by the inclement weather, for owing to the wet the planks began to give, and the deck ceased to be watertight. In places the rain would come in through the joints where the caulking had been torn away, and this had to be made good without delay. Repairs were also needed to stop not only the water-ways, but the air-ways opened in the hull. Gordon would have used some of the spare sails for the purpose, but he could not bring himself to sacrifice the thick canvas which might come in so usefully for tents, and so he did the best he could with tarpaulins.
Besides this, there was the urgent question of finding a better shelter. Even if they did go eastward, they could not move for five or six months, and the schooner would not last as long as that, and if they had to abandon her in the rainy season, where were they to find a refuge? The cliff, on its western face, had not the slightest indentation that could be utilized. It was on the other side, where it was sheltered from the wind from the sea, that search must be made, and, if necessary, a house built large enough to hold them all.
Meanwhile the cargo was done up into bales and packages all duly numbered and entered in Gordon's pocket-book, so that when it became necessary they could be quickly carried away under the trees.
Whenever the weather was fine for a few hours, Donagan, Wilcox, and Webb went off after the pigeons, which Moko more or less successfully cooked in different ways. Garnett, Service, Cross, and the youngsters, including Jack, when his brother insisted on it, went away fishing. Among the shoals of fishes that haunted the weeds on the reef were many specimens of the genus notothenia, and hake of large size, and in and out among the thongs of the huge fucoids, some of which were four hundred feet long, was a prodigious quantity of small fish that could be caught by the hand.
It was a treat to hear the exclamations of the youthful fishers as they drew their nets or lines to the edge of the reef.
