“Well, it’s a comfort to think that we are not likely to be starved,” he observed; “and I will bless Miss Jeannette as long as I live. I wish we could do something to show her how much obliged we are. And now, Bill, what about the boat? Is there a chance of our getting one?”
“A very poor chance at present, I am afraid,” answered Bill. “Jeannette, however, will let us know if her father and brother can find one to suit our purpose, or if a smuggling lugger comes into the harbour.”
“We’ll have, after all, to do as I proposed, and take one without asking the owner’s leave,” said Jack. “I tell you it will be perfectly fair. The French are at war with us, and we have a right to take any of their property we can find, whether afloat or on shore.”
“That may be, but I can’t get it out of my head that we shall be robbing some poor fellow who may have to depend on his boat for supporting himself and his family,” answered Bill.
They argued the point as before, till Bill proposed that they should lie down and go to sleep, as he felt tired after his long walk.
They allowed two days to pass, when Bill set off as agreed on to obtain the provisions he hoped Jeannette would have brought.
She had not deceived him; there was an ample supply, and two or three more candles.
Several more days passed by. Jeannette regularly brought them provisions, but she left no note to tell them of any arrangements which her father had made. They were becoming very weary of their life, for they had nothing whatever to do—no books to read, and not even a stick to whittle.
The weather had hitherto been fine, the cavern was warm and comfortable, and the dry sand afforded them soft beds. They might certainly have been very much worse off.
Bill always went to fetch the food from the cave where Jeannette left it. He had hitherto not met her, which he was anxious to do, to learn what chance there was of obtaining a boat. She, however, was always before him, the fact being that the path from her house to the cave was practicable before that from the large cavern was open.