avish expenditure of labour that, could he have foreseen it, he would,
as he afterwards confessed, have started much less ambitiously.

And now the ex-lieutenant found himself confronted by a truly formidable
task, compared with which all that had gone before was a mere trifle.
This consisted in overhauling the cargo of the brig, with the view of
appropriating everything that could by any possibility prove of use to
them either during their--as they hoped--temporary sojourn upon the
island, or in the construction of the boat that was to take them away
from it. Leslie had become aware, from remarks made by Purchas, that
the brig was taking out a very considerable quantity of machinery, but
this was all stowed in the bottom of the ship. On top of this there was
a vast miscellaneous assortment of mixed goods of almost every
conceivable description, and this it was that Leslie wished to get hold
of and overhaul.

Accordingly, he one morning went off to the brig and proceeded to lift
off the main hatches, disclosing to view a number of bales and
packing-cases, mostly of a size and weight that it would be impossible
for him to deal with single-handed. He saw that before it would be
possible for him to raise even a fourth part of them it would be
necessary for him to have the assistance of certain appliances, such as
sheers, tackles, etcetera; but he succeeded in dragging a few of the
lightest of them on deck and opening them.

The first case opened proved to contain china--a breakfast, dinner, tea,
and toilet service, very handsome, and apparently very expensive. This
would be exceedingly useful to them, for, to tell the truth, the brig's
pantry had never been too liberally stocked; and the carelessness of the
steward, combined with the heavy weather experienced by the brig, had
played havoc with it. He therefore fastened up the case again and
lowered it carefully over the side on to the deck of the catamaran.
Then he got hold of a bale of rugs. These, he told himself, would help
to make Flora's half of the tent more comfortable; and they, too, went
down over the side. The next case--a small one, bearing what appeared
to be a private address--contained a dainty little sewing-machine--
possibly useful also to Flora. It followed the rugs. The next case
that came to hand, though a large one, was unexpectedly light, so Leslie
roused it on deck and opened it. It contained a number of bird-cages,
such as are used for ca