ery hungry before you ate any
bananas if we had not perceived you," said Ready.

"I won't go into the boat any more," said Tommy.

"I rather think you will keep to that resolution, Tommy," replied Mr
Seagrave; "however, I must leave your mother to point out to you the
danger you were in yourself, and in which you placed others by your
folly."

The stockade was now almost finished; the door was the occasion of a
good deal of consultation; at last, it was agreed that it would be
better to have a door of stout oak plank, but with second door-posts
inside, about a foot apart from the door, between which could be
inserted short poles one above the other, so as to barricade it within
when required. This would make the door as strong as any other portion
of the stockade. As soon as this was all complete, the storehouse was
to be altered for a dwelling-house, by taking away the wattles of
cocoa-nut boughs on the sides, and filling them up with logs of
cocoa-nut trees.

Before the week was ended the stockade and door were complete, and they
now began to fell trees, to form the sides of the house. This was rapid
work; and while Mr Seagrave, William, and Juno felled the trees, and
brought them on the wheels to the side of the stockade, all ready cut to
their proper lengths, Ready was employed in flooring the house with a
part of the deal planks which they had brought round from the cove. But
this week they were obliged to break off for two days, to collect all
their crops from the garden.

A fortnight more passed away in continual hard work, but the house was
at last finished, and very complete, compared to the one they were
residing in. It was much larger, and divided into three rooms by the
deal planking: the middle room which the door opened into was the
sitting and eating room, with a window behind; the two side rooms were
sleeping-rooms, one for Mrs Seagrave and the children, and the other
for the male portion of the family.

"See, William," said Ready, when they were alone, "what we have been
able to do by means of those deal planks; why, to have floored this
house, and run up the partitions, would have taken us half a year if we
had had to saw the wood."

"Yes; and what a comfort it is to have so many shelves about. When
shall we shift into this house?"

"The sooner the better. We have plenty of work still to do, but we can
work outside of the stockade."

"And what do you propose to do with the old house?