It was well that our castaways had saved tinned meats from the wreck; for among the cavies or coneys it was thought advisable now to institute a kind of close season. It was breeding time, and to slay the parents, leaving perhaps the young to starve to death, would have been cruel in the extreme.
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE ARRIVAL OF SAVAGES.
It soon became evident that the supply of petroleum oil saved from the brig would run short, but here again Quambo came to the rescue. He and Cassia-bud collected an immense heap of ripe cocoa-nuts, and every day for weeks were busy doing something or other to them. I think they wished them to decay. At all events at the end of that time they set to pounding them up by degrees, and gradually extracted from the mess quite a large quantity of clear and beautiful oil. This in a less warm country would have been solid. The lamps in which the oil was burned were simply cocoa-nut shells cut down. A little water was put in first, then the oil over this, and wicks of pith floated on top by inserting them in disks of wood. So the difficulty of light was got over. And this was certainly something to be thankful for, because the sun set every night soon after six o'clock, and to have had to sit for long hours in the dark before turning in, would have been anything but pleasant.
Besides they had books now, and Fred and Frank took it in turns to read to the others every night.
Sunday was kept as a complete Sabbath, or day of rest, and prayers were said and the Bible read, and long walks taken in the woods or along the rocks.
Fred and Frank could not help marvelling at the wonderful tameness of the sea-birds as they sat on their nests. Even the frigate-bird, for example, on its one big white egg, looked like Patience on a monument, and was not averse to being handled.
I must tell you something about Cassia-bud's pets. First and foremost he one day found a strange wee bird, that had in some way or other tumbled out of its nest. He brought it home, nursed it and fed it regularly day and night, but allowed it as much freedom as it cared for.
It grew so tame that it followed the boy wherever he went, and was as often perched on his shoulder or head as anywhere else. It had a low, long, plaintive cry too, but this was reserved for Cassia-bud's especial delectation, or for Bob's. The bird, if not on the top of Cassia-bud, or not eating its food, one would be sure to find on Hurricane Bob's back. Perhaps his long hair kept its toes comfortable, then the dog's coat glittered so that the bird often pretended it was water, and went through all the motions of bathing in it.
This pet of Cassia-bud's was pure white, with two long trailing tail feathers of charming crimson. A robber-crab was another strange pet the boy had. How he had managed to tame this droll and uncouth-looking monster I cannot say. He fed him regularly with cocoa-nut, perhaps that was the secret. The crab was at least two feet in length, and lived in the hollow root of a tree, always coming out, however, when the boy called him.