Part 28 (1/2)

To this Billy replied that he was quite jolly, and ready for anything; and, by way of proving his fitness for exertion, began to crawl over the rocks like a snail!

”That'll never do,” said Gaff with a short laugh; ”come, wrestle with me, youngster.”

The Bu'ster accepted the challenge at once by throwing his arms round his father's waist, and endeavouring to throw him. Gaff resisted, and the result was that, in ten minutes or so, they were comparatively warm, and capable of active exertion.

Then they clambered over the rocks, traversed the neck of sand, and quickly gained the sh.o.r.e.

Ascending the cliffs with eager haste, they reached the summit just as the sun rose and tinged the topmost pinnacles with a golden hue.

Pus.h.i.+ng on towards an elevated ridge of rock, they climbed to the top of a mound, from which they could obtain a view of the surrounding country, and then they discovered that their place of refuge was a small solitary island, in the midst of the boundless sea.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

THE ISLAND-HOME EXAMINED.

For a long time father and son stood on the elevated rock gazing in silence on the little spot of earth that was to be their home, it might be, for months, or even years.

The island, as I have said, was a solitary one, and very small--not more than a mile broad, by about three miles long; but it was covered from summit to sh.o.r.e with the richest tropical verdure, and the trees and underwood were so thick that the cliffs could only be seen in places where gaps in the foliage occurred, or where an aspiring peak of rock shot up above the trees. In order to reach the ridge on which they stood, the castaways had pa.s.sed beneath the shade of mangrove, banana, cocoa-nut, and a variety of other trees and plants. The land on which these grew was undulating and varied in form, presenting in one direction dense foliage, which not only filled the little valleys, but clung in heavy ma.s.ses to rocks and ridges; while in other places there were meadows of rich gra.s.s, with here and there a reedy pond, whose surface was alive with wild ducks and other water-fowl. Only near the top of the island--which might almost be styled a mountain ridge--was there any appearance of uncovered rock. There were two princ.i.p.al peaks, one of which, from its appearance, was a volcano, but whether an active one or not Gaff could not at that time determine. Unlike the most of the South Sea islands, this one was dest.i.tute of a surrounding coral reef, so that the great waves caused by the recent storm burst with thunderous roar on the beach.

At one point only was there a projecting point or low promontory, which formed a natural harbour; and it was on the outer rocks of this point that the father and son had been providentially cast. The whole scene was pre-eminently beautiful; and as the wind had gone quite down, it was, with the exception of the solemn, regular, intermittent roar of the breakers on the weather side, quiet and peaceful. As he sat down on a rock, and raised his heart to G.o.d in grat.i.tude for his deliverance, Gaff felt the spot to be a sweet haven of rest after the toils and horrors of the storm.

A single glance was sufficient to show that the island was uninhabited.

The silence was first broken by Billy, who, in his wonted sudden and bursting manner, gave vent to a resonant cheer.

”Hallo! ho! hooray!” he shouted, while a blaze of delight lit up his face; ”there's the boat, daddy!”

”Where away, lad?” demanded Gaff, rising and shading his eyes from the sun, as he looked in the direction indicated.

”There, down i' the cove; bottom up among the rocks; stove in, I daresay. Don't 'ee see'd, faither?”

”Ay, lad; and mayhap it bean't stove in; leastwise we'll go see.”

As the two hastened down to the beach to ascertain this important point, Gaff took a more leisurely survey of things on the island, and Billy commented freely on things in general.

”Now, daddy,” said the Bu'ster, with a face of beaming joy, ”this is the very jolliest thing that ever could have happened to us--ain't it?”

”Well, I'm not so sure o' that, lad. To be cast away on a lone desert island in the middle o' the Pacific, with little or no chance o' gittin'

away for a long bit, ain't quite the jolliest thing in the world, to my mind.”

”Wot's a _desert_ island, daddy?”

”One as ain't peopled or cultivated.”

”Then _that's_ no objection to it,” said Billy, ”because we two are people enough, and we'll cultivate it up to the mast-head afore long.”

”But what shall we do for victuals, lad?” inquired Gaff, with a smile.

The Bu'ster was posed. He had never thought of food, so his countenance fell.

”And drink?” added Gaff.