"Hear, hear!" said every one with right good will, and a gleam of pride flashed from Eva's pretty brown eyes as her husband was thus unanimously appointed leader of the shipwrecked band. Like a sensible man, knowing his capacity, he at once accepted the command without any display of undue modesty, and proved his fitness by at once going to work. "The first thing, then, is to thank God for our deliverance, which we all do, I am sure, most heartily." This was received with a responsive "Amen" from every one--not even excepting Black Ned. "Next, we must find fresh water and boil a bit of pork--" "Ah, then, we haven't a kittle!" exclaimed O'Connor. "Haven't we a big baling-dish, Terrence?" said Hayward. "Sure we have, sor, an' it's a tin wan as'll stand fire," returned Terrence with a reproved look. "Well, then, you go fetch it; wash it well out, and get the pork ready. Jarring and Tomlin will gather as much dead wood as they can find and pile it beside the fire. Mitford will search for fresh water--there must be a spring or brook not far off--and Massey and I will rig up some sort of shelter for the night." "Please, sir, may I go with Mitford to seek for water?" asked Nellie. "By all means, if you wish to." "And I will keep you company, Nell," said Mrs Hayward energetically. "So will I," chimed in little Mrs Mitford, feebly. "I was always fond of water. As a child I used to paddle about in it continually, an' sometimes tumbled into it, for of course young people will--" "No, Peggy, you must sit by the fire with my wife," said the doctor. "Neither of you is fit for work of any kind yet, so sit down and warm yourselves." Eva was too wise, and Peggy too weak, to offer objection, so these two sat by the fire while the others went to work. Energy of action tends to lighten the burdens that may be laid on human spirits, and to induce the most favourable view of the worst circumstances. The toil which the party now undertook was such a blessed relief to them after the prolonged exposure to cold and comparative inaction in the boat, that all returned to the camp-fire in a much more cheerful state of mind than they left it. The searchers for water came back first, having found what they sought close at hand; and Terrence, filling his baling-dish, soon had the pork boiling, along with some mysterious herbs gathered by the doctor to convert the liquid into soup. Tomlin and Black Ned returned heavily laden with firewood, and Bob Massey discovered a tree with branches sufficiently spreading and leafy to protect them to some extent from rain. "'Tis as well we have found overhead protection, Massey," said the doctor, when our coxswain led him to the spot, "for I have been thinking that as we have no blankets, we shall be obliged to use our tarpaulin as a quilt rather than an umbrella." "That's true, sir," returned Massey, "but how about the women?"