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!"

"And I guess I'm witness to that thaar agreement," exclaimed Mr
Lathrope, starting up.

The artful old fellow had been "playing 'possum," as he termed it, all
along; only waiting for the denouement of the little drama before
disclosing himself.  However, he seemed so genuinely pleased with what
had taken place that neither of the principal performers could be angry
with him for listening.

"I'm downright real glad," said he after a bit, congratulating them both
and wringing poor Frank's hand well nigh off in the exuberance of his
delight.  "Say, if yer don't believe me, may I never eat another clam
chowder agin--durn my boots if I ever will, thar!"

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.

BLACK SNOW!

By the middle of September, the worst of the winter weather was over,
the snow gradually ceasing to fall and the drifts that had accumulated
in the valley up which the creek entered, and where the shipwrecked
people from the _Nancy Bell_ had built their house--beginning to melt
under the influence of the milder winds and increasing warmth of the
sun's rays.

But, everywhere the landscape still remained wrapped in the same white
mantle it had worn ever since the castaways had first taken up their
residence on the island, the bare spots then apparent in some places,
which was a circumstance owing to the shelter of the cliffs and crags in
the immediate vicinity of the sea, having been subsequently covered by
the heavy storms at the end of August.

It would take a long time, all saw, for the snow to clear away even if
the most rapid thaw were now to set in; and this the climate did not
permit of, the transition from winter to spring being carried through a
course of progressive stages that were as disagreeable as they were
prolonged.

There was balm in Gilead, however.

Not long after the last of the heavy snowfalls, and when the days began
to grow brighter, thus enabling the castaways to crawl out in the open
and have a little more exercise than they could obtain within doors, the
bird colony adjacent to "Penguin Castle" became largely increased, their
numbers swelling continually by fresh accessions; so that, in a short
time, it was impossible for any of the people to stir out of their
habitation without stumbling across a batch of penguins, ever
continually grumbling, croaking, chuckling, and otherwise expressing
their indignation at being, as they seemed to think, so unjustly
interfered with by the castaways.

It was evident that the building season of the birds had arrived; and it
could not certainly have come at a more auspicious time, for their
provisions were almost exhausted and Mr Meldrum was in great straits
how to supply the party with food.  The despised flesh of the sea-
elephants, even, had by this time been consumed and all hands placed on
short allowance, it being impossible to go out hunting again as yet, or
to penetrate up the valley to the rabbit warren, on account of the snow
blocking the way and rendering the ascent of the hills impracticable.

The influx of the penguins, therefore, for which he had been looking out
for the last few weeks and had almost despaired of, was hailed by Mr
Meldrum with the deepest joy, for it solved his greatest difficulty at
once, taking away the fear of starvation that had been haunting him.
With such a plentiful supply of the birds, they might now hope to last
out until they could procure more palatable food; and those who were
"squeamish" in objecting to the fishy odour of the penguins themselves,
would _faut de mieux_ find plenty of sustenance in the eggs that there
was no doubt would soon be laid in much greater abundance than they
either required or could consume.

As the penguins mustered their forces, each day seeing some fresh
arrivals to fight for the occupation of the rookery, they were a
constant source of amusement to the snow-bound party, who, not being
able to stir far from the doorway of the "castle," had nothing hardly to
occupy their attention save the movements of the birds.

The penguins, they observed, were of four different classes or
varieties, although all belonged to the same family, partaking of the
common characteristics of such; but, even as they differed in size and
appearance, so they presented diverse modes of conducting their domestic
arrangements and varied in their habits.

Some were of the most retiring nature.  These, isolating themselves in a
separate encampment, drew a strong line of demarcation between the abode
of their neighbours and their own retreat, as if they were of too
exclusive a temper to associate with the common herd; while others, of
quite a different species, appeared to have no false pride which
prevented them from associating with the rest, of whatever class they
might belong to, for they were "hail fellow well met" almost on their
arrival with every bird in the rookery.

"Them's republicans, I guess," said Mr Lathrope, noticing this trait of
character.  "They don't care a cuss for social distinctions!"

Mr Meldrum, having had some previous acquaintance of the penguin family
when on board a ship which had been employed in surveying duties in the
Straits of Magellan and round the Falkland Islands, was able to give the
others a good deal of information about the birds.

There were four varieties, he said, on Kerguelen Land, as far as he
could see, namely:-- the "king penguin," the aristocrat of the
community, who kept aloof from the rest; a black-and-white species that
whaling men call the "johnny;" a third, styled the "macaroni penguin,"
which had a handsome double tuft of rich orange-coloured feathers on
their heads; and a fourth variety, distinct from the last-mentioned only
from its smaller size, and the fact of its plume or crest being single
instead of double, and of a pale sulphur yellow in lieu of orange.

Amongst the penguins, too, were to be seen numbers of little
sheathbills--just like small bantams, similar to the specimen Frank
Harness had shot, and which he was so sorry about.  The little birds
went about in pairs and appeared to act as the scavengers of the larger
ones, for they haunted their breeding-places, scraping about the nests
and dung, clearing out the rotten eggs, and making free with the insects
that properly appertained to the penguins.  Indeed, they were impudent
enough sometimes to seize upon the freshly-laid egg that some lady
macaroni had laid, right under the eyes of its owner, feloniously
appropriating it to their own use; while they thought nothing of giving
an occasional peck to one of the king penguins if he got in their way,
regardless of his exalted position!

Flocks of shags, or cormorants, also visited the bay at the same time.
These were found good eating, although not so fleshy as the penguins;
and, before the end of the month, there came a large family of seals,
which would probably have taken up their abode in the creek had not some
of the sailors frightened them away so effectually by their
indiscriminate slaughter that they never returned, nor did any others
come subsequently to the place.

The coats of these seals were of a fine iron-grey hue, something like
that of an otter, only with much more delicate hair.  Mr Meldrum was
very anxious to secure as many of them as was possible, so he was much
chagrined when they disappeared and left him fur-less.

Another visitor was the pretty little Cape pigeon, which Kate recognised
as an old friend and was delighted to see.  It reminded her, she told
Frank, of "old times," when they grew acquainted with each other on
board the _Nancy Bell_ and watched the stars at night--and all the rest
of it!

But the penguins were the great attraction.

They were "food for the mind and food for the body as well!" the
American would say, as he watched Snowball picking the feathers off some
scores of the birds when preparing the dinner.  The darkey would persist
in putting himself to this trouble every day, in spite of Mr Meldrum
telling him that the easiest plan was to skin them, when the feathers
would come off in a lump in a quarter of the time; but Snowball would
not be persuaded to adopt this course, although the majority of the
sailors did so when preparing the penguins for storing up, and there was
consequently a large accumulation of skins, which came in very handy
presently for tailoring purposes.

Through constant wear, the trousers of the majority of the menfolk were
into such a dilapidated condition that it became absolutely necessary to
try and restore them--none of the entire party having a single change of
clothing with them, excepting the ladies; while the only material
available for their rehabilitation was sailcloth, which, besides not
being enough for all, was rather too stiff a material for either comfort
or warmth.

In this dilemma, the happy thought struck Mr McCarthy of fashioning a
pair of "unmentionables" out of penguin skins; and he had no sooner
"hatched the idea" than he carried it into practical effect by
instructing Ben Boltrope, who was by a long way the smartest and most
ready-witted of the men, to make him the trousers.

The deed was accomplished; and, really, the garments did not look at all
bad when finished, for, on the removal of the outside feathers, the skin
of the bird was found to be coated with a fine down like that of the
eider-duck, which lent an originality of appearance to the trousers that
could hardly be described.

"They're just like Barnum's woolly horse," said Mr Lathrope,
criticising them calmly.  "If I were you, Mac, I wouldn't go nigh the
rookery with them on, or them birds will take you for a fledgeling,
mister, I guess!"

