"Yes," said Fred, "friends for life, Frank."
And so the strange compact was sealed.
A compact such as this men may smile at, but there is far more in the love that often exists 'twixt boy and boy, than many old heads could imagine or would be willing to believe.
As soon as dusk fell again the fire was once more lit, and once more the children danced and played in its rosy gleams, then, somewhat tired, though certainly not weary, they went home to read and talk around the camp fire, and then sleep again sealed the eyes of our shipwrecked mariners.
Another day and another went by just the same. The island seemed quite out of the course of steamboats, and fisher-boats never came near it.
But all through the glad sunlit hours they played at Crusoes, at pirates, and smugglers, and all sorts of children's heroes, and the day did not seem half long enough to contain all the jollity and joy that had to be crammed into it.
I'm not sure that the hour around the camp fire just before turning in was not the jolliest of all, for on board the little yacht they had all sorts of pleasant story books, and while Frank or Fred read aloud, the other two permitted their fancies to run riot in the pleasant land of imagination.
But why, they often wondered, did no boat answer their signal? It was kept up now even in the sunshine. It was as Fred reverently said, a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night.
Yet nevertheless they seemed forgotten of all the world.
But one evening, just at sunset, and before the night fire was lit, to their joy they saw a boat coming straight down under sail towards the island. It came near enough for them to see the fishermen's caps and faces.