esidence in the
desert island had made him such a strapping young fellow that he seemed
much more fitted to cope with a lion than a wild pig! He was not indeed
tall, but he was unusually strong.

Gaff sat down on a ledge of rock while Billy crept cautiously to the
edge of the precipice and looked down.

A smile of satisfaction lit up the lad's countenance as he beheld a big
sow and six young pigs busily engaged in digging up roots directly below
him. To seize a large stone and drop it into the centre of the group
was the work of a moment. The result was in truth deadly, for the heavy
stone hit one of the little pigs on the nape of the neck, and it sank to
the ground with a melancholy squeak which proved to be its last.

The crash of the stone and the squeak of the pig caused the rest of the
family to turn and fly from the fatal spot with porcine haste, filling
the air as they ran with shrieks and yells, such as only pigs--and bad
babies--know how to utter.

"Got him, daddy--Hooray!" shouted the Bu'ster, as he leaped up and ran
by a circuitous route to the foot of the precipice, whence he speedily
returned with the pig under his arm.

"A fat 'un, daddy," he observed, holding it up by the tail.

"Capital!" said Gaff, pinching the pig's sides, "we shall grub well for
some days to come."

"I should think so, daddy; why, we've more than we know what to do wi';
for, what with the crab-pies you made this mornin', and the cocoa-nut
soup and yams and dove-hash left fro' yesterday's dinner, an' this
little grumpy, we stand a good chance o' aperplexy or somethin' o' that
sort."

"Was there many more o' 'em, lad?"

"Ay, five moloncholly brothers and sisters, an' a hideously fat mother
left to mourn the loss o' this chap. I'll be after them to-morrow.
They won't go far, for I've noticed that when pigs take a fancy to a
spot they don't leave it for a good while. Here we are at home, an' now
for a splendid roast. There's nothin' like grub when ye're hungry."

"'Xcept drink when ye're dry," observed Gaff.

"Of coorse, an' a snooze when ye're sleepy; but don't let's git too
pheelosophical, daddy; it an't good for digestion to argufy on a empty
stummik. An' I see ye wants me to argue, but I won't do it; there now!"

It was one of Billy's devices to keep himself and his father cheery in
their prolonged exile, to pretend that he didn't like to argue, and to
stoutly assert that he would not do it, while at the same time