in
addition to which the whole of their goods and chattels were now placed
in perfect safety so far as the weather was concerned.

No adventures of any description had been met with by any of the party;
a circumstance which was no doubt largely due to the especial care which
Doctor Henderson had exercised in keeping them all close to the shore,
from a suspicion he had entertained that the forest depths might not be
altogether safe travelling, at least for women and children.

Gaunt's story of his journey to the wreck, with the vivid description he
gave of the fertility and general productiveness of their island-home,
greatly raised the spirits of the listeners; and the sanguine way in
which he spoke of their ability to build the little vessel which he
contemplated, caused them already to feel as if their days on the island
were numbered.

The chief point calling for consideration was how they should dispose of
themselves in the immediate future. Their position was this: they were
then located on the eastern end of the island; the lake and the islet
were situated almost in the centre of their domain, or say at a point
about six miles distant, as the crow flies, from the point where they
then were; whilst the spot where the wreck lay, if measured in the same
way, would be about five miles further on.

Gaunt made it so clear to them that the islet was the most fit and
proper spot at which to establish their head-quarters that that matter
might be considered as already definitely settled. But they would have
to draw all, or nearly all, the materials for the proposed craft from
the wreck; and that wreck would not only have to be broken up, but the
timber, etcetera, would have to be conveyed to the islet before a
permanent settlement could be established there. Had the party
consisted of men only, there was no doubt their best plan would have
been to remove in a body to the western end of the island, and to have
established themselves temporarily on or near the beach close to the
wreck whilst she was being broken up; but it seemed to be rather a
hardship that the women and children should have to be removed there--
involving a somewhat lengthy and arduous journey--and to go into
temporary quarters only to have to return gain over a great deal of the
same ground afterwards, Gaunt's idea was that the ladies and children
might be safely placed on the islet, and comfortably housed there in the
first place; after which the