Masterman Ready; Or, The Wreck of the Pacific
Page 27
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.
"Now, William," said Ready, "if you are not very sleepy, perhaps youwould like to come with me to-night, and see if we cannot turn some ofthe turtle, for the season is going away fast, and they will leave theisland very soon."
As soon as the sun had disappeared, William and Ready went down to thebeach, and sat quietly on a rock. In a short time, Ready perceived aturtle crawling on the sand, and, desiring William to follow him withoutspeaking, walked softly down by the water's edge, so as to get betweenthe animal and the sea.
As soon as the turtle perceived them, it made for the water, but theymet it; and Ready, seizing hold of one of its fore-flippers, turned itover on its back.
"You see, William, that is the way to turn a turtle: take care that hedoes not catch you with his mouth, for, if he did, he would bite thepiece out. Now the animal cannot get away, for he can't turn overagain, and we shall find him here to-morrow morning; so we will now walkalong the beach, and see if we cannot find some more."
Ready and William remained till past midnight, and turned sixteenturtle.
"I think that will do, William, for once: we have made a good night'swork of it, for we have provided food for many days. Tomorrow we mustput them all into the pond."
"How shall we carry such large animals?"
"We need not carry them; we must put some old canvas under them, andhaul them along by that means; we can easily do that on the smoothsand."
"Why don't we catch some fish, Ready? We might put them into theturtle-pond."
"They would not stay there long, William, nor could we easily get themout if they did. I have often thought of getting some lines ready, andyet the time has never come, for I feel sleepy after our day's work; butas soon as the house is built, we will have them, and you shall befisherman-in-chief."
"But the fish will bite at night, will they not?"
"Oh yes, and better than they do in the daytime."
"Well, then, if you will get me a line and show me how, I will fish foran hour or so after the work is done; I know mamma is getting tired ofsalt meat, and does not think it good for Caroline."
"Well, then, I will get a bit of candle to-morrow night, and fit up twofishing-lines. But I must go with you, William. We don't use muchcandle, at all events."
"No, we are too glad to go to bed: but there are two or three boxes ofone sort or another up in the cove."
The next morning before breakfast all hands were employed in getting theturtle into the pond. After breakfast, William and Juno finished thepond where the walls had not been raised high enough; and, when theyreturned to dinner, reported that their task was completed. MrSeagrave also said that he had, he thought, cleared quite ground enoughfor the present; and as Mrs Seagrave wanted Juno to help her to washthe linen that afternoon, it was agreed that William, Ready, and MrSeagrave should all go down to the garden, and put in the potatoes.
Ready worked with the spade, while Mr Seagrave and William cut thepotatoes in pieces, so as to have an eye in each piece. When they hadfinished this work, Mr Seagrave said--"Now that we have finishedcutting the potatoes, let us go and assist Ready in planting them andthe seeds which we have brought down with us."