ishford!" And he leapt on shore,
half capsizing the boat as he did so.

Bowler found his authority unequal to the task of controlling the
enthusiasm of his fellow-emigrants, and he had to let them land as they
pleased, while he and Gayford grimly held the boat alongside.

When all but Tubbs were ashore, their patience could hold out no longer.
They followed the general rush, Bowler crying out to Tubbs as he sprang
ashore--

"See and make her fast, Tubbs, and land the grub, will you? We'll be
back directly." And off he scampered with the rest, to join in the
ceremony of capturing the island.

Now Tubbs was not the best man who could have been chosen to execute so
important a trust as that laid upon him; and Bowler, had he been rather
less excited at the moment, would have thought twice before he left him
to perform it. In the first place, Tubbs could find no place to tie the
boat up to, and as long as he sat in the boat and held on to the rock it
was evident he could not land the grub. So he was in a dilemma. He did
his best; he relaxed his hold for a moment and made a frantic grab at
one of the brown-paper parcels. But it almost cost him his moorings,
for the boat, taking advantage of its liberty, began to slide away out
to sea, and it was all Tubbs could do to catch hold of the rock again in
time to stop it. This would not do, it was clear. He pulled the boat
along to its old position, and throwing the parcel ashore, meditated.
He must wait till one of the others came to help him. Poor Tubbs! It
was hard lines to see the rest of the party scrambling triumphantly up
the hill, and find himself left here like a sort of animated anchor.
Happy thought! How came he never to have thought of the anchor before?
There it was in the bottom of the boat. It would be the simplest thing
to jump ashore with it and fix it somewhere in the rocks where it would
hold. No sooner was the brilliant project conceived than it was
executed. Seizing the anchor in his hands, Tubbs stepped gaily ashore
and triumphantly wedged one tooth of it into a crevice of the rock,
where it would hold firm enough to keep a man-of-war in its place. He
watched with a pleasant smile the "Eliza" as she drifted slowly out on
the rope, enjoying the prospect of seeing her presently tug at the
anchor, and then give up the attempt to get free and resign herself to
her fate.

It was a longer coil of rope than he had imagined. The boat was twenty
y