presence, of his
+friends, and then at last overcome by the force of the feelings working
+within him.  Neither Billy nor I spoke for a full minute after he had
+vanished into the wood, and then Billy struck a new note.
+
+"Chick's skinnier than ever," says he.
+
+"Wabberley isn't," I said.
+
+"Not so far as you can see," says Billy; "but I warrant he is if you
+could see him with his clothes off.  Them big men take a lot of
+thinning."
+
+"You think they are hungry, then?" said I.
+
+"I don't think; I'd take my davy on it," says he.  "They've eat all our
+provender long ago, you may be sure, and all the pigs except our two,
+and it ain't the fish season, nor yet the bread-fruit; and if we wait
+here a bit longer they'll just be skellingtons, and all we shall have
+to do will be to bury 'em."
+
+I smiled, for I did not think it would come to burying yet, and Billy
+asked me what there was to laugh at, for he would not care to demean
+himself by burying such rascals; and then I considered whether to tell
+him the further part of my plan, and decided to wait yet a little.  I
+was in no more doubt than he was that the men were beginning to feel
+the pinch of want, which had urged them to their late desperate
+assault, they suspecting, I suppose, that we had full stores which we
+were hoarding from them.  A week or two more, I thought, and my scheme,
+by the very flux of time, would be brought to maturity.  Meanwhile I
+deemed it well to make another visit to the cavern to replenish our own
+stores, and I saw with concern how low our stock was falling; indeed,
+if I had not seen by their haggard look that the men were already in
+straits, I should have been anxious about the possibility of us two
+holding out any longer than they.
+
+[Sidenote: Suppliants]
+
+It was about ten days, I think, after that business of the bridge, when
+one morning, an hour or two after daybreak, we heard a loud shout from
+the cliff opposite our rock.  A hurricane had been blowing during the
+night, as bad as any we had had since we came to the island, and worse
+than any since the mariners came; and the wind had been set in that
+direction in which it gave that deep and melancholy organ-note from the
+mouth of the cave.  It sprang up so suddenly that we had no warning of
+it, and could not sail to the cave; but very fortunately the north side
+of the rock was not exposed to the tempest, so that our canoe suffered
+no hurt.  Billy and I had slept very little, being very much put about
+to keep ourselves dry; but when the fury of the storm abated towards
+morning, we fell asleep, and were awakened by the shout I have
+mentioned.  Seizing our bows and arrows, we ran to the edge of the
+plateau, and peeping through a crevice in the rock we beheld Wabberley
+standing some little way from the brink of the cliff, and holding up a
+stick to which was tied a frayed and tattered shirt.
+
+"A flag of truce, Billy," said I, and I am sure the tone of my voice
+must have betrayed my inward elation.
+
+"No, it's Pumfrey's shirt, master," says Billy.  "I know it by the blue
+spots.  What's he stuck it on to the silly old stick for?"
+
+"For a flag of truce," I repeated; "to show he's an envoy come to sue
+for terms of peace, perhaps."
+
+"I don't know what them there words mean," says Billy, "but you look
+uncommon pleased about it, so I suppose it's all right.  But I say,
+master, look; there's the whole lot of them among the trees yonder.
+What's in the wind now?"
+
+I told him that we should soon see.  We had not yet shown ourselves,
+and Wabberley continued shouting, sometimes, "Ahoy!" sometimes my name,
+always prefixing the respectful appellative "master," and not calling
+me plain "Brent," as Hoggett had done.  Since the main group of men
+were pretty near a furlong from us, and we were far above them, I
+thought we might safely show ourselves; whereupon we mounted the
+boulder, and the moment he saw us Wabberley waved his flag and came a
+pace or two nearer.  Here I will set down, as near as I can remember
+them, the exact words of the conversation (if such it can be called)
+that ensued.
+
+"What do you want?"
+
+"Why, sir, d'ye see, we're terrible short of grub."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Pretty near starved."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Only scraps for the last three days."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+Here he paused, finding little encouragement in my monosyllables, and
+though he was usually glib enough, it was not easy, I dare say, to be
+eloquent when he had to shout so that his voice would reach to us so
+far above him.  But he now assumed a most solemn and lugubrious
+expression of countenance, and cried--
+
+"Dying fast!"
+
+"What of that?"
+
+"Can you do summat for us?"
+
+"Do what?"
+
+"Give us some grub."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"You wouldn't see your old shipmates starve!"  (I wish I could convey
+with my pen the accent of surprise, pain, reproach, which trembled in
+his voice.)  "You wouldn't see your old shipmates starve!" says he.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+At this his jaw dropped: he was struck dumb; he stared up at us for a
+little, and then, lowering his flag, he turned and went slowly back to
+the wood.
+
+"My eye!  This is prime!" cried Billy, hugging himself with glee.
+"'Why not?' says you, and he ain't got no answer, 'cause there ain't
+none, at least, not a good one.  Speaking short's much better than
+squirting a lot of words about, like my mother-in-law does--or did, for
+she may be dead."
+
+When Wabberley got back to his companions, I observed that there was
+some discussion among them, and by and by another man left them,
+carrying the flag, and I saw that this was Mr. Bodger.  He came up as
+Wabberley had done, and asked very humbly if he might speak a word with
+me.  I bade him say on, and he then told me, in more words than
+Wabberley had used, but with no more essential matter, that they had
+come to the end of their food, and without some assistance from us
+would in no long time starve to death.  Now you may think that, Mr.
+Bodger being an officer, I ought to have yielded, at any rate so far as
+to take him into company with Billy and me; but I would not do this,
+because he was a weak man, who could only swim with the current, and I
+knew very well that if the seamen got the upper hand of us again, Mr.
+Bodger would not only do nothing to help us, but would consent to any
+indignity and oppression that might be put upon us.  Accordingly, I
+gave him as short answers as I had given Wabberley, and when he began
+to whine and plead for himself I dismissed him very abruptly, and he
+turned away dejected.  At this, the men who had been lurking among the
+trees swarmed out in a body, and rushed towards the edge of the cliff,
+and for a moment I thought they meditated another attack; but I saw
+that they were without arms, so I did not change my posture, but waited
+where I was until they came to the brink, and set up such a clamour,
+all speaking at once, that I could not distinguish what any one said.
+
+"Where's Hoggett?" says Billy, and I had already noticed that neither
+he nor Wabberley was now among them: indeed, I had not seen Hoggett at
+all since he went away with a wound in his leg.  I observed that
+privation was telling heavily upon them, and I own I felt a touch of
+commiseration for Clums and one or two more of the better disposed
+among them; but I hardened my heart, for if my plan was to succeed I
+could not afford to show the least mark of weakness or complaisance.
+There being a great clamour, I say, I raised my hand and made a gesture
+for them to be silent, and then said that I would come down to the
+ledge and speak to them at closer quarters.  Billy begged me not to do
+so, but I told him to hold bow and arrows ready in case he perceived
+any sign of treachery, and then walked down the shelf of rock until I
+came to the ledge and stood within about twenty feet of them.  The
+hungry look in their eyes, now that I saw them close, was very dreadful
+to behold; but I stiffened my countenance to a great severity, and told
+them that there was no reason that I could see why I should not leave
+them to the fate they had brought on themselves.  They had committed
+crimes, I said, for which they would assuredly have been hanged in any
+land where law and order reigned; and I reminded them of their base
+ingratitude when their very existence at that moment was owing to Billy
+and me.  Then cutting my speech short, for it is ill work baiting folk
+in desperate misfortune, I merely added that I could not endure to see
+even such wretches as they were perishing with hunger, and that I was
+willing to help them, provided they would accept my conditions.  At
+this their eyes lighted up with hope, and a babel of cries arose, all
+shouting assent, and I think I heard one voice say, "God bless you!"
+But commanding silence again I bade them not to be so ready with their
+assent until they had heard my terms, and I explained to them that they
+must needs change quarters with us, they abiding on the rock, whence
+they would have no means of escape, we returning to our proper abode on
+the island.  I said further that I would provide them with a
+sufficiency of food, but that they must work for their living, and I
+ended: "These are my terms; you can take them or leave them."
+
+They were silent when I had finished speaking, and looked at one
+another with a mixture of doubt and wonder.  Then Chick, whose eyes
+were at greater variance than ever, I suppose because he was so pulled
+down in his health by want--Chick steps forward and says, "But if we
+come on to this here rock you may leave us to starve," and another man
+joins in, "True, we shall be in a trap."
+
+"You are right," I said.  "You will be in a trap; you will have to
+trust me, and being villains and traitors yourselves, you find that a
+hard matter, I doubt not.  Go away and talk it over.  If you want to
+speak to me you can hail the rock; but let no man, I warn you, come
+armed from the wood, for he will certainly be shot."
+
+And with that I left them, and went slowly up to rejoin Billy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIRST
+
+OF THE MANNER IN WHICH THE CREW ARE PERSUADED TO AN INDUSTRIOUS AND
+ORDERLY MODE OF LIFE
+
+
+I have never seen a face more woebegone than Billy's was when I came to
+his side, and there was a world of reproach in his eye.  I told him the
+main drift of what had passed before.  "I know," says he; "I heard it.
+What's the good?"  "Why, my doubting Thomas," said I, "the good is
+this: that we shall have our island to ourselves again."  "I take my
+davy we won't," says he.  "If you let 'em come across that there gap
+they'll turn round on us as soon as there's enough of 'em, and then
+where are you?"