"Begorrah, I don't care, for they're worrum and comfortable," said Mr
McCarthy, "and it's raal white ducks they are, anyhow!"

They certainly looked it; but, as the first-mate would not be put out of
any conceit with the garments, in spite of their appearance, and as
others began to be similarly in need, they had perforce to follow his
example, when penguin trousers may be said to have "become the rage" on
the island--even Mr Lathrope, who had laughed at Mr McCarthy for
wearing them, having to follow the fashion and don the "ducks."

Owing to this new demand on the feathered colony it would seem like
exaggeration to state how many thousands came to an untimely end, in
addition to the numbers that were killed to supply the daily necessities
of the table and the large quantity which Mr Meldrum had caused to be
prepared and dried, like the rabbits, "for a rainy day;" while, as to
the eggs that were eaten--well, the least said about these the better!

From all of this it may be gathered that the penguins made a bad move
when they came back to their old breeding-place; but the stupid birds
never seemed to be aware that they could at any time save themselves by
flight if they liked, although they must have been somehow or other
acquainted with the deplorable fact--in a bird-like way--that their
rookery was becoming rapidly depopulated!  No, notwithstanding that they
saw their friends and relatives repeatedly slaughtered before their very
eyes--their penguin parents, children, godfathers, godmothers, and first
cousins thus perishing at the hands of miscreants in human form, and
subsequently converted into food and clothing and to other "base uses"
by those who took their innocent lives--they never appeared to make an
effort in self-defence, either by executing a "strategical movement" or
otherwise!

The spirit of penguinism, so to speak, was dead, the bird colony
contenting themselves by grumbling, an infallible resource for all
similarly constituted creatures--in which respect, as Mr Lathrope was
pleased to put it, they resembled a class of modern politicians who need
not be alluded to here.

Amongst those included in the list of penguin slayers was one who
pursued them to the death--although rather through a desire for
malicious sport and self-gratification than from any actual necessity--
and this vindictive enemy was Master Maurice Negus.

The young gentlemen had developed many pleasing traits of character
during the comparatively short period during which he was brought into
public notice as one of the passengers of the ill-fated _Nancy Bell_;
but in none of these had he so well exemplified his natural and
ingenious bias of mind as in the little predilection, if it may be so
termed, for bird slaughter _in ovum_, which first saw the light in
Kerguelen Land.

Soon after the penguins came to breed there, Master Maurice noted them
carefully, and it pleased him much thereafter to go "bird-nesting," as
he called it.  He would go by himself and remain away for hours, no one
knowing what "the imp," as all spoke of him, was up to; but one day it
was discovered that the fancy for "collecting eggs," according to his
own explanation, consisted in swallowing as many raw ones as he could
get hold of unseen--he being observed on the occasion in question to get
rid of a round dozen of the eggs deposited by the penguins, just as he
would have done so many oysters, saying afterwards when taxed with the
gluttony that he felt delicate, and had heard that eggs were recommended
by doctors for consumptive patients!

But, later on, the young gentleman "caught a tartar."

On his last bird-nesting excursion he happened, fortunately or
unfortunately, to shove a half-hatched egg down his throat; and, the
embryo bird nearly choking him, his poultry-fancying propensity was
transformed into an inveterate dislike towards the entire penguin
tribe--a slightly lucky mistake for the creatures in question, as
thereby the list of their enemies became decreased by one.

Time thus slipped by with the inhabitants of the house on the creek.

Melting by degrees, the vast piles of snow began to vanish from the
valleys and low-lying lands, although still clothing the distant hill-
sides and mountain-peaks, from the loftier ones of which it probably
never entirely cleared away even in the height of summer; but, the
ground around was naturally so damp and marshy, and had become so
soddened now with moisture, that it was almost as impracticable for Mr
Meldrum or any other of the party to get away from the vicinity of the
hut, as it had been during the heavy storms of August when the snow had
drifted up the gullies and levelled the country.

In fact it was more so, for, the accumulated water, proceeding from the
thaw and the rain, which came every now and then to aid it, had swelled
the fresh-water tarn near them so greatly that it had overflowed its
banks, which now extended on the right to the base of the furthest hills
at the head of the valley that penetrated the creek; while, to the left,
the water was pouring down, a foaming torrent, into the sea--the house
being almost surrounded and separated by the newly-made river from the
little building in which the jolly-boat had been housed on the beach.

They were thus threatened with a flood, for the water was rising every
moment and slowly creeping up to their feet, narrowing the little
peninsula on which their habitation stood.

That was not the worst either!

While they were pondering as to the best means for extricating
themselves from the danger of being washed away, a new one arose.

Through the melting of the snow on the mountains above, a sparkling
cascade commenced all at once to leap down the face of the cliff at the
back of the house, right on to the roof over their heads.

This was serious; for, should this peril not be guarded against and some
sort of pent-house put up as a shield, the slight timber work of the
roof would soon be crushed in and swept away by the ever-increasing
weight of the falling water.

In the midst of these imminent dangers, a phenomenon occurred which for
the moment appalled everybody, not even excepting Mr Meldrum--it was so
strange, so awe-inspiring!

It commenced snowing again; but there was nothing unusual in that.  What
was unusual was, that the flakes which fell, instead of being white,
were as black as ink!

What could the awful portent foretell?

It was inexplicable.

CHAPTER THIRTY.

AN APPARITION!

"Goodness gracious me!" exclaimed Mrs Major Negus in accents of genuine
terror, "the world's coming to an end!" and she sank down in a heap on
the ground, close to the door of the general room, where she had been
standing uncertain whether to go out or in.

There was ample reason for the good lady's consternation, for danger
seemed staring her in the face in either direction.

On the one hand, the flood in the valley appeared approaching as if to
swallow up the hut and all its belongings; while, on the other, the
deafening noise of the water pouring down from the cliff above on to the
roof made everybody feel impelled to quit the house.

Mary Llewellyn, the stewardess, generally a quiet and retiring person,
was driven into a fit of hysterics by the concatenation of horrors that
all at once surrounded them.

As for the children, they shared the fright of their elders, Florry
clinging convulsively to Kate, who had dropped on her knees and was
praying in the corner--believing really that the last supreme moment was
at hand.

The men, too--they had been hastily called together the moment the
dangerous predicament of the roof was noticed, and had begun to knock
together a sort of wooden shield to interpose between the cliff and the
top of the house, so that the water might rim over it in the fashion of
a spout--stopped in their task with one accord, staring as if bewildered
at each other the moment the terrible black snow began to fall from the
sombre pall-like clouds which hung over the creek.  This was immediately
after the cascade of water came down the cliff; and so frightened were
they, that not one of them uttered a word, nor did Mr McCarthy, who had
summoned them together, urge them on with their work.  All remained
spell-bound and tongue-tied.

"It air orfull," said Mr Lathrope, drawing a deep breath, and looking
up at the sky as if to peer into its mysteries.  "I guess I never seed
such a fall before--no, nor nobody else in the land of the living!"

No one answered him, however; for, at that moment, there was a strange
concussion in the air, the earth shaking beneath their feet, and they
were all thrown to the ground.  At the same time, the black flakes
descended faster and faster as if to bury them, and some of the men,
imitating the example of the women, cried out in positive alarm.

Mr Meldrum was the first to recover his self-command.

"Silence!" he shouted, making his powerful voice heard above the chorus
of groans and shrieks that arose from the frightened men and screaming
women.  "It's only an earthquake; and God will protect us here against
the perils of the land, the same as he did through the tempests of the
deep!  Let us meet what may be in store for us with the courage of brave
men and faith of Christians!"

