ur tongue," returned Peterkin; "I say that I resolved
to forego my dinner and to push to the head of the small valley, where I
felt pretty sure of discovering the hogs. I soon found that I was on the
right scent, for I had scarcely walked half a mile in the direction of
the small plum tree we found there the other day, when a squeak fell on
my ear. 'Ho, ho,' said I, 'there you go, my boys;' and I hurried up the
glen. I soon started them, and singling out a fat pig, ran tilt at him.
In a few seconds I was up with him, and stuck my spear right through his
dumpy body. Just as I did so, I saw that we were on the edge of a
precipice, whether high or low I knew not, but I had been running at such
a pace that I could not stop, so the pig and I gave a howl in concert and
went plunging over together. I remembered nothing more after that, till
I came to my senses and found you bathing my temples, and Ralph wringing
his hands over me."

But although Peterkin was often unfortunate, in the way of getting
tumbles, he was successful on the present occasion in hunting, and
returned before evening with three very nice little hogs. I, also, was
successful in my visit to the mud-flats, where I killed several ducks. So
that, when we launched and loaded our boat at sunrise the following
morning, we found our store of provisions to be more than sufficient.
Part had been cooked the night before, and, on taking note of the
different items, we found the account to stand thus:--

10 Bread-fruits, (two baked, eight unbaked.)
20 Yams, (six roasted, the rest raw.)
6 Taro roots.
50 Fine large plums.
6 Cocoa nuts, ripe.
6 Ditto green, (for drinking.)
4 Large ducks and two small ones, raw.
3 Cold roast pigs, with stuffing.

I may here remark that the stuffing had been devised by Peterkin
specially for the occasion. He kept the manner of its compounding a
profound secret, so I cannot tell what it was; but I can say, with much
confidence, that we found it to be atrociously bad, and, after the first
tasting, scraped it carefully out and threw it overboard. We calculated
that this supply would last us for several days, but we afterwards found
that it was much more than we required, especially in regard to the cocoa
nuts, of which we found large supplies wherever we went. However, as
Peterkin remarked, it was better to have too much than too little, as we
knew not to what straits we might be put during our voyage.

It was a very calm sunny