our
evening meal for ourselves, that night, or we should have gone
supperless to our cabins. And, in like manner, we also had to prepare
our own breakfast next morning.

That simple meal was over some considerable time before there was any
stir or sign of movement in the camp on shore; but at length the cook
appeared, still, apparently, in a semi-drunken condition, and by and by
we saw the men sitting down to breakfast. They occupied an
unconscionably long time over their meal, and when it was over most of
the party lit their pipes and staggered away back into the sheltering
shade of their tents again. There were two or three exceptions, one of
whom was O'Gorman, who, after lighting his pipe, strolled down to the
water's edge with a paper in his hand that looked very much like the
paper from which he had quoted the instructions for making the island,
and which he appeared to be studying most intently, with a dubious air
that, even as I watched him, rapidly changed into one of
steadily-increasing perplexity.

At length, with a gesture of savage impatience, he folded up the paper,
slipped it into his breast-pocket, and went off to the tent, from which
he presently emerged again followed by two very sick-and-sorry,
unwilling-looking members of his gang. The trio tumbled into one of the
boats, shoved off, and headed directly for the brig. Miss Onslow was on
deck with me, but as soon as I saw that the little party intended
boarding the brig, I directed her attention to their condition, and
requested her to retire out of sight to her cabin, which she did, very
submissively, somewhat to my surprise.

The distance from the shore to the brig was but short, and in a few
minutes the boat was alongside, and O'Gorman on deck, his two companions
electing to spare themselves the fatigue of dragging themselves up the
brig's side, and stretching themselves out upon the thwarts instead,
with their caps drawn over their faces, in which position they almost
immediately fell asleep.

It was evident from O'Gorman's embarrassed manner as he approached me
that he had something to say, or some proposition to make, without
exactly knowing how best to set about it. It seemed to me that he had
unexpectedly found himself in some way at a serious disadvantage, but
was anxious above all things to prevent my discovering his predicament.
Then he was civil, which I had learned to accept as an unerring
indication that he wished to inveigle me