His words at once checked the tumult--even the stewardess and Mrs Negus
hushing down their wailing outcry to an occasional moan or faint muffled
sob, which they could not quite stifle; but the strange rocking motion
of the ground, which seemed as if they were again on shipboard,
prevented the yen from at once regaining their feet, only a few being
able to scramble up into an erect position by holding on to the supports
of the house, which fortunately stood the shock of the subterranean
commotion without giving way.

"The worst is past now," said Mr Meldrum presently, as the throbs of
the earthquake grew less and less potent and the quivering sensation,
which appeared to jingle through every nerve in their bodies, died away
into a faint rumbling in the distance, that finally disappeared a few
seconds afterwards--the whole thing not lasting longer than a minute
altogether, although it seemed more than an hour to the terror-stricken
people.  "I don't think we'll have another shock."

He stood up firmly as he spoke; and those of the men who were still
lying on the ground rose too.

"But the snow, sir," said one.  "What does that mean?"

"Why, look--can't you see!" replied he, drawing his hand over his face
and showing it to the speaker.

"Lor' bless us!" ejaculated the sailor.  "It's only smut from the
chimbley."

"Ah! it came from a bigger chimney than we have here," said Mr Meldrum.
"There has been a volcanic eruption on the island; and what we all
thought was black snow was only the ashes thrown up from the crater, and
these have now been brought down from the higher air by the descending
ram."

"Snakes and alligators!" exclaimed Mr Lathrope, who was one of the last
to get on his long legs and when he did so appeared to touch the ground
as tenderly "as if he were a cat treading on hot eggs," as Mr McCarthy
said.  "If I wurn't clean took in, and thought the outlandish thing wer
nat'ral, like the red rain I've heerd folks tell o' seeing in some parts
of the world!  I guess you was startled, too, mister, and kinder frit!"

"I confess I was, at first," replied Mr Meldrum, "till I felt the
earthquake.  Then I recollected about the volcano."

"Oh! the one down south, that we seed to leeward when the old ship poked
her nose on the reef?"

"The same," said the other.  "It was smoking then; and we've just had
the eruption.  It is pretty nearly over, I think, however, for the ashes
are not falling quite so thickly now."

"I'm glad to hear that," said Mr Lathrope.  "Gin it didn't stop soon,
we'd all be transmogrified inter blacker niggers than the cook haar!"

"I ain't no nigger, massa!" interposed Snowball, feeling his dignity
insulted by the remark.

"My crickey!" ejaculated the American, emitting a shrill whistle of
astonishment at the naive assertion.  "Then what, in the name of George
Washington and Abe Lincoln rolled into one, air you, sir-ree!"

"I'se a 'spectable collud genlemun," replied the darkey pompously.

"I guess you'll do," said Mr Lathrope laughing.  "Jest hear that, now!
Waal, never mind, my Ethiopian serenader," he added good-humouredly.
"You're none the worse fur your colour, as fur as I ken see; and I will
say this fur you, that you're the slickest and smartest ship's cook I
ever came across from Maine to Californy; and that's saying something!"

"Tank you, massa," replied Snowball, much flattered by the compliment.
"I make you one good rabbit-pie next time I'se get rabbits."

"That's a bargain!" said Mr Lathrope; and there the incident ended.

"Rouse up there with that spout!" shouted out Mr McCarthy, who had at
once turned back to tackle the roof as soon as the alarm caused by the
earthquake had passed away.  "Bedad, if you don't look pretty sharp,
there'll be no ruff to put it on, at all at all!"

"That's right!" said Mr Meldrum.  "In the fear of a greater calamity, I
had forgotten the lesser danger!  Do you think the roof will bear the
pressure on it?"

"Sure, sorr," replied the other.  "It has borne it all this toime, and
the ould house has stood the airthquake; so, there's hopes that it'll
last out yit!  It is more frightened of the flood coming up and swaping
it away I am, than that the wather'll do it any harm."

"Then we're safe, thank God!" said Mr Meldrum.  "The river has not
swelled any more since I last marked it.  It seems to have worn a
channel deep enough to carry off all the overflow from the valley,
without spreading further and threatening the house.  I think we are out
of danger now."

"We've much to be thankful for, papa," observed Kate thoughtfully.

Frank had joined her within, after the last shock of earthquake, having
been engaged before in helping Mr McCarthy on the roof; so his prayers
had ascended to heaven along with hers, the two kneeling side by side in
silent worship and praise to Him who had watched over them.

Coming out of the house together, they had approached the spot where Mr
Meldrum was standing.

"Yes, my child, we have much to be thankful for," said he in answer to
Kate's observation.  "You need not fear now, my dear," he added.

"I was not frightened, even when the earth trembled, papa."

"No!" said he inquiringly.

"No, not a bit," she answered quietly; "although, I confess, I thought
we should all be killed.  I can't tell what sort of feeling seemed to
possess me; but I felt quite peaceful and happy, as if I were prepared
to die!"

"Ah!" said her father, "you had that peace which the world cannot give!
I--I--"

"I felt happy, papa," continued Kate, as if uttering her thoughts aloud,
"because I thought we would see mamma again--you, and I, and Florry."

"And didn't you think of me too, Kate; and wish me to be with you?"
asked Frank eagerly.

"Yes, you too," said she.  "Don't you belong to me now?"  Mr Meldrum
did not hear Frank's answer; for his attention was at that moment called
away by Ben Boltrope, who had come up to report that the roof had been
made snug, the water from the cliff now arching over it in a cascade,
and not pouring down directly on to it as it had done before, when it
fell with terrific force right upon the shingles, displacing some which
were now repaired as soon as the spout was put up.

The weather improved very much after this, the sun appearing and shining
with increasing power each day, while the snow disappeared entirely from
the valleys and lower portions of the hills.  The water below, however,
did not drain off sufficiently to allow of any excursion for some days
towards the rabbit warren they had visited before, or of their going
anywhere, indeed, far from the little stretch of beach before the creek.

But, in spite of this drawback, the castaways' stock of provisions was
most unexpectedly added to, a very agreeable change of diet from penguin
fricassees being introduced, by the coming of large flocks of wild
ducks, which visited the valley a few days after they were all in danger
of being flooded out.  The water evidently was the attraction, for,
previously, none of the water-fowl had ever come near the place--with
the exception of a solitary couple of teal that Mr Meldrum had noticed
flying over the creek shortly after they landed from the wreck.

The first day that they had roast duck for dinner, everybody thought
that Mr Lathrope would have said something about the unexpected treat;
but he did not, and Mrs Major Negus seemed somehow or other much vexed
at his silence in the matter.

"You generally speak a good deal about eating," said she at last
impatiently.  "I wonder why you've nothing to say now!"

"Ah! marm," replied Mr Lathrope, "don't you be surprised at anything!
I'd advise you never to measure other people's corns by your own
chilblains!  Because you happen to set your fancy on a thing, that's no
reason for other folks to do the same!"

"No," said she; "though I can't see the application of your remark about
chilblains, for I never had one in my life."

"Ah! that's a sort of metaphorical conundrum, which I leave you to find
out bye and bye!  But, if you'd really like to know why I ain't
satisfied with having roast duck to dinner, I'll tell you; it makes me
feel kinder lonesome, it dew!"

"Why!"

"'Cause there ain't no green peas with it, marm," said Mr Lathrope,
with a melancholy smile.  "I guess I'm a whale on peas, I am!"

It was now the end of September; but the month was not fated to pass
without another event happening to break the monotonous life of the
little party.  On its very last day, something occurred which took them
all by surprise.

It may be remembered that when Mr Meldrum assumed the command of the
party in the place of Captain Dinks, who was still on the sick list and
recovering slowly but yet far from well, he established certain
regulations for the employment of the men.

