am
were then to cut down cocoa-nut trees sufficient for the paling, fix up
the posts, and when that was done, Mr Seagrave was to come to them and
assist them in railing it in, and drawing the timber. This they
expected would be all done in about a month; and during that time, as
Mrs Seagrave and Juno would be, for the greatest part of it, left at
the house, they were to employ themselves in clearing the garden of
weeds, and making preparation for fencing it in.

As soon as this important work had been completed, the boat would return
to the bay with a load of prickly pears for the garden fence, and then
they were to direct their attention to the stores which had been saved
from the wreck, and were lying in the cove where they had first landed.
When they had examined them, and brought round what were required, and
secured them in the storehouse, they would then have a regular survey of
the island by land and by water. But man proposes and God disposes, as
will be shown by the interruption of their intended projects which we
shall have to narrate in the ensuing chapter.

CHAPTER FORTY THREE.

As usual, Ready was the first up on the following morning, and having
greeted Juno, who followed him out of the house, he set off on his
accustomed rounds, to examine into the stock and their other
possessions. He was standing in the garden at the point. First he
thought that it would be necessary to get ready some sticks for the
peas, which were now seven or eight inches out of the ground; he had
proceeded a little farther, to where the calivances, or French haricot
beans, had been sown, and had decided upon the propriety of hoeing up
the earth round them, as they were a very valuable article of food, that
would keep, and afford many a good dish during the rainy or winter
season. He had gone on to ascertain if the cucumber seeds had shown
themselves above-ground, and was pleased to find that they were doing
well. He said to himself, "We have no vinegar, that I know of, but we
can preserve them in salt and water, as they do in Russia; it will be a
change, at all events;" and then he raised his eyes and looked out to
the offing, and, as usual, scanned the horizon. He thought he saw a
ship to the north-east, and he applied his telescope to his eye. He was
not mistaken--it was a vessel.

The old man's heart beat quick; he dropped his telescope on his arm, and
fetched some heavy breaths before he could recover from the ef