the mate of the _Ceres_, came up the river. The
instant it was seen a chorus of yells arose from the natives in the long
hut, and Mary Corwell came to the open doorway of the house and looked
out.

"Wake up, wake up, Jack!" she cried, turning her face inwards over her
graceful shoulder, "here is Mallet."

Her voice awoke her husband, who in an instant sprang from his couch and
joined her, just as Mallet--a short, square-built man of fifty--stepped
out of the canoe and walked briskly towards them, wiping his broad,
honest face with a blue cotton handkerchief.

"Come inside, Mallet. 'Tis a bit cooler in here. I'm sorry I sent you
down to the ship on such a day as this."

Mallet laughed good-naturedly. "I didn't mind it, sir, though 'tis a
powerful hot day, and the natives are all lying asleep in their huts;
they can't understand why us works as we do in the sun. Lord, sir! How
I should like to see old Kingsdown and Walmer Castle to-day, all a-white
with snow. I was born at Deal."

Mary Cornell brought the old seaman a young coconut to drink, and her
husband added a little rum; Mallet tossed it off and then sat down.

"Well, sir, the ship is all right, and those chaps aboard seem content
enough. But I'm afeared that the worms are a-getting into her although
she is moored right abreast of the river. So I took it on me to tell
Totten and Harris to stay aboard whilst I came back to ask you if it
wouldn't be best for us to bring her right in to the fresh water, and
moor her here, right abreast o' the house. That'll kill any worms as
has got into her timbers. And we can tow her in the day after to-morrow,
when there will be a big tide."

"You did quite right, Mallet. Very likely the worms have got into her
timbers in spite of her being abreast of the river's mouth. I should
have thought of this before."

"Ah, Jack," said his wife, with a smile, "we have thought too much of
our gold-getting and too little of the poor old _Ceres_."

"Well, I shall think more of her now, Mary. And as the rains will be
on us in a few days--so the natives say--and we can do no more work for
three months, I think it will be as well for us to sail the _Ceres_ over
to that chain of lagoon islands about thirty miles from here. I fear to
remain here during the wet season, on account of the fever."

After further discussion it was decided that Jack and Mallet, with some
natives, should make an early start in the morning for their mining
camp,