Amongst the several duties they had to perform, in accordance with these
regulations, was the one of keeping watch, as if on guard, for a certain
stated number of hours at the foot of a short flagstaff which had been
erected on the top of a little eminence overlooking the beach in front
of the creek--a man being stationed here regularly to report anything
that might come in sight.  This duty, it may be added, had been a
sinecure from the date of its institution, nothing having ever since
been seen.

On this last day of September, however, all hands were electrified by
the look-out man calling out, just about noon.

"Sail ho!"

"A sail!" cried Mr Meldrum, quite as much astonished as the rest; and
he hurried out to scan the offing.  However, he could not see anything,
and thought the man must have been asleep at his post and dreaming.  "Do
you know what you are saying?" he called out to the look-out.  "Where
away is this sail, my man!"

"Far off on the port side of the reef, sir," answered the sailor,
speaking quite composedly.

"What do you make it?" asked the other, as he hastened to the look-out
station, which commanded a larger stretch of the coast than could be
seen from the house--Mr McCarthy and the others following after him
with anxious curiosity.

"Looks like a boat's sail, sir; but, it's so far to leeward, I can't
quite make it out yet."

"I see," said Mr Meldrum, who had now reached the man, taking his glass
from his pocket and looking in the direction pointed out.  "Yes, there
is a small boat, sure enough.  By Jove," he added presently, "I wouldn't
be surprised if it were the missing mutineers in the longboat turned up
at last!  Look, McCarthy, and see if you don't recognise the _Nancy
Bell's_ boat by the white streak below the gunwale."

The first-mate took the telescope and gazed intently at the approaching
object for some few moments.  He then turned round and stared at Mr
Meldrum.

"Be jabers, it is the longboat, sorr!" he exclaimed at length; "and
faix, sorr, I belave I can say that baste Moody lookin' out over the
gunwale, as if tellin' thim where to steer, with his long black hair and
ugly mug, and the cut across his hid which the cap'en giv him wid the
butt end of his pistol!  The murtherin' villin! won't I be aven wid him
if iver he comes ashore, and pay him out--bad cess to him!"

"Are you sure," said Mr Meldrum, "that it is the long-boat?"

"As sartin as there's mud in a ditch, son--the divil a doubt of it!"

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.

A TERRIBLE TALE!

By this time, the news having rapidly spread amongst the little
community that the longboat was in sight, every one--save of course poor
Captain Dinks, who could not yet move--had come out of the house.

The castaways were gathered together in little groups, some near Mr
Meldrum and the first-mate, who stood by the flagstaff, others along the
ridge which ran from thence above the beach, and the remainder on the
shore; but all were intent on one object, and looking down the bay at
the little speck in the distance that was said to be the boat, which was
steadily making its way towards the creek.  The tide was on the ebb and
against its onward progress, although the wind was in its favour, so it
approached only very slowly.

Mr Meldrum's first intention on having his suspicions confirmed by the
mate's opinion, had been to haul down the flag--a little white ensign
made out of portions of some old silk handkerchiefs which had been
mustered amongst the party and sewn together by Kate; but, he dismissed
the idea as soon as the thought occurred to him.

"No," said he to Mr McCarthy, belaying the halliards again, "it is too
late now, for they must have seen it.  Besides, what have we to fear if
they do come?  We can easily prevent them from landing, if we like, for
we're nearly two to one against them in numbers should they try force;
and we are stronger by far in moral as well as physical courage!"

"True for you, sorr," replied the first-mate.  "It's a good larrupping
they'd git, if they thried that on anyway.  Bedad, I'd die aisy an' I
could only give that baste Moody the bating I've had in store for him
since he and his gang abandoned us, the dhirty schoundrels!"

"We must forget the past, considering we've been so mercifully
preserved," said Mr Meldrum.  "Perhaps it was all for the best that we
were not able to leave the ship when they did."

"Maybe; but faix, they didn't have the dacency to ax us!"

"Well, we'll see what they have to say for themselves when we've a
chance of speaking to them," said Mr Meldrum.  "The boat's coming on a
bit quicker now.  It has got out of the set of the tide and has the wind
well abeam, just the thing for that lugsail she carries."

"Sure and she's a smart sailer, sorr," observed Mr McCarthy after a few
minutes' interval, during which time the longboat, which had been
heading up the coast, hauled her wind and was steered towards the
entrance of the little creek at the top of the bay, close by where the
flagstaff was erected and the Penguin Castle people were on the look-
out.

As she came nearer, however, it could be seen that Mr McCarthy's
imagination had been quicker than his eyesight, for there was no one
looking out over the gunwale--least of all Bill Moody, whose tall
herculean form and peculiar visage would have been easily recognisable
even at some distance off.

Indeed, there seemed to be very few persons in the boat at all, only two
being observed in the stern-sheets, one of whom was steering with an
oar, while a third was sitting on one of the forward thwarts attending
to the sheet of the lugsail, slacking it out as the wind came aft
occasionally, and hauling it in taut again when the sail jibed on the
boat's head falling off a point or two through the alteration of her
course now and again.

The castaways were all in a state of the greatest expectation and
surmise, as the longboat gradually grew more visible and the small
number of its occupants became noticeable; for, as she rounded the point
of the ridge, those on the beach could now observe her as well as Mr
Meldrum and the first-mate, who were by the side of the look-out man at
the signal station on the higher ground and were the only ones able at
first to see the boat.

"They look as if they'd had hard times," said Ben Boltrope, who was one
of those who could now have a look at the boat, "and some of them seem
to have lost the number of their mess."

"And a durned good job, too!" exclaimed Mr Lathrope; "the mean skunks,
to scoot away and leave a lot of wemmen and children to drown, as they
thought.  They've well arned any troubles they've come by, I guess!"

"Poor creatures!" said Kate, who was standing near the American, with
Frank, of course, the inseparable, by her side; "please don't say that!
If all of us only just got what we deserved, we should have a sorry
reckoning!"

"Very proper, and just what I think," observed Mrs

Major Negus in a sort of condescending and approving way.  "I do not
consider it right myself to condemn others, and never do it on
principle, for--"

"Thar you go agin, measurin' other folks' corns right away by your own
chilblains, marm," interrupted Mr Lathrope.  "It's allers what you'd
do; and you never kinder give a thought to what t'other people would
have to say in the matter!  I guess you're a bit narrow-minded, excuse
me, marm."

"Narrow-minded, humph!" snorted "the Major," highly indignant at the
accusation.  "The idea of the thing! to be sure, Mr Lathrope, I ought
never to be surprised at anything you choose to say; your manners and
conversation are so very--ah, well--elegant!"

"Much obleeged, marm, I'm sure," said the other, chuckling at making her
angry.  "I took fust-class when at school in the States for elegancy and
deportment."

"I'm sure I wish you had stopped there!" retorted the lady; but any
further amenities were arrested from passing between them by the nearer
approach of the longboat, and the fact of Mr Meldrum and those with him
coming down from the ridge so as to be on the beach when their
unexpected visitors got in to shore.

Closer and closer the boat came, until at last its keel touched ground,
when, slewing round broadside on, it was left stranded on the beach.

"Snakes and alligators!" exclaimed Mr Lathrope, the lugsail swinging
aside and enabling him and the others to see into the boat clearly, a
thing which had been previously impossible from the boat's coming up end
on.  "They air a ruin lot, mister!  Of all the starved, God-forsaken
critturs as I've ever seed they're 'bout the worst!"

They were.

Only the man who had been steering with the oar and the one who was on
the thwart amidships were apparently able to sit up, for three other
figures were observed stretched in the bottom of the boat in a lump
together; while one was by himself in the bows, doubled up in a
crouching posture, quite dead and with his ghastly eyes staring out
sightless from the retreating sockets.  The closely-drawn features and
general appearance of this latter miserable object showed that he must
have expired in the last stage of starvation!

