Alice, giving way to despair, wrung her hands. “Oh, poor papa!” she exclaimed; “we shall never be able to go in search of him, and he will think that we are all lost.”
Walter felt very much as Alice did, but after being silent for some time, he took her arm and said, “Remember, our father always told us to trust in God; and I am sure we ought to do so, and must do so, if we would not live in constant anxiety and fear. He will guide us and direct us, and find a way for us to escape.”
“I know that. I was very weak and wrong to say what I did; but it seems so impossible now that we shall ever get home, that I cannot help it,” answered Alice.
“Perhaps it is the very best thing that could have happened to us,” said Walter; “and I am sure of it, as God ordered that it should be so,” he added.
In the meantime the rest of the party were giving vent to feelings of dismay and sorrow at what had happened, till Nub made a remark very similar to Walter’s.
“You are right, Nub,” said the mate. “I always doubted the prudence of putting to sea in that boat. I know well that God could, if He chose, have enabled us to reach Sydney in her; but we have no business to run risks which our sense and experience tell us are very great: and it’s my belief that had a storm of half the violence of that which has passed over this island overtaken us, we should have foundered. We must now, like wise men, make the best of our position. The first thing we have to do is to see what damage our house has suffered, and to repair it. We must then set to work to collect provisions. After that, I tell you what we must do: we must establish a lookout place on the high point at the south side of our harbour, from whence we can obtain a wide range over the ocean, and signal to any vessel which may heave in sight. There is every reason to hope that one may come near us some day or other; and we have a much better chance of getting off from an outlying island, like this one, than we should have enjoyed had we landed an the mainland, or on any dangerous cluster surrounded by reefs. So, my friends, you see we have plenty to do to keep our minds from dwelling on our misfortune; and I have good reason to believe that help will come in time.”
The mate’s remarks restored cheerfulness to all the party, who no longer spoke of the loss of the boat as an unmitigated misfortune.
“We must depend on the land, however, for supplying us with provisions, as we cannot go out fishing,” observed the doctor.
“Not so sure of dat, sir,” said Nub. “We build a canoe, which go out quite far enough to catch fish. No bery difficult job, I tink.”
“You are right, Nub,” said the mate; “and we will put her in hand as soon as our lookout station is established.”