ut before
I could get hold of a musket, they had scampered away back into the
woods; but we'll be even with them before long. When I went to look for
the rest of the hog, if the bastes hadn't eaten up their brother,
barring the hide, and that they had been quarrelling over, by the way it
was torn to pieces." There was an ample supply of pork, and fish, and
bananas, cocoa-nuts and vegetables, for that day's dinner Tom had to
consider what provision should be made for supper, and the next day.
Eager as he was to get the boat dug out, in case the ship should appear,
he would not allow his companions to work for a couple of hours or more,
for fear of their suffering from a stroke of the sun, whose fierce rays
beat down with terrific force on the sand. Pat, who was well inured to
a far greater heat, under the line itself, in the meantime took one of
the muskets, "to try and kill some game," he said, "or one of the
porkers which had lately paid him a visit."

The rest of the party lay down in the shade under the rock, to prepare
themselves for their afternoon's work. Pat had been absent for some
time, and a couple of shots had been heard; but lately no sound had
reached them, when again they heard a report at no great distance.
Presently he was seen scampering along, a big boar close at his heels.
It appeared as if the next instant the creature's tusks would have run
into him, when he seized the branch of a free and threw himself up upon
it, while the animal ripped off the hem of his broad trousers. Luckily
the canvas gave way, or Pat would have been brought to the ground. The
boar looked up at his late opponent as if he still meditated vengeance;
but suddenly seeing the party under the cliff, he came towards them,
tearing up the ground in his fury, with his sharp tusks. Fortunately
the other musket was loaded.

"Stand by, for advance or flight," cried Tom, seizing the weapon. Bird
grasped the boat-hook, while Desmond and Tim each took an axe, Billy,
having no arms, fulfilled the latter part of the order, by beginning to
climb up a ledge of the rock on one side of the cliff. It was a moment
of dreadful suspense, for, should Tom miss, he well knew that the boar's
tusks might, in the next instant, pierce him through. Fortunately the
animal caught sight of Billy as he was climbing up the cliff. This for
a moment distracted his attention, and, instead of coming directly at
Tom and his companions, it swerved a little o