Mr McCarthy was quite surprised at the progress made.

"You've been pretty busy, sorr," he said. "Be jabers, you'll have a cabin built in no time!"

"Yes," replied Mr Meldrum, "we have got along; but you must remember we've had fourteen hands at work besides the carpenter, including Mr Lathrope and myself; and such a number of men, when their labour has been systematically divided, can accomplish a good deal in a short time. I wish we had some more timber, though! We've got the roof yet to make, and a partition or two in the inside for the proper division of the building. I have planned out a separate room for the ladies, and one for us men; in addition to a general sort of apartment, where we can all have our meals together, and which will serve as a store-room as well."

"Sure an' you don't think, sorr, we'll have to live here long!" said the first mate, a little alarmed at the magnitude of the other's plans.

"Indeed I do," answered Mr Meldrum. "It is now only the beginning of August, which is the worst season here, as I mentioned to poor Captain Dinks; and the winter will probably last from four to five months; during which time, according to all accounts that I've read of the place, we may expect to experience the most bitter weather, and have to depend entirely on our own resources; for, none of the whaling schooners that go seal-hunting in these parts ever visit the island, as far as I know, before November or December—and even then they go generally to the eastern side and do not come here! Before that time, however, that is as soon as the snow melts and the spring sets in, we'll have to try and cross over the land to one of the harbours which the whalers frequent, and which I've got marked on the chart. Until that period, Mr McCarthy, as you must perceive, we will have to remain here; so it is best for us to try and be as comfortable as we can under the circumstances. Last night, as you know, it was cold enough in all conscience; but that will be nothing to what we may expect later on when the regular gales and sea-fogs and snowstorms set in, and they continue for weeks, I believe!"

"Begorrah, it's a bad look-out!" said the mate,—"a bad look-out, anyway!"

"It is; there's no good of our blinking the fact," replied the other,—"but, still, other shipwrecked crews have borne worse hardships than we'll have to contend with, and, you know, what men have done men may do! I wish we had some more of the poor old ship's planks, however. Besides their being necessary for completing our house properly, we shall want a large supply of them for fuel during the next four months."

"Sure and they'll float ashore," said the mate.

"I don't know about that," responded Mr Meldrum. "You said just now, when you returned in the jolly-boat, that all the bows and forward parts of the vessel had been washed to pieces; and yet, of all that wreckage not a single scrap came ashore here to tell the tale before you brought the news:— what do you think of that, eh!"

"Be jabers, it's all that blissid current that takes it back agin! Sure an' I've sane it floating in foreninst the land myself."

"Well, we'll have to try and baulk the current, then," said Mr Meldrum. "We must keep a good look-out on the ship; and, as soon as we see that the stern has broken up, the jolly-boat will have to be manned and cruise about to pick up and tow ashore whatever timber and stray planks may be seen."

"Right you are, sorr," replied Mr McCarthy. "I'll say to that!"

"Say, mister," interposed the American, who had remained silent during the deliberations of the other two, although he was supposed to be present at the council and a deliberative member. "How'll the grub last all that air time! Twenty-seven folks all told, as I've kalkerlated 'em, take a powerful lot of feedin' in four months!"

"Ah!" said Mr Meldrum, "that's a serious consideration. However, with that lot of penguins there,"—and he pointed to the little colony of the quaint birds, which were still croaking and grumbling at them, not having yet become accustomed to their strange visitors,—"I don't think we'll starve! Besides these gentry, too, there will be lots more sea- fowl, and perhaps some land ones as well. Still, it will be advisable, Mr Lathrope, as you have introduced the subject, to take stock of all the stores we have, and Master Snowball must be instructed to be not quite so lavish in his display at dinner-time as he was yesterday."

"Sorry I spoke," said Mr Lathrope, rather chop-fallen at the way in which his suggestion had been taken. "I didn't want you to cut short the vittles, but only to kinder kalkerlate!"

"I'm just doing that," replied the other, "and we'll see what we've got to depend upon at once."

As the American had remarked, they were just twenty-seven souls in all: Imprimis, Captain Dinks—whose wound evidently was progressing favourably, for he had lost all those feverish symptoms that were apparent the day previous and was now in a sound sleep, after eating some thin soup which Snowball had concocted for him by Mr Meldrum's direction—Mr McCarthy, Adams, Frank Harness, Ben Boltrope the carpenter, and Karl Ericksen the rescued Norwegian sailor, besides Snowball and thirteen others of the crew of the Nancy Bell, making twenty of those belonging to the ship; while, of the passengers, there were six—Mr Meldrum, Kate, Florry, Mrs Major Negus and her son and only hope Maurice, and lastly, though by no means least, Mr Lathrope— the grand total, with the stewardess, who must not be forgotten, coming exactly to seven-and-twenty.

Now, to feed all this large family, they had brought ashore on the raft three barrels of salt beef and four of pork, six hams uncooked, besides the one which Frank had removed from the steward's pantry along with the round of spiced beef on his visit to the ship in search of the cat; some four dozen eight-pound tins of preserved meats and vegetables; about a couple of hundredweight of flour; five bags of biscuit; a few bottles of spirits; and sundry minor articles, such as pickles and salt, and one or two pots of preserves—not a very considerable amount of provender, considering the number of souls to be supplied, and the length of time Mr Meldrum thought it wise to estimate that the provisions would have to last.

Just as they were rolling back the casks under the shelter of the tent, Maurice Negus rushed up to Mr Meldrum in company with Florry, both of the children being intensely excited evidently about something they had seen or heard.

"Oh crickey!" cried out the former before he had quite got up to the party, so as to have the first voice in the matter,—"Do come! There's an awful long thing just crawled out of the sea, and it is creeping up to the tent as fast as it can!"

"Yes," chorussed Florry, "and it's like the seals we saw in the Zoological Gardens; only it's twice as big and has a long trunk like an elephant!"

"Jeehosophat!" exclaimed Mr Lathrope, feeling for his revolver. "It must be a rum outlandish animile, if it's like that!"

"Zee-oliphant," said Karl Ericksen, the Norwegian sailor, in his broken English. "He is not harmful:— he good for man eat."

"Snakes and alligators! that's prime anyhow, I reckon," put in Mr Lathrope. "I guess this air animile'll save your old stores, mister, hey?"

"I hope so," answered Mr Meldrum. "Although I've never tasted seal beef myself, I have heard it's very fair when you can't get the genuine article; the whalers generally use it, at all events, some of them even thinking it a dainty. But, let us go and see this sea-elephant that the children have discovered!"

They did not have to go far; for, the queer-looking amphibious creature had by this time crawled up on to the rocks close outside the tent, and was quite near to where they were standing—the Norwegian sailor having already seen and recognised its species before he spoke.

The animal was a gigantic sort of seal, some twenty-five feet in length and quite five high. If big, it was certainly also most unwieldy, for it appeared to waddle up from the shore with the greatest difficulty. Its body was covered with a short brown fur, with lighter hair of a dun colour under the throat; and, what gave it the singular appearance whence its name of "sea-elephant" was probably more derived than from its size, was the pendulous nostrils, which hung down over its mouth, just like the proboscis or long trunk of the children's old friend, "Jumbo."

Karl Ericksen had managed to rummage out a harpoon one day amongst the odds and ends in the forecastle of the Nancy Bell, and the sailor having been familiar with its use from long whaling experience, had not forgotten to bring it ashore when they abandoned the wreck—looking upon the weapon with almost as much veneration as Mr Lathrope regarded the rifle he had inherited from the celebrated Colonel Crockett.

This harpoon Karl now brought forth, approaching the seal with the obvious intention of despatching it summarily; when another evidence of its elephantine character was displayed, well justifying its title.

As the sailor came up to it and raised the harpoon to strike, the animal raised itself on its fore-flappers, snarling and emitting a hollow roar which startled everybody near, causing them to jump away, and give it a wide berth; while at the same time it erected its nose so that it stood out quite stiff, more than a foot long, and, opening its mouth, it exposed the bright scarlet palate and gullet, from the bottom of which its hoarse bellow proceeded. Karl, however, was not frightened by the sea-elephant's rage, but with a single swinging blow from his harpoon on the snout stretched it lifeless on the ground, when all were better able to appreciate its enormous size. Its girth alone exceeded sixteen feet, and the animal appeared all the more imposing when dead than alive.

