d?" I inquired.

"I should gladly avail myself of the first opportunity that presented
itself, for getting safely to England," she replied. "But I would wait
patiently the proper time. It is not only useless repining at our
prolonged stay here, but it looks like an ungrateful doubting of the
power of God to remove us. Be assured that He has not preserved us so
long, and through so many dangers, to abandon us when we most require
His interposition in our favour."

I endeavoured to gather consolation from such representations: but
perhaps young people are not so easily reconciled to what they do not
like, as are their elders; for I cannot say I succeeded in becoming
satisfied with my position.

CHAPTER FORTY ONE.

The perils of my first voyage had deterred me from making a similar
experiment; but I recovered my boat, and having further strengthened it,
fitted it with what could either be turned into a well or locker: I used
to row out a little distance when the sea was free from sharks and fish.

But my grand effort in this direction, was the completion of a net,
which, assisted by Mrs Reichardt, I managed to manufacture. By this
time, she had gained sufficient confidence to accompany me in my fishing
excursions; she would even take the oars whilst I threw out the net, and
assisted me in dragging it into the boat.

The first time we got such a haul, that I was afraid of the safety of
our little craft. The locker was full, and numbers of great fish, as I
flung them out of the net, were flapping and leaping about the bottom of
the boat. It began to sink lower in the water than was agreeable to
either of us, and I found it absolutely necessary to throw back into the
sea the greater portion of our catch. We then rowed carefully to land,
rejoicing that we had at our command the means of obtaining an abundant
supply of food whenever we desired it.

Mrs Reichardt was with me also in our land excursions. Together we had
explored every part of the island; our chief object was plants for
enriching our garden; and, often as we had been in search of novelties,
we invariably brought home additions to our collection; and my companion
having acquired some knowledge of botany, would explain to me the names,
characters, and qualities of the different species; which made our
journeys peculiarly interesting.

Our appearance often caused considerable amusement to each other; for
our respective costumes must have been ex