"It will be an endless job, too--to say nothing of the pity of it--to
kill off all those thousands of birds," remarked Cunningham. "But
perhaps, after all, it may not be necessary to resort to such extreme
measures as that. Have you any firearms on board, Captain?"

"You bet I have, and ammunition too," answered the skipper, with a grin.
"You don't catch old Eph Brown venturin' his property on an expedition
like this here--among savages, too, when we gets away down among the
islands a'ter that there sandalwood--without bringin' along the means to
defend it. I got a dozen muskets and six shot guns down below; and I
reckon I can get the lot out in ten minutes."

"Then," said Cunningham, "I'll tell you what we will do, Captain, if you
are agreeable. Let Temple and me have a couple of those shot guns, with
a moderate quantity of ammunition, and we will go ashore and shoot a
sufficient number of those birds to make them thoroughly afraid of
anything resembling the human figure. Then, when we have done that, we
will rig up a scarecrow on the leeward extremity of the island, where I
suppose you will deposit your oysters to undergo the process of decay,
and see how that acts before we attempt anything in the nature of actual
wholesale slaughter."

"Yes," assented the skipper eagerly, "I guess that plan's well worth
tryin', and I'm much obliged to ye for thinkin' of it. I don't want the
death of any more o' them birds laid to my door than what there's
actooal need for, for they're purty creeturs, and, when all's said and
done, God made 'em, same's He made you and me. But I'm afeard that a
few of 'em'll have to die, so the job might as well be done at once.
I'll go down below and get them shot guns, and you and Mr Temple might
as well go ashore directly after dinner."

Accordingly, as soon as our midday dinner was over, the gig--our gig--
was hoisted out, and Cunningham and I, with two hands for a crew, and
with a shot gun each, together with a double pocketful of cartridges,
went ashore to perform the exceedingly unpleasant but necessary task of
frightening the birds so effectually that they would not be likely to
interfere to any very great extent with our pearling operations. At the
last moment, just before shoving off from the schooner's side,
Cunningham shouted to the cook to pass down into the boat the biggest
basket that he could find, and this the "Doctor" did, with the result
that when we landed on the islan