The Norwegian sailor cut out the tongue, telling Mr Meldrum that this portion of the sea-elephant and the snout were considered great delicacies by the whalers; but none of the party relished either, although Snowball served up both at dinner in his most recherche fashion. The flesh of the body, too, was of a blackish hue, and had an oily taste about it, which made the sailors turn up their noses at it and wish to fling it away; but this Mr Meldrum would not allow.

"We will probably be glad enough to get it bye and bye," he said; and he then caused the despised seal "beef" to be cut up in pieces and salted down in one of their spare casks in case of future need.

During the time Mr Meldrum had been taking stock of their stores, before the coming of the sea-elephant—"to pay them an afternoon call," as Florry said—the carpenter, with a number of the hands working under him, had been proceeding with the house-building operations; but he had to stop at last, more from want of the proper timber wherewith to complete the job than through the darkening of the afternoon on account of the approach of night.

"I can't get along nohow," Ben explained to Mr Meldrum, who was now regarded as the head of the party, and the one to look to in every difficulty. "I'm at a standstill for planking, sir. I can manage the roof part pretty well, by breaking up those old puncheons we brought under the raft and using the staves for shingles; but the joists and rafters bother me, sir."

"Well, we must hope to get some more to-morrow from the wreck," said Mr Meldrum. "The ship cannot last much longer; but, recollect, we can't get any ashore till she breaks up."

"Aye, aye, sir, I knows that," replied Ben. "Still, I hopes it won't all drift away to sea when she do go to pieces."

"We'll try to prevent that, Boltrope," said the other. "Mind, Mr McCarthy, and have a look-out stationed in the morning to keep an eye on the ship, with a man to relieve him watch and watch, the same as on board! She's all firm now, for I saw the flag still waving when I looked before the light began to fail; but if the wind and sea get up again, as they very likely will towards midnight, tomorrow will tell a very different tale!"

"I'll have a look-out, never fear, sorr."

"And, McCarthy—"

"Yes, sorr!"

"See that the jolly-boat is ready and a crew picked for it to put off the moment any wreckage is observed floating inshore. We must not neglect any chance of securing all the timber we can for fuel, putting the house out of the reckoning entirely!"

"Indade I will, sorr," answered the mate cheerily; and then, all struck work for the day and retired into the tent, not sorry to have another easy night's rest. Every one was anxious to turn in, for really there was nothing else to be done.



CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

BREAKING UP OF THE VESSEL.

They did not sleep so soundly, however, on this occasion as they had done the first night of their landing on the island; for, soon after dark, the wind rose into a tempestuous gale, making the tent flap about in such a way that it seemed as if it were about to be carried off bodily!

As it was, indeed—through the blowing in of the sides, and the jumping up and down of the tarpaulin on the roof every now and then as the boisterous gusts got under it—a lot of snow, which had begun to fall before they retired to rest and was now coming down in a regular storm, as fast and furious as the flakes could succeed each other, managed to find its way inside, not contributing much to their comfort; and this, combined with the roar of the breakers against the base of the cliffs, which seemed louder than ever now that the men were lying down with their ears to the ground, tended to keep the majority of the castaways awake and made them long for the morning to come again.

At last, the day broke; and, as the faint light gleamed through the chinks in the tent, telling all that the dreary night was past, they quickly bestirred themselves—Snowball being one of the first to turn out, and at once hastening to kindle up the fire, which he had left carefully banked up the previous evening, besides wisely hedging it in with heavy pieces of stone so that the wind should not scatter it away, as would otherwise probably have been the case.

"Soon get drop hot coffee, massa," said he to Mr Meldrum, who was an early riser too and not far behind the darkey; "Um berry good for de tomack fust thing in mornin'!"

But the other was too much concerned about the fate of the ship to think of coffee then; and, long before Snowball had finished his remark, he was actively ascending the highest rock near to get a good view out to seaward. Here he was shortly joined by Mr McCarthy and Ben Boltrope, who were also equally anxious in the matter; although the others, not having been called, did not hurry themselves to leave the warm atmosphere of the tent for the cold and raw air without.

The lookers-out, however, could not see much as yet; for the usual surface fog—which in these regions generally creeps up in the evening and hangs over the sea till broad daylight—had not yet completely cleared away; and so, a curtain of haze shut out the offing from their gaze. Still, as far as the eye could reach, the sea was very rough, with heavy rollers rolling in landward. The gale of the night had not abated much, albeit the wind was not so gusty as it had been, while its force seemed to be lessening as the morning drew on.

"I'm afraid," said Mr Meldrum, after vainly trying for a long time to peer through the impenetrable veil of mist which hid the reef from sight, "that this last blow has settled the old ship."

"Faix, and I'm thinking just that very same," responded the first mate. "It blowed tremenjus towards four bells, sorr, an' the poor crathur must be clane smashed up by now!"

"It's very unfortunate if that has happened," replied the other. "The sea is running too high for us to launch the jolly-boat, and so we'll lose all chance of saving the wreckage."

"True for you, sorr, save and onless it drifts ashore."

"There's not the slightest hope of that," replied Mr Meldrum. "Nothing has come up on the beach here yet, that I've been able to perceive!"

"But, sure an' the wind's bin blowing on to the land, sorr, all night. P'r'aps that might make a difference!"

"Perhaps it might," said the other; "but I very much doubt it."

"Well, sorr, we'll say," retorted the mate. However, the argument was settled offhand by Ben Boltrope, who had clambered up to a higher ledge of rock from whence he could see further out to seaward over the fog, which hung low on the water and did not extend to the upper regions of the air.

"There she is, your honour, bless her old heart!" he exclaimed. "She's still hard and fast on the reef, and never another plank sprung from the starn, as far as I can see!"

This was good news; and Mr Meldrum, with the mate, hastened to join the carpenter on his perch above.

Yes, there in the distance, rising out of the mist, could be seen the upper portion of the poop of the Nancy Bell, although the wreck was still occasionally obscured by a wave breaking over it; and, presently, on the lifting of the fog, as the clouds cleared off from the face of the sky and a gleam of sunshine stole out, lighting up the sea and landscape around, it could be observed that the remains of the vessel were nearly in the same condition, apparently, as when last noticed on the evening before—save that the poor ship was now surrounded by a line of breakers which dashed over the stern continually, looking as if they meant to pull it in pieces before they had done with it!

"She's shifted more on to her side," said Mr Meldrum, who had taken out a glass from his pocket and was now inspecting the remains of the old ship more carefully. "I can see the deck clearly. The waves are spurting up through the hole where the skylight was removed, so the cabins must be pretty well washed out by this time."

"Ah! that's the rayson we couldn't say the flag, sorr," observed the mate.

"It is there still," replied Mr Meldrum; "although it is now all to port, instead of right amidships as it was when we left. This is on account of the mizzen-mast stump leaning over into the water, for I couldn't see it myself till I took the glass. She can't last much longer, though. Those seas are breaking over her with frightful force, judging by the amount of surf they send up, and they must soon make an end of her!"

"I hope it'll calm down a bit, sir," said Ben Boltrope. "I'm nervous about them timbers for the roof of the house."

"Be aisy with you, man," put in Mr McCarthy. "Sure an' all the anxiety in the worruld won't dhrive a pig to market! If we're to have the crathur's planks we'll have thim sure enough; and if we aren't, why we won't, that's all about it!"

"The sea may run easier at low water, Boltrope," said Mr Meldrum to console the carpenter; "and if she should be broken up by that time, we'll send out the jolly-boat and pick up what we can."

"Begorrah, you won't have to wait long," cried the mate; and almost as he spoke, a heavy roller was seen to lift up the wreck on the top of its crest and roll it over, after which the dark body they had observed on the reef with the little scrap of a flag fluttering over it was there no longer!

The Nancy Bell, or rather the remaining fragments of her hull, had disappeared at last beneath the waves!

"I'm afraid we sha'n't be able to save anything," said Mr Meldrum, after a moment of silence, in which each of the three witnesses of the vessel's end had drawn a deep breath, showing how affecting had been the sight. "It is such a long distance out there, and the sea is running so heavily besides, that I wouldn't like to risk the boat."

"Sure and we could thry, sorr," pleaded the first mate eagerly.

"No, Mr McCarthy, it would be hazardous in the extreme; and we ought not to peril the men's lives unnecessarily! Still, if you want to do something—"

"Bedad I do," interrupted the other, as if ready at once to dive into the sea if required.

"Well," continued Mr Meldrum, "you can post a man on the watch here and one or two other places along the cliff, to notice if anything floats inshore; and then, of course, we'll make an effort to bring it to land should the wreckage drift near."

