his triumph, now glided underneath
the durion, and keeping his eye turned upward, as if intently watching
something, he struck the fruit with the piece of pointed stick which he
had been using in the search after Singapore oysters, and sent it
spinning out upon the open sand beach. Then following, he took out his
knife, and inserting the blade among its thickly set spines, cleft it
open, displaying the pulp inside.

There was enough to give each person a taste of this most luscious of
fruits, and make them desirous of more; even had they not been hungry.
But the appetites of all were now keen, and neither the chase nor the
fishery had produced a single thing to satisfy them. All three had
returned empty-handed. There were many more nuts on the durion-tree.
They could see scores of the prickly pericarps hanging overhead, but so
high as to make the obtaining of them apparently impossible. They were
as far away as the grapes from the fox of the fable.

The stem of the tree rose over seventy feet before throwing out a single
branch. It was smooth, moreover, offering neither knot nor excrescence
for a foothold. For all this Saloo could have climbed it, had he been
in proper strength and condition. But he was not so. He was still weak
from the effects of his suffering at sea.

Something more must be had to eat--whether game, fish or shell-fish.

The one great oyster appeared to be a stray. Saloo had begun to despair
of being able to find another. The fruit of the durion proved not only
pleasant eating, but exceedingly nutritious. It would sustain them,
could they only get enough of it. How was this to be obtained?

For a time they stood considering; when Captain Redwood became impressed
with an original idea.

In addition to his own rifle, a large ship's musket had been put into
the pinnace. He thought of chain-shot, and its effects; and it occurred
to him that by this means the durions might be brought down from their
lofty elevation.

No sooner conceived than carried into execution. The musket was loaded
with a brace of balls united by a piece of stout tarred string. A shot
was fired into the tree, aimed at a place where the fruit appeared
thickest. There was havoc made among the adjacent leaves; and five or
six of the great pericarps came crashing to the earth. A repetition of
the firing brought down nearly a dozen, enough to furnish the whole
party with food for at least another twenty-four hours.