+
+I told him that coming across the gap was out of the question, because
+we had destroyed their bridge, and I did not wish to wait while another
+was a-making.  My purpose was to convey the men from the island to the
+rock in our canoe, not all together, but one by one, so that there
+would be no risk of their overpowering us.  Billy was pleased to say
+that this was a pretty good notion, but he fell gloomy again in an
+instant, and when I asked him what other objection he had to make, he
+said, "You said as how the men would have to work for their keep, but
+how can they work on this old rock?  Don't we know there ain't nothing
+to do?  And if there was anything, they wouldn't do it, bless you, not
+unless you stood over 'em with a whip."  I told him that in that case
+they would certainly get nothing to eat, and was proceeding to explain
+what I designed concerning their work when we heard a hail, and saw the
+men coming in a group from the wood.  "Now don't you go for to be too
+kind, master," says Billy, as I went down to meet them.  "They'll only
+think you're a silly ass."  I smiled at him, and promised I would make
+a very stern taskmaster, and bade him again to be ready with his bow
+and arrows; and then I walked very leisurely down to the ledge, and
+asked the men whether they had come at any resolution.
+
+"We have, sir," says Chick, as respectful as you please.  "We've had a
+quorum" (Where did he get the word, I wonder?), "and what we says is
+this: you're a kind gentleman, and your good uncle afore ye, and----"
+
+Here I called to him not to make a speech, but to say what he had to
+say in few words; and one or two of his mates roughly scolded him, and
+bade him come to the point; whereupon without more ado he told me that,
+relying on my promise to give them food, they were ready to accept my
+conditions and take up their abode on the rock.
+
+"And Hoggett and Wabberley--what about them?" I said, having seen from
+the first that these two were not among them.  They looked from one to
+another as if reluctant to speak, and then Pumfrey said bluntly, "They
+won't come, sir," and when I asked why not, he said he didn't know;
+they only said they wouldn't, with a great deal of cursing and swearing.
+
+"Very well," said I, "then you must make them come.  Every one of you
+must come to the rock, Hoggett included.  If he and Wabberley won't
+consent, you must overpower them and carry them to the rock like
+parcels."
+
+[Sidenote: Terms]
+
+They looked very mumchanced at this, and I could see that they still
+held Hoggett in some dread.  They began to talk in undertones among
+themselves, and thinking to quicken them I turned on my heel, telling
+them pleasantly to think it over.  On this they broke forth into cries,
+beseeching me to let them come across at once, because they were so
+hungry; and when I said that I could permit none to come until every
+man of them was ready, Colam and one or two more of the boldest swore
+that they would not starve for the sake of Hoggett, and Chick vowed
+that he would make Wabberley see reason, or he would know the reason
+why.  Whereupon, to encourage them, I said that I would give them a
+little provision as an earnest of my engagement; and calling up to
+Billy, I bade him bring down a little smoked pork and fish, as well as
+a quantity of bread-fruit.  At this the men cheered with an unfeigned
+heartiness that I found infinitely moving, and they cheered again when
+Billy appeared, carrying very unwillingly, as I could see, the small
+quantity of provision I had ordered.  And then those men must needs go
+about to ingratiate themselves with Billy, choosing the wrong way, as
+ignorant and foolish folk often will.  "That's never little Billy
+Bobbin!" says one.  "How he's growed, to be sure!" says another.
+"Fancy little Billy turning into such a fine figure of a man!" says a
+third; and all the time I think they hardly knew what they said, their
+eyes being fixed on the things he carried.  Billy's round face became
+as red as a lobster when it is boiled, and his eyes flashed fire, and
+for a moment I thought he was going to fling his burdens over the ledge
+into the sea; but he put a curb upon himself and brought the things to
+me, and then, as though no longer afraid of doing hurt to my property,
+he stood at the very brink of the ledge and cried, "Yes, I'm Billy
+Bobbin, and I've growed, and I won't have my master put upon; and if I
+ain't as handsome as Pumfrey, I ain't got a squint like Chick--and this
+is our grub what we smoked and such with our very own hands, and you
+ought to go down on your bended knees and say grace for it, and for
+what you are going to receive----"
+
+I interrupted Billy at this point, being quite amazed at his outburst,
+the like of which I had not seen since we fought about that matter of
+the three-legged stool.  "Nobody could make them thieving villains
+truly thankful," he said under his breath, and when I bade him throw
+the food across the gap among the men, he did it with a certain
+viciousness at first, and chuckled when a piece of salt fish struck
+Pumfrey in the face.  But he became sober the moment he saw with what
+eagerness the poor wretches picked up the food, and as they began to
+hasten away with it to their fire, and some even to eat the dried meat
+raw, he offered them much useful instruction in the best way of cooking
+it, especially the bread-fruit.  Before the men went, I told them to
+convey their muskets and what ammunition was left down to the lava
+beach, and lay them ten yards above high-water mark, promising to come
+and fetch them.  And I added, in the solemnest tones I was master of,
+that if a man of them was to be seen on the beach when I came there, a
+little after midday, I would withdraw my offer, and of that I gave them
+fair warning.  Billy was much more easy in mind now, and said he
+thought there might be something in my plan; indeed, he was eager to
+set off almost at once, without waiting for the time I had appointed.
+However, I managed to persuade him to wait until we had eaten our
+dinner, and then we launched the canoe, and in due time sailed round
+the island to the lava beach.  There was no one to be seen, except one
+man whom we spied disappearing into the woods as we arrived; but on the
+beach above high-water mark, as I had said, the muskets were laid
+neatly in a row, the powder-horns with them.  We paddled in until the
+water was shallow, not designing to beach the canoe, and then Billy
+leapt overboard and ran up the beach, I meanwhile handling my bow to
+show that he was covered.  He returned with four muskets, and told me
+that there were four more to bring, so that one was missing, there
+having been nine when the men came to the island.  As soon as all the
+muskets, together with the powder-horns and bullet-pouches, were stowed
+in the canoe, I set up a loud halloo, at which the men started out of
+the wood in which they had been, I doubt not, watching us, and came
+towards us, and when they were near enough I cried to them that the
+muskets were one short, and asked whose it was, to which the answer, as
+I expected, was that it was Hoggett's.  Then I asked where Hoggett was,
+and they told me he had barricadoed himself in the hut, and refused to
+give up the musket.  I asked about Wabberley.
+
+"Here I be, Mr. Brent, sir," says the man himself, coming from the rear
+of the group; "and right down glad I am, d'ye see, sir, to know as how
+you be a-going to feed us proper.  Ah! how I do remember your good
+uncle, and the dear lady your aunt----"
+
+[Sidenote: Hoggett is Obstinate]
+
+I could not endure this, both Chick and Wabberley in one day stirring
+up memories of the home I should never see more, so I peremptorily
+commanded him to cease, and said that as he was Hoggett's particular
+friend he had better employ his eloquence in persuading Hoggett to give
+up his musket with the rest.  I told him that a bargain was a bargain,
+and as the bargain was that all the muskets were to be delivered, the
+men would receive only half rations until the full tale was made up.
+This incensed them very much against Hoggett, and they were in the mind
+to deal very hardly with him had he been in their power; but one of the
+men said that he still had a very meagre supply of food in the hut,
+which could not be eked out beyond a day or two; whereupon I determined
+to wait, knowing that the men would be eager enough to bring Hoggett to
+terms so long as they were kept on short commons.  I told them to come
+to the rock before night for another meal, and then we set off in the
+canoe, and conveyed the muskets to the cave in the cliff, and left them
+at the entrance of the tunnel, after that returning to the Red Rock.
+
+We spent the next two days in carrying back to our storehouse a certain
+part of our provisions, leaving on the rock no more than would suffice
+the men for a single week.  We took back also our pigs, which we left
+at the entrance of the tunnel, thinking that a few hours of darkness
+would not hurt them.  These comings and goings were watched very
+curiously by the men, who would have liked to know where we went after
+we passed from their sight beneath the cliff; indeed, afterwards they
+put questions to Billy, who, however, would never give them the least
+particle of satisfaction on that matter.  Each day we gave them two
+meals, and the knowledge that it was Hoggett who prevented them from
+enjoying plenty made them exceeding bitter against him.  But they told
+me that he was deaf to all their entreaties, and kept himself close
+shut in the hut, only cursing when they spoke to him, and threatening
+to blow out the brains of any man that offered to molest him.  However,
+on the third day, in the morning, one of the men came to the ledge all
+breathless, having run all the way from the hut to be the first to tell
+me that Hoggett had yielded, being, in fact, very weak and ill from his
+privations.  Soon after, the others came up with his musket, and then
+one of them asked me, in name of them all, whether I would not come to
+the island and rule over them there, promising to obey me faithfully in
+all points.  When this was being said, I saw Billy looking at me with
+great anxiety, lest this offer of a kingdom (which was already my own)
+should seduce me from my purpose; but there was no need for him to
+fear, because I knew the fickle and unscrupulous nature of these
+mariners, and that they could never be trusted until they should be
+subdued by the wholesome discipline of work.  Accordingly I refused
+this petition, announcing that on the next morning, soon after
+daybreak, I would begin the transport of them to the rock, bidding them
+come one by one unarmed to the sandy beach, to be taken off in the
+canoe.  I think if they had known what a bare, inhospitable abode they
+were coming to they might have made some demur; but they said nothing,
+and agreed to do exactly as I commanded.
+
+[Sidenote: The Rock Prison]
+
+Next morning we began this work, Billy and I, taking the men one at a
+time into the canoe, after we had searched them, and conveying them to
+the rock as quickly as might be, Billy paddling, while I stood over our
+passenger with a loaded musket.  Having landed him I bade him make his
+way to the top, and then we went back for another.  When we had carried
+eight of them in this way, I saw that we should not come to an end of
+it before night unless we took more than one at a time, for the going
+to and fro was near an hour's work, and very fatiguing; so I determined
+to take two men, having proceeded so far without any sign of
+resistance.  By the time we came to the rock with the ninth and tenth
+men, there was a little assemblage on the plateau, and when we were
+paddling back I saw that Pumfrey and Chick had found their way to the
+ledge, and they shouted after us, and though we could not hear their
+words, Billy said he was sure they were crying to be taken off again.