"Aye, aye, sorr, you may dipind upon me that same," said Mr McCarthy; and, rushing down from the rock, he was soon in front of the men's compartment of the tent, rousing them out with a cry of, "Ahoy there! All hands on deck to save ship! Tumble up, tumble up there, my hearties, there's no time to lose!"

The men coming out with alacrity, half bewildered by such a hail under the circumstances and surroundings, four were picked out and posted to look out like sentinels—two on the beach and two on the ridge above— and all with strict injunctions to report anything they saw at once, just as if they were put to the same duty on board ship.

"Now, mind ye kape a good watch," said the first mate, as he left them to their own devices, "and out if you say a single hincoop floating in the say foreninst ye—though it's little enough of them you'll say, sure, considerin' they were all washed overboard off the Cape!—I mane if ye say any timbers or spars from the wrack drifting inshore, just you hould your eye on thim, or the divil a mother's son ye'll have a roof over his hid or a pace of foire to warm his-self! Faix, ye needn't snigger, ye spalpeens; it's the truth I'm afther tellin' ye!" and Mr McCarthy then went off, shaking his fist good-humouredly at those who laughed at his quaint speech.

Four other men he selected as a crew for the jolly-boat, which was hauled down on the beach in readiness to shove off as soon as any of the wreckage was reported in sight; the remainder of the hands being directed to place themselves under the orders of the carpenter until their services should be required to relieve the look-out men at the end of their watch. The duty of these latter, however, was for some time a sinecure, as the breakers were still breaking angrily against the cliffs and keeping up the hoarse diapason in which they expressed their impotent rage; while the wind, though blowing with less force than during the night time, was yet strong enough to sweep off the tops of the billows when it caught them well abeam, carrying the spindrift away to leeward and scattering the surge with its blast as it transformed it into fairy-like foam bubbles and wreaths of gossamer spray.

Noon came before there was any change.

Then, soon after the end of the ebb and just as the tide began to flow again, the wind died away into a dead calm; and the sea settling down somewhat—the rollers still rolling in, but only breaking when they reached the shore, instead of jostling one another in their tumultuous rushings together and mimic encounters out in the open—every eye was on the qui vive. It was either "now or never" that they might expect anything coming inshore from the wreck!

"Sail ho!" at length shouted one of the look-out men on the ridge. The sailor evidently could not help using the nautical term from old habit, although he well knew that there was little chance of his seeing a "sail" that quarter!

"Where away?" called out Mr McCarthy, who had the jolly-boat's crew round her, running her into the water the moment he heard the cry.

"Right to leeward of the reef, sir, about a mile out," answered the look-out, adding quickly afterwards, "it looks a pretty biggish bit of timber, sir, and rides high in the water."

"All right, my man," said the mate; "mind you kape still on the watch, and fix any other paces of planking you may say in your mind's eye! You can till me where to look for thim whin I come back agin within hail. Shove off, you beggars!" he then cried out to the boat's crew, as he jumped in over the side. "Arrah put your backs into it, for we're bound to save ivery scrap of the ould vessel we can come across, in order sure to tow it ashore!"

Watching for an opportunity, the boat's head was shoved out on top of a return wave, when, the oars being plied with sturdy strokes, the little buoyant craft was soon well out of the broken water and making steady progress in the direction that had been pointed out. No object, however, could be seen as yet by Mr McCarthy; for the rollers were still so high that when the boat was sunk in the hollow between them nothing could be noticed beyond the curving ridge of the next wave and the broken wash of the one just overtopped.

"Go it, boys, kape at it with a will," cried the mate, rising up in the stern-sheets after a while to look round better, steadying himself by holding on to the yoke-lines and leaning forwards. "Ha! I can say it now, right in front! We'll soon have it—one more stroke, and we'll be there, sure!"

"Aisy, now—avast—row of all!" he cried out in turn; and then, with a sullen, grating sound the boat brought up against a large mass of broken timberwork which the men had no difficulty in recognising as the larger portion of the poop deck. It had the combings of the companion and skylight still attached, as well as a part of one of the ladder-ways, and was in every sense a treasure trove.

"Sure we're in luck, boys, anyhow," said Mr McCarthy joyfully. "Be jabers, I niver expected to git so much ov it all at once without any trouble!"

The first mate proceeded without delay to attach the small hawser which they had used for towing the raft to a ring-bolt, left as if for the purpose on the floating mass; and then the men, backing water on one side, and pulling sharp on the other, soon had the boat on her way back to the land, with the mass of broken timberwork trailing behind her. It was in itself, without picking up another plank, more than sufficient to supply all the carpenter's needs for the roof of the house, "besoides making the ladies a prisint of a staircase for the front door," as Mr McCarthy observed!

It was fortunate they came across this, for little more of the wreckage was secured, the tide having evidently carried out the lighter portions of the planking too far to sea for it to be brought back again by the returning flood. It was probably only owing to the weight of the poop- deck that they had been able to make certain of that.

Still, on making a trip out to the reef later on, to see whether any more of the timbers remained there, a "find" was discovered which greatly rejoiced Snowball's heart when it was brought on shore.

This was nothing less than one of the ship's coppers, which had become detached from the galley framework and in falling on to the reef had managed to get securely fixed between the rocks, just a little below the surface of the water. A couple of the men were easily able to pull it up into the jolly-boat, where, on being inspected, it was found perfectly sound and as good as ever!

"Golly, massa," exclaimed the darkey, when Mr Meldrum presented him with the recovered copper—which Snowball looked upon almost as the apple of his eye—"me able cook pea-shoop now, sah, and bile de beef in 'spectable style, sah! Dat sospan, massa, no good for ship's company. Um bile, and bile, and bile, and nebbah bile enuff!"

"Ah! mind you don't go cooking too extravagantly," said Mr Meldrum. "If I see you wasting anything, I'll taboo the copper."

"Lor, massa, I'se too careful for dat," replied the negro cook, with a grin which displayed his ivory-mounted mouth from ear to ear; "when de men sing out for more thoop, why, sah, I just water um grog! Yah, yah! ho, ho!" and he burst into a roar of laughter in which those around could not help joining, the darkey's hearty merriment was so contagious.



CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

KERGUELEN CABBAGE.

While Mr McCarthy and the jolly-boat's crew were thus trying to save all the "flotsam and jetsam" they could from the wreck, Ben Boltrope and those of the crew told off to help him, as "carpenter's mates," were as busy as bees house-building, if running up the shanty which Mr Meldrum had designed could be so designated; while the rest of the party were lending all the aid they could in fetching and carrying what the actual workers required.

It was only a rough wooden hut, or rather "composite" structure; but as it was more than probable that it would have to be the home of the shipwrecked people for some five months at the least, no trouble or pains were spared in endeavouring to make it as substantial and comfortable under the circumstances as Ben and his active assistants could effect with the limited means at their command.

The gable-end of the cliff, under whose lee the hut was erected, so as to gain shelter from the southward and westward winds, which seemed to be the most prevalent on the coast, presented a flat and even face, just like a slab of black slate standing up perpendicularly from the ground. The wall of rock, which was of a hard volcanic material that was evidently not porous, was made to serve for the back of the building, a niche or groove being excavated along it, about ten feet from the bottom, for the insertion of the ridge poles. This was a task of some difficulty, owing to the toughness of the stone; but it was a necessary one in order to prevent the moisture from above trickling down into the interior between the roof and the face of the cliff. The lower ends of the ridge poles, which sloped down from the top at an angle of some fifteen degrees, were then firmly fastened to the posts placed in the holes dug for them and lashed together with stout seizings of rope and sennet, so strongly that it would almost have taken a hurricane to have blown them away.

The next proceeding was to fix, at equal distances apart across the rough framework of the roof, a series of slender scantlings cut from the deck planks by splitting them with an axe, which Ben was forced to make use of on account of his having no saw, that and other similar useful instruments having been left in his tool-chest, which had been placed in the long-boat when the first preparations were made for abandoning the Nancy Bell.

The scantlings were secured to the ridge poles diagonally, not only for greater security but on account of the shortness of some of the pieces of timber they had and the necessity there was for their economising it; and, over the scantlings were laid in due order, the one overlapping the other to prevent any crevices in between, the shingles which the ingenious carpenter had improvised out of the staves of the empty casks—although, as the space to be covered amounted to some seven hundred superficial feet or thereabouts, every one of the casks had to be broken up save the six containing their beef and pork and the salted- down flesh of the sea-elephant, Ben even then hardly having enough shingles for his purpose.

