So saying I took my bow-gun, my guests watching me in wonder, and started for the thicket behind the house.
I hoped to secure a pigeon, for my companions must be in need of nourishing food. I had the good fortune to spy a pigeon almost immediately and to secure it with a single arrow. My companions were greatly surprised to see me return so quickly, and after placing some yams and bread fruit to roast in the ashes, I set about plucking the pigeon. It was a plump bird, of the ring-tail variety. Half of it I fixed over the coals to roast, and with the remainder I proceeded to make some broth, which I succeeded very well in doing, thickening it with crumbs of cold roasted bread fruit, and seasoning it with salt of my own manufacture, as I explained to my guests, while I prepared it.
After the repast, which greatly revived Mr. Harborough and his daughter, we all went to the beach, I leading the way, to where the dead sailor lay.
"Poor fellow," said Mr. Harborough, "it is the third mate. The barkentine carried seven men beside the captain and three mates. We must see if any more have come ashore." But although we searched carefully all along the shore up the bay, we found no other bodies. So the dead sailor was carried tenderly to the palm grove, where he was laid in a grave, dug after much hard labor, and lined with grass; I promising to carve a head-piece for it, in the near future.
Then I took Mr. Harborough and his daughter around the neighborhood of my hut, showing them where I had been cast ashore, where I had gathered the reeds and cut the bamboos for my house, where I had discovered the yam vines; indeed, I gave them a careful history of my doings thereabout, which used up all the afternoon. The sea, meantime, had subsided and the sun had dried the bush and the grass; and after a frugal meal from the remnants of the noonday repast, we sat long in front of the house beneath the tropical sky, watching the moon rising above the feathery palm tops, while we speculated regarding the future.
The situation presented few complications, for we must simply make the best of everything until rescued, be it days, months, or years. Mr. Harborough had most important information to communicate, namely, that the Three Sisters had a bountiful store of food supplies and cooking utensils, as well as a rifle, shot-gun and ammunition for each. The rifle had belonged to the captain and the shot-gun to the mate, who, when opportunity offered, were accustomed to go ashore for a little sport, shooting. To get these treasures ashore would greatly add to our comfort, and, although we had no boat, we resolved, very early in the morning, to set about discussing means for saving as much as possible from the vessel.
Mr. Harborough, I was glad to see, took a cheerful view of the situation, and was resolved not to despair; and Miss Harborough, also, showed her bravery by taking the greatest interest in our plans. With some large pieces of cocoanut cloth I screened off a corner of the room, including my couch, which was to serve as Miss Harborough's sleeping apartment, while Mr. Harborough and I stretched ourselves on the floor near the door. Before we slept I communicated to him my intention to build an addition to the house before attempting to do much in getting things from the vessel, in order to afford Miss Harborough privacy, by having a room to herself. He thanked me for all my kindness, and we knew no more until awakened by Puff, who, while everything was damp, had not been heard from. Indeed, I had, I regretted to admit, forgotten him. But now, his feathers dry, and the morning bright and fair, he made himself heard, indicating by all the words in his vocabulary, interspersed with shrill screeches, that he was hungry, and would brook no delay in having his wants supplied.
The morning repast finished, we adjourned to the beach to lay out a plan of work for the immediate future. We had two matters to discuss: one, the most important, of devising ways and means of transporting the supplies from the stranded barkentine to the shore, and the other, the construction of an addition to the house for the accommodation of Miss Harborough.
"It seems to me," observed Mr. Harborough, "that we should solve the problem of getting out to the vessel as quickly as possible; for, if there arises another great storm, she might break up."
"That is very true," I replied, "and your suggestion is a wise one; so, as the building of the addition to the house will not be a long task if we work together, let us set to work upon it at once. We will construct it in the same manner as I built this house."