+Indeed, when we arrived with the next two men, we found that Chick and
+Pumfrey, in defiance of my order that none of those we had landed
+should return to the landing-place, had come down and were awaiting us,
+and as we came near, Chick asked with a great deal of indignation
+whether I supposed that true-born Englishmen, and able seamen besides,
+were going to bide up in that God-forsaken place.  I reminded him of
+the bargain, and, holding off from the rock, asked him whether he
+wished all his mates to starve, as they certainly would do unless he
+mounted to the plateau and stayed there, for I would not land another
+man, nor give them any more food, until he had gone.  At this, one of
+the men in the canoe told Chick not to be a fool, but to do as I bid
+him, and Chick cried that it was all very well, but _he_ had not seen
+the place.  However, he went away, very unwillingly, with Pumfrey, and
+we had no more trouble of that sort.
+
+We brought Hoggett away last of all, and alone.  He looked very ill,
+and said never a word to us, but I could see that he was inwardly a
+very furnace of wrath.  Billy had said to me, as we went to fetch him,
+"Mind you shoot him, master, if he tries any tricks," and I was very
+carefully on my guard and did not feel at all easy in my mind until I
+saw him safely landed.  I lately saw a lion-tamer performing tricks
+with lions in a cage, and as I watched, my thoughts went back many
+years to this day of our life on Palm Tree Island, and I fancied that
+the tamer must feel pretty much as I felt when we had Hoggett in the
+canoe--as if the wild beast might at any moment break loose.
+
+[Sidenote: Sheep and Goats]
+
+Having thus conveyed all the men to the rock, we returned to the
+island, and laid up the canoe just as it was falling dark, being pretty
+tired, especially Billy, for though I had taken a turn at paddling he
+would not let me do much, saying that he knew he would be a bad hand
+with a musket, and might shoot me instead of the men if one of them
+proved mutinous.  We went up very eagerly to our hut, feeling like
+wanderers returning home, Little John frisking and barking about us in
+as great a delight as we ourselves.  But our mirth was turned to
+melancholy when we came to the hut, for it was in such a dreadful state
+that we could not endure the thought of passing the night in it, and so
+we dragged our weary limbs back to the canoe, and slept there,
+supperless, for the men had not kept the fire in, and we had nothing
+with us which we could eat raw.  Our sleep lasted until pretty late the
+next morning, and then, having kindled the fire and cooked our
+breakfast, we sat talking of the remaining part of my scheme.  Billy's
+face beamed when I showed him how I meant to make the men work for
+their living, and for once he did not ask, "What's the good?" but
+declared he couldn't have thought of anything better himself.
+
+I had a pretty good notion of the characters of the men individually,
+having been for upwards of a year on board ship with them; and Billy
+knew them even better than I did, because of his nearness to them in
+the forecastle.  A ship is a little world, and there, as in the great
+world, there are good and bad, and some that are neither good nor bad,
+for there are a good many colours, as you may say, betwixt white and
+black.  The crew of the _Lovey Susan_, to be sure, was made up rather
+of evil-disposed than of well-disposed, for it was recruited by
+Wabberley and Chick, as I said at the beginning of my story, and you
+know what I thought of them.  The better sort among them being few,
+could not prevail against the many, and especially against a man like
+Hoggett, who was so exceeding strong and masterful.  Now it was a part
+of my scheme to sunder the sheep from the goats, if I may say so; and
+they being all on the rock I could do this, I hoped, without seeming to
+make any distinction among them, at any rate at first.  For when I
+spoke of their working for their living, I did not have the rock in
+mind as the scene of their labours, but the island.  To feed so many,
+we should need to enlarge our plantation, and this would mean work; and
+I had already thought, with leaping heart, of another task we might put
+in hand when I had brought the men to a proper humbleness and docility.
+But since there would not be at first enough work for all of them, nor
+indeed would it be safe to employ them all, I had resolved to begin
+with the least wicked of them.  As we sat at breakfast, therefore,
+Billy and I conned over their names, passing judgment on them, as it
+were.
+
+"What about Clums?" I said.
+
+"He's a fat fool," says Billy, "but there ain't no harm in him, away
+from Hoggett.  But he can't do anything but cook, and I can cook as
+well as him now."
+
+"Well, he must learn to do other things," I said.  "And Jordan?"
+
+"Not by no means," says Billy.  "He speaks you pretty fair, but he's a
+sly wretch, the sort of man to pick your grub when you warn't looking."
+
+"What do you say to Hoskin, then?" I asked.
+
+"Why, I don't think much of Hoskin," says he; "but I'll say this for
+him, that he's about the only man of 'em that didn't kick and cuff me,
+though he looked on when the others did.  But what about Mr. Bodger?"
+
+I said that I thought Mr. Bodger a weak and cowardly fellow, who would
+probably deem himself very much ill-used if set to work, and I was
+determined to have none idle on the island, while if he were put over
+the others, they would flout him and might grow mutinous again.  Well,
+after considering the men one by one, we resolved to bring Clums and
+Hoskin first to the island, and Billy said, anticipating me, that their
+first job must be the cleansing of our hut, which in its present state
+was not fit for a pig to live in.  This put me in mind of our two pigs
+in the cave, and as soon as we had finished our breakfast we paddled to
+the cave and brought them away, though when we took them to the sty we
+found that it was not a secure place at present, those lazy wretches
+having actually broken up a great part of the fence, I suppose for
+firewood.  "That's the second job," says Billy, "to mend the fence."
+We then made our way to the cliff opposite Red Rock, so that we could
+speak to the men, for we could scarce make our voices heard at so great
+a height if we sailed to the foot of the rock in our canoe; and having
+hailed them, I said that Clums and Hoskin were to come to the
+landing-place and we would fetch them to make a beginning in working
+for their living.  Pumfrey asked whether he couldn't come too, which I
+took to be a very good sign; but I replied that his turn would come
+another day.
+
+The two men came with us very readily, and on the way Clums said he
+would cook us the best dinner we had had for years, upon which Billy
+winked at me, making such a comical grimace that I could not help
+laughing.  Clums was taken aback when he learnt what task had been
+assigned to him, but he was a cheerful soul, and said that as Billy had
+cleaned his pans for him a good many times on the _Lovey Susan_ he
+supposed it was only fair that he should clean up the floor for Billy
+and me, though he thought it ought by rights to be done by Hoggett and
+Wabberley.  It took them pretty nearly all day to make the hut
+thoroughly tidy and shipshape, and when they were looking rather rueful
+at the thought of being taken back to the rock for the night, I pleased
+them mightily by giving them the small hut to sleep in.  As for Billy
+and me, we took up our quarters in our old place, having as a
+precaution brought in the drawbridge and barricadoed the door; and we
+had Little John with us to give warning of any attempt to break in,
+which indeed I thought unlikely, for I did not see what they could gain
+by it.
+
+I thought we would wait one more day before we brought over any more
+men, so we gave the two next morning the job of cleaning the
+outbuildings and beginning the repair of the fences.  They wrought
+willingly enough, though clumsily, not being used to this kind of work:
+accordingly on the third day we fetched Pumfrey and another man, whose
+name I forget, and while the first two were still working on the
+repairs, we set the others to dig the yam plantation, to make ready for
+the new crop.  We deemed it well thus to keep the four men in two
+parties until we were sure of them.
+
+On the fourth day, when we sailed to the rock to bring two more men, we
+found the whole company assembled on the ledge, and they raised a great
+clamour, from which we made out by and by that all their food was gone.
+I had left what I thought would be enough for a full week, and so it
+would have been if they had portioned it out with any prudence.  When
+we brought them another supply I said they would have to manage better,
+and one of them said that so they would if we took them to the island
+and gave them some work to do, for on the rock there was nothing else
+to do but feed.  There was so much reason in this that I forbore to
+upbraid them any more; but I appointed the man who had spoken a kind of
+commissary to dole out the provisions, and told the other men that if
+there were any disputes the quarrelsome would be the last to be taken
+to the island.  It being now late, we took no more men that day, but
+two the next, and these were all whom we had any reason to believe were
+the sheep.
+
+It would make too long a story to tell of all the little happenings of
+the next weeks.  From the first we gave the men to understand that they
+would go back to the rock and take turn with others, at our pleasure,
+whether they went or not depending on themselves.  They proved to be
+reasonable, performing the tasks set them without grumbling, and indeed
+they confessed that they were very glad to have something to do and
+good food to eat after their miserable life under Hoggett's rule.  We
+soon put Clums to his proper work of cooking, he having no skill in
+anything else, and he was always amazed at the never-failing supply of
+provisions which Billy and I brought in our canoe, not having revealed
+to any one the secret of our storehouse.  Our fowls, as I have said,
+were all dispersed, except those that the men had eaten, but we got
+some of them back in our old way of liming the trees, and so had the
+beginning of a poultry-run again; and when the men had repaired the
+pig-sty and made a new fowl-house, and dug up the ground for the yams,
+there was very little left to employ them, so I set them to fell trees
+for building another and more commodious house, which would hold them
+all when my scheme had perfectly ripened.  And when, after a week or
+two, I found everything going on as well as I could wish, I determined
+to bring over the goats, who had learnt by conversations across the gap
+what we were doing, and were, many of them, exceeding desirous of
+enjoying the same liberty as their comrades, even though they had to
+work.  Accordingly I got the men to make a bridge like that which we
+had destroyed, and when this was flung across the gap, we brought two
+of the men across, with Mr. Bodger, who, as I supposed, was mightily
+indignant at being left among the worst of the crew.  I told him very
+frankly what my reasons were, and he immediately said that if I thought
+so ill of him he would waive all privileges as an officer, and work as
+a common seaman until I was satisfied with him.  I was so much
+surprised at this, never supposing him to have any spirit at all, that
+I thought fit to put him to his trial as an officer, and giving him a
+musket, made him overseer of the men who were felling and preparing
+trees.  I soon saw that the position of authority, and the means to
+enforce it, wrought a change in him, and though he was never a strong
+man, and would never have been able to exercise command if left quite
+to himself, yet he became a satisfactory lieutenant, and I never had
+cause to repent trusting him.
