“I want to go exploring here, Mark,” he said. “I expect this will prove to be a very wonderful place.”
“But I thought such an island as this would be full of beautiful birds.”
“Perhaps it is, but the birds are all sitting under their sun-shades till the sun begins to go down. Why, Mark, we shall be in clover!”
“But about food, sir? What shall we do for food for such a party? The stores won’t last long.”
“Now, that’s a boy all over,” said the major, chuckling. “Food! My word, how a boy does love the larder! There, don’t look so serious, Mark. I was just as bad, I can remember, at home, enjoying my own school-room breakfast, then getting a little more when my father had his; having a little lunch; then my dinner, followed by my tea; after which dessert, when they had theirs, in the dining-room; lastly, a bit of supper; and I finished off by taking biscuits or baking-pears to bed.”
“Yes, sir,” said Mark; “but that was in England.”
“Well, never mind. We shall find something to eat here, I daresay. Enough to keep us. Why, Mark, I don’t suppose we should have to put you in the pot for quite a year.”
Mark laughed, and the major’s eyes twinkled as he went on.
“What nonsense, my lad! we couldn’t starve here. The sea teems with fish waiting to be caught. Look yonder.”
Mark glanced in the required direction, and could see the smooth water in the lagoon dappled and blurring as a shoal of fish played upon the surface.