"What are we to do now?" asked Mrs. Johnson, when they had retreated out of sight of the savages. "The natives have possession of the boat, and how are we to regain her when there are so many of them?" "It certainly is a hard nut to crack," admitted the professor. "We will have to camp out on the beach for a while and see what happens. Perhaps they may leave the vessel when they find it will do them no good. They can't run her." "But they can tear her all apart and damage the machinery," said Jack. "Then we would be in a pickle." "Well, we won't hope for any such bad luck as that," interrupted the professor. "We will look for the best." "When are we going to have breakfast?" asked the little girl, after a long wait. "I'm hungry, mother." "We will have it pretty soon," replied Mrs. Johnson in order to quiet her daughter's mind. "But I want it now," continued Nellie. "I'm very hungry." "Hush!" said Mrs. Johnson. "An' I had de finest brekfust what was ever invented," said Washington, rolling his big eyes. "Mud turkle eggs, ham, preserves, coffee--" "That will do, Washington," said the professor. "It only makes our mouths water to think about such things." At the mention of the turtle eggs Jack nudged Mark, and signalled him to walk to one side. When they were out of earshot of the others Jack said: "What's the matter with cooking some of the eggs that are left on the sand? There are plenty of them, and there is no sense in our going hungry." "How you going to cook 'em?" asked Mark. "I'll show you," replied Jack. He scooped a hollow place out in the sand until he had quite a hole. This he banked up with stones until he had a small oven. By arching the stones over toward the top there was left a sort of circular opening. Over this Jack fitted a monster clam shell, with the concave side uppermost. This made an improvised stew pan. Underneath was piled small bits of dry drift-wood, which a match soon set on fire. In a little while the water in the big shell was boiling. "Now get some other shells for dishes," said Jack to Mark. Soon Mark had piled up a lot of smaller shells. "Help me gather some eggs now," said Jack, "and we'll put them in to boil. Then we'll invite the rest of the folks to breakfast." The two boys soon uncovered from the sand a pile of the eggs, and in a little while they were steaming in the hot water. Then Jack arranged the shell-dishes on the sand. He went over to where the others were gloomily considering their plight. "Breakfast is ready," he announced. "This isn't any time for joking," spoke Professor Henderson, rather sternly. "But I mean it," went on Jack. "Just come over and see. I'm not fooling you." Wondering what he had done they all followed him. "Welcome to Hotel Terra del Fuego!" cried Mark. "We haven't much of a variety, but what there is we can recommend." He began to dip the eggs out of the water with a bit of shell and placed them on the improvised dishes.