Masterman Ready; Or, The Wreck of the Pacific

by Frederick Marryat

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

  Ready arrived at the cove, and proceeded to the tents, where he foundthe whole party listening to William, who was detailing what had beendone. The arrangements for the next day were made as soon as Readyjoined them. They then separated for the night, but Ready and Williamremained until it was dark, to catch the fowls and tie their legs, readyfor their being put in the boat the next morning. At daylight all weresummoned to dress themselves as soon as possible, as Ready wanted totake down the tent in which Mrs Seagrave and the children had slept.For, with the exception of Tommy, the others had slept upon some canvas,which they had spread out under the cocoa-nut trees. As soon as MrsSeagrave was dressed, the tent was taken down, and, with all thebedding, put into the boat. Then, when they had breakfasted, theplates, knives and forks, and some other necessaries, were also put in;Ready laid the fowls on the top of all, and set off by himself for theirnew location.

  After he was gone, the rest of the party prepared for their journeythrough the cocoa-nut grove. William led the way, with the three dogsclose to his heels, Mr Seagrave with the baby in his arms, Juno withlittle Caroline, and Mrs Seagrave with Master Tommy holding her hand.They cast a last look round at the cove, and the fragments of the wreckand cargo, strewed about in every direction, and then turned into thewood. Ready arrived at the point, and was again on shore in less thantwo hours after he had set off. As soon as the boat was safe in, he didnot wait to land his cargo, but going up to the turtle which he hadturned the day before, he killed it, and cleaned it on the beach. Hethen went to where they had built up the fireplace with stones, made afire, filled the iron saucepan full of water, and set it on to boil; hethen cut up a portion of the turtle, and put it into the pot, with someslices of salt pork, covered it up, and left it to boil; and having hungup the rest of the turtle in the shade, he went back to the beach tounload the boat. He released the poor fowls, and they were soon busyseeking for food.

  It was two or three hours before he had carried everything up, for itwas a good distance, and some of the articles were heavy, and the oldman was not sorry when he had finished his task, and could sit down torest himself.

  "It's almost time they arrived," thought Ready; "they must have startednearly four hours ago." Ready remained a quarter of an hour morewatching the fire, and occasionally skimming the top of the pot, whenthe three dogs came bounding towards him.

  "Well, they are not far off now," observed Old Ready.

  In six or seven minutes afterwards the party made their appearance, veryhot and very fatigued. It appeared that poor little Caroline had beentired out, and Juno had to carry her; then Mrs Seagrave complained offatigue, and they had to rest a quarter of an hour; then Tommy, whorefused to remain with his mamma, and had been running backwards andforwards from one to the other, had declared that he was tired, and thatsomeone must carry him; but there was no one to carry him, so he beganto cry until they stopped for another quarter of an hour till he wasrested; then as soon as they went on again he again complained of beingtired. William then carried him pickaback for some time, and in sodoing he missed the blaze-cut on the trees, and it was a long whilebefore he could find it again; then baby became hungry, and he cried,and little Caroline was frightened at being so long in the wood, and shecried. But finally they got on better, and arrived at last so warm andexhausted, that Mrs Seagrave went into the tent with the children torepose a little, before she could even look at the place which was to betheir future residence.

  "I think," said Mr Seagrave, "that this little journey of to-day hasbeen a pretty good proof of how helpless we should have been withoutyou, Ready."

  "I am glad that you are here, sir," replied Ready, "it is a weight offmy mind; now you will get on better. I think that after a while you maylive very comfortably here; but still we have much to do. As soon asMadam has rested, we will have our dinner and then fix up our own tent,which will be quite enough after such a hard day's work."

  "Do you go back to the cove to-morrow, Ready?"

  "Yes, sir, we want our stores here; it will take about three trips toempty our storehouses; and as to the other things, we can examine themand bring them down at our leisure. As soon as I have made those threetrips in the boat, we can then work here altogether."

  "But I can do something in the meantime."

  "Oh yes, there is plenty for you to do."

  Mr Seagrave went into the tent, and found his wife much refreshed; butthe children had all fallen fast asleep on the beds. They waitedanother half-hour, and then woke Tommy and Caroline, that they might allsit down to dinner.

  "Dear me," exclaimed William, as Ready took the cover off the saucepan,"what is it that you have so good there?"

  "It's a treat I have prepared for you all," replied Ready. "I know thatyou are tired of salt meat, so now you are going to feed like aldermen."

  "Why, what is it, Ready?" said Mrs Seagrave; "it smells very good."

  "It is turtle-soup, ma'am; and I hope you will like it; for, if you do,you may often have it, now that you are on this side of the island."

  "Indeed, it really is excellent; but it wants a little salt. Have youany salt, Juno?"

  "Got a little, ma'am. Very little left," replied Juno.

  "What shall we do when all our salt is gone?" said Mrs Seagrave.

  "Juno must get some more," replied Ready.

  "How I get salt?--hab none left," replied Juno, looking at Ready.

  "There's plenty out there, Juno," said Mr Seagrave, pointing to thesea.

  "I don't know where," said Juno, looking in that direction.

  "What do you mean, my dear?" inquired Mrs Seagrave.

  "I only mean if we want salt we can have as much as we please by boilingdown salt-water in the kettle, or else making a salt-pan in the rocks,and obtaining it by the sun drying up the water and leaving the salt.Salt is always procured in that way, either by evaporation, or boiling."

  "I'll soon arrange that for you, ma'am," said Ready, "and show Juno howto get it when she wants it."

  "I am very glad to hear you say so; for I should feel the want of saltvery much," replied Mrs Seagrave, "I really never enjoyed a dinner somuch as I have to-day."

  The soup was pronounced excellent by everybody. As soon as they hadfinished, Mrs Seagrave remained with the children; and Ready and MrSeagrave, assisted by Juno and William, got the second tent up, andeverything ready for the night. They then all assembled, and returnedthanks to God for their having gained their new abode; and, tired outwith the fatigue of the day, were soon fast asleep.