They sat under the orange, and filled themselves.
The original resident had evidently gone in for planting an orchard. There were guavas and ripe mangoes, which had run wild, some banana trees, and a lot of pineapple plants in bearing.
They found a charm about the exploration which kept them pleasured all the afternoon.
Their delight was complete when they discovered that they could bring the boat right up a little creek nearly abreast of the hut, and within less than a hundred yards of it.
Tom declared that the place had been just made for a pirates’ camp. He said he had no doubt that it was really occupied by pirates in days gone by. It was pirates who had planted the orchard and dug the well, and when he came to think of it, it stood to reason that they had left those cracks in the slabs purposely, so they could stick their muskets out through them and shoot when they were attacked. He even found traces of gunpowder on the walls and outside, where the whitewash had fallen off, he discovered the marks of bullets.
“Them fellars had a all right time,” said Tom; “they must ’a’ had lashin’s o’ fights.”
“I say,” Dave asked, “was there ever any wimmen pirates?”
“No,” replied Tom, scornfully; “it wuz only men.”
“Well,” went on Dave, “there must ’a’ bin some women pirates here, because here’s a piece of a woman’s dress an’ the busk of a woman’s stays!”