"Why, this is almost worse than you were when we picked you up off
Pernambuco," said Ben Boltrope to Karl Ericksen.

"Ja, ja!" replied the Norwegian.  "It var sehr kalt, and we was expose
as mooch as starve; but it vor bad, very, and so is dese, it remind me,
oh! so much;" and he turned away his head, as Kate had already done,
from the hideous spectacle, quite unable to gaze any longer at it from
its association with his own rescue from a similar horrible death.

The men by Mr Meldrum's side, however--forgetting the past conduct of
the survivors of those in the longboat and the fact of their not only
having deserted them but even locked them below to drown in the hold of
the sinking ship--rushed into the water, eager, in the common exercise
of that humanity which is common to us all, but especially noticeable in
English sailors, to relieve the misery that was so apparent, and to
separate those who were living from those who had ceased to suffer; and,
of all these Good Samaritans, Mr McCarthy, who had been so bitter in
his denunciation of the mutineers, was the first to go forward, with
Frank and Mr Meldrum, you may be sure, not very far off.

"Only six out of the dozen that left the ship!" exclaimed Mr Meldrum to
the man in the stern-sheets, to whom he extended his hand to aid him in
getting out of the boat.  "Where are the rest of your number?"

But the emaciated wretch--who seemed to have suffered considerable
bodily injury as well as want of food, for one of his arms hung down
powerless at his side, and there was a broad cut across his face from
some weapon--was as incapable of speech as he was apparently of moving.
His lips only worked feebly, without any sound coming from them, and he
stumbled and fell forwards on his face when he tried to rise by the aid
of Mr Meldrum's arm.

"Bedad, they're in a bad way, sorr," said Mr McCarthy sympathisingly,
coming up and helping Mr Meldrum to lift the man out and place him on
the beach, where he had already laid down the corpse that had been in
the bows, throwing a bit of the sail over it to hide it for the time
from observation.  "The poor divil can't spake, sure.  I wondther which
of them it wor?  I'm blest if I can make him out, and I knew all the men
purty well, most of them being in my own watch, by the same token."

But just then, the stewardess saved him from puzzling over the man's
face any further.

"It's Llewellyn, my husband!" she cried out, pushing Mr McCarthy away,
and taking the almost lifeless figure he was supporting tenderly in her
arms, oblivious of everything save of her natural womanly pity and love.
"The poor fellow! the poor fellow!" and she burst into tears over the
miserable semblance of the man, who, coward and deserter as he had
proved himself to be, had yet once been dear to her as her husband.

"Ah! then he accompanied them too!" said Mr Meldrum reflectively to the
first-mate, as the last man was raised from the bottom of the boat and
carried as tenderly ashore as if he had been one of their own party and
a loved shipmate.  "So there were thirteen of them altogether, instead
of twelve, as I thought!  That makes seven unaccounted for.  I wonder
what became of them!"

"Sure and the divil only knows," replied the first-mate laconically,
"for Bill Moody, the baste, must be along o' them, as he's not with
these here; and he was sartain to be will looked afther by the ould
gintleman in black down below!"

"Hush!" said Mr Meldrum.  "If he is dead, let him rest in peace!"

"Aye, aye, sort; so say I," answered Mr McCarthy; "and may joy go with
him, for he was the broth of a boy!"

Bye and bye, when Llewellyn, the steward, recovered sufficiently to be
able to speak, he had a terrible tale to tell.

On the outbreak of the row on board the ship, he said, between Captain
Dinks and Moody, he was about to slip forward to join Snowball in the
galley to have a warm, for he found it cold in his pantry; and, besides,
he had no one to speak to there, and he felt dull and cheerless.

Frightened at the altercation and afraid of getting hurt in the scuffle
that arose, he hid himself in the bows of the longboat; and, as luck
would happen, he was there when the boat was launched and went away from
the side of the vessel with the mutineers, for he could not scramble out
in time.

Bill Moody, said the steward, wanted to chuck him over board when he was
discovered; but the rest of the men overruled him, and he was allowed to
remain.

The boat was carried far to leeward, and so pitched about by the heavy
sea which was running, that every moment they thought she would be
swamped.  They had to bale her out continuously, for the waves broke
over her each moment, half-filling her on many occasions.

Fortunately, they were not dashed ashore in the darkness against the
cliffs, which they could faintly see through the haze to be quite close;
and towards daylight they were able to get up the fore-sail and steer
her along the land, which stretched far away down to the southward,
miles away from where they had left the ship.  The mutineers tried all
they could to find some place where they could beach the boat without
risk of getting her stove in on the rocks; but their efforts were vain.

At last, they came past a mountain which was smoking, and as the shore
seemed to shelve down here, Moody determined to endeavour to land there,
saying that they would find the vicinity of the volcano warm and
comfortable--better than some frozen ice-glaciers which they had noticed
further north.

After many attempts and failures, they managed to run the boat on to a
black sandy stretch of beach which opened out beyond the smoking
mountain; and here, they unloaded her in safety.

They had then more provisions than would have lasted them for months
with care.

"All of ourn!" ejaculated Mr Lathrope, interrupting the steward at this
point of the narrative.  "We would ha' swopped some o' them penguins and
Kerguelen cabbage fur the lot, I guess."

But, continued Llewellyn, the men wasted all the stores, recklessly
destroying much more than they ate; for they pitched away half-consumed
cans of preserved meat, opening fresh ones with the greatest
carelessness before requiring them.

Besides all this, there was the drink--a curse which followed them from
the ship.

Moody had contrived to secrete a cask of rum in the boat before quitting
the wreck, and this was opened soon after landing, he and most of the
mutineers drinking themselves drunk and indulging in the wildest orgies
whilst it lasted.

One evening, about a week after they had got ashore, in the middle of a
drunken debauch Moody set fire to a tent, which they had constructed out
of some of the spare sails placed in the boat.  It was completely burnt,
many of the men being almost roasted alive before they could extricate
themselves and three dying subsequently from the injuries they had then
received.

This was not the worst, however; for, in addition to the tent, their
entire stock of provisions, which were stored inside, was consumed; and,
beyond a few of the half-eaten tins that had been previously thrown
away, they had nothing afterwards left to eat.

Starvation stared them in the face.

"Did you not search about and find the cabbage that we got here?" asked
Mr Meldrum.

"No," replied the steward; "the whole land thereabouts, before the snow
fell, was as bare as a brick-field, and just as black and burnt up
like."

"And did no seals or birds come?"

"Some animals swam in one day," said Llewellyn, "but the men were drunk
at the time and frightened them away; so they never came back again when
we needed them.  Only a stray gull or two occasionally flew by, so far
out of reach that none of us could catch them."

"Well, go on to tell the story in your own way," said Mr Meldrum.

Their hunger got so great, the man proceeded to say, that they hunted
about for stray ham-bones, and even gnawed the soles of their boots; and
at last Bill Moody said they would have to cast lots and sacrifice one
of their number for the good of the rest.

"Oh, the dhirty cannibal!" interposed Mr McCarthy.  "He'd be quite
capable of that; bad cess to the baste!"

There were now only ten of them left, with himself, continued Llewellyn,
and he could see that Moody wanted him to be killed, it being all a
pretence about casting lots.  Some of the men saw through the plot, too,
as well as he did and took his part.  It was then that a fight came
about, and in it he got that slash across his face which they had
noticed.

Moody's own particular adherents amongst the party were only four in
number; but they had all got pistols, which the others did not possess;
and Llewellyn's party would probably have got the worst of it had not an
awful thing happened.

Just at the moment the fight began, the smoking mountain blew up!

