crosstrees, I took her through without a hitch, our anchor plunging into
the placid waters of the lagoon a few minutes after the skipper had
struck six bells.

"Well, gents," Brown remarked, rubbing his hands, as, having been
forward to supervise the mooring of the ship in my absence aloft, he
came aft and joined Cunningham and myself, while the crew took to the
rigging and went aloft to furl the canvas, "here we are at last; and
ne'er a sign of the _Kingfisher_ anywhere about. Did ye happen to
notice anything at all like a h'yster bank anywhere near while you was
aloft, Mr Temple?"

"Yes, sir, I did," answered I. "I took a good look round while we were
coming in, and I noticed a distinct discoloration of the water about a
mile out, as dead to leeward of the island as it can possibly be. I
have no doubt we shall find that to be the shoal of which your friend
spoke. And there was another thing I noticed while I was aloft, and
which I will take this opportunity of mentioning. The island is
literally covered with birds, sir, and, unfortunate as is the necessity,
I am afraid that our very first task must be to kill every one of them."

"Kill off them birds, Mr Temple?" echoed the skipper, in a tone of
mingled surprise and indignation. "Why, what harm are they adoin'?"

"None at all at present, sir. But--by the way, how do you propose to
obtain the pearls which you hope to procure from the oysters in yonder
bed?"

"Well," answered the skipper, "I had it in my mind to take the schooner
out to the bed every mornin' and anchor her right on top of it. Then I
thought of lowerin' the boats, and, as the oysters comes up, dischargin'
'em into the boats, one boat at a time, until we've got a fair cargo,
a'ter which that boat'll be sent ashore in charge of, say, two men; and
Number 2 boat'll be loadin' while Number 1 is goin' ashore and comin'
back. And when the oysters is took ashore, my plan is to spread 'em out
on the island and let 'em rot in the sun, an'--ah yes! now I see what
you means about them blamed birds. They'll just go for them rottin'
oysters an' play the very Ole Gooseberry with 'em--is that what you
mean?"

"Precisely," I said. "They will attack the decaying oysters, and you
will probably lose about three-fourths of your pearls."

"Ay, I see; I see," murmured the "Old Man". "It seems a most tarnation
pity," he continued regretfully, "but I guess we'll have to do it--or
lose most o' them pearls."