+
+[Sidenote: The Uses of Adversity]
+
+Hoggett and Wabberley and Chick were the last of the men to be brought
+to the island.  I overheard some of the men grumbling at this one day,
+saying that these three were living a lazy life, doing nothing for
+their keep, while the rest were working hard.  But Clums silenced the
+grumblers; calling them fools with a seaman's bluntness, asking them
+whether they didn't owe all their miseries to those three, and bursting
+into tears when he spoke of a little girl he had at home, and said that
+but for the mutiny they might all be living happy at Wapping or
+Deptford by now.  I felt a lump come into my throat when the man talked
+of home, and Billy, who was with me, said he wouldn't mind having a
+look at his old dad, especially as he thought he would no longer be
+afraid of his mother-in-law, as he always called his step-mother.
+Clums, I say, said that the longer Hoggett and the other two were kept
+on the rock the better, but I thought they should have their chance
+with the rest; accordingly one day I went up myself, with Billy, to the
+ledge and called for them.  Hoggett and Wabberley refused point-blank
+to come, but Chick said he was ready to oblige, and we took him over,
+telling the other two that they would be put on half rations until they
+came to a better mind.  This very soon had its effect on Wabberley, to
+whom his creature comforts were everything; and even Hoggett yielded in
+a day or two, and came over with the rest in the morning.  I had forgot
+to say that we did not allow the men we called the goats to remain on
+the island overnight, but marched them back to the rock when their
+day's work was done, this partly because we did not trust them, and
+partly because there was no room for them to live decently until the
+new house was built.  I may say here that we never did permit Hoggett
+and the other two to reside on the island.  Wabberley was incorrigibly
+lazy, and did as little work as he could; Hoggett always sullen, and
+once or twice he flung down his tools and refused to work any more, and
+kept his word until he was brought to his senses by having his food cut
+off.  As for Chick, he was extremely obliging, and did all he could to
+persuade me to let him remain on the island, and admit him to the
+select company of the sheep; but I did not trust him, and with reason,
+for Clums told Billy that when they were working Chick would often
+revile us in the bitterest way, and say that he and Hoggett would get
+even with us some time or other.
+
+The new house was finished in about two months, and then we brought all
+the men to live on the island except the three I have mentioned.  The
+bread-fruit season was now come, so that we had plenty of food, and the
+men made great vats in the ground for the storage of the pulp, being
+still ignorant of the storehouse beneath our hut.  When other work
+failed, I set them to make more pots and pans, and bows and arrows, and
+we had many shooting contests at our running man, though there were
+half-a-dozen of the men whom I would never permit to handle a weapon of
+any kind until close observation assured me that they were to be
+trusted.  We also went on fishing expeditions, and smoked a great
+quantity of the fish we caught, and purposed to do the same with our
+pigs as soon as they should increase.  In order that we might enlarge
+still more our reserve of food, I caused some new plantations of
+cocoa-nut palms to be made at different parts of the island.  There was
+no need for planting when Billy and I were alone, because the trees
+bore enough fruit for our use; nor was there any need for planting the
+bread-fruit tree, because this had a remarkable way of propagating
+itself on all sides by shoots that sprang from the roots; but I had
+seen that several of the cocoa-nut palms had lately died, from what
+cause I never knew, for they seemed to be uninjured,[1] and I did not
+know but that a similar blight might fall on the bread-fruit trees
+also; and so I planted cocoa-nuts to provide against a possible failure
+of the bread-fruit.
+
+[Sidenote: A Little History]
+
+Thus I found myself at the head of a very thriving community.  Our
+active and open-air life kept us in good health, and the little
+diversions which we mingled with our work--shooting and fishing, quoits
+and skittles and Aunt Sally, performed with rough things of our own
+making--these helped to keep us cheerful, and we had no troubles beyond
+the storms and cyclones, no savages appearing to molest us, and Old
+Smoker never showing more than a light crown of vapour, and sometimes
+not even that.  Billy and I lived alone in our hut, with Little John,
+and we were, I am sure, happier than we were before the men came, for
+we had more to think about and a great deal more to do.  Billy said
+once that I was now a king indeed, and asked whether I wouldn't like a
+crown, though it would be made of leaves, there being no metal to be
+had.  I told him that I was quite content as I was, and besides, if I
+was to be a king I must have a title, and I thought Harry must be an
+ill-starred name, for Harry the First was the king that never smiled
+again, and Harry the last (that is, the Eighth) was not a very
+estimable character; and then Billy must needs hear all I remembered
+about those monarchs, and when I spoke of the six wives he looked very
+serious, and remained very quiet and thoughtful for a long time.  I
+asked him what he was thinking about, and he said, "Why, a king ain't
+much good without a queen, and it's no good being Harry the First
+(which you would be, this being a new kingdom) if there ain't no chance
+of Harry the Second, or perhaps Billy the First, to come after.  But
+there, you wouldn't like a wife same as my mother-in-law, so it's all
+one."
+
+
+
+[1] Probably from the depredations of the _phasma_, or spectre insect,
+a deadly foe to cocoa-nuts.--H.S.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND
+
+OF OUR DEPARTURE FROM PALM TREE ISLAND; OF THOSE WHO WON THROUGH, AND
+OF THOSE WHO FELL BY THE WAY
+
+
+For several days after this conversation I observed that Billy was not
+near so cheerful as he was wont to be, and when I spoke to him about
+it, and asked what ailed him, he returned me only evasive answers.  One
+night when we were abed, but not asleep, he sighed so often and so
+heavily that I said I would and must know what was the matter, and then
+he surprised me beyond measure by saying, in a sort of mumble, "I'm
+only thinking of my little girl."  I thought his wits were wandering,
+but I asked him, "What little girl?" and he said, "Her name's Elizabeth
+Jane."  I asked him what on earth he meant, and then, unbosoming
+himself, he told me that Clums' mention of _his_ little girl, and our
+talk about Henry the Eighth's wives, had set him thinking of a little
+girl he used to play with at home, when his own mother was alive--a
+neighbour's child, who used to come into the smithy at all hours, and
+whom his father used to call "Billy's little sweetheart."
+
+"Of course she wasn't," says Billy, "not real, 'cause I was only eight
+or nine and she less; but them things we was talking about made me
+think of her, and I thought she was growed up now, same as me, and I
+wondered if she was hanging on a fellow's arm like I used to see 'em in
+Limehouse Walk, and it made me want to punch his head; and then I
+thought I want to go home, and I can't, and I'm that wretched I can't
+abear myself."
+
+[Illustration: Our Lamp]
+
+Here was a pretty posture to be in!  I was vastly amused, never having
+been so taken myself, at the thought of Billy in love with a child he
+had not seen for perhaps a dozen years, for he told me that she never
+came to the house after his mother died, and had gone to live
+elsewhere; but I did not laugh, and Billy could not see me smiling, and
+I said quietly, "Well, and why shouldn't we go home?"  He gave a shout
+that set Little John barking, and bounced out of bed, and struck a
+light, kindling a little lamp we had made of half a cocoa-nut filled
+with its own oil, and some twisted threads for a wick, which gave a
+good light and had no offensive smell like our torches of candle-nuts.
+And then he sat down on his stool by my bed, and looked me in the eyes,
+and I saw his eyes shining like coals when he asked me what I meant.  I
+said to him that there was now a goodly company of us, and what two
+boys could hardly do alone might be done by such a number, and that
+was, to make a vessel big enough to hold us all, and sound enough to
+venture ourselves upon the deep.  Billy was enraptured with the notion,
+and instead of raising difficulties, as he usually did when I broached
+a new project, he refused to see those that I myself mentioned, such as
+our want of instruments and charts, and the danger of storms, and the
+danger of falling in with cannibals, and so forth.  These
+considerations did not trouble him in the least; but one thing did, and
+that was the question whether the men would be willing to undertake the
+long and arduous preparation that would be necessary.  But I bade him
+leave that to me, and he went back to bed much happier, and slept very
+sound.
+
+[Sidenote: Planning a Voyage]
+
+Next day I put the matter to the men, and they were one and all
+exceeding favourable to it.  Their life was pretty easy now, for there
+was not much work to do; but I saw that lack of work did not make for
+happiness, and indeed Pumfrey said plainly that he would willingly
+exchange his present life for what he had formerly called his dog's
+life on board ship, for there was more variety in that, and spells
+ashore, not to speak of rum and tobacco.  So I found them all ready to
+start work at once, the only thing that daunted them being their
+ignorance, for there was not a shipwright among them, and Pumfrey, the
+ship's carpenter, said he might mend a ship, but couldn't make one.
+However, I told them that we would not try to build a vessel with
+planks, but would make a larger canoe after the model of the _Fair
+Hope_, which we had found to be perfectly seaworthy and suitable for
+the navigation of those seas.  Mr. Bodger shook his head and declared
+that no vessel of that shape would ever reach the old country, but I
+pointed out that there were many lands nearer than England, some of
+them in the possession of our own people, and if we could strike any of
+the trade routes we should certainly fall in with a vessel, and then
+our troubles would be over.  "S'pose she's a Frenchman?" says Clums.  I
+asked "What then?" for France and England were at peace when we sailed
+from the Thames, and I had no patience with the folk who looked on
+every foreigner as a dragon or a monster, and I said so.  "That's all
+true enough, sir, I dare say," says Clums, "but there's the frogs, d'ye
+see?" and I found that he looked at it from the cook's point of view,
+and did not relish the idea of preparing, much less eating, the
+articles of French fare.  But though these little objections were
+raised, there was a common readiness to set to work, and we went out
+immediately into the woods to find a tree suited to our needs.
+
+[Sidenote: The New Vessel]
+
+We soon found a giant, perfectly straight and sound, and we made
+preparations to fell it forthwith.  Billy explained to the men our
+manner of using fire, which pleased them very much, and some of them
+having good steel axes, it took not so long to fell this great tree as
+it had taken to fell the one for our canoe.  The tree being situated at
+some distance from the edge of the cliff, I was for a time puzzled how
+to transport it, as I had been before, for I thought it hazardous to
+roll a tree of such great weight over the cliff to the beach below.