"An eruption of the volcano," said Mr Meldrum.

The steward did not know anything about that.  He explained that, while
they were in the midst of the struggle, a lot of fire and stones came
down upon them, and Moody and some of the other mutineers were crushed
to death outright.  The survivors, with himself, then managed to push
down the longboat into the sea again, and made off from the terrible
place--coasting back along the coast in the hope of coming across one of
the settlements of the whaling vessels, which some of them had heard
frequented the island.

When they were suffering the last extremities of hunger and thirst--the
latter being a fresh privation, for they had had plenty of water to
drink on the volcano beach, however much they had wanted food--they saw
the flag of the "Penguin Castle" settlers, and made towards it as well
as they were able.

"And, thank God, I'm here with you all!" concluded the steward when he
had brought his narrative to this point.  "I have been saved from a
horrible death."

"Arrah, sure, all's well that inds will!" said Mr McCarthy; "but I'm
glad you weren't a desarter, as I thought you were; and I'm roight glad,
too, that that thafe of a Moody has mit with his desarts at last!"

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.

PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE.

It was a fortunate circumstance, not only for the surviving mutineers
who had turned up so strangely, but for the little community at Penguin
Castle as well, that they did not make their appearance on the scene
earlier; for, had they came at the trying period, when famine, so to
speak, reigned in the land, they certainly would not have been "welcome
guests!"  Of course, even then, Mr Meldrum and the others would have
felt bound to do as much for them as they could; but as at that time the
castaways were almost near upon starvation, they could ill have afforded
to help others in the same predicament, however much charity might have
constrained them.

But, now, things were very different in regard to their larder, wild
ducks being plentiful enough and another heavy "bag" of rabbits having
been secured as soon as the road to the warren had become passable
through the partial subsidence of the flood in the valley; while, in
addition to those stores of substantial food, there was Kerguelen
cabbage _ad libitum_ at their disposal--all the fresher and more juicy
through being covered up by the snow and watered by the spring rains--
besides an abundance of the haddock-like, spike-headed fish to be had
for the catching in the bay, not to speak of the dried penguins as a
last resource, should the other articles of diet fail to suit or pall on
the palate after a time.  Indeed, as Mr Lathrope observed frequently
when seated at the central table of their general room and disposing of
the savoury residue of some gipsy stew of Snowball's concoction, during
this period of plenty, which came in such pleasing contrast to their
recent scarcity of provender, they were "living like fighting cocks, and
no mistake!"

Such being the state of things at "Penguin Castle," it was not long
before the emaciated men, who arrived in the longboat almost at death's
door through want, were restored to health.  Mr Meldrum, however, took
the precaution of binding them down by the most stringent conditions as
to their obedience and orderly conduct before admitting them on the same
terms as the rest to the common membership of the community--it being
clearly put before them that the least _lache_ or inattention to orders
would subject them to expulsion, when they would have to shift for
themselves and give a wide berth to those of the settlement.

Captain Dinks had recovered so far now that he was able to sit up for a
short time each day; but the length of his illness and the amount of
blood he had lost had so aged and pulled him down that he was
transformed, from the smart energetic sailor he had been, into a feeble
old man, utterly incapable of ever resuming his former position should
events ever place it in his power to take command of a ship again--at
least so it seemed from his general state of prostration.

Under these circumstances, therefore, Mr Meldrum was unquestionably
still looked upon as the head of the party, quite apart from any
appointment as such, from the simple reason that everybody recognised
that it would be only through his advice and forethought that they could
ever hope to escape from the island and see home once more.

Although he had as yet never spoken directly to the point on the
subject, all could gather, from stray hints and observations which
occasionally dropped from his lips, that this thought was ever before
him; and that, when he considered that the proper time for action had
arrived, he would lay his plans before them.

They were not mistaken.

One evening, about the third week in October and the third month of
their residence on Desolation Island, when all were assembled in the
general room after the principal meal of the day--gathered together for
a social chat over the little petty details of their life since the
morning and cogitating as to what was best to be done on the morrow, as
was their invariable custom each night before separating at bedtime--Mr
Meldrum unbosomed himself, just when they least expected it.

Mr Lathrope was having a spirited contest with the first-mate over the
chequer-board that he had assisted in making; Kate was reading out of a
little pocket Bible to the poor captain as he lay back in his cot; while
the others, grouped around, were talking and otherwise amusing
themselves--some of the men knitting a net, which it was intended to use
as a seine for catching fish some day when finished, and the steward
assisting Snowball in cutting up some cabbage which they were going to
pickle and lay by for emergencies--when Mr Meldrum, after a preliminary
"hem," to attract their attention, addressed the little gathering.

"Friends," said he, "it was my intention to speak to you some little
time back about our future prospects here, but I waited for the weather
to become more settled.  Now that the spring has fairly set in, however,
it is better not to delay our preparations any longer, for time is
precious and we shall have to accomplish a great deal in the short
period which will be at our disposal."

"I 'spose," put in Mr Lathrope, "you mean about shifting our diggings,
mister, hey?"

"Precisely," replied the other.  "The season was not sufficiently
advanced before; but now that it is, the rain having stopped falling
persistently and the weather showing signs of clearing up, why, the
sooner we are up and stirring, the greater chance we shall have of
getting rescued!"

"Waal," drawled the other in his usual nasal way, "you've only got to
say the word, boss, and I guess we're on the move!"

"All right!  I'm coming to that, but I want you to understand the
situation.  Here is a map of Kerguelen Land," and Mr Meldrum unrolled
the old admiralty chart which has been alluded to before, as he spoke.
"You will see, from the rough outline given of the island, that it is
formed of two peninsulas, running nearly north and south respectively
and both of nearly equal size, but divided by a comparatively narrow
neck of land.  The whole island is, taking its outside limits, about
ninety miles long by sixty broad in its widest part, although at the
narrow point or neck which I have mentioned--see, just here where I
place my finger--the distance from sea to sea between the eastern and
western sides does not exceed fifteen miles."

"I say it clearly, sorr," said Mr McCarthy, all attention when his
especial element was mentioned.

"Well, it so happens," continued Mr Meldrum, "that our position here,
the correctness of which I have carefully ascertained from observations
that I have taken and worked out, is, very fortunately for us, on the
western side of this isthmus, and not at the extremity of the broader
portion of the island.  Consequently, we shall only have to traverse the
short width of this neck of land in our endeavours to get across to the
eastern side, whither we must go if we hope for any vessel to pick us up
and take us to a civilised port--none ever touching here on account of
the dangerous character of the coast, which we already know to our
cost!"

"Bedad, I can't say how ye are going to get the boats over fifteen miles
ov solid ground, more or less," said the first-mate, scratching his head
vigorously, as he always did when puzzled by anything.

"I'll tell you," answered Mr Meldrum.  "You may have noticed since the
snow melted and the rains came, how the waters of that originally small
lake at the bottom of the creek have become extended so that they now
reach up the base of the furthest hills in the valley?"

"Yis, sorr," said Mr McCarthy, stopping from disturbing his auburn
locks any further with his fingers and now all eagerness again, as if
only just then beginning to comprehend what the other was driving at.

"All right, then," continued Mr Meldrum, "so far, so good!  Now, to-
day, I went prospecting up to the top of the cliff here, and I see that
the waters of the swollen tarn are united in the extreme distance--to
the left there on the map--with a river, or some other lake, which comes
round that further hill.  Hence, this very width of fifteen miles which
we have to cross may be but half of it land and half water, so that,
really, in that case, we should have only to haul the boat, or boats,
over the intervening bits of _terra firma_ in passing from sea to sea."

"I guess, mister," said Mr Lathrope, "you mean what the lumber men on
the Susquehanna and Red River call `making a portage,' hey?"

