CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
William slept as sound as if he had been on shore in England upon a softbed in a warm room--so did old Ready; and when they awoke the nextmorning it was broad daylight. The poor dogs were suffering for want ofwater, and it pained William to see them with their tongues out, pantingand whining as they looked up to him. "Now, William," said Ready,"shall we take our breakfast before we start, or have a walk first?"
"Ready, I cannot really drink a drop of water myself, and I am thirsty,unless you give a little to these poor dogs."
"I pity the poor dumb creatures as much as you do, Master Willy; it iskindness to ourselves and them too, which makes me refuse it to them.However, if you like, we will take a walk first, and see if we can findany water. Let us first go to the little dell to the right, and if wedo not succeed, we will try farther on where the water has run downduring the rainy season." William was very glad to go, and away theywent, followed by the dogs, Ready having taken up the spade, which hecarried on his shoulder. They soon came to the dell, and the dogs puttheir noses to the ground, and snuffed about. Ready watched them; atlast they lay down panting.
"Let us go on," said Ready, thoughtfully; they went on to where the runof water appeared to have been--the dogs snuffed about more eagerly thanbefore.
"You see, William, these poor dogs are now so eager for water, that ifthere is any, they will find it out where we never could. I don'texpect water above-ground, but there may be some below it. This beachis hardly far enough from the water's edge, or I should try in the sandfor it."
"In the sand--but would it not be salt?" replied William.
"No, not if at a good distance from the sea-beach; for you see, William,the sand by degrees filters the sea-water fresh, and very often when thesand runs in a long way from the high-water mark, if you dig down, youwill find good fresh water, at other times it is a little brackish, butstill fit for use."
"Look, Ready, at Romulus and Remus--how hard they are digging with theirpaws there in the hollow."
"Thanks to Heaven that they are! You don't know how happy you have mademe feel: for, to tell you the truth, I was beginning to be alarmed."
"But why do they dig?"
"Because there is water there, poor animals. Now you see the advantageof having kept them in pain for a few hours; it is in all probabilitythe saving of all of us, for we must either have found water or quittedthis island. Now let us help the poor dogs with the spade, and theyshall soon be rewarded for their sufferings."
Ready walked quickly to where the dogs continued digging: they hadalready got down to the moist earth, and were so eagerly at work, thatit was with difficulty he could get them out of his way to use hisspade. He had not dug two feet before the water trickled down, and infour or five minutes the dogs had sufficient to plunge their noses in,and to drink copiously.
"Look at them! how they enjoy it! I don't think any Israelite felt moregrateful when Moses struck the rock than I do now, William. This wasthe one thing wanting, but it was the one thing indispensable. Now wehave everything we can wish for on this island, and if we are onlycontent, we may be happy--ay, much happier than are those who areworrying themselves to heap up riches, not knowing who shall gatherthem. See, the poor animals have had enough at last. Now, shall we goback to breakfast?"
"Yes," replied William: "I shall enjoy it now, and have a good drink ofwater myself."
"That is a plenteous spring, depend upon it," said Ready, as they walkedback to where they had slept and left their knapsacks; "but we mustclear it out further up among the trees, where the sun cannot reach it,and then it will be cool, and not be dried up. We shall have plenty ofwork for the next year at least, if we remain here. Where we are nowwill be a capital spot to build our house on."
As soon as the breakfast was over, Ready said, "Now we must go down andexplore the other point, for you see, William, I have not yet found apassage through the reef, and as our little boat must come round thisside of the island, it is at the point on this side that I must try tofind an entrance. When I was on the opposite point it did appear to methat the water was not broken close to this point; and should there be apassage we shall be very fortunate."
They soon arrived at the end of the point of land, and found that Readywas not wrong in his supposition; the water was deep, and there was apassage many yards wide. The sea was so smooth, and the water so clear,that they could see down to the rocky bottom, and watched the fish asthey darted along. "Look there!" said Willy, pointing out about fiftyyards from the beach, "a great shark, Ready!"
"Yes, I see him, sir," replied Ready: "there's plenty of them here,depend upon it; and you must be very careful how you get into the water:the sharks always keep to the leeward of the island, and for one whereJuno bathed your little brother, you will find fifty here. I'm quitesatisfied now, William, we shall do very well, and all we have now tothink of is moving away from the other side of the island as fast aspossible."
"Shall we go back to-day?"
"Yes, I think so, for we shall only be idle here. It is not twelveo'clock, I should think, and we shall have plenty of time. I think wehad better start at once; we will leave the spade and axe here, for itis no use taking them back again. The musket I will take along. Butfirst let us go back and look at the spring, and see how the waterflows."
As they walked along the edge of the sandy beach they found thesea-birds hovering close to them: all of a sudden a large shoal of fishthrew themselves high and dry on the sand, and they were followed byseveral of a larger size, which also lay flapping on the beach, whilethe sea-birds, darting down close to the feet of William and Ready, andseizing up the fish, flew away with them.
"How very strange!" said William, surprised.
"Yes, sir; but you see how it is--the small fish were chased by thelarger ones, which are bonettas, and in their fright ran upon the beach.These bonettas were so anxious to catch them, that they came on shorealso, and then the gannets picked them all up."
They found the hole which Ready had dug quite full of water, and,tasting it, it proved very sweet and good. Overjoyed at this discovery,they covered up the articles they agreed to leave behind them with someboughs under the notched cocoa-nut trees, and, calling the dogs, set offon their journey back again to the cove.
Masterman Ready; Or, The Wreck of the Pacific Page 16