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ly, and then came to a spring of clear cold water. Gaff also climbed a cocoa-nut tree and brought down two nuts, which were clothed in such thick hard shells that they well-nigh broke their hearts before they succeeded in getting at the kernels. However, they got at them in course of time, and feasted sumptuously on them. It was half an hour, or perhaps three-quarters of an hour, after the gathering of the cocoa-nuts, that they came suddenly on a spring of water above which there was a cloud of vapour resembling steam. "It's bilin'," exclaimed Billy, as he ran forward and eagerly thrust his hand into the water. Billy had said this in joke, for he had never conceived of such a thing as a spring of hot water, but he found that his jest might have been said in earnest, for the spring was almost "bilin'," and caused the Bu'ster to pull his hand out again with a roar of surprise and pain. Just beyond the hot spring they found a small cavern in the face of a cliff, which appeared to them to be quite dry. "Here's the very thing we want, daddy," cried Billy in gleeful surprise. "Don't be too sure, lad; p'raps it's damp." "No, it's dry as bone," said the boy, running in and placing his hands on the floor; "it's wide inside too, and the entrance is small, so we can put a door to it; and look there! see--an't that a hole leadin' to some other place?" Billy was right. A small hole, not much larger than was sufficient to admit of a man passing through, conducted them into a larger cave than the first one, and here they found another hole leading into a third, which was so large and dark that they dared not venture to explore it without a light. They saw enough, however, to be convinced that the caverns were well ventilated and free from damp, so they returned to the entrance cave and examined it carefully with a view to making it their home. Billy's romantic spirit was filled to overflowing with joy while thus engaged, insomuch that Gaff himself became excited as well as interested in the investigation. They little knew at the time how familiar each rock and crevice of that cave was to become, and how long it was destined to be their island-home! CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. RELATING TO IMPROVEMENTS IN THE HUT, AND MRS. GAFF'S PERPLEXITIES. While Stephen Gaff and his son were busy preparing their residence in the South Sea island, Mrs Gaff was equally busy in preparing her residence for their reception o
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