“Well, I wish you would exchange the formal ‘Miss Brand’ for the more friendly and familiar ‘Ella;’ that is, if you consider me worthy of your friendship.”
“I will indeed,” I replied, “with very great pleasure, if you will permit me to do so; and I trust that you, in return, will call me, as I love to be called by all my friends—Harry.”
“Very well,” she replied gaily, “I will; that is, as long as you are good to me, and do not displease me in any way. The sign of my sovereign displeasure will be a return to the formality of ‘Mr Collingwood.’”
We chatted blithely on after this upon all sorts of subjects, and I was both surprised and delighted at the depth and extent of my companion’s information. She had evidently read much, and, what was more to the purpose, had selected her reading with sound judgment, storing her mind abundantly with useful facts which she always had ready for production in support of an argument, or by way of illustration, and she frequently graced her conversation with choice quotations, introduced in the best taste and with a manner as far as possible removed from anything like affectation or pedantry. I was charmed beyond measure, and over and over again thanked the lucky accident which had rendered it my good fortune to be put upon terms of such close intimacy with so fascinating a little creature.
At length we completed our tour of the northern end of the island, returning by way of the eastern shore, until we were abreast the clump of cocoa-nut trees; when we struck inland; and, after a somewhat tortuous course between the thick-growing shrubs, reached the beach on our own side once more.
Unfortunately for Ella’s projected laundry operations, we had not been able to discover the slightest sign of a spring of fresh water anywhere.
When we arrived opposite the point where the Water Lily rode peacefully at anchor, Bob was nowhere to be seen. The boat still remained moored to the shrub, as we had left her, so I concluded that he had grown tired of inactivity and had gone off, in the opposite direction to ourselves, for a stroll. I therefore proposed to Ella that she should rest awhile upon the soft, velvety turf, whilst I returned to the cutter for a piece of rope, to aid me in my ascent after the cocoa-nuts.
The rope was soon obtained; and, returning to the shore, I passed it in a loose band round the trunk of one of the trees, leaving room in the band for the introduction of my own body.
By bearing against this whilst I raised my feet and then slipping the band up the tree, I was easily and quickly enabled to reach the fruit, from which I selected an abundant supply of the finest specimens and flung them to the ground.
Whilst thus engaged Bob hove in sight, and when I reached the ground again he reported that, having soon grown tired of doing nothing, he had started away on a walk to the southward, about half an hour after we left him, and had gone to the extreme end of the island; that he had enjoyed his walk amazingly, was excessively tired, and, like ourselves, had failed to find any fresh water.