However, casks or no casks, the roof of their house was a consideration that stood at the moment before all others; and, being now properly shingled, it was rendered additionally watertight by spreading over it the old tarpaulin and sail that had already temporarily done duty above their tent, and then giving them a good coating of pitch. A supply of this article had been fortunately thrown on to the raft along with the other odds and ends that had came in so usefullys and it was now melted down in Snowball's recovered copper. The finishing touch was given to the structure by piling several big boulders over the upper row of shingles along the ridge pole, for greater stability and to prevent boisterous Boreas from playing any of his rude tricks to its disadvantage.

The roof done, all hands turned their attention to raising the sides of the shanty. This was a much easier job, consisting in nailing rough pieces of planking at intervals across the corner-posts from end to end, both inside the building and without, and then filling up the interstices, or intervening hollows, with the basaltic debris that was scattered around—just as rubble is thrown in between skeleton brickwork by what are termed "jerry-builders" to form party-walls of modern tenements. The side walls were then carried up to within a foot or so of the eaves of the roof, the sail-covering of which after being allowed to lap over was now tucked in at the top, thus closing up the chinks and making all snug.

The front of the shanty was afterwards finished off in the same way, although more planking was employed as greater nicety of detail was necessary in order to arrange for the doorway and windows, for which latter the remains of the cabin sky-light Frank thought of bringing ashore supplied the material; but it took a couple of days to complete the building to the satisfaction of Ben and Mr Meldrum, notwithstanding which drawback the whole party took possession of it the night after the wreckage had been landed, the recovered timber enabling the carpenter and his crew to proceed with the work—all declaring that the house was perfect and ever so much better than the discarded tent, in spite of many things being still wanting.

In the interior, of course, a flooring had been dispensed with, from the simple fact of their having no wood to spare for such a luxury; but otherwise it was made to look very comfortable.

Through the aid of canvas curtains suspended from the roof, it was divided, as Mr Meldrum had originally planned, into three tolerably commodious apartments, the cosiest and most sheltered of which, at the extreme end of the building, was apportioned to the ladies some sailcloth being spread on the bare ground to render it warmer; while the middle and larger room was reserved as a store and place of general assembly for eating and carrying on such avocations as were required when the weather was too rough for out-of-door work.

The third apartment, at the beach end of the building, was devoted to the dormitory accommodation of the men folk, who slept on the bare rock below in their blankets—Mr Meldrum, with the American and the officers of the ship swinging above the crew in hammocks.

They had a tight fit of it altogether, some one-and-twenty sleeping in a space of not more than twenty feet by eight, according to the dimensions of the floor; but Captain Dinks' cot was hung for the present in the general compartment, on account of his wounded condition and the necessity of his having free air and ventilation, lest there should be a return of his feverish symptoms, which a confined atmosphere might have brought about.

When all these arrangements were completed, and the stores neatly ranged round the central division, which Ben Boltrope had further adorned with a rough deal table and some settles placed in the centre, the place presented quite a homelike appearance to the castaways. The children, indeed, declared that it was like the cuddy of the poor old Nancy Bell—that is, when things went well with the vessel. This resemblance was especially apparent on the second night after taking possession of the new house, when it was "declared open" in state, on which occasion it was lit up by no less than two of the ship's lanterns as a sort of house warming in honour of the event. Snowball was also allowed by Mr Meldrum to spread the festal board with as luxurious a feast as their scanty supplies permitted, a bottle of wine being subsequently produced for the ladies and grog served out to the men.

"I guess, mister," said Mr Lathrope, who took quite as much pride as Mr Meldrum in the building—indeed had an equal share in planning its construction, although he did not work quite so hard in carrying out the details—"I'd a sight rayther have this air shanty than a brown stone front in Philadelphy—yes, sir!"

"Well, we've got a roof over our heads at all events!" replied Mr Meldrum, "and I confess I was anxious about that point. We've had exceptionally fine weather for the time of year here, however, and there's no knowing how soon it will turn off; so, now that our house is finished, the next thing to be considered is the state of our provisions."

"Ah!" said the American, "I kalkerlate that's coming to hum."

"The food question is a vital necessity in most cases, and especially now in ours,"—continued the other—"taking into account the many mouths we have to feed."

"But the Lord filleth the hungry, we're told," said Mrs

Major Negus, who had developed, since landing on the island, what had evidently been a strong religious trait previously dormant in her character, if quoting Scripture texts were any proof of this disposition.

"Ah ma'rm," responded Mr Lathrope, "don't you believe it, unless the hungry work for it."

"And much you've done to earn your food!" said the lady tartly.

"Wa-al, ma'rm, if it warn't for me, as Mr Meldrum here will tell you, I've no doubt yer wouldn't have a chimbley, nor nary fire to sot by inside haar!"

"A fine smoky chimney it is too!" retorted Mrs Major Negus. "It is quite suffocating, I declare."

"That's better nor bein' friz," said the American, with some little heat. He was rather annoyed at having his special contrivance sneered at, for it was only after repeated attempts and failures that the building party had at last managed to rig up a fireplace against the back wall of the shanty—running up through the roof of the "general" room a chimney-shaft of loosely piled stones, enclosed within a framework of planks to which was nailed on the sea-elephant's skin in order to prevent the wood from catching fire. This served the purpose of warming the whole of the interior, as the other apartments opened into this room, which indeed also provided the only means of communication with the outside of the hut, the principal and solitary door of the establishment being here.

"I'd sooner be smoked any time fur chice, myself, than friz!" said Mr Lathrope again, as if to provoke his opponent.

"No wonder," retorted the lady, eager to have the last word, "when you're at it all day long, smoking your brains out with that vile tobacco!"

"What were you going to say about the provisions, papa?" interposed Kate at this juncture, in order to give a turn to the conversation, which seemed to be getting a trifle too personal between Mr Lathrope and "the Major."

"Well, my dear," said her father, glad of the interruption, "I was about to call a council of war. What we have can't last us very long, at our present rate of consumption. We shall have to eke it out, as far as it is practicable, by the native products of the island."

"That's snow and pumice-stone, as fur as I ken see," put in Mr Lathrope; "and I guess I must be durned peckish fore I tackle those!"

"You forget the seals and the penguins," said Mr Meldrum.

"Waal, mister," rejoined the American, "we've only seed one seal, as I reckon. That was that air 'Sea Olly-fant,' as the Norwegee called it, and the animile's meat warn't 'zackly what this child ken stomach! As for them penguins, I guess they're kinder fishy."

"My dear sir, we can't be squeamish," said the other. "Perhaps we'll be only too glad to get anything we can presently! Besides the seals and birds, however, there's something else I shall have to look after to- morrow. It is what I should have thought of before, only we were so busy about the house—some vegetable food to eat with our salt beef. We must use some antiscorbutic; and we haven't a tin of our preserved stock left, I think."

"And whar'll you find vegetables haar, mister?"

"Why, there's one specially distinctive of the island and I daresay we'll not have to hunt far for it. From the accounts I've read it ought to grow quite close to the seashore."

"And what's that, mister?" asked the American.

"Kerguelen cabbage," promptly answered Mr Meldrum.

"Snakes and alligators, mister! Do you expect to find sich kitchen stuff haar?"

"I do," replied the other; "and intend to search for it to-morrow morning, as soon as I turn out!"

"It was lucky we have poor puss, papa," said Florry just then. "We would have had all our things eaten up by the mice only for her."

"Dear me!" ejaculated Mrs Major Negus, drawing her skirts closer to her in alarm, "you don't say so? Mice! gracious goodness that I ever should have come to such a place. Of all the things I hate, those nasty creatures are the worst."

"Ah! ma'rm," put in Mr Lathrope, seeing his chance of revenge for the lady's comments on his chimney; "if all Mister Meldrum kalkerlates comes true about the shortness of our provisions, I guess you'll be glad to eat 'em bye and bye! I've seed the Chinee immigrants gobble 'em up in Californy often enough!"

"Disgusting!" ejaculated Mrs Major Negus, raising her nose in the air with an expression of intense scorn. "I for one, sir, will never descend to adopt Chinese fashions and live on rats and mice, whatever you may have learnt to do in your travels."

"Pray, do not alarm yourself," interposed Mr Meldrum, laughing. "Can't you see that Mr Lathrope is only joking! I do not dread our being reduced to such a sad extremity as he pictures! Are you sure about the mice, Florry?"

