isit the white sand all trampled, an empty bottle, half an old
newspaper, and the wigwam torn to pieces.

The old sailor cursed her and her crew, for the incident had brought a
new exercise into his lazy life. Every day now at noon he had to climb
the hill, on the look-out for whalemen. Whalemen haunted his dreams,
though I doubt if he would willingly have gone on board even a Royal
Mail steamer. He was quite happy where he was. After long years of the
fo'cs'le the island was a change indeed. He had tobacco enough to last
him for an indefinite time, the children for companions, and food at
his elbow. He would have been entirely happy if the island had only
been supplied by Nature with a public-house.

The spirit of hilarity and good fellowship, however, who suddenly
discovered this error on the part of Nature, rectified it, as will be
presently seen.

The most disastrous result of the whaleman's visit was not the
destruction of the "house," but the disappearance of Emmeline's box.
Hunt high or hunt low, it could not be found. Mr Button in his hurry
must have forgotten it when he removed the things to the dinghy--at all
events, it was gone. Probably one of the crew of the whalemen had found
it and carried it off with him; no one could say. It was gone, and
there was the end of the matter, and the beginning of great
tribulation, that lasted Emmeline for a week.

She was intensely fond of coloured things, coloured flowers especially;
and she had the prettiest way of making them into a wreath for her own
or someone else's head. It was the hat-making instinct that was at work
in her, perhaps; at all events, it was a feminine instinct, for Dick
made no wreaths.

One morning, as she was sitting by the old sailor engaged in stringing
shells, Dick came running along the edge of the grove. He had just come
out of the wood, and he seemed to be looking for something. Then he
found what he was in search of--a big shell--and with it in his hand
made back to the wood.

Item.--His dress was a piece of cocoa-nut cloth tied round his middle.
Why he wore it at all, goodness knows, for he would as often as not be
running about stark naked.

"I've found something, Paddy!" he cried, as he disappeared among the
trees.

"What have you found?" piped Emmeline, who was always interested in new
things.

"Something funny!" came back from amidst the trees.

Presently he returned; but he was not running now. He was walking
slowly and ca