Ten thousand naked imps of darkness swarmin' ober de ship an' not
a pusson to say what dey ought to do an' where dey ought t' go! It am
suttinly terrible!"

"Why didn't you shoot some of 'em?" demanded Andy.

"Me?" exclaimed Washington. "What for I want t' shoot 'em? S'pose I want
'em t' git mad at me?"

"Well, you're a great one," went on Andy, picking up the gun. "I guess
I'll have to take a few shots myself."

"Yes, sah."

From Washington the adventurers learned how the savages had silently
come up in their canoes and surrounded the ship, gaining possession of
it before he could make any effort at defense, even had he so desired.

"What are we to do now?" asked Mrs. Johnson, when they had retreated out
of sight of the savages. "The natives have possession of the boat, and
how are we to regain her when there are so many of them?"

"It certainly is a hard nut to crack," admitted the professor. "We will
have to camp out on the beach for a while and see what happens. Perhaps
they may leave the vessel when they find it will do them no good. They
can't run her."

"But they can tear her all apart and damage the machinery," said Jack.
"Then we would be in a pickle."

"Well, we won't hope for any such bad luck as that," interrupted the
professor. "We will look for the best."

"When are we going to have breakfast?" asked the little girl, after a
long wait. "I'm hungry, mother."

"We will have it pretty soon," replied Mrs. Johnson in order to quiet
her daughter's mind.

"But I want it now," continued Nellie. "I'm very hungry."

"Hush!" said Mrs. Johnson.

"An' I had de finest brekfust what was ever invented," said Washington,
rolling his big eyes. "Mud turkle eggs, ham, preserves, coffee--"

"That will do, Washington," said the professor. "It only makes our
mouths water to think about such things."

At the mention of the turtle eggs Jack nudged Mark, and signalled him to
walk to one side. When they were out of earshot of the others Jack said:

"What's the matter with cooking some of the eggs that are left on the
sand? There are plenty of them, and there is no sense in our going
hungry."

"How you going to cook 'em?" asked Mark.

"I'll show you," replied Jack.

He scooped a hollow place out in the sand until he had quite a hole.
This he banked up with stones until he had a small oven. By arching the
stones over toward the top there was left a sort of circular opening.
Over this Jack fitted a monster cla