+But when we had moved it to the edge over rollers, one of the men
+proposed that we should lower it by means of ropes, which we did,
+suspending the trunk to half-a-dozen trees that grew close together
+there, and paying out the ropes until the great burden was let down to
+a spot whence it might roll the rest of the way without hurt.  Having
+thus got the trunk safely to the foot of the cliffs, we hollowed it out
+with fire and axes, as Billy and I had done before, and while some were
+at this work the rest prepared a mast and spars, and also a large
+outrigger; and all toiled with such a good will, having the prospect of
+deliverance before them, that the vessel was fully equipped and ready
+for sea in about four months, as I guessed, from the day we began work
+on her.  I did not think of painting her, remembering the prodigious
+labour the _Fair Hope_ had cost us in that particular; but when some of
+the men said that a good coat of paint would make her more seaworthy,
+we resolved to do it, and for many days we did nothing but express oil
+out of nuts and mix with it the sap of the redwood tree; and I laughed
+to see what strange objects some of the men made of themselves, for
+they would raise their hands to their brows to wipe off the sweat, the
+weather being warm, and left great streaks of red behind; and it came
+into my head that the savages' custom of painting themselves might have
+begun in just such a way.
+
+When the vessel was painted there was still the naming of her, and this
+matter came up one evening when we were having our supper on the open
+ground near our hut, for we usually had our supper with the men in a
+pleasant family manner--Hoggett and Wabberley and Chick having been
+taken back to the rock.  When I asked what we were to call her, before
+any one else could speak Billy blurted out "Elizabeth Jane," and you
+never heard such a shout of laughter as then rang through the air, for
+Billy was so ready, and his face turned such a fiery hue the moment he
+had spoken, that the men "smoked" him, as the saying is, and they
+twitted him (being on very friendly terms with him now) on the lass he
+had left behind him, and when he explained, very sheepishly, that she
+was no more than eight years old when he saw her last they shouted
+again, and told him that she certainly wouldn't know him now, with his
+whiskers coming thick, and did he think she would wait for him when
+there were properer men about?  Billy took it all with surprising good
+temper, and I found out afterwards that he and Clums had become very
+close friends, and Clums told him that if he could not find Elizabeth
+Jane, or if she was already wed, he would present him to his own
+daughter Georgiana, called after the king, and a winsome lass, said
+Clums, and just husband high.
+
+We named the vessel _Elizabeth Jane_, and launched her, not by that
+device of the windlass we had used for the _Fair Hope_, but making a
+slipway of rollers, over which the men tugged her with ropes.  Then we
+sailed her on a first trip round the island, by which we learnt what
+little changes were necessary in the outrigger to keep her steady.  She
+behaved exceeding well, and the seamen were mighty pleased with her,
+and began in wondrous good spirits the preparation for the great voyage
+we purposed making.  They were greatly disappointed when I told them
+that we should have to wait a good time yet, until the season of storms
+and unsettled weather passed; but we had plenty to occupy us in the
+meantime, for there was pork and fish to salt and cure, and breadfruit
+to be prepared, for we did not know how long our voyage might last, and
+I was in some dread lest our vessel would not have stowage room for all
+the food I thought it necessary to take.  We had to make also
+water-pots of a special shape, so that they would lie snugly in the
+bottom of the vessel, and we made hurdles to cover them, so that they
+should not be broken.  This matter of water gave me much concern, and I
+resolved to fit up the _Fair Hope_ as a victualler, to follow our
+larger vessel, as such vessels do the warships: we found that she had
+room enough for a good many water-pots and a great quantity of
+cocoa-nuts beside, the juice of which was both agreeable and wholesome,
+if we did not drink it at night.  We fitted up on each vessel a light
+hoarding made of thin poles let into the gunwale, and carrying a canopy
+of bread-bark cloth, which would not only defend us from the sun's
+rays, but help to save the fresh water from evaporating.  During the
+period of waiting, moreover, the men made a good number of new arrows
+and spears, and diligently practised themselves in their use.  We kept
+the muskets in good order, but there being scarcely any powder and shot
+left we could not place much reliance on them if we should have to
+fight, which I hoped very sincerely would not be the case.
+
+[Sidenote: Retribution]
+
+One thing I had resolutely determined on, and that was that Hoggett and
+Wabberley and Chick should not accompany us.  The two last I owed a
+special grudge against, because it was they who had led my poor uncle
+on to undertake his expedition, when they were all the time meditating
+the treachery which they put in act when the opportunity came.  And as
+for Hoggett, he had built, so to speak, very well on their foundations,
+and had been the controlling force in the mutiny and all that happened
+after.  Moreover, these three were the only men who did their work on
+the island sullenly and unwillingly, for Chick's obligingness was
+merely put on as a cloak.  Though I had said nothing to make them
+suppose they would be left on the island, so that they had as great an
+incentive to further our preparations as any man, they did not in the
+least change their usual behaviour, but performed all the tasks set
+them ungraciously and with a grudge.
+
+They were marched to the Red Rock every night at sunset, and this had
+become so much a part of the order of things that they did not show any
+surprise when it was done on the very night before we were to set sail.
+I had said no word of my resolution to anybody as yet, but that night I
+told it to Billy, and he was greatly delighted, saying that the only
+thing he feared in the voyage was the presence of Hoggett.  I told him
+that if we could have kept the men prisoners I might have relented
+towards them, but since that was impossible, I feared that if they were
+let loose among the crew their bad influence would ruin any chance of
+success we might have.
+
+Accordingly, when they were brought over next morning, expecting to be
+given places in the _Elizabeth Jane_, I had a parade of all the men
+before me, and told these three plainly that they were to be left
+behind.  Hoggett went white to the lips, but said never a word, whereas
+Wabberley and Chick whined and whimpered and behaved like the sorry
+curs they were.  They pled with me with the most abject entreaties and
+promises, uttering the most piteous plaints of the horrors of solitude,
+and so forth; whereupon I pointed out to them that they were in
+infinitely better case than they had left us on the first day we came
+to the island, having a house to live in, and arms and tools, as well
+as animals and well-grown plantations.  I told them that after their
+many wickednesses they might be thankful that their lives were spared.
+Finally I showed them, to the great amazement of all, the shaft below
+the hut, and explained our device for getting water from the lake, and
+the uses to which we put the cavern beneath, and told them also of the
+passage to the shore; and then I thought Hoggett would die of rage and
+mortification, especially when he saw Clums and the rest looking at him
+with a kind of mocking pity.  He broke through his silence now, and
+poured out upon me such a torrent of invective and curses as I have
+never heard before or since, foaming at the mouth in a manner that was
+horrible to see.  Then all of a sudden he ceased, as though his words
+were choking him, and throwing upon me one last look full of hate and
+malevolence he went away by himself, and I never saw him again.
+
+We then embarked on the _Elizabeth Jane_, taking Little John with us.
+Wabberley and Chick stood on the beach, very dejected, when we launched
+the vessel, no doubt hoping to the last that I would relent.  They
+remained there until they looked but tiny specks, and we were far away
+on the ocean.  My heart was very full as I watched the island
+diminishing in the distance, and thought of the years we had spent
+there, and of all our trials and blessings, the latter outnumbering the
+former, by the grace of God.  Billy was very silent, telling me
+afterwards that it gave him a queer feeling inside, to leave the island
+which had been a proper home.  We set our course due west, as near as
+we could judge, and avoiding the island at which we had been so
+inhospitably received, we made for a small group somewhat to the north,
+where Mr. Bodger told me the men had settled for a time as mercenaries
+of the native people.  We put in at one of the islands, the people
+running away at our approach, and filled up our water-vessels, and also
+laid in a small stock of fresh cocoa-nuts, as well as fowls and other
+things, in the room of those we had consumed.  During their stay on the
+island some of the men had picked up a smattering of the language of
+the people, and they now confirmed, when the natives took courage and
+came back, what they had before understood, that there was another
+group of islands two days' paddling to the west.  With the aid of a
+favouring breeze on our quarter we came to these islands in a day and a
+half, and ran for the outermost of the group, so as to be nearest to
+the open sea if any attack were made upon us.  But here we were
+received in friendly wise, and we were fortunate again in getting news
+of another group still farther to the west.  However, when we got to
+this, after two or three days' sail, we found that the people spoke a
+tongue which none of our men understood, so that though we tried in
+every possible manner to learn from them how we should sail to come to
+other islands, we failed utterly, and saw ourselves forced to put to
+sea again, having taken in fresh food and water, without any guidance
+whatever.  There we were, then, afloat on the wide ocean, without chart
+or compass, the sport of chance, as some might think; but when I looked
+up to the sky in the stillness of night, and thought that the birds
+have no chart or compass, and not one so much as falls to the ground
+but God knows, I felt perfectly contented and easy in mind, believing
+that we should some day arrive at the haven where we would be.
+
+[Sidenote: The Voyage]
+
+It being very necessary that we should make land before our food and
+water were all spent, the men took turns at the paddles, even while the
+wind held, so that we should proceed with all possible speed.  We were
+five days without sighting land, and our water was all consumed when at
+last we came to an island; but we could not land, because a great
+multitude of savages in war-paint came to the shore brandishing clubs
+and spears, and we had to wait till night, and then some of the men
+went with me in the _Fair Hope_ to another part of the coast, and
+landing there unseen, we were able to fill our vessels.  I will not
+tell all the incidents of that voyage, even if I could remember them;
+but I may tell of one time, when we were chased by a fleet of
+war-canoes, and should most certainly have been caught, only when the
+first of the pursuing craft was but a biscuit's throw away, I fired a
+musket shot, which terrified them so much that they turned their prows
+and fled away shrieking.