"Oh yes, papa," answered that young lady. "Pussy killed four not long ago, and brought them purring, one after another, to Kate and me—as if to show us what she had done! Besides, I'm sure I heard them squeaking behind the boxes last night."

Florry's statement was true enough, for on hunting amongst the stores it was found that the corners of the bags containing the small supply of biscuits they had left had been nibbled through and their contents scattered on the ground; in addition to which there were other evidences of the presence of the little depredators. The mice must have been originally introduced into the island by some whaling ship; and, they had evidently multiplied considerably since then, for they were now very numerous and puss would have all her work cut out for her in keeping them down.

In spite of the mouse diversion, Mr Meldrum did not forget what he had said about the "Kerguelen cabbage."

Instituting a search next day, it was not long before he came across the plant in a little hollow, close to the fresh-water tarn adjoining their hut and just peeping out from a thin covering of half-melted snow that lay on the ground.

This peculiar vegetable production, which was first noticed by Captain Cook a century ago and is indigenous to the island, is termed by botanists the Pringlea antiscorbutica, and belongs to the order of plants classed as the Cruciferae, which embraces the common cabbage of every household garden, the radish, and the horse-radish—to the latter of which the Kerguelen cabbage is the most closely allied, on account of its hot pungent taste when eaten raw as well as from its habit and mode of growth.

Mr Meldrum could not have failed to discover and recognise it at first sight from the description he already had, for the leaves of the plant grew thick about the root and put forth an upright stem, some two to three feet high, from which proceeded shoots, like broccoli sprouts on an enlarged scale, the outer petal-like leaves of which were six to eight inches long, and of a dark olive-green hue and fleshy nature, rounded and ciliated at the margin; while the inner leaves were of a paler green that approximated to yellow in the centre, where they were crumpled together, exactly like as in the "heart" of the well-known cabbage, to which the vegetable bore a very close likeness on being first seen.

"Begorrah, it's a cabbage, all the worruld over!" exclaimed the first mate, who had accompanied Mr Meldrum in his quest. "Sure you'd hardly know the hid ov the baste, if it was cut off, from one grown in Connemara!"

"Not quite so strong a resemblance, perhaps," replied Mr Meldrum, smiling. "Still, there's likeness enough to recognise its membership to the general cabbage family; but, we have yet to try how it tastes!"

"Aye, aye, sorr," said Mr McCarthy. "The proof of the pudden's in the aiting, sure!"

However, the Kerguelen cabbage stood this test well enough.

It was tried that very day at dinner; and, although tasting slightly acrid and hot flavoured when raw, on being cooked in the same water in the copper in which some salt pork had been boiled, it seemed not very much dissimilar to the native home-grown article commonly known as "greens."

"I guess, mister, it air downright prime, an' no mistake," said Mr Lathrope, passing opinion on its qualities; "and more'n that, it fills a feller up fine!"

"Begorrah, it's jist like bacon and greens!" observed Mr McCarthy.

The majority of the men, too, relished it greatly. It was a long time since any of them had tasted fresh meat much less vegetables, by reason of the Nancy Bell not having stopped at any port on her way after leaving England; so, thenceforth, both on account of its antiscorbutic as well as from its "filling up" qualities, the plant invariably formed a leading feature in the dietary scale of the castaways; Snowball never failing to have a plentiful supply of "cabbage" to cook when meal times came round, or else he or somebody else in fault for its absence, would have to "tell the reason why!"



CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.

COLONEL CROCKETT'S RIFLE.

Captain Dinks was gradually getting better; but his recovery was so very slow that it would be weeks before he would be able to quit his cot. His wound had been a severe one, and had narrowly missed his heart.

Under these circumstances, therefore, Mr Meldrum still retained the position of chief of the party—not only the first mate and Mr Adams acquiescing in the arrangement, which the poor captain desired; but the general bulk of the men themselves, who were prejudiced in his favour from Ben Boltrope's frequent yarns of his ability when an officer in the navy, requested his continuing to be their leader by acclamation, when he expressed a wish of surrendering the command as soon as they had landed safely from the wreck and things had been made comfortable for them on the island. This was only a repetition of what they had done when they were in peril of their lives on board the Nancy Bell, at which momentous time, it may be remembered, Mr McCarthy, speaking on behalf of all, had asked him to assume the direction of things and endeavour to extricate them from danger, looking upon him as the most competent person to guide them in the emergency.

Just so, now, on his speaking of relinquishing the leadership, he was requested to retain it for the common benefit, at least until Captain Dinks should be able to get about. This was the more desired from the fact of Mr Meldrum having managed matters so well for them already that they expected him to "see them through" all present difficulties.

As on the previous occasion, Mr Meldrum did not hesitate to retain the post, believing from his training and experience in commanding bodies of men that he really would be the best leader they could have, in default of the captain; but, before consenting to the general wish, he addressed all hands, impressing on them the necessity of implicit obedience to his orders and a rigid attention to whatever duties he might set them— adding that they might be certain he would not tell them to do anything which was not, to the best of his impression, for their own good.

To this the men assented with a cheer of acquiescence, and he then dismissed them with the assurance that he would endeavour to deserve the confidence they had displayed in him. But, prior to separating from Mr McCarthy and Adams, Mr Meldrum drew up a code of rules for their guidance, premising that where a large party of seamen such as they had under them were thus thrown ashore with no regular duties to perform, such as they had on board ship, it was most urgently necessary that employment of some sort should be made for them; not only to keep them out of that mischief which the evil one is proverbially said to find "for idle hands to do," but also to prevent them from dwelling on the misery of their situation.

"We must keep watches, turn and turn about," Mr Meldrum explained, "just the same as we did on board the ship; for, although there'll be no sails to attend to, in the cold nights which we will shortly have the fire will need careful looking after to prevent it from going out and leaving us all perhaps to freeze to death, while, in the daytime, there will be seal-hunting and water fetching to employ the hands, besides seeing to keeping the rooms clean. These and such similar duties must be performed regularly, so that through their aid the long hours will pass the more rapidly, until we are able—as I trust we shall about November, when the snow melts here, I believe, and we can travel—to start towards the other side of the island, where I hope we'll fetch some harbour where the whalers touch, and get taken on board and landed at the Cape or some other civilised spot. But, mind, in order to do this," he added in conclusion, "we must all work together in harmony; and, to prevent discord, and all sorts of unpleasantness, we must keep the men constantly employed—not too onerously, but so that they shall always have something to do—in order that the weary time of waiting shall not hang heavy upon them. However, my friends, to encourage them, you must likewise find something to be busy at for yourselves, as I shall find for myself! Excuse this little bit of a sermon, gentlemen," said Mr Meldrum at the end of his discourse; "but I thought it necessary to say it, as I've seen the evil of having a lot of men about me with nothing for them to do on a foreign station before now, and I've learnt wisdom by experience!"

"True for you, sorr," replied Mr McCarthy, stretching out his brawny fist; "and there's my hand on it to say I'll attind to your orders, if it's to holystone the face of that ould cliff there."

"All right, my friend!" said Mr Meldrum, shaking the hand outstretched cordially. "I see we understand each other; and, believe me, I'll not be a hard taskmaster."

"I'm certain of that, sir," responded Mr Adams; and the trio then parted company to carry these arrangements into effect, the first result of which was that everybody looked more cheerful than they had been since the completion of the house, after finishing which some dulness and lassitude had been observable in the men, coupled with a tendency to idle about and mope.

This soon disappeared now when the first mate and Mr Adams, in pursuance of Mr Meldrum's directions, made them bustle about here and there.

They did all sorts of jobs. They scraped the jolly-boat's planking, and pitched her inside and out; after which they collected all the stray blocks of basalt they could find and built a "shebeen," as Mr McCarthy called it, to contain her, and then housed it and her over with all the spare planks they could get hold of—marching miles along the black sandy beach for the purpose of seeing what stray timber might be stranded. In addition to this work achieved, they rigged up a flagstaff on the head of the cliff and used to signal from thence at stated hours of the day. In fact, they were employed in doing everything that could be thought of to give employment to their minds and bodies, McCarthy and Adams finding them fresh jobs continually.

Amongst all these various tasks, however, the very needful one of replenishing their gradually diminishing larder was not forgotten.

