"What a lonely life to lead!" said Conal next day at breakfast.
"Yes," said Morgan, "and I shouldn't care to get spliced and settle down here all my life, pretty and all as the girls are."
"Well, you would live long and be healthy anyhow if you did," said Captain Talbot.
The mate laughed as he helped himself to another huge slice of barracouta.
"Never mind that, sir. I wouldn't marry and live in Tristan if they gave me three wives."
"But aren't these girls shy?" said Frank. "Why, I asked one innocently enough to give me a kiss, and she blushed like a blood orange."
"Did she give you the kiss?" asked Morgan mischievously.
"No, that she didn't, but--I took it."
The Flora M'Vayne lay here for a whole week, fishing and curing each catch.
This was a rare holiday for the islanders, who were the gayest of the gay all the time.