+
+After several weeks, the weather having been fair all the time, we were
+caught by a storm in mid-ocean, out of sight of any land, and then for
+the first time my heart sank, and I feared we should go to the bottom.
+We had little rigging to make us top-heavy, and we managed to get that
+down before the blast took us; but the waves swept over us with such
+force that we had much ado to prevent ourselves from being washed out,
+and had no thought of anything except to cling to the thwarts, and,
+when each wave had passed, to bale for our lives.  The rope by which we
+towed the _Fair Hope_ was snapped, and she was carried away, and no
+doubt before long submerged.  In the merciful providence of God the
+storm was quickly over, but then our case was dreadful in the extreme,
+for all our provisions were ruined or else swept overboard, and the
+most of our paddles were gone.  To make matters worse, the wind
+dropped, and we had nothing but light airs that scarcely moved the
+vessel a yard a minute.  For two days and nights we lay thus, the wide
+waste of water all about us, the hot sun above, and neither land nor
+ship in sight.  On the first day not a man of us ate, and at night we
+sought to moisten our parched lips by sucking the dew from our shirts;
+but on the second day some of the men gnawed the sodden fish and flesh
+that remained, which did but increase their thirst, so that in the
+night they began to rave, and in the morning Pumfrey and Hoskin were
+dead.  We committed their bodies to the deep with great awe and
+trembling, none knowing but he might be the next.  But not long after a
+strong breeze sprang up in the east, and carried our vessel along at so
+round a pace that hope revived in our sad hearts, and Billy mounted the
+gunwale and, clinging to the supports of the canopy I have mentioned,
+he looked out eagerly for land.  When he saw none after a while he came
+down again, feeling very weak and dizzy, and had not the heart or the
+strength to try again, and so we sped on almost blindly, having just
+care enough to keep the vessel's head to the west.  And then, when we
+were again on the point of despairing, some one cried that he saw land
+ahead, and when I looked, I saw a long dark shape upon the water, above
+which a huge bank of clouds seemed to rest.  We fixed our longing eyes
+thereon, and as we drew nearer the clouds broke slowly apart, and we
+saw the sides of stupendous mountains, ten times as lofty as the
+mountain on Palm Tree Island, even in the part we saw, for their tops
+were wrapped in mist.  It was many hours, I am sure, before we drew
+near to the coast, which we saw was very precipitous, so that we
+despaired of finding a safe landing; but we steered north, skirting it,
+and came by and by to a part where the cliffs fell away, and there,
+being perfectly reckless now, for we could but die, we drove our vessel
+ashore, and it struck on a ridge of rock very like the lava beach of
+Palm Tree Island.  By great good fortune there was no depth of water on
+it, and we were able to wade ashore, which we reached more dead than
+alive.
+
+When we had rested somewhat we looked about for food, the inland parts
+being very well wooded, and we were inexpressibly thankful when we
+found both bread-fruit and bananas, and cocoa-nuts too, of which we
+made a meal, some eating so ravenously that they were very ill, and I
+feared Billy would die.  But he and the others recovered, to my great
+joy, and we camped there, and slept so heavily that if any savages had
+come upon us we should have been killed without being able to lift a
+hand to defend ourselves.  However, we saw no savages during the week
+we stayed there, and at the end of that time, being marvellously
+refreshed and invigorated, we towed our vessel off the ridge (she had
+suffered no hurt, the sea being calm) with ropes, some we had with us,
+and others we made with creepers, swimming out into the sea with them.
+Then we plaited baskets, and carried in them as much food as we could
+load into the vessel, and once more set sail.
+
+We found that our passage westward was barred by this island, which
+extended in a north-westerly direction for many miles, at least a
+hundred, I should think.[1]  When we arrived at the northern extremity
+of it, we drew in, so as to get more food, but perceiving a strange
+black smoke arising from the earth, we were afraid to approach nearer,
+nor indeed did the land appear very fertile; so we sailed past, hoping
+to discover another island before our provisions, of which we had a
+great store, were exhausted.  But day after day went by without our
+seeing any, and though we were very sparing with our food, it was at
+last all gone, and we again suffered the torturing pangs of hunger and
+thirst.  And when we woke one morning after a terrible night, we did
+not think we should live through the day, and the wild look in the eyes
+of some of the men made me fear they would go mad, or even propose to
+eat one another.  I had already observed them gazing ravenously at
+Little John, but I held him constantly at my side, being determined to
+keep him as a memento of our sojourn on Palm Tree Island.  I do not
+know but I might have been prevailed on at last to consent to his
+death, but towards evening Billy, using his little remnant of strength
+to climb on to the gunwale, cried out that he saw a sail, and called to
+me in a very hoarse voice to make a signal.  I took up my musket at
+once, and fired a shot, and then another, and then saw with great agony
+that I could fire no more, for there was no more powder in my horn, and
+the little that was in the others had been spoiled by the sea water.
+But by and by we heard a shot, and Billy cried that the vessel was
+clapping on more sail, and was coming towards us.  We were in terrible
+dread lest she should not come up with us before night, for she might
+pass us in the dark, and then we must have died.  But she came up
+apace, and heaving to, hailed us in a tongue I did not understand,
+though the vessel was of European make.  Clums, however, told me she
+was Dutch, and he answered the hail in that tongue, though his mouth
+was so parched that his voice was nothing but a croak.  He said we were
+famishing, whereupon the skipper lowered a boat, sending food and water
+to us.  When we were somewhat revived, I told the officer in the boat,
+by the interpretation of Clums, something of my story, at which he
+marvelled greatly, especially at our strange vessel, and would have
+heard more, only the skipper shouted for him to come back.  I asked
+whether the skipper would not take us aboard, assuring him that my
+uncle would pay our charges very willingly, and when he returned to his
+vessel the skipper consented to this, saying, as I heard afterwards,
+that none but Englishmen, who were all mad, would have ventured to sea
+in such a crazy craft.
+
+Accordingly we went on board the Dutch vessel, some of us having to be
+hauled up the side in slings, we were so weak.  We left the poor
+_Elizabeth Jane_ derelict, and Billy shed bitter tears, being still
+very much of a child at heart, and taking this as a sad omen,
+portending the death of the Elizabeth Jane he had known.  As for me,
+having nothing of this kind to be superstitious about, I was so joyful
+at falling in with a friendly vessel, and at the hope this engendered
+in me, that I did not spare a sigh upon the _Elizabeth Jane_, being
+indeed much more sorrowful at the loss of the _Fair Hope_, much as a
+father might feel the loss of his firstborn.
+
+I said a "friendly vessel," but it was not so friendly neither.  She
+was a Dutch Indiaman bound for Java, and the skipper, though humane
+enough to pick us up (after a promise of pay), never looked on us very
+kindly, because we were English, and the Dutch were exceeding jealous
+at the presence of English mariners in those waters, seeming to think
+that the ocean was their highway by right.  (I have observed that the
+French and the Spanish, as well as ourselves, hold the same opinion, or
+did hold it until that late gallant gentleman Lord Nelson taught them
+better.)  However, the Dutch skipper brought us to the island of Java,
+whither he was bound, and handed us over to the Governor, who put me
+through a very strict interrogation, with the aid of one of his
+officers that knew English, a clerk sitting by and writing all I said.
+He did the same afterwards with Billy and Mr. Bodger, each by himself,
+and Billy was mightily indignant when the Governor, having had read out
+some parts of my story, asked him if they were true.
+
+I do not know what would have happened to me but that the Governor's
+wife, who had lived in England and spoke English, was greatly
+interested when she heard of our strange adventures: and it chancing
+that I fell ill of a low fever, she had me brought to her house, and
+tended me with great kindness, as much as Billy would let her, for he
+was very jealous, and would not leave me.  When I was recovered, and
+this kind benefactress asked me what I would do, I said I must go home,
+and though I had no money, my uncle would right willingly pay my
+charges.  Accordingly, by her kind interest I was provided with money,
+and clothes of a Dutch cut, and took passage in a Dutch Indiaman that
+was returning to Holland with a freight of sugar, in which Java is very
+prolific, and Billy was to go with me as my servant, and Little John
+too.  I learnt that Mr. Bodger and Colam were dead, being carried off
+by a fever like mine; but the rest of the men, all but two, had found
+berths on the same Indiaman, she being short-handed owing to an
+epidemic fever that had broken out aboard on her way out.  The two last
+of our party remained at Batavia for some time, being ill and unfit to
+work; but afterwards they worked their way to Calcutta, and thence on a
+British vessel to London, as they did not fail to inform me when they
+arrived.  As for me and Billy and the dog, we went on the Dutchman,
+which touched at the Cape of Good Hope, and thence sailed direct for
+Amsterdam, and from there we got a passage to London, where we arrived
+on April 2, 1783, eight years and seven months after we departed on the
+ill-fated _Lovey Susan_.
+
+[Sidenote: Billy's Stepmother]
+
+I wrote a letter to my uncle that same day, telling him of my return,
+for I thought if I went home too suddenly the shock might do him an
+injury, especially if he had the gout.  Billy went to see his old dad,
+promising to come back next day, since I had resolved to take him home
+with me, and show my uncle the good companion of my solitude.  He was
+true to his word, and when I asked him how his people fared, he said
+his father was the same as ever, only not quite so spry, and his
+mother-in-law (as he called her) was fatter, but no less ill-tempered.
+Her first words when she saw him were, "Back again like a bad penny!"
+and after he had told her and his father somewhat of his strange life
+since he left them, all she said was, "Well, you've growed a lot, and
+big enough to work the smithy, and me and your father can take that
+little public we've had our eyes on." "Not if I knows it," says Billy
+to me; "I know what it 'ud be.  She'd always be in the bar, a-taking a
+little drop here and a little drop there, and she's a tartar when she's
+had two glasses.  Dad's a deal better off as he is, and he knows it."
