It was
unanimously named "Brown's Pool," but it did not contain much water at
the time.

"Can we do better than dine here?" said Isaac Martin. "There's lots o'
food around us."

This was true, for of the various fruits which grew wild in the island,
the cocoa-nut, plantain, and banana were to be had all the year round.

Brown had brought a small hatchet with him, which enabled them to break
open several cocoa-nuts, whose hard outer husks would not have yielded
easily to a clasp-knife.

While they sat thus enjoying themselves beside Brown's Pool, a small
lizard was observed to run over a rock near to them. It stopped for a
moment to raise its little head and look at the visitors, apparently
with great surprise. A rat was also seen, and chased without success,
by Isaac Martin.

A small species of fly-catcher, of a whitey-brown colour, was likewise
observed, and those creatures, it was afterwards ascertained, were the
only living things to be found on the island, with the exception of a
variety of insects and the innumerable gulls already mentioned.

"Here, then," said Christian, raising a piece of the cocoa-nut shell
filled with water to his lips, "I drink to our health and happiness in
our island home."

There was a strange mingling of pathos with heartiness in his tone,
which did not fail to impress his companions, who cheerfully responded
to the toast.

"I only wish we had something stronger than water to drink it in," said
McCoy.

"Better without strong drink," remarked John Adams, who was naturally a
temperate man.

"Worse without it, _I_ think," growled McCoy, who was naturally
contentious and quarrelsome; "don't it warm the heart and raise the
spirits and strengthen the frame, and--"

"Ay, and clear the brain," interrupted Martin, with one of his most
lugubrious looks, "an' steady the gait, specially w'en one's pretty far
gone, an' beautify the expression, an'--an'--clear the int'leck, an'
(hic) an' gen'r'ly in--in--tenshify sh' powers (hic) of c-converzashun,
eh?"

Martin was a pretty fair mimic, and illustrated his meaning so well, not
only with his tongue but with his solemn countenance, that the whole
party burst into a laugh, with the exception of McCoy, who replied with
the single word, "Bosh!"

To which Martin returned, "Bam!"

"Just so," said Christian, as he stooped to refill the cocoa-nut shell;
"you may be said to have reduced that spirited question to an essence,
which is much be