eel, and tinder.
So, too, is Seagriff, who, an inveterate smoker, is never without
igniting apparatus, carried in a pocket of his pilot-coat. But where
are they to find firewood? There is none on the islet--not a stick, as
no trees grow there; while the tussac and other plants are soaking wet,
the very ground being a sodden spongy peat.

A damper as well as a disappointment this, and Captain Gancy turns to
Seagriff and remarks, with some vexation, "Chips, [All ship-carpenters
are called `Chips.'] I think 't would have been better if we'd kept on
to the main. There's timber enough there, on either side," he adds,
after a look through his binocular. "The hills appear to be
thickly-wooded half-way up on the land both north and south of us."

His words are manifestly intended as a reflection upon the judgment of
the quondam seal-hunter, who rejoins shortly, "It would have been a deal
worse, sir. Ay, worse nor if we should have to eat our vittels raw."

"I don't comprehend you," said the skipper: "you spoke of a reason for
our not making the mainland. What is it?"

"Wal, Captain, there is a reason, as I said, an' a good one. I didn't
like to tell you, wi' the others listenin'." He nods toward the rest of
the party, who are out of earshot, and then continues, "'Specially the
women folks, as 'tain't a thing they ought to be told about."

"Do you fear some danger?" queries the skipper, in a tone of
apprehension.

"Jest that; an' bad kind o' danger. As fur's I kin see, we've drifted
onto a part of the Feweegin coast where the Ailikoleeps live; the which
air the worst and cruellest o' savages--some of 'em rank cannyballs! It
isn't but five or six years since they murdered, and what's more, eat
sev'ral men of a sealin' vessel that was wrecked somewhere about here.
For killin' 'em, mebbe they might have had reason, seein' as there had
been blame on both sides, an' some whites have behaved no better than
the savages. But jest fur that, we, as are innocent, may hev to pay fur
the misdeeds o' the guilty! Now, Captain, you perceive the wharfor o'
my not wantin' you to land over yonder. Ef we went now, like as not
we'd have a crowd o' the ugly critters yellin' around us, hungering for
our flesh."

"But, if that's so," queried the captain, "shall we be any safer here?"

"Yes, we're safe enough here--'s long as the wind's blowin' as 'tis now,
an' I guess it allers does blow that way, round this speck of an island.
It