ns as were imperatively necessary to bring them to the required
shape, than it would have been to reduce them with the imperfect tools
in the possession of the builders. The whole of her framing was set up
and secured, and the garboard and two adjacent streaks on each side
bolted to: and that was all. I could easily understand, as I looked on
her massive timbers, how great must have been the labour for two pair of
hands to bring her even thus far forward; and, in addition to this,
there was the pulling of it all to pieces, in the first instance, on
board the parent ship, and the rafting of the materials down to the bay
afterwards.

After taking a good look at the craft, we shoved off in the canoes for
the wreck, calling on board the cutter on our way, that my father and
Winter might satisfy the curiosity they felt concerning the little craft
which had so successfully traversed so many thousand miles of ocean.
They were, naturally, delighted at everything they saw, and admired her
model greatly: but were, nevertheless, loud in their expressions of
wonder at what they termed our temerity in venturing on so long a voyage
in such a mere boat.

A quiet paddle of about half-an-hour took us alongside the wreck, which
lay grounded in about ten feet of water, pretty much as she had been
left by the mutineers. We had no difficulty in boarding, a substantial
accommodation-ladder having been constructed to facilitate so frequent
an operation. There was not much to see when we stood upon her deck--
the whole of the poop having been removed to furnish materials for the
schooner; but Bob and I naturally felt a deep interest in the ship which
had formerly been our floating home, and as to whose fate we had for so
long been in a state of such painful uncertainty.

We remained on board about an hour, during which Ella insisted on having
pointed out to her the exact spot which my old berth had formerly
occupied; and then we returned to the shore and visited the garden,
which had been formed in a small natural clearing within about a quarter
of a mile of the house. Here we found a goodly patch of wheat, almost
ready for the sickle: a large plot of potatoes, which, my father said,
grew but indifferently well in that climate; a few other English
vegetables, some yams, and several fruit-trees of various kinds,
including the very useful bread-fruit, which had been carefully selected
and as carefully transplanted to their present positio