arp."

"I'll answer for the toughness of the handle, at any rate!" cried
Peterkin; "my arms are nearly pulled out of the sockets. But see here,
our luck is great. There is iron on the blade." He pointed to a piece
of hoop-iron as he spoke, which had been nailed round the blade of the
oar to prevent it from splitting.

This also was a fortunate discovery. Jack went down on his knees, and
with the edge of the axe began carefully to force out the nails. But as
they were firmly fixed in, and the operation blunted our axe, we carried
the oar up with us to the place where we had left the rest of our
things, intending to burn the wood away from the iron at a more
convenient time.

"Now, lads," said Jack after we had laid it on the stone which contained
our little all, "I propose that we should go to the tail of the island,
where the ship struck, which is only a quarter of a mile off; and see if
anything else has been thrown ashore. I don't expect anything, but it
is well to see. When we get back here it will be time to have our
supper and prepare our beds."

"Agreed!" cried Peterkin and I together, as, indeed, we would have
agreed to any proposal that Jack made; for, besides his being older and
much stronger and taller than either of us, he was a very clever fellow,
and, I think, would have induced people much older than himself to
choose him for their leader, especially if they required to be led on a
bold enterprise.

Now as we hastened along the white beach, which shone so brightly in the
rays of the setting sun that our eyes were quite dazzled by its glare,
it suddenly came into Peterkin's head that we had nothing to eat except
the wild berries which grew in profusion at our feet.

"What shall we do, Jack?" said he with a rueful look. "Perhaps they may
be poisonous!"

"No fear," replied Jack confidently. "I have observed that a few of
them are not unlike some of the berries that grow wild on our own native
hills. Besides, I saw one or two strange birds eating them just a few
minutes ago, and what won't kill the birds won't kill us. But look up
there, Peterkin," continued Jack, pointing to the branched head of a
cocoa-nut palm. "There are nuts for us in all stages."

"So there are!" cried Peterkin, who, being of a very unobservant nature,
had been too much taken up with other things to notice anything so high
above his head as the fruit of a palm-tree. But whatever faults my
young comrade had, he coul