Two Sailor Lads by Gordon Stables

As long as the moonlight lasted the evenings were very pleasant indeed, and every night Fred, Frank, and Quambo went out for a row and a song. Hurricane Bob begged so earnestly to be excused that it was thought best to leave him on shore.

Magilvray and Cassia-bud also expressed themselves as perfectly content to take a back seat at the evening concert, or, in other words, to lie on the beach and listen there. Probably they thus had the best of it; for the sound of the singing floating over the water was weirdly tremulous and beautiful.

The singers, however, thought it safest to keep well away from the reef. There was something decidedly uncanny in the sight of that black and terrible apparition springing over the reef. Besides, as Frank said, if that was the brute's usual way of coming home of an evening, the wisest plan was to give him a wide berth. Explorations of the island, which was many miles in extent, took place every day. These little excursions formed a very pleasant way of spending the greater portion of the day, there was so much that were strangely foreign and beautiful to be beheld, and so many pretty peeps of scenery. The whole island, indeed, and everything in it, was as different from anything that Fred and Frank had seen before, as if it had been part and parcel of some other planet.

Sometimes it was Cassia-bud who came with them, at other times Quambo or Magilvray, and sometimes it was Hurricane Bob only. Whoever stayed at home had to cook the dinner, and just as often as not had to catch it also.

Cassia-bud was the fisher-boy _par excellence_. He was never better pleased than when out on the water all by himself, armed with rod and reel, or with hand-line only! His whole evenings used to be devoted to the study of bait, and when he went fishing he seemed to know the very spot at which to sink his line in order to procure some particular kind of fish.

He found several species of skates and rays, a huge kind of conger-eel -- the first he caught frightened poor Cassia-bud, and almost as much as "de debbil fish" had -- many other nameless and curious fishes, all good to eat, and mackerel. These last were not such as we in England are used to, but cooked as Quambo cooked them they were very delicious indeed. They were very numerous too in some parts of this reef-locked bay, and Quambo's plan was to start Cassia-bud out to catch two or three just half an hour before dinner, and pull on shore with them immediately. The fish were killed and cleaned, then cut up the back after the fashion of kippered salmon, and roasted before a clear fire. Served hot then with the acid juice of a species of lemon that grew on the Isle of Good Hope, they made a dish that might have graced the table of a king.

About every second day a visit was paid to the top of Beacon Hill, and the horizon eagerly scanned for sight of some passing vessel. Had any such appeared a huge pile of brushwood, both withered and green, would have been kindled in hopes of attracting attention. But days and weeks flew by and no sail was ever sighted.

When men are stranded on an island as our heroes were, it is always the first month or six weeks that seem the longest time. After this the Crusoe or Crusoes settle down more, and the time flies more quickly on.

As to reckoning the days, Fred and Frank were not reduced to the necessity of notching a tree, for one of them happened to possess a note-book with an almanack in it, and every noon one day was ticked off.

Of wild beasts the island possessed not a single specimen, but a curious kind of coney or cavy, they could not tell which, even after Cassia-bud one day succeeded in shooting one with a bow and arrow he had made. Cassia-bud roasted the beast and ate it for supper, for the lad had a wonderful appetite. Bob enjoyed the bones.

"Was it nice? " said Frank. "Did you enjoy it, Kashie?"

"Oh, sab, he just too awful jolly for anything! " replied the boy, licking his lips and rolling his eyes.

"Well, Kash, you must shoot some more you know, and then perhaps we'll all have a taste."

These creatures were to be found in very great abundance on one particularly rocky glen, where they had their burrows.

On the very next morning, after receiving his commission, Cassia-bud and Hurricane Bob both disappeared in the woods, and about noon emerged again, Bob carrying a coney that he himself had captured, and Cassia-bud carrying four.

"Bravo! " cried Fred, picking the lad up as soon as he had thrown down his burden; "now for a game of live-ball to make Kashie hungry."

"Play! " he shouted, pitching the little laughing black ball of a boy towards Quambo.

"Play! " cried Quambo, throwing him to Magilvray.

"Keep the pot a-boilin'," roared Magilvray, and next moment Frank had caught the lad and pitched him back to Fred.

They kept the game up for ten minutes. It was as good as dumb-bells, Fred said. The rule of the game was, that when anyone dropped the live-ball on the sand he was to stand out. At last there was nobody in except Quambo. He hoisted Cassia-bud right up on his shoulders, and there the boy stood erect while the giant went capering up and down the sands, with Hurricane Bob barking around them for joy.