ke care of him, Ready, and good-bye to you till we meet."

Mrs Seagrave went into the tent to hide the tears which she could not
suppress.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

Ready was up before the sun had appeared, and he awakened William. The
knapsacks had been already packed, with two bottles of water in each,
wrapped round with cocoa-nut leaves, to prevent their breaking, and the
beef and pork divided between each knapsack. Ready's, which was larger
than William's, held the biscuit and several other things which Ready
had prepared in case they might require them.

As soon as the knapsacks were on, Ready took the axe and gun, and asked
William if he thought he could carry a small spade on his shoulder,
which they had brought on shore along with the shovels. William replied
that he could; and the dogs, who appeared to know they were going, were
all ready standing by them. Then, just as the sun rose, they turned
into the cocoa-nut grove, and were soon out of sight of the tents.

"Now, William, do you know," said Ready, stopping after they had walked
twenty yards, "by what means we may find our way back again; for you see
this forest of trees is rather puzzling, and there is no path to guide
us?"

"No, I am sure I cannot tell; I was thinking of the very same thing when
you spoke; and of Tom Thumb, who strewed peas to find his way back, but
could not do it, because the birds picked them all up."

"Well, Tom Thumb did not manage well, and we must try to do better; we
must do as the Americans always do in their woods,--we must _blaze_ the
trees."

"Blaze them! what, set fire to them?" replied William.

"No, no, William. Blaze is a term they use when they cut a slice of the
bark off the trunk of a tree, just with one blow of a sharp axe, as a
mark to find their way back again. They do not _blaze_ every tree, but
about every tenth tree as they go along, first one to the right, and
then one to the left, which is quite sufficient; and it is very little
trouble,--they do it as they walk along, without stopping. So now we'll
begin: you take the other side, it will be more handy for you to have
your hatchet in your right hand; I can use my left. See now--just a
slice off the bark--the weight of the axe does it almost."

"What an excellent plan!" observed William.

"But I have another friend in my pocket," replied Ready, "and I must use
him soon."

"What is that?"

"Poor Captain Osborn's pocket-compass. You see, Will