"We've got some green-stuff," said Mr Lathrope—whom the question of eating, or rather what to get to eat, seemed more materially to affect than anyone else—"and I ain't a-going to gainsay but what it's fust- rate green-stuff of the sort, and right down prime filling stuff too; but, mister, we ain't all ben brought up to live on sauerkraut, like them German immigrants as I've seed land at Castle Garden, New York. I, fur one, likes a bit o' somethin' more substantial, that a feller can chew. 'Spose we goes a-huntin', hey?"

"Very good," replied Mr Meldrum to this exordium; "but what shall we hunt!"

"Anything you durned please, siree," said the other. "There's seals and them penguins besides lots of cormorants and sichlike."

"Well, I don't think the seals will want much hunting or shooting," said Mr Meldrum; "for, if we come across any, a stroke over the nose with a stick will settle them, and the same can be said of the penguins— although I don't want them to be disturbed yet, as it will soon be their breeding season and I hope to get a lot of eggs from the little colony adjacent to us. As for the cormorants, if you complained about the former birds having a fishy taste, you'll find these fishier still. However, to relieve your mind, I believe that there are a number of wild rabbits on the island, so we'll try to shoot some of those."

"Bully for you!" exclaimed Mr Lathrope. "We'll go rabbit-hunting, mister, as soon as you please. If there wer one thing I liked in the old country it wer rabbit-pie, and it kinder made me lonesome to think I'd never fix my grinders through another 'fore I got played out!"

"I've heard, too," continued Mr Meldrum, "that there's a very fine sort of tern or duck here that is good eating; and I fancy I saw a brace fly across the creek the other day. We might come across some!"

"If we dew," said the American complacently, tapping the barrel of the old rifle he had brought ashore as his most valued possession, and spoken of as the gift of his deceased grandfather, "I guess Colonel Crockett haar ken give a sorter good account of 'em. When I draws a bead with that thaar rifle, mister, what I shoot at's as good as a gone coon!"

"I hope you'll have plenty of practice with it then, to the advantage of our dinner-table," replied Mr Meldrum pleasantly, preparing for the expedition by loading carefully a double-barrelled gun which he too had saved from amongst the various goods and chattels he had left on board the wreck. "You can have all the rabbits I kill if you let me have the ducks."

"That's a bargain, mister," said Mr Lathrope; "though I guess you'll gain by the swop."

"Sure and it sames to me you're both countin' your chickens afore they're hatched," observed the first-mate with a huge grin at his own joke.

"You're not far wrong, Mr McCarthy," said Mr Meldrum. "I, for one, don't expect to come back overladen with game; but of course I can't answer for my friend here, who may be another American 'Deerslayer,' for all I can tell, though he'll find rabbits his biggest quarry on this island."

"Sir," retorted Mr Lathrope, "I ain't goin' to let out all I ken dew, fur a leaky sieve's gen'rally bad for holdin' water, I guess; but, you jest wait and see what you jest see!"

"Arrah sure and we will, sorr," said Mr McCarthy, bursting into a regular roar of laughter, in which Mr Meldrum and the others joined— Mrs Major Negus being especially prominent in her merriment, as she always was when anything was said to the American's disadvantage, he being apparently her direct antipathy. "But I hope, sorr, though it goes agin my own counthry to say it, what you bring back won't be as much as Paddy shot at."

"You slide along with your durned brogue," was all the retort that Mr Lathrope condescended to make to this hit. It touched him, however, on his tenderest point, for he certainly prided himself on his proficiency in the use of "the lethal weapon;" so, when he turned round and observed that Master Snowball had heard the remark and was indulging in a quiet guffaw at his expense, he rounded on him a little more sharply. "I guess you'd better stow that, you ugly cuss!" said he menacingly; "or else I'll soon make you rattle your ivories to another toon!" Whereupon the darkey reduced his grin to a proper focus and endeavoured to look as grave as he could.

This appeased Mr Lathrope at once.

"Oh! durn it all, nigger, laugh away," he said, his wrath passing away as quickly as it had risen. "I guess those ken laugh who win;" and he handed Snowball a chaw of tobacco to show that he did not harbour any ill-will.

Leaving their house on the creek—which, by the way, Florry had christened "Penguin Castle," in consequence of its propinquity to the colony of queer sea-fowl—Mr Meldrum and Mr Lathrope, with Frank Harness, who was also of the shooting party as well as two men to help in carrying back home the fruits of the sport, all pursued their way in company up the valley in a north-easterly direction to the right of the cliff against which the house was built.

The ground here rose gradually as they went along, and the walking became rather heavy after a time, in consequence of the snow having partly thawed and the soil beneath it being of some sort of peaty substance, into which their feet sank deeply at each step.

Presently, Frank, to whom Mr Meldrum had lent a second gun he had brought ashore, saw a bird just like a little bantam cock, which he at once shot.

This bird was pure white, with strong yellowish feet, that were not webbed like those of aquatic habits, rather short wings like those of a game bird, a strong black bill, stout spurs, and a bold black eye, which latter seemed to reproach Frank when he went to pick it up. Mr Meldrum said it was what was called a sheathbill, and not good for eating, which made Frank regret all the more having killed it, especially when its mate hopped up to him presently—as if asking him why he had shot her husband!

It was next Mr Lathrope's turn, a wild duck flying right over his head; but, somehow or other, "Colonel Crockett's rifle" didn't happen to be just ready in time, and the duck would have escaped but for Mr Meldrum's bringing it down with his right barrel. It was really very curious.

The same thing resulted when a second teal, or widgeon—the wild duck appearing to partake of the characteristics of both varieties—came by. Strange to say, the American's weapon again missed fire, and Mr Meldrum had to kill the bird with his left barrel. These repeated failures to bring down anything made Mr Lathrope use rather strong language anent the rifle.

"Burn the old thing!" said he; "I can't make out what's come over it. My old grandfather's shot scores of deer with the tarnation weppin, and I guess it's jest cranky, that's all. I bet I'll shoot the next fowl that comes across haar, or I'll bust it."

Unfortunately, however, no more ducks were to be seen; but as they ascended a rather steep and bare hill at the back of their own cliff, and somewhat sheltered, like that, from the ocean winds, they noticed one or two little objects, jumping up and down out of holes in the ground and then scuttling back again—not from any alarm at their appearance, but as if only in play, for they did not interrupt their pastime for a moment as the shooting party approached.

"By Jove! there are the rabbits," said Frank, levelling his gun.

"Jeerusalem! so they air," exclaimed Mr Lathrope. "Dew let me hev the first shot!"

"All right; fire away!" replied Mr Meldrum, who was ready to aim at a couple of the little creatures that were sitting up on a fragment of rock right opposite the three sportsmen, apparently combing their whiskers and eyeing them curiously the while. So near were they, indeed, that the most unskilful marksman in the world could hardly have missed them.

"Here goes, mister!" ejaculated Mr Lathrope, pulling the trigger of his piece with as strong an effort as if he were wrenching back a gate-post. "I guess you'll soon see the fur fly."

Instead of this, however, the phenomenon was witnessed of the fragments of the rifle dispersing in all directions the moment it was discharged, the American being at the same time knocked backward to the ground by the kick of the weapon, which went off with a loud report.

"You're not hurt, I hope?" asked Mr Meldrum, who with Frank had at once hurried to the American's side and taken hold of his hand to raise him up.

"No, I guess not," replied Mr Lathrope slowly, getting up on to his feet and proceeding to feel himself carefully all over. "No, I ain't hurt; but I feels flummuxed by the durned old shootin'-iron. I kalkerlate my grandfather was a fraud, and took me in on that job. I would ha' betted my bottom dollar on the weppin, and now it ain't worth a cent!"

There was a pretty good laugh round at "Colonel Crockett's rifle," and what it had brought down, but the American took it all with very good temper. After that, Mr Meldrum and Frank handing him their guns alternately, so that they all three could have a fair number of shots apiece, they managed to make a very good bag out of the rabbits, which were not in the least dismayed either by the bursting of the rifle in the first instance, or by the rapid disappearance of their companions subsequently, although each discharge of the sportsmen's guns laid many of them low.

Indeed, they might have shot the lot had not Mr Meldrum observed that they had secured enough; besides which, the two sailors who accompanied the party said they could not cram any more into the sacks they had brought. Thereupon all set about counting the spoil, and found that they had bagged no less than sixty-three brace.

These, with five wild ducks—Mr Lathrope bringing down a pair right and left, on their way back, in a fashion which amply retrieved his character as a shot, and Frank securing the odd one—were the nett result of the day's sport, in addition to the little sheathbill; and the shooting party returned to the house under the cliff as well satisfied with their own prowess as the home party were to welcome them, especially as they were now so plentifully provided with what all had been longing for since the last sheep had been washed overboard the Nancy Bell when she was off the Cape—fresh-meat!

