and he had to thin it. Also the spear was much too
heavy, and so had to be reduced in thickness, although nothing would
induce Peterkin to have it shortened. My sling answered very well; but
I had fallen so much out of practice that my first stone knocked off
Peterkin's hat, and narrowly missed making a second Goliath of him.
However, after having spent the whole day in diligent practice, we began
to find some of our former expertness returning, at least Jack and I
did. As for Peterkin, being naturally a neat-handed boy, he soon
handled his spear well, and could run full tilt at a cocoa-nut, and hit
it with great precision once out of every five times.

But I feel satisfied that we owed much of our rapid success to the
unflagging energy of Jack, who insisted that since we had made him
captain, we should obey him; and he kept us at work from morning till
night, perseveringly, at the same thing. Peterkin wished very much to
run about and stick his spear into everything he passed; but Jack put up
a cocoa-nut, and would not let him leave off running at that for a
moment except when he wanted to rest. We laughed at Jack for this, but
we were both convinced that it did us much good.

That night we examined and repaired our arms ere we lay down to rest,
although we were much fatigued, in order that we might be in readiness
to set out on our expedition at daylight on the following morning.

CHAPTER NINE.

PREPARE FOR A JOURNEY ROUND THE ISLAND--SAGACIOUS REFLECTIONS--
MYSTERIOUS APPEARANCES AND STARTLING OCCURRENCES.

Scarcely had the sun shot its first ray across the bosom of the broad
Pacific when Jack sprang to his feet, and hallooing in Peterkin's ear to
awaken him, ran down the beach to take his customary dip in the sea. We
did not, as was our wont, bathe that morning in our Water Garden, but in
order to save time, refreshed ourselves in the shallow water just
opposite the bower. Our breakfast was also despatched without loss of
time, and in less than an hour afterwards all our preparations for the
journey were completed.

In addition to his ordinary dress, Jack tied a belt of cocoa-nut cloth
round his waist, into which he thrust the axe. I was also advised to
put on a belt and carry a short cudgel or bludgeon in it, for, as Jack
truly remarked, the sling would be of little use if we should chance to
come to close quarters with any wild animal. As for Peterkin,
notwithstanding that he carried such a long