"You go on restin,'" said William, kindly, "an' I'll go an' try to find things washed up by the wreck."
******
He crept towards the back of the house. There was no one to be seen. The door stood slightly ajar. Cautiously William peered within. He saw a comfortable kitchen, empty save for the presence of a grey cat washing its face on the hearthrug. It suspended operations for a moment, surveyed William coldly and disapprovingly, and then returned to its ablutions.
William's glance fell eagerly on a box of matches on the table and a saucepan in the sink. He waited in the shadow of the doorway. There was no sound in the house. At last, on tiptoe, his brows drawn together, his tongue projecting from his mouth, his eye fixed on the door, his freckled countenance purple and scowling, his hair standing on end, he crept across the room. Returning the cat's haughty stare, he seized the matches, the saucepan and two cups, and fled down to the river, where his chief mate was sitting on the grass, idly throwing stones into the water.
"Look what I've found washed up from the wreck," he said proudly. "Now we'll build a fire an' soon I expect we'll find a native savage an' some wild animals."
"Not—not too wild, William," said the chief mate.
"All right," said the skipper, "not too wild, but anyway it doesn't matter 'cause you've got me an' there's nothing much I can't kill. Now, after the night on the open sea, we'd better make breakfast." With indescribable joy they collected twigs, made a fire, filled the saucepan with water from the river, and put it on to boil. When the water was warm, William poured it into two cups and broke his biscuits into them. The water was smoked and the biscuits grimy from their sojourn in William's pockets, but to the shipwrecked mariners the draught was as of nectar and ambrosia. Both drained their cups.
"That was grand, wasn't it, mate? I think you oughter say, 'Aye, aye, sir.'"
"Aye, aye, sir."
"Well, now, I'd better build us a house out of logs an' things, an' you go and see if you can find anything washed up from the wreck."