d ground; and it was not long
before the poorer inhabitants spent much of their time in
collecting earth, and establishing little garden plots, or in doing
so for persons who could afford to pay for their labour.

The poultry venture was equally satisfactory. Already a
considerable piece of rough and rocky ground, next to the garden,
had been enclosed; thereby affording a much larger run for the
fowls, and enabling a considerable portion of the garden to be
devoted to the young broods. The damaged biscuits had been sold at
a few shillings a ton and, at this price, Captain O'Halloran had
bought the whole of the condemned lot--amounting to about ten
tons--and there was, consequently, an ample supply of food for
them, for an almost indefinite time. After supplying the house
amply, there were at least a hundred eggs, a day, to sell; and
Carrie, who now took immense interest in the poultry yard,
calculated that they could dispose of ten couple a week, and still
keep up their number from the young broods.

"The only thing you have to be afraid of is disease, Mrs.
O'Halloran," said the doctor, who was her greatest adviser; "but
there is little risk of that. Besides, you have only to hire one or
two lads, of ten or twelve years old; and then you can put them
out, when you like, from the farther inclosure, and let them wander
about."

"But people don't generally watch fowls," Mrs. O'Halloran said.
"Surely they would come back, at night, to roost."

"I have no doubt they would. When chickens are well fed, they can
be trusted to find their way home at night. But you must remember
that they are worth from twelve to fourteen shillings a couple, and
what with the natives, and what with soldiers off duty, you would
find that a good many would not turn up at all, unless they were
watched. A couple of boys, at sixpence a day each, would keep them
from straying too far, and prevent their being stolen, and would
relieve you of a lot of anxiety about them."

So, after this, the fowls were turned out on to the Rock; where
they wandered about, narrowly watched by two native boys, and were
able to gather no small store of sustenance from the insects they
found among the rocks, or on the low shrubs that grew among them.

Bob had, after his return from his cruise, fallen into his former
habits; spending two hours every morning with Don Diaz, and reading
for an hour or two in the evening with the doctor. It was now cool
enough for exerc