+I asked him whether he had made any inquiry for Elizabeth Jane, and he
+looked at me very seriously, and said, "I knowed it meant something
+when that there boat of ours went down.  They don't know what's become
+of her, but her dad was hanged for house-breaking a year or two ago, so
+I reckon I've had a lucky escape.  I'll go and see Clums when I get
+back."
+
+[Sidenote: Home Again]
+
+We went down to Stafford next day.  The news of my return had already
+got abroad, and folk were expecting me, for there was a great crowd at
+the door of the _Bell_, and when I clambered off the coach, there was
+such a shouting and cheering as you never heard.  I didn't know I had
+so many friends.  Two great youths pushed their way through the throng
+and, gripping me by the arms, began lugging me into the inn, and one of
+them cried, "Well done, old Harry!" and then I knew it was my cousin
+Tom, and the other, who was James home from Cambridge, says, "Come on,
+Harry, Mother's in there," and when I asked where was Father, they told
+me he was crippled with the gout and couldn't come.  My aunt, good
+woman, round and rosy as ever, was all of a tremble when she saw me,
+and burst into tears as she flung her arms around my neck; and then up
+comes honest John King, the landlord, with a tumbler of rum shrub,
+which he made her drink, saying it was the finest thing in the world
+for the staggers; and the pot-boy was close behind him with four
+foaming tankards of ale, and John lifts his and cries, "Welcome home!"
+his honest face shining like the sun.  And then I remembered Billy, and
+called him in, and he came, rather red and uneasy, and the landlord
+sent for another pot when I explained who he was, and there was such a
+laughing and chattering that my head fairly buzzed.
+
+When we had emptied our tankards (Billy whispered to me, "Master, did
+you ever taste such beer?") my aunt said Father would be dying of
+impatience, so we went out again among the crowd and found them looking
+with curiosity and amazement at Little John, who sat on the door-step,
+keeping guard.  "Never seed a beast like that," says one; "what is he?"
+Billy laughed, and said it was a dog, at which they scoffed: and I may
+say here that it was a long time before the other dogs in our part
+would own Little John as one of their kind.  We got into a carriage
+waiting for us, and nothing would satisfy some of the young 'prentices
+but they must unyoke the horses, and drag us the two miles to my
+uncle's house, and there were the maidservants at the gate (more of
+them than when I went away), and they waved handkerchiefs or
+dish-clouts, I don't know which, and Billy's face was redder than ever.
+
+I found my uncle sitting in his great chair, with his leg stretched
+out, and I was not a bit surprised nor hurt when his first words were,
+"Mind my toe!" and then he cries, "God bless you, Harry, my boy," and
+flings his arms round me, and kisses me as if I were a child again
+instead of a tall fellow of near twenty-six.  And then he wiped his
+eyes and said he was an old fool, and catching sight of Billy he wanted
+to know who that was, and I tried to explain, but somehow the words
+stuck in my throat, and I couldn't say more than "Billy."  "Billy
+what?" shouts my uncle.  "Bobbin, sir," says Billy, and everybody
+laughed, and laughed again when Billy, looking very much puzzled, said,
+"Rightly, William, sir."  And then James, the graver of my two cousins,
+said we had better have something to eat, and so we did, my aunt having
+prepared a feast of fat things fit for kings, as Billy said, and finer
+by a great deal than I ever had when I was king of Palm Tree Island.
+On which everybody demanded to know what he meant, and I had to begin
+my story there and then, and it lasted all through supper and many
+hours beyond, and even then I had not told the half of it.  You may
+guess how rapt an audience I had, and how they cried out against
+Wabberley and Chick, and the indignation of my uncle and aunt at their
+villanous doings; and my admiration of Aunt Susan was vastly increased
+because she did not turn round upon her husband, as many good women
+would have done, and beg him to note that she had told him so.  When
+they heard what a close comrade Billy had been to me during those years
+of solitude and trouble they perfectly overwhelmed him with kind words
+and praises, and he said to me afterwards that he knew now why my uncle
+had called his ship the _Lovey Susan_, and he wished he had an Aunt
+Susan himself, instead of a mother-in-law.
+
+[Sidenote: Pleasant Places]
+
+When I, in my turn, came to hear of what had happened during my long
+absence, I found that after two years had passed my uncle began to be
+very restless, and when the third was gone without bringing any news of
+us, he was much perturbed, and made many visits to London to ask if we
+had been spoken by any vessel, and to see the captains of outgoing
+ships and beg them to make what search they could.  At the end of the
+fourth year he gave us up for lost, and was in such terrible distress
+of mind that he fell ill, and was a long time of recovering.  When he
+did get about again he collected all his books about the sea, and the
+voyages of navigators and discoverers, of which he had a great many,
+and burnt them every one, and never in all his life looked into any
+book of the sort again, but took to poetry instead.  His business had
+thriven amazingly, and he led me into his private room one day and
+showed me a book in which he had entered, quarter by quarter, the sums
+of money he had put away for me in case I should ever come back.  I had
+not been home a week when he drew out a deed of partnership, on such
+generous terms that by the time I was thirty I was what the country
+folk call a very warm man.  He presented Billy immediately with fifty
+pounds, and learning from him that he wished to remain with me, he said
+the best thing he could do was to learn the pottery trade, which Billy
+accordingly did, and he is now the manager of our factory.
+
+We had not been at home above six months when Billy came to me one
+evening, and said that he was a good deal bothered in his mind.  I
+asked him what was the matter, and he asked me back whether I thought
+there was anything unlucky in names.  When I told him that I did not
+think so, and he still seemed troubled, I said he had better make a
+clean breast of it, whereupon he said: "It's that little girl again,
+sir."  "Clums's girl?" I said.  "No, sir, it's Elizabeth Jane."  "You
+have found her, then?" I said.  "It's not _her_," says he; "it's them,"
+looking very gloomy.
+
+I told him to light his pipe (he had become a very great smoker) and to
+tell me all about it.  Accordingly, between puffs of his pipe, he
+explained that he thought one of my aunt's maids, whose name was
+Elizabeth, a very fine young woman; and he also thought the parson's
+cook, whose name was Jane, a very fine young woman; but that after the
+sad fate of our vessel, and the distressing discovery that the first
+Elizabeth Jane's father had been hanged, he was afraid there was
+something "unchancy," as he put it, about both names.  Moreover, he
+liked both Elizabeth and Jane so much that, even if there had been no
+shadow on their names, he could not make up his mind between them: "And
+I can't have 'em both," says he; "not even Harry the Eighth, by what
+you said, had more'n one wife at once."  I said it was a very hard
+case, and after considering of it very deeply (as he thought) for a
+good while, I told him that, being quite inexperienced in these
+matters, I was afraid my advice would be of little worth, but he might
+ask them whether they would go back with him to Palm Tree Island, and
+choose the one that said yes.  "I've done that, sir," says he heavily,
+"and they both say they'd like it ever so, if it was me."  This was a
+facer, and I knew not what to say, until by a happy thought I suggested
+that he should consult my aunt Susan, with whom he was a prime
+favourite.
+
+He came to me a day or two after and said it was all settled.  "I spoke
+to Mrs. Brent, sir," says he, "and she said 'Bless the man!  What next,
+I wonder!' and then she says that she had nothing to say against
+Elizabeth, who does her work well, but has rather a fancy for ribbons
+and laces, she says; and as for Jane, she is a very decent respectable
+woman, and a good cook, and makes dough cakes the very way Mrs. Brent
+told her, she says.  'She'd make any man a good wife,' she says."
+
+"Well, you must bring Jane to see me," I said.
+
+"Oh, but it ain't Jane; it's Elizabeth," says he, and when I had done
+laughing, and asked him why he had ignored my aunt's recommendation, he
+launched forth into a very rambling and confused statement of which I
+could make nothing.  He married Elizabeth soon after, and I do not
+think my aunt ever thoroughly forgave him.
+
+[Sidenote: One Mariner Returns]
+
+One day, about ten years ago, I was sitting with my uncle in his
+garden, chatting with him as I frequently did in the evening, because
+he could not get about much, when we saw an old man, very crooked and
+infirm, hobble up to the gate on two sticks, and lift the latch.
+Thinking he was a beggar, my uncle bade him very sharply to be off.
+For a moment he hesitated; then he opened the gate and came slowly
+towards us, my uncle shaking his fist at him, and daring him to move
+another step.  There was something strangely familiar, and yet
+unfamiliar, in his appearance; but as he still hobbled along, it came
+upon me all of a sudden who he was, and I told my uncle I believed it
+was Nick Wabberley.  "The scoundrel!  The villain!" cried my uncle.
+"How dare he show his face here!" and then he added under his breath,
+"I'm getting old, Harry," remembering, I suppose, that he and Wabberley
+were much of an age.
+
+Wabberley came towards us very slowly, and I saw that his hands were
+shaking and his features twisted.  He looked at my uncle, and then at
+me, but it was plain that he did not recognize me; and then he began to
+speak, and it was very pitiful to hear him, because with palsy upon him
+he could not pronounce some of his words aright, and the story he told
+was pitiful too.  He related how he had been left with Hoggett and
+Chick on the island by me and the stowaway, "who didn't ought to have
+left us, men what they ought to respect," said he.  Chick died; then
+Hoggett fell into a melancholy and took to going off for days alone.
+One day there was a dreadful eruption of the volcano, which terrified
+them so much that they went down into the cavern below the hut to hide,
+and when the danger was past, Hoggett refused to go up; he had lost his
+wits and thought he was in his grave.  Wabberley let down food to him
+in a basket, but he did not touch it, and so remained until he starved
+himself to death.
