t a little surprised, and, to
say truth, a good deal affected, by the sight of the poor animal's
excessive joy. It rubbed its head against Peterkin's cheek, licked his
chin, and thrust its head almost violently into his neck, while it purred
more loudly than I ever heard a cat purr before, and appeared to be so
much overpowered by its feelings, that it occasionally mewed and purred
almost in the same breath. Such demonstrations of joy and affection led
us at once to conclude that this poor cat must have known man before, and
we conjectured that it had been left either accidentally or by design on
the island many years ago, and was now evincing its extreme joy at
meeting once more with human beings. While we were fondling the cat and
talking about it, Jack glanced round the open space in the midst of which
we stood.

"Hallo!" exclaimed he; "this looks something like a clearing. The axe
has been at work here. Just look at these tree-stumps."

We now turned to examine these, and, without doubt, we found trees that
had been cut down here and there, also stumps and broken branches; all of
which, however, were completely covered over with moss, and bore evidence
of having been in this condition for some years. No human foot-prints
were to be seen, either on the track or among the bushes; but those of
the cat were found everywhere. We now determined to follow up the track
as far as it went, and Peterkin put the cat down; but it seemed to be so
weak, and mewed so very pitifully, that he took it up again and carried
it in his arms, where, in a few minutes, it fell sound asleep.

About ten yards farther on, the felled trees became more numerous, and
the track, diverging to the right, followed for a short space the banks
of a stream. Suddenly we came to a spot where once must have been a rude
bridge, the stones of which were scattered in the stream, and those on
each bank entirely covered over with moss. In silent surprise and
expectancy we continued to advance, and, a few yards farther on, beheld,
under the shelter of some bread-fruit trees, a small hut or cottage. I
cannot hope to convey to my readers a very correct idea of the feelings
that affected us on witnessing this unexpected sight. We stood for a
long time in silent wonder, for there was a deep and most melancholy
stillness about the place that quite overpowered us; and when we did at
length speak, it was in subdued whispers, as if we were surrounded by
some