The Crew of the Water Wagtail | Page 6

was pretty well exhausted. There, however, he
found Paul up to the waist in the sea waiting for him, and the last few
yards of the journey were traversed in his friend's arms.
By means of this rope was every man of the Water Wagtail's crew
saved from a watery grave.
They found that the island on which they had been cast was sufficiently
large to afford them shelter, and a brief survey of it proved that there
was both wood and water enough to serve them, but nothing of animal
or vegetable life was to be found. This was serious, because all their
provisions were lost with the wrecked portion of the ship, so that
starvation stared them in the face.

"If only the rum-kegs had been saved," said one of the men, when they
assembled, after searching the island, to discuss their prospects, "we
might, at least, have led a merry life while it lasted."
"Humph! Much good that would do you when you came to think over it
in the next world," said Grummidge contemptuously.
"I don't believe in the next world," returned the first speaker gruffly.
"A blind man says he doesn't see the sun, and don't believe in it,"
rejoined Grummidge: "does that prove that there's no sun?"
Here Master Trench interposed.
"My lads," he said, "don't you think that instead of talking rubbish it
would be wise to scatter yourselves along the coast and see what you
can pick up from the wreck? Depend on't some of the provisions have
been stranded among the rocks, and, as they will be smashed to pieces
before long, the sooner we go about it the better. The truth is, that while
you have been wastin' your time running about the island, Master Burns
and I have been doin' this, an' we've saved some things already--among
them a barrel of pork. Come, rouse up and go to work--some to the
shore, others to make a camp in the bush."
This advice seemed so good that the men acted on it at once, with the
result that before dark they had rescued two more barrels of pork and a
barrel of flour from the grasp of the sea, besides some cases of goods
which they had not taken time to examine.
Returning from the shore together, laden with various rescued articles,
Paul and Oliver halted and sat down on a rock to rest for a few minutes.
"Olly," said the former, "what was that I saw you wrapping up in a bit
of tarred canvas, and stuffing so carefully under the breast of your coat,
soon after the ship struck?"
"Mother's last letter to me," said the boy, with a flush of pleasure as he
tapped his breast. "I have it safe here, and scarcely damaged at all."

"Strange," remarked Paul, as he pulled a well-covered packet from his
own breast-pocket; "strange that your mind and mine should have been
running on the same subject. See here, this is my mother's last gift to
me before she died--a letter, too, but it is God's letter to fallen man."
With great care the young man unrolled the packet and displayed a
well-worn manuscript copy of a portion of the Gospel of John.
"This is copied," he said, "from the translation of God's Word by the
great Wycliffe. It was given to my mother by an old friend, and was, as
I have said, her parting gift to me."
The friends were interrupted in their examination of this interesting
M.S. by the arrival of one of the sailors, with whom they returned to
the encampment in the bush.
CHAPTER THREE.
FIRST EXPERIENCES ON THE ISLAND.
A wonderfully picturesque appearance did these shipwrecked mariners
present that night when, under the shelter of the shrubbery that crowned
their small island, they kindled several camp-fires, and busied
themselves in preparing supper.
As there was no law in the island--and our skipper, having lost his ship,
forbore to assert any right to command--every one naturally did what
seemed right in his own eyes.
As yet there had arisen no bone of contention among them. Of food
they had secured enough for at least a few days. Fire they had procured
by means of flint, steel, and tinder. A clear spring furnished them with
water, and ships' buckets washed ashore enabled them to convey the
same to their encampment. Fortunately, no rum-kegs had been found,
so that evil passions were not stirred up, and, on the whole, the first
night on the island was spent in a fair degree of harmony--considering
the character of the men.

Those who had been kindred souls on board ship naturally drew
together on shore, and kindled their several fires apart. Thus it came to
pass that the skipper and his son, the two