had taken place that neither of the principal performers could be angry
with him for listening.

"I'm downright real glad," said he after a bit, congratulating them both
and wringing poor Frank's hand well nigh off in the exuberance of his
delight. "Say, if yer don't believe me, may I never eat another clam
chowder agin--durn my boots if I ever will, thar!"

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.

BLACK SNOW!

By the middle of September, the worst of the winter weather was over,
the snow gradually ceasing to fall and the drifts that had accumulated
in the valley up which the creek entered, and where the shipwrecked
people from the _Nancy Bell_ had built their house--beginning to melt
under the influence of the milder winds and increasing warmth of the
sun's rays.

But, everywhere the landscape still remained wrapped in the same white
mantle it had worn ever since the castaways had first taken up their
residence on the island, the bare spots then apparent in some places,
which was a circumstance owing to the shelter of the cliffs and crags in
the immediate vicinity of the sea, having been subsequently covered by
the heavy storms at the end of August.

It would take a long time, all saw, for the snow to clear away even if
the most rapid thaw were now to set in; and this the climate did not
permit of, the transition from winter to spring being carried through a
course of progressive stages that were as disagreeable as they were
prolonged.

There was balm in Gilead, however.

Not long after the last of the heavy snowfalls, and when the days began
to grow brighter, thus enabling the castaways to crawl out in the open
and have a little more exercise than they could obtain within doors, the
bird colony adjacent to "Penguin Castle" became largely increased, their
numbers swelling continually by fresh accessions; so that, in a short
time, it was impossible for any of the people to stir out of their
habitation without stumbling across a batch of penguins, ever
continually grumbling, croaking, chuckling, and otherwise expressing
their indignation at being, as they seemed to think, so unjustly
interfered with by the castaways.

It was evident that the building season of the birds had arrived; and it
could not certainly have come at a more auspicious time, for their
provisions were almost exhausted and Mr Meldrum was in great straits
how to supply the party with food. The despised flesh of the sea-
elephants, even, had by this tim