After he was gone, the rest of the party prepared for their journey
through the cocoa-nut grove. William led the way, with the three dogs
close to his heels, Mr. Seagrave with the baby in his arms, Juno with
little Caroline, and Mrs. Seagrave with Master Tommy holding her hand.
They cast a last look round at the cove, and the fragments of the wreck
and cargo, strewed about in every direction, and then turned into the
wood. Ready arrived at the point, and was again on shore in less than
two hours after he had set off. As soon as the boat was safe in, he did
not wait to land his cargo, but going up to the turtle which he had
turned the day before, he killed it, and cleaned it on the beach. He
then went to where they had built up the fireplace with stones, made a
fire, filled the iron saucepan full of water, and set it on to boil; he
then cut up a portion of the turtle, and put it into the pot, with some
slices of salt pork, covered it up, and left it to boil; and having
hung up the rest of the turtle in the shade, he went back to the beach
to unload the boat. He released the poor fowls, and they were soon busy
seeking for food.
It was two or three hours before he had carried everything up, for it
was a good distance, and some of the articles were heavy, and the old
man was not sorry when he had finished his task, and could sit down to
rest himself.
"It's almost time they arrived," thought Ready; "they must have started
nearly four hours ago." Ready remained a quarter of an hour more
watching the fire, and occasionally skimming the top of the pot, when
the three dogs came bounding towards him.
"Well, they are not far off now," observed Old Ready.
In six or seven minutes afterwards the party made their appearance,
very hot and very fatigued. It appeared that poor little Caroline had
been tired out, and Juno had to carry her; then Mrs. Seagrave
complained of fatigue, and they had to rest a quarter of an hour; then
Tommy, who refused to remain with his mamma, and had been running
backwards and forwards from one to the other, had declared that he was
tired, and that someone must carry him; but there was no one to carry
him, so he began to cry until they stopped for another quarter of an
hour till he was rested; then as soon as they went on again he again
complained of being tired. William then carried him pickaback for some
time, and in so doing he missed the blaze-cut on the trees, and it was
a long while before he could find it again; then baby became hungry,
and he cried, and little Caroline was frightened at being so long in
the wood, and she cried. But finally they got on better, and arrived at
last so warm and exhausted, that Mrs. Seagrave went into the tent with
the children to repose a little, before she could even look at the
place which was to be their future residence.
"I think," said Mr. Seagrave, "that this little journey of to-day has
been a pretty good proof of how helpless we should have been without
you, Ready."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account