rian, which I was handing to Grace
and Emily, who had got over their repugnance to the smell, and now
pronounced it the most delicious of fruits. One declared it had the
fragrance of pine-apple, another of the richest melon with cream and
strawberries, and the consistency of liquid blanc-mange, or more
correctly, perhaps, hasty pudding. Our uncle had lighted his pipe, and
lay back on the soft grass enjoying the scene. The three men, seated at
a little distance, followed his example.

"What a delightful spot this would be to fix our abode on, if compelled
for ever to remain on this island," said Emily.

"Oh, do not talk of remaining!" exclaimed Grace. "Beautiful it is, and
very thankful I am to be with you, but I cannot help thinking of my
father and mother, and how anxious they will be when the _Dugong_ does
not arrive as they expect at Singapore. Oh, it will break my mother's
heart, if she thinks any accident has happened to us. They will not
know what has occurred, and they will think perhaps that we have been
cut off by pirates, or that the vessel has gone down, in a hurricane, or
has been driven ashore among savages."

Oliver and I tried to cheer her up. "Some vessel will surely appear off
here before long," I observed; "or if not, when Mr Thudicumb gets well
we must set to work and build a cutter sufficiently large to carry us
all away."

While I was speaking, I heard a strange noise above our heads, and
looking up, I saw in the trees directly over us a dozen or more
long-armed monkeys, yellow-skinned fellows, with flesh-coloured faces.
Down they had come from branch to branch from the cliff above us.
Presently one made a spring, and seized hold of a fruit which Grace had
just taken. She screamed with alarm, as well she might. Oliver dashed
forward to seize the monkey, but before we could catch it, it had sprung
up again towards the nearest bough, and again hand over hand up the
branches, till he was far out of our reach. There he and his companions
sat, eating away at the fruit; but they soon quarrelled among
themselves, and the greater portion of it fell from their paws to the
ground. We could not help laughing at the audacity of the creatures.
Potto Jumbo especially was heartily amused, and lay back on the grass
shaking his sides with laughter. The girls' faces, too, indicative of
astonishment and dismay, amused me excessively.

"Well, those are thieves," cried Dick Tarbox. "It is the first tim