the 'Neck,' he found
that the rocks did not meet, but the Reef still remained an island. The
channel that separated the two points of rock was only about twenty feet
wide, however, though it was of fully twice that depth. The young man
found it necessary to go back to the ship-yard (no great distance, by
the way), and to bring a plank with which to make a bridge. This done,
he passed on to the newly emerged territory. As might have been
expected, the rocks were found tolerably well furnished with fish, which
had got caught in pools and crevices when the water flowed into the sea;
and what was of still more importance, another and a much larger spring
of fresh water was found quite near the bridge, gushing through a
deposit of sand of some fifteen or twenty acres in extent. The water of
this spring had run down into a cavity, where it had already formed a
little lake of some two acres in surface, and whence it was already
running into the sea, by overflowing its banks. These two discoveries
induced Mark to return to the Reef again, in quest of the stock. After
laying another-plank at his bridge, he called every creature he had over
into the new territory; for so great was the command he had obtained
over even the ducks, that all came willingly at his call. As for Kitty,
she was never more happy than when trotting at his side, accompanying
him in his walks, like a dog.

Glad enough were the pigs, in particular, to obtain this new range. Here
was everything they could want; food in thousands, sand to root on,
fresh water to drink, pools to wallow in, and a range for their
migratory propensities. Mark had no sooner set them at work on the
sea-weed and shell-fish that abounded there, for the time being at
least, than he foresaw he should have to erect a gate at his bridge, and
keep the hogs here most of the time. With such a range, and the
deposits of the tides alone, would have no great difficulty in making
their own living. This would enable him to increase the number kept,
which he had hitherto been obliged to keep down with the most rigid
attention to the increase.

Mark now set out, in earnest, on his travels. He was absent from the
Reef the entire day. At one time, he thought he was quite two leagues in
a straight line from the ship, though he had been compelled to walk four
to get there. Everywhere he found large sheets of salt water, that had
been left on the rocks, in consequence of the cavities in the latter. In