That very day Mr Lathrope had a pie made for his own special delectation by Snowball as a sort of amende honourable for the darkey's laughter at Colonel Crockett's celebrated rifle, which had come to such a deplorable and dangerous end; and, for some time after, the entire community of "Penguin Castle," with the exception of the penguins themselves, feasted upon bunnies ad libitum, until they could say, as did the servants of that parsimonious nobleman who fed them without change on similar fare:—

"Of rabbits young and rabbits old, Of rabbits hot and rabbits cold, Of rabbits tender and rabbits tough, Thank the Lord, we've had enough!"



CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

A CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION.

In spite of the abundance of their supply of rabbits, however, Mr Meldrum would not allow them to be prodigally wasted.

Wisely "providing for a rainy day," he caused a considerable quantity to be split open and cleaned; and, after the skin was removed, had them rubbed over with dry salt, of which fortunately they had plenty. The carcasses were subsequently hung up on lines across the general room, adjacent to the fireplace, the warmth of which in a short time cured them like hams, so that they would keep for weeks, and even months if not required for culinary purposes earlier—as, it eventually turned out, they were.

It was a lucky thing that the shooting party went on their excursion when they did. Had they delayed it, as might have been the case, until they had turned their attention to the seals—which it had been Mr Meldrum's intention first to have hunted, in order to obtain as many furs as possible before the severe cold weather, that he expected soon to set in—they might have starved; for, the very day that succeeded the one on which they brought home the rabbits, a heavy fall of snow commenced that completely blocked up all the approaches to the creek, and compelled them to remain indoors during the ensuing week. The wind blew so terribly keen and strong from the north-east, right over the cliffs on the opposite side of the bay, during the whole time the snow continued to fall, that it was painful in the extreme to be exposed to it; while, if the door of the house happened to be left open but for a few minutes, the driving snow-flakes made their way within and banked themselves up like a heap of frozen drift in their midst.

"Ah!" said Mr Meldrum, "I told you that the fine weather we had was very exceptional, and could not last. It was providential that we were prepared for this, or we should have been in a miserable plight."

"You're right, boss," observed Mr Lathrope. "This air snow-storm is jest like one of them blizzards I told you about when we were aboard the old ship that I had noticed in Minnesota. I didn't kinder think then that I should come across another o' them this side of the globe! I'd ha' bet agin it any day."

"Aye," responded the other, "it is a fortunate thing for all of us that we cannot foresee the future, and that our strength is apportioned by degrees to the burdens sent us to bear. The great majority of us would succumb at once if we only knew the struggle that lay before us, the griefs, the trials, the mental weariness, the physical pain!"

"Oh, papa," said Kate, "don't speak so sadly! Let us rather think of the joy and unlooked-for happiness which so frequently comes to our lot when we have the least cause to expect them; and—and—" but here the girl's voice faltered.

Kate well knew the reason of her father taking so sombre a view of life, and she shared the sorrow that filled his heart, for her mother had but died a short period before they left England.

"Think, papa," she added, after a pause, "of the glorious hope of eternity, and the city within the golden gates, where we shall all of us meet the loved ones who have gone before!"

"Thank you, my child," replied Mr Meldrum, drawing her fondly to his side, and speaking as if they were alone together. "You have taught me a lesson, and I will repine no longer about the immutable. It is best to look forward, as you say. We ought to recollect that all our days must not necessarily be gloomy because for the moment they may happen to be overcast!"

"No, sirree," interposed Mr Lathrope, "and I guess this air blizzard ain't going to last for ever:— it looks now railly as if it wer' goin' to leave off snowing."

"I think you are right," said Frank Harness, who had been sitting on the other side of Kate, listening quietly to the conversation between her and her father. "I don't see any flakes now coming through the chinks of the door, as they were doing a short time ago. It is either leaving off, or the wind has chopped round to the southward and westward again."

So saying, Frank got up and went to peer without the portal, the others that were in the general room not stirring, for the greater number of the seamen were asleep in their dormitory. It was getting towards evening and most of the limited duties which it was possible to give the men to do, now that they were continuously confined indoors, had been already got through for the day.

Only Ben Boltrope and Karl Ericksen, amongst the hands, were up and awake; and they were engaged in playing a game of chequers with a set of counters which the Norwegian had skilfully carved out of black basalt and white pumice-stone, both of which had been found lying close together at the bottom of the creek. The board that they played on was made by the carpenter, but it had been divided into proper squares through the aid of Mr Meldrum's compasses and parallel ruler, wielded by Mr Lathrope; so that all of them, so to speak, had a hand in the construction of the complete article.

Both Mr Lathrope and Frank were right as to the weather, for, although the snow-flakes came down more slowly and were much smaller than they had been, the shifting of the wind had created the change. This was now blowing into the bay straight from the sea; and while the gale was still as high and fierce as at the beginning of the snow-storm, it was not quite so cold.

The waves, however, were rolling against the cliffs just as they had done when the Nancy Bell struck on the reef, and the reverberation of their roar was fearfully grand out in the open. The piled-up snow against the sides of the house had so deadened the sound within, that the party ensconced there could hear little beyond the whistling of the wind round the eaves of the house.

Frank returned to those within, after carefully closing the door again behind him, just like the dove messenger came back to Noah and his imprisoned family in the ark!

Like the bearer of the olive branch, he too was a herald of glad tidings.

"There is a change," said he, addressing himself to Mr Meldrum, "and I think, sir, we'll soon be able to get out again."

"I'm glad to hear that," replied the other, getting up to look; but he came back even sooner than Frank, and did not seem quite so jubilant.

"I'm afraid the shift of the wind will not do us much good, as far as getting about is concerned," he said. "It will only tend to drift the snow where it has not penetrated before; and may very probably shut us in more firmly than ever. I notice one good thing, however, that the snowstorm has done. It has covered over the house, and we will be all the warmer should it start freezing again!"

"But won't it break down the roof?" said Mrs Major Negus, alarmed at this.

"Oh, no!" replied Mr Meldrum, "the roof is too strongly built for that; besides which, we're under the lee of the cliff that protects us from this very wind. Still, I hope we'll have a chance of getting some more Kerguelen cabbage before the snow commences to fall heavily again, as I've no doubt it will. I ought to have laid in a stock when we went rabbit shooting that time. In this sort of treacherous climate one should take advantage of every fine day and provide for the next."

"You forget," said Mrs Major Negus, "sufficient for the day is the evil thereof!"

"But it don't say the good, only the evil, ma'rm; mind that," put in Mr Lathrope. "Some folks seem to take a pleasure in twisting Scripture contrariwise, jest to suit theer own squintin'-one-eye-skimmin'-the-pot- and-t'other-lookin'-up-the-chimbley sort of conscience!"

"Some people," retorted the lady, "never apply the parable of the mote and the beam, because they can't see their own faults."

"We should live and let live," said Mr Meldrum, trying to put a stop to a sort of argument which was endlessly going on between the pair of combatants, much to his annoyance generally, when Florry created a diversion.

"Look!" she exclaimed. "Puss has caught another mouse!"

"Thar, boss," said Mr Lathrope laughing, "is a case in pint, to illustrate yer saying about lettin' folks be. I'm afeard me and Missis Meejur is unkimmon like the mouse and the cat!"

"Speak for yourself, please," interposed the lady, thinking that he meant to designate her as the feline animal. "If you've a mind to liken yourself to one of those dreadful creatures that are always nibbling, I don't choose to be called a cat."

"I aren't a bit pertickler what you call me, ma'rm," replied the American very good-humouredly, "although I confess I am a bit partial to nibblin' when thar's anything good to eat!"

"That's you all over," said Mrs Major with much satisfaction; when, as she appeared pleased, Mr Lathrope allowed the conversation to rest there, which satisfied Mr Meldrum also, as he did not like these continual bickerings going on before the younger members of the party, besides their being, as has been said, especially distasteful to himself.

The next day it stopped snowing altogether; consequently a vegetable- hunting expedition was organised, a small party which started up the valley managing to bring back with some difficulty a few heads of cabbage, which with the dried rabbits alone now constituted their daily fare—both the beef and pork getting so low that Mr Meldrum had to stop their issue, although the men were not so hard pressed yet as to take to the salted sea-elephant.

