s, they determined to encamp for the
night, the children, although they had been carried for the greater part
of the day, being extremely tired, and the ladies scarcely less so. A
little hut of branches and palm-leaves was constructed as a shelter for
the weaker members of the party during the night, the men contenting
themselves with the soft luxuriant grass for their sleeping place; and,
then, whilst Nicholls set to work to build a fire, Gaunt and Henderson
went off in different directions to forage for a supper.

The night passed without adventure or alarm of any description,
although, as a measure of precaution, the men had deemed it advisable
that each should watch for an equal portion of the night; and on the
following morning after an early breakfast the march was resumed. The
gap in the cliffs was reached about two o'clock that afternoon; and by
three the travellers found themselves on the beach at its nearest point
to the wreck.

The first matter to be attended to now was the erection of shelters of
some description. Henderson undertook to cut down a couple of saplings
which Gaunt pointed out as suitable for the purpose; and whilst he was
engaged upon this task the engineer, accompanied by Nicholls, went off
to the wreck, their object being to procure not only a small quantity of
ship's stores, but also one of the sails, which they intended to utilise
in the construction of tents. On arriving alongside and making a minute
inspection of the wreckage, it was found that the raffle was so
complicated that to cut away the sail from its yard as it then lay and
to convey it to the shore would be a work of very great difficulty; so,
after a short consultation together, Gaunt and Nicholls decided to cut
the whole adrift from the wreck and then warp it ashore just as it was.
Nicholls accordingly get to work upon this task with his axe; and whilst
he was thus engaged Gaunt searched for and found the boatswain's locker,
rummaging in which he discovered a small grapnel just suited to his
purpose. This he conveyed on deck, and, unreeving as much of the
running-gear as he could get at, a good long warp was made by bending
the whole together end to end. By the time that his preparations were
completed, Nicholls had got the wreckage cut completely adrift from the
hull, and the two men now proceeded to carefully coil down upon Gaunt's
raft the whole of the warp; the grapnel being bent on to one end, whilst
Nicholls, who w