+
+"I was all alone; d'ye know what that is, Stephen Brent?" says
+Wabberley.  How long he lived thus solitary he knew not, but he was
+nearly out of his mind when one day a ship's boat came ashore for
+water, and brought him home, the wreck we saw him.  "You won't forget
+your old schoolmate, Stephen Brent?" says he; and my uncle, who had
+muttered "Dear, dear!" and "Poor fellow!" and suchlike things, while
+Wabberley was speaking, now thrust his hand into his pocket, and saying
+"God have mercy on us all!" gave him a handful of silver.  Wabberley
+touched his forelock in the old mechanical fashion, and without a
+second look at me he hobbled away, and as he came to the gate, whom
+should he meet but Billy, walking up to the house with his eldest son,
+a boy of twelve.  Billy stopped, and in his face I saw a great
+amazement; but Wabberley passed him by, not knowing him again.  And
+then I was surprised, and touched too, to see Billy follow after the
+poor old man, and take him by one arm, and make his boy take the other,
+to help his tottering footsteps, and so they passed out of my sight.
+
+[Sidenote: The End]
+
+I have been long of telling my story; yet I might have told much more
+but for the fear of wearying you.  Billy sometimes says he wouldn't
+have minded taking a trip to the South Seas and having a look at Old
+Smoker; but if it had come to the point I think he could hardly have
+torn himself away from Elizabeth and the little Bobbins.  As for me,
+though I have neither wife nor child, I am too busy a man, and maybe
+too old, to think of entering upon what would, I fear, be a long and
+troublesome search.  There have been many voyages of discovery in those
+parts since my time, and if Palm Tree Island is now marked on maps and
+charts for the guidance of captains and navigators, I think I should
+feel a trifle sorry did I see it under another name.
+
+
+
+[1] This must have been Bougainville Island, one of the Solomon
+Group.--H.S.
+
+
+
+
+RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED,
+
+BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND
+
+BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
+
+
+
+
+HERBERT STRANG'S
+
+BOOKS FOR BOYS
+
+
+"_Mr. Strang is the legitimate successor to the late Mr. Henty.  There
+were many chapters of Henty's, however, which boys were prone to
+'skip'; they will not be tempted to skip anything of Mr.
+Strang's._"--BIRMINGHAM POST.
+
+
+Humphrey Bold: His Chances and Mischances by Land and Sea
+
+Illustrated in Colour by W. H. MARGETSON.  Crown 8vo, cloth elegant,
+olivine edges, 6/-.  Special Presentation Edition, 7/6 net.
+
+In this story are recounted the many adventures that befell Mr.
+Humphrey Bold of Shrewsbury, from the time when, a puny slip of a boy,
+he was befriended by Joe Punchard, the cooper's apprentice (who nearly
+shook the life out of his tormentor, Cyrus Vetch, by rolling him down
+the Wyle Cop in a barrel), to the day when, grown into a sturdy young
+giant, he sailed into Plymouth Sound as first lieutenant of the
+_Bristol_ frigate.  The intervening chapters teem with exciting
+incidents, telling of sea fights; of Humphrey's escape from a French
+prison; of his voyage to the West Indies and all the perils he
+encountered there.
+
+"A most thrilling and romantic story.  We can easily understand any boy
+becoming so interested and fascinated as to want to read it at a
+sitting."--_Schoolmaster_.
+
+
+Rob the Ranger: A Story of the Fight for Canada.
+
+Illustrated in Coiour by W. H. MARGETSON, and three Maps.  Crown 8vo,
+cloth elegant, olivine edges, 6/-.  Special Presentation Edition, 7/6
+net.
+
+Rob Somers, son of an English settler in New York State, sets out with
+Lone Pete, a trapper, in pursuit of an Indian raiding party which has
+destroyed his home and carried off his younger brother.  He is captured
+and taken to Quebec, where he finds his brother, and escapes with him
+in the dead of the winter, in company with a little band of New
+Englanders.  They are pursued over snow and ice, and in a log hut
+beside Lake Champlain maintain a desperate struggle against a larger
+force of French, Indians, and half-breeds, ultimately reaching Fort
+Edward in safety.
+
+This book is recommended by General Baden Powell first among scouting
+stories for boys.
+
+
+One of Clive's Heroes: A Story of the Fight for India.
+
+Illustrated in Colour, and Maps.  Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine
+edges, 6/-
+
+Desmond Burke goes out to India to seek his fortune, and is sold by a
+false friend of his, one Marmaduke Diggle, to the famous Pirate of
+Gheria.  But he escapes, runs away with one of the Pirate's own
+vessels, and meets Colonel Clive, whom he assists to capture the
+Pirate's stronghold.  His subsequent adventures on the other side of
+India--how he saves a valuable cargo of his friend, Mr. Merriman,
+assists Clive in his fights against Sirajuddaula, and rescues Mr.
+Merriman's wife and daughter from the clutches of Diggle--are told with
+great spirit and humour.
+
+"An absorbing story....  The narrative not only thrills, but also
+weaves skilfully out of fact and fiction a clear impression of our
+fierce struggle for India."--_Athenaeum_.
+
+
+Settlers and Scouts: A Story of the African Highlands.
+
+Illustrated in Colours.  Crown 8vo, cloth, olivine edges.  5/-.
+
+An Englishman and his son emigrate to a remote part of British East
+Africa, where they settle down as farmers and stock raisers.  The story
+tells of their difficulties through the depredations of wild beasts,
+and the yet more formidable attacks of an Arab engaged in the ivory
+trade.  The story is a worthy successor to "Tom Burnaby," also an
+African tale, by which Mr. Herbert Strang made his reputation as a
+writer for boys.
+
+
+Samba: A Story of the Congo.
+
+Illustrated in Colour.  Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 5/-.
+
+The first work of fiction in which the cause of the hapless Congo
+native is championed.
+
+"It was an excellent idea on the part of Mr. Herbert Strang to write a
+story about the treatment of the natives in the Congo Free State....
+Mr. Strang has a big following among English boys, and anything he
+chooses to write is sure to receive their appreciative
+attention."--_Standard_.
+
+"Mr. Herbert Strang has written not a few admirable books for boys, but
+none likely to make a more profound impression than his new story of
+this year."--_Scotsman_.
+
+
+Barclay of the Guides: A Story of the Indian Mutiny.
+
+Illustrated in coiour by H. W. KOEKKOEK.  With Maps.  Crown 8vo, cloth
+elegant, olivine edges, 5/-.
+
+Of all our Native Indian regiments the Guides have probably the most
+glorious traditions.  They were among the few who remained true to
+their salt during the trying days of the great Mutiny, vying in
+gallantry and devotion with our best British regiments.  The story
+tells how James Barclay, after a strange career in Afghanistan, becomes
+associated with this famous regiment, and though young in years, bears
+a man's part in the great march to Delhi, the capture of the royal
+city, and the suppression of the Mutiny.
+
+"One of the best boys' books of the year, and one which will find
+favour everywhere."--_Journal of Education_.
+
+
+With Drake on the Spanish Main
+
+Illustrated in Colour by ARCHIBALD WEBB.  With Maps.  Crown 8vo, cloth
+elegant, olivine edges, 5/-
+
+A rousing story of adventure by sea and land.  The hero, Dennis
+Hazelrig, is cast ashore on an island in the Spanish Main, the sole
+survivor of a band of adventurers from Plymouth.  He lives for some
+time with no companion but a spider monkey, but by a series of
+remarkable incidents he gathers about him a numerous band of escaped
+slaves and prisoners, English, French and native; captures a Spanish
+Fort; fights a Spanish galleon; meets Francis Drake, and accompanies
+him in his famous adventures on the Isthmus of Panama; and finally
+reaches England the possessor of much treasure.
+
+
+Jack Hardy: or, A Hundred Years Ago.
+
+Illustrated by W. RAINEY, R.I.  Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 2/6.
+
+The old smuggling days!  What visions are called up by the name--of
+stratagems, and caves, and secret passages, and ding-dong fights
+between sturdy seamen and dashing King's officers!  It is in these
+brave days of old that Mr. Herbert Strang has laid the scenes of his
+story "Jack Hardy."  Jack is a bold young middy who, in the course of
+his duty to the King, falls into all manner of difficulties and
+dangers: has unpleasant experiences in a French prison, escapes by
+sheer daring and ingenuity, and turns the tables on his captors in a
+way that will make every British boy's heart glow.
+
+"Herbert Strang is second to none in graphic power and vivacity ...
+Here is the best of characterization in bold outline."--_Athenaeum_.
+
+
+King of the Air: or, To Morocco on an Airship
+
+Illustrated in Colour by W. E. WEBSTER.  Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 2/6
+
+
+Lord of the Seas: A Story of a Submarine.
+
+Illustrated in Colour by C. FLEMING WILLIAMS.  Crown 8vo, cloth extra,
+2/6.
+
+The present day is witnessing a simultaneous attack by scientific
+investigation on the problems of aerial and submarine locomotion.  In
+"King of the Air" Mr. Strang gives us a romance of modern aeronautics.
+In "Lord of the Seas" we have a companion volume dealing with the
+marvels of submarine navigation.
+
+"Without doubt Mr. Strang is at the top of his profession.  'The King
+of the Air' is one of the best boys' books in print, and Mr. Strang has
+given us an excellent companion in 'Lord of the Seas.'"--_Dundee
+Advertiser_.
+
+
+Swift and Sure: The Story of a Hydroplane.
+
+Crown 8vo, cloth extra 2/6.
+
+What the aeroplane is to the air the hydroplane promises to be to the
+sea.  This story, a pendant to the two preceding books, is a forecast
+of what may be expected from the progress of mechanical invention.
+
+
+
+HERBERT STRANG'S
+
+HISTORICAL SERIES
+
+Crown 8vo.  With 4 Illustrations in Colour, 1/6 each.
+
+
+WITH THE BLACK PRINCE (EDWARD III.).
+
+CLAUD THE ARCHER (HENRY V.).
+
+A MARINER OF ENGLAND (ELIZABETH).
+
+ONE OF RUPERT'S HORSE (CHARLES I.).
+
+WITH MARLBOROUGH TO MALPLAQUET (ANNE).
+
+
+
+
+HENRY FROWDE AND HODDER & STOUGHTON
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Palm Tree Island, by Herbert Strang
+
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