"I don't quite follow you," observed Mr Meldrum.

"Why, when they come across a rapid in the river, they jest tote up
their canoes and carry 'em along the bank, or through the forest
sometimes, till they gits to whar the stream runs free agin, when they
floats 'em and sails along as slick as you please!"

"Exactly," said Mr Meldrum, "you have just hit what I wished to
describe.  Well, friends, whether we have to carry the boat a short
distance or a long one, we shall have to cross this isthmus; and, the
sooner we commence making our preparations, the better."

"You sid only a boat, sorr; aren't ye going to take the pair ov 'em?"
asked Mr McCarthy.

"No," replied the other, "one will be about as much as we shall be able
to manage, and the smaller of the two at that."

"Be jabers!" exclaimed the first-mate in surprise; "and how, thin, will
you carry the lot ov us?"

"When we have to cross land," said Mr Meldrum, "of course we'll have to
walk, and can go in a body or not, just as we please; but when we have
to take to the water again, why the boat will have to do it in so many
trips--taking over a certain number first and returning for a fresh
load, until all shall be taken over; and repeating the process from
stage to stage."

"It kinder strikes me, mister," said Mr Lathrope, reflectively, "that
you'll find that thar jolly-boat a heap bigger and a pile heavier than
them birch-bark canoes of the lumber men and Injuns I was a talkin'
about; and yet, they're heavy enough to cart along fur any raal sort o'
distance, you bet, fur I've tried 'em!"

"I've already thought of that," said Mr Meldrum, "and to-morrow the
carpenter and I will have a talk about a little job which will, perhaps,
relieve your mind in the matter; but, take the boat we must, by hook or
by crook!  Do you know that, after crossing the isthmus and getting into
the open sea on the other side, we shall have to coast along for another
fifty or sixty miles before we can expect to reach Betsy Cove, the
little harbour out of Hillsborough Bay or sound, which--you can see it
here on the chart--is the rendezvous of the whalers.  Thither, I tell
you, we must go if we hope to meet any of these in order to be taken off
the island.  Now, if we can't get there by water we should have to go by
land; and the distance, by the circuitous route we should have to adopt,
would exceed two hundred miles, the way, too, taking us across mountains
which the ladies at least would find impassable!"

"And when are you thinking of starting?" asked Captain Dinks, speaking
for the first time.

"As soon as possible.  The whalers are said generally to arrive at Betsy
Cove about the beginning of the summer, that is in November; and, what
with the difficulties we may meet in traversing the isthmus here, and
the subsequent long distance we should have to go by water--for we may
have to make repeated trips in order to transport all the members of our
party to the point I am aiming at--it will take us all our time to reach
there in a month."

"All right!" responded the captain, who looked for the moment more
cheerful at the idea of moving away, "make all the arrangements you
like, Mr Meldrum; I'm only a useless old hulk now, and can do nothing
to help you."

"Bedad you'll be all right agin, cap'en," said Mr McCarthy.  "That is,
faix, when you say the say on t'other side, sure.  Cheer up, my hearty,
and niver say die!"

"Thank you, Tim," said Captain Dinks, actually smiling, which was the
best sign he had shown for weeks; "your face is as good as a tonic any
day, old friend, and you make me feel better already!"

The very next day all began to prepare for the contemplated shifting of
their quarters, Mr Meldrum so contriving that each had his quota of
work to perform in making ready for the start.

Ben Boltrope was commissioned to manufacture as speedily as he could,
out of what spare timber he could get hold of--and, if necessary, he was
empowered to break up the longboat in default of finding any elsewhere,
for they would not want to use it again--a small light carriage with
large broad wheels similar to those commonly used in transporting life-
boats from place to place along the coast, when their services are
suddenly required at some spot remote from their station and it would
take too long to send them round by sea.

This carriage, of course, was for the accommodation of the jolly-boat,
whenever it should be found necessary for it to abandon its more
congenial element the water, for the land; and as the wheels required
some delicacy of manipulation, it was a lucky thing that the mutineers
had forgotten to take Ben's tool-chest out of the longboat, and that it
had been restored to his possession.  Otherwise, the old man-o'-war's
man would have been unable to have completed satisfactorily the
difficult task set him with only an old axe and a hammer for his
available tools, as had been the case when the house was being built.

Such of the party as were not assisting the carpenter were set to work
collecting and curing everything in the shape of food, or provisions of
any sort that came to hand--the rabbit warren being depopulated and wild
ducks slaughtered to such an extent that the latter abandoned the
valley; while, the last remaining birds in the penguin colony, old and
young alike, were sacrificed to appease the craving gods of the common
larder.

Neither were the ladies idle; for, Kate Meldrum and Mrs Major Negus
were employed making canvas bags for the stowage of all these good
things in proper ship-shape fashion.  Even Master Maurice--the whilom
"Imp," who had almost been reformed by his experience amongst the
penguins--and Miss Florry, had their services requisitioned in one way
or other.

One and all, without exception, had each something to do!

"I guess, mister," said Mr Lathrope a week later on, when he and Mr
Meldrum were returning from an unsuccessful foray on the adjacent
marshes that had been the haunt of the wild fowl--without once getting a
shot, much less bagging a duck to reward their trouble,--"this'll be a
tall moving; and the sooner we make tracks the better now, since all the
game's skeart.  I don't see nary a grasshopper to aim at!"

"The arrangements are all completed," replied the other, "and I have
determined to start to-morrow.  As you say, there's nothing to be gained
by our waiting any longer; so, as we've now as much provision collected
as we shall either want or can carry, and as Ben has finished the boat-
carriage, I don't see any reason for delaying our departure a single
day!"

Mr Meldrum was as good as his word.  He gave out an intimation of the
projected start on the morrow to the household the same evening, as soon
as the two reached the little dwelling by the creek which they were
about to abandon so remorselessly after the long shelter it had given
them in their adversity!

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.

ACROSS COUNTRY.

It was a lovely morning, the loveliest that the shipwrecked people had
seen since their landing on Kerguelen Land, when the little party
started away from Penguin Castle, bidding adieu to the spot which for so
many long months had given them a shelter and a home.

The sun was shining out brightly, the sky without a cloud, and the air
felt quite warm, although with a freshness in it that just gave zest to
movement; while the atmosphere had that peculiar opalescent translucency
about it and an almost imperceptible colouring--in the faintest tints of
light mauve and amber, with a shade of tender apple-green--which is
rarely seen in more northern latitudes, excepting in those regions that
are well within the borders of the Arctic circle.

Out in the bay opposite the creek, the water was as smooth as glass,
undisturbed by the slightest breath of wind so as to cause a ripple; and
numbers of baby puffins and young penguins, their spruce little downy
bodies clad in bright new coats of silky feathers, were scattered in
groups over the mirror-like expanse, diving and coming up again in a
moment in the centre of a series of expanding circles that gradually
grew wider and wider in diameter, as when a stone is flung into a still
pond, only to disappear the next minute.  Others were flitting along
over the surface with the pinions of their little wings just dipped in
the water, so that they flicked it up, in the short flights they took
now and then in play and mimic pursuit of each other, like as rowing men
do when they "feather" their oars too soon in lumpy water.  Sometimes,
the generally restless birdlets would rest tranquilly for a brief while
on the bosom of the sea, chattering away like so many aquatic magpies in
miniature mottled flocks; but this was only for a very short spell.

To the right of the creek, rising abruptly out of the sea, the black
basaltic cliffs which formed such a bold headland to the bay stretched
far out to where the extreme point of Cape Saint Louis could be seen,
embracing within the compass of its arm the reef on which the _Nancy
Bell_ had been lost; and to the left, beyond the ridge at the back of
the castaways' dwelling, the higher ranges of the inland mountains,
which seemed to run down to the southwards and eastwards as far as the
eye could reach, stood up--towering in the distance above the hills
immediately near in the foreground and lifting their snow-clad summits
into the blue vault of the heavens.

