d so often
followed; keeping, as may be supposed, a bright look-out on either side,
lest I might encounter a wild beast or serpent. Emily saw me coming,
for she was on the watch, and ran down the hill to meet me. She gave a
good account of Oliver.

"I am so thankful," she said; "he does not seem to have suffered from
that fearful arrow. I little knew at the time what a risk you were all
running; but I now see how mercifully we have been preserved."

Our uncle had been sleeping, but he started up when he heard me speaking
in the fort.

"And our treasures, have they escaped, Walter? Are my collections all
safe?" he asked eagerly.

I told him that all his things had been uninjured, and that one case
only of Mr Hooker's had suffered, besides the nautilus.

"Nautilus, did you say? Has that been destroyed? Oh, those atrocious
villains! That prize on which I set such value! Well, Walter, you must
try and catch me another; you cannot render me a greater service. Alas!
alas! that I should have lost that one, and all for the sake of the
arrack in which it was preserved!"

I assured him that I would do my best to try and catch another, as I was
certain would also our companions.

"If poor Macco had been with us, I should have had more hope," I said.
"I never met a more expert fisherman, and I am sure he would have
devised some means, though we might fail."

He seemed to take much less to heart the information that the English
ship had passed by; indeed, I suspect he was very unwilling to leave the
island till he had re-collected more of the specimens which had been
left in the house and destroyed. As yet we could not tell whether the
pirates had discovered our store of timber for building the vessel, as
we had not had time to visit the bay; nor, indeed, whether the boat had
escaped their sharp eyes. That had been hidden among the rocks at some
distance from the place where we usually landed, and might possibly, we
hoped, not have been seen.

Late in the evening the rest of the party returned. They had given up
all hopes of again seeing the vessel, and they came to ask Mr Sedgwick
whether he would like to be carried down to the sea-shore.

"Certainly, certainly," he answered; "though I think I can walk. The
lad here--Oliver--must be carried; and if I fail, I will get you to help
me. But the sooner we commence building a house the better. I suppose
some time must pass before the vessel can be got afloat, a