Had the cabbage not been out of the line of drift, in a more secluded portion of the creek, the vegetable-seekers would have been unable to find it; for, the entire landscape was covered with a deep snow that was evenly distributed over hollow and hill alike—the lower lying land and the higher eminences so running into one another that they could not be distinguished. The tops of the loftiest peaks, indeed, seemed to be dwarfed down to the monotonous level of the plain; and, where elevated at all, they resembled more a cluster of little round mounds like sugar- loaves than anything else!

During the cessation of the snow-storm, the castaways contrived to secure another sea-elephant which visited the bay, Karl Ericksen harpooning him in the water. This time the men did not despise the flesh, but appeared to relish it very much when Snowball fried it fresh—a considerable portion of it being eaten in this way; while all the fat and blubber was melted down, and the remainder of the meat salted and packed in the cask with the other seal beef which was as yet untouched.

On one of these days, too, Ben Boltrope went fishing from the lower cliffs, just above the bay at the head of the creek—on account of the sea there being calmer, and no breakers ruffling the water near.

This pursuit would have been tried before, only that amongst the various articles that had been brought away from the ship there was not a single fish-hook The old man-o'-war's man, however, had at length managed to overcome the difficulty, manufacturing in his leisure moments a very good substitute by beating out some small nails that he had previously made malleable by putting them in the fire. After spending some hours angling, Ben returned home with some half a dozen fish about the size of a small haddock. These had their heads armed with stout strong spines; but in spite of this peculiarity, they proved under Snowball's manipulation to be very palatable, and Mr Lathrope, "for one," as he himself said, regretted that the carpenter had not caught more; he "guessed" he would have "gone for 'em!"

The interregnum of fine weather did not last long; for, soon the snow set in falling again as if it would never stop. The days, consequently, grew unutterably dreary, from the misfortune of all being perforce confined, as before, to the house by the bitter cold wind; and, to make matters worse, the snow-flakes now seemed to penetrate through the tiniest crevices within the hut, so that the air in the interior of the dwelling was of the temperature of freezing, no matter how great a fire was kept up!

While this lasted, Mr Meldrum devised all sorts of amusements for the men.

Amongst other things tried was music, one of the crew having made a banjo, the strings of which were twisted from the smaller intestines of the last sea-elephant they had killed; and by the aid of this instrument harmonic meetings were organised in the evenings, Mr Lathrope developing an almost forgotten talent he possessed, and coming out as a comic singer. He absolutely bewitched even the "Major," with his version of "Buffalo Gals," and the "Cackle, cackle, flap your wings and crow," chorus of the Christy Minstrels, who certainly, in his person, did perform on this occasion out of London!

It was at this period, when the days seemed as if they would never end and the nights longer, that a memorable event occurred for two, at least, of the party.

Ever since that night of the storm on board the Nancy Bell, when she had, as he firmly believed, saved his life by catching hold of him as he was on the point of being washed away by the sea, Frank had become deeply attached to Kate; and the more he saw of the true-hearted girl— her fond affection for her father, her anxious solicitude towards her little sister, her kind sympathy for everybody—the more his affection ripened, until at length he thought he could conceal his dawning love no longer.

Then came the wreck; and, in the trying scenes which subsequently arose, in which the two were each in their own way actors, the more Frank saw to admire in his fairy ideal, the prompt courageous woman of action. Subsequently they were thrown more closely together in the enforced companionship of the castaway community on the desolate shores of Kerguelen Land, when every moment increased their intimacy, while it enabled him to study more closely those salient points of her character which appeared to develop themselves as circumstances called them forth—her filial love, her devotion to her sister, her unconquerable faith, her unbounded hope and cheerfulness in the most despondent situations—but, above all, her innate sense of religion, a feeling that seemed to underlie her nature and yet which in no wise detracted from her superabundant animal spirits, which harmonised themselves to the moods and weaknesses of all. Seeing all this, and noting what he saw and reverenced, Frank could not but love Kate Meldrum with all the warmth and passion of his heart. So loving her, and dying for the want of some response to the wealth of affection he had so long treasured up in his breast, he could not refrain from seeking from her a word of hope.

It was one evening when, save to him and her, it appeared to be the dreariest of all the dreary ones they had already passed in their extemporised dwelling—"home" they called it, as people will style any shelter to which they can retreat from all the trials and exposures of the outside world, "no matter how homely!"

The seamen had all retired to their dormitory, as had likewise Mr McCarthy and Adams; while Mr Lathrope was nodding in one corner of the general room by the fireplace, and Mr Meldrum immersed in thought in the other.

Florry and Maurice Negus had both gone to sleep long since. Mrs "Major," and the stewardess had also retreated to their sleeping chamber; and thus, Frank and Kate were, so to speak, alone. The opportunity was propitious.

They had been talking for some time in a low tone of voice, so as not to interrupt the others. In a desultory way, they had thus chatted about all sorts of things and had at last lapsed into silence—a silence that remained for some time unbroken.

At length Frank spoke.

By a strong effort, he at once went to the point

"Kate," said he suddenly, in a voice rendered so thick by emotion that she could not help starting, although she made no reply.

"Kate, do you remember you promised to call me 'Frank' that night on the wreck when we expected every moment that the Nancy Bell would go down with us and every soul aboard?"

"Ye-es," she murmured, very softly and in a hesitating way.

"Well, I want you to call me always so—that is to have the right—you know what I mean."

Her tender blue eyes were raised to his inquiringly.

"I love you," he cried passionately, "and I want you to promise—"

"Hush!" said she, putting her hand over his lips; but he only kissed the hand, and went on with what he was about to say when she had interrupted him.

"I want you, Kate, my darling, to promise to be my wife!" he said. "I love you more than I can tell—I have loved you since ever I first saw you—and I shall love you till my dying day; will you promise, Kate, to be my wife? but, if you can't yet do all I ask, will you try to love me a little? Oh, Kate, I do love you so dearly!"

Her head bent lower and lower, so that he had to bend his too in order to see what her face said, for she would not speak; and, as the firelight danced upon the dear face and lightened up the blue eyes which so shyly looked into his, Frank seemed to read an answer there that was favourable to his hopes, for he passed his arm round her waist without another moment's hesitation, and ventured to imprint a kiss upon her lips.

"My darling, my darling!" he murmured in an ecstasy of joy; but just then Mr Meldrum raised his head from between his clasped hands and looked at the pair.

He evidently realised what had happened, and, as evidently, he was not taken by surprise at the event. Nor, indeed, would anyone else have been in the whole community; for Frank's love to Kate had been as palpable to all as the famed ostrich of the story was when it hid its head in the sand and imagined itself invisible to its pursuers!

"My children," said he kindly, coming over to them and holding out his hand to Frank, who at once grasped it, "I expected this; and I cannot say I am displeased. I know you have an affection for each other—"

We love each other," interrupted Frank eagerly.

"Well, you love each other, if you prefer it being so put; but you are both very young, and you must wait for some time even after we are released, as I hope we shall be by and by, from this desert isle. I have seen enough of you, Frank Harness, to feel confident that I can trust my daughter's happiness to your keeping; but you must first secure a name and a competence for yourself before you can dream of asking her to be your wife. You see, my boys I may perhaps have overheard more of your whispered conversation than you thought! I can give Kate nothing, for I am a ruined man, and was going out to New Zealand to try and retrieve my lost fortune when this untoward disaster happened!"

"Mr Meldrum," said Frank respectfully, standing up by the side of the other and facing him like a man, "I want nothing but Kate. She is the greatest fortune I could ever crave! My father is a rich man, one of the largest ship-owners in Liverpool, and my taking to the sea has been strongly against his wish, although he consented to it when he saw how bent I was upon being a sailor. He could make me independent to-morrow if I asked him."

"I prefer you as you are, Frank," responded Mr Meldrum; "and I'm sure so does Kate, eh?"

Yes," said she shyly, and blushing as she looked up for an instant.

"Then keep as you are, my boy,"—continued her father—"and as soon as you are captain of a vessel of your own—and Mr McCarthy tells me you are quite competent to pass the Trinity-House examination for a first- mate's certificate; why, you may come to me and claim Kate's hand!"

"Is that a bargain?" asked Frank anxiously, looking from one to the other.

"It is," replied Mr Meldrum, while Kate faintly whispered another "yes."

"Then," said Frank triumphantly, "she shall be my wife before another year goes over our heads; for, I can pass as soon as I go home for a first officer's certificate, and get a ship to command immediately afterwards if I like. Look out for me to make my claim within that time, according to your promise!"