The "travelling caravan," as Mr Lathrope had styled the jolly-boat when
he saw it first mounted on its broad-flanged, awkward-looking carriage,
had been packed the night before with all the impedimenta of the
pilgrims.  Their few "goods and chattels and household effects" were
stowed in and about below the thwarts, with the canvas bags containing
the dried birds and Kerguelen cabbage which formed their stock of
provisions ranged round the gunwales and crammed in anywhere; while a
special place was kept clear and reserved in the stern-sheets for the
accommodation of poor Captain Dinks, who was deposited here in his cot.

Pussy, who had been so happily saved from the wreck at the last moment
and had since done such good service in demolishing the mice which
infested the house, was placed alongside of the captain to keep him
company, and he had also in charge a tame, or rather an educated
penguin, that Master Maurice Negus had displayed considerable ability in
training and which Mr Meldrum had allowed to be taken along with the
other things as a reward for the "imp's" services of late in assisting
at the preparations of the expedition.

For some days prior to this, Mr Meldrum had been very busy taking short
excursions in various directions, but all tending to the same point of
the compass.  He was endeavouring to find out which route would be the
most practicable for reaching the eastern seaboard; and, after
collecting all his observations into one harmonised whole and
deliberating over the matter with Mr Lathrope and the first-mate, who
had severally accompanied him in his various prospecting tours, the
final course of the party was at length agreed on.

The bright morning appeared to all as an augury of success; so it was
with light hearts that they set out.

They abandoned Penguin Castle in all its entirety, Mr Meldrum saying
that possibly they might have to seek its shelter again; but, if happily
there should arise no occasion for that eventuality, the building might
still be of service to other shipwrecked men in a like extremity to
themselves.  Thus it came to pass that the place was left "all
standing," with rooms, furniture--such as it was--Snowball's copper and
the cooking range all intact.  Even the flagstaff with Kate's ensign at
the peak was left hoisted, as if to show, that if deserted now, the spot
had once been inhabited!

They were thirty-two souls in all now, reckoning the steward and the
other four men of the mutineers who had come back in the longboat--which
had to be broken up, by the way, after all, to form the jolly-boat's
carriage; and it was just "six bells in the forenoon watch" when they
started, a team of the sailors, tethered in traces like a pack of
Esquimaux dogs, hauling away at the boat-carriage and running it along
merrily with a chorus of "cheerily men, cheerily ho!"  The others
tramped behind the queer vehicular conveyance, without respect of
persons; only poor Captain Dinks being allowed a seat in the boat, while
it travelled on land, and that only by reason of his helplessness and
inability to move without assistance.  When they had to take to the
water, of course, the jolly-boat would have to carry more passengers.

On the way, sometimes, they had serious difficulties to encounter, for
the ground in many places was moist and spongy, causing the feet of the
men hauling to sink deeply into the soil as they tugged at the towing-
rope of the jolly-boat's carriage; but, as frequently Mr Meldrum
remarked, to rouse the seamen's energies, "difficulties were only made
for brave men to conquer," so at it they went with a will which soon
overcame the dead weight of the load they had to drag behind them--a
fresh towing team relieving the first at the expiration of every half
hour, so as not to weary the men out by a too prolonged strain at such
unusual exertion.

Bye and bye, they arrived at the end of their first "portage," the
shores of the little lake which Mr Meldrum had noticed trending in an
eastward direction.  This water would now considerably aid their passage
across the isthmus by allowing the jolly-boat to take to its native
element, on whose bosom it would be borne some miles on the onward way.

Here a halt was called and a short luncheon taken, after which the
jolly-boat was safely launched on the water by backing it down on its
carriage.  This plan was easy as well as expeditious; for, as soon as
the boat had reached its proper point of immersion, it floated off the
wheels.

The ladies then got into the stern-sheets, alongside of the captain,
accompanied by Mr Meldrum, while four of the seamen took their places
on the thwarts in order to row them across--the remainder of the party
stopping where they were, along with a portion of the packages that had
been removed from the boat so as to make room for Mrs Major Negus and
the others who went with her.  The carriage belonging to the boat was
also left behind until the latter should have deposited its first cargo
on the other side of the lake and return to fetch a fresh load.

Three trips were taken before the whole party were thus transported over
the lake, the boat's carriage being then towed over at the last
crossing.

It would be needless repetition to recount in detail all the different
portages of the jolly-boat over the strips of land which lay between the
chain of lakes that were spread over the line of their route; or, to
tell the number of the trips by water that had to be made.

There were many unloadings of the little craft, and many packings-up
again.

Many weary miles the poor unaccustomed pedestrians had to tramp,
sometimes up-hill, sometimes down dale, through marshy lands and over
stony boulders that blistered their feet; and all the while they had to
drag after them that terrible Frankenstein-like monster, the jolly-boat
mounted on its carriage, which seemed to the worn-out men sometimes a
species of Juggernaut car, crushing out their spirits and sapping their
every energy.

Suffice it to say, that, at the end of a fortnight's time, they at
length reached a magnificent stretch of blue water, which Mr Meldrum
said was Hillsborough Bay, on the eastern side of Kerguelen Land.

Hurrah--they had crossed the isthmus, and arrived so far towards the end
of their destination!

As they toiled over this neck of land which united the two principal
peninsulas into which the island was divided, they could mark how, as
had been noticed along the coast, the country was composed of a series
of terraced hills, rising above a chain of lakes and lagoons that
indented it deeply on either side and forming an endless succession of
deep fords and harbours, the hills being almost invariably covered, from
their crests down to a certain altitude, with perpetual snow.  Below
this line, their sides were clothed with green verdure, composed chiefly
of a species of azorella and a rough spinated grass; while, the
strangest feature of all was, that not a single tree, or plant
approaching to the dimensions of a shrub, could be seen on any portion
of the island!

The most charming characteristic of the scenery noticed, was the
profusion of cataracts, cascades, and waterfalls, which leaped and
sparkled from terrace to terrace of the basaltic net-work of peaks and
ridges that ran here, there, and everywhere across the isthmus,
enclosing the valleys and scarping the sea--the splashing of these
natural fountains making soft music everywhere as the water gurgled down
into tiny rivulets and brooks below, which stole their way along banks
bordered by chickweed and liverwort into the lakes, and from the lakes
into the ocean, only to be sucked up again by the clouds and deposited
on the hills in the form of rain, forming the cascades and cataracts
anew; and so on, _da capo_.

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.

RESCUED.

"Snakes and alligators, mister!" exclaimed Mr Lathrope when the whole
party were gathered together on the shore of Hillsborough Bay, united
once more after the boat-carriage had been lugged over its final
portage, and the boat itself had accomplished its last separate short
trip before adventuring again on the open waters of the sea--"I guess
your fifteen miles has come to a considerable sight more'n fifty, you
bet."

"Oh! please be a little more moderate in your estimate," laughed Mr
Meldrum.  "I confess I somewhat understated the probable distance; but
really, now, fifty miles is a little too much."

"Wa-al, then, let us call it five-and-twenty," said the American with a
genial grin over his sharp-cut features, which were almost as elongated
as his legs.  "You can't grumble at that anyway, I reckon, boss!"

"That's pretty much like the story of the five hundred cats which came
down, I believe, to two, if I'm not mistaken," slily put in Miss Kate,
smiling.

"Now, don't you be too rough on a feller, missy," said Mr Lathrope,
pretending to be very serious over the matter, in his humorous way.  "I
cave in to the fifty, that's a fact, as I kinder wanted to pile on the