At length the ground became thoroughly saturated, shallow puddles formed in every little hollow or depression, and there was the prospect of a most miserable night if the storm should continue. Happily this did not prove to be the case; in about an hour after we had been aroused by the first thunder-peal, the clouds dispersed almost as suddenly as they had gathered, the sun shone forth brightly, the trees and the grass sparkled with rain-drops lustrous as diamonds, and the whole landscape smiled in fresher beauty than ever. This little occurrence, however, served as a seasonable hint to recall to our minds the importance of contriving some kind of a dwelling to afford us shelter in bad weather, and we resolved to lose no time in setting about it. Accordingly, the day following that of the thundershower, as soon as we had returned from the beach, after taking our regular morning swim, Arthur called a council, to deliberate and determine upon the matter of housebuilding. The first thing was to fix upon a site: the only objection to the level space at the top of the hill was its elevated position, exposing it to the full force of the violent winds which prevail at certain periods of the tropical year. But on that side from which the strongest winds blow, the spot was protected by still higher land towards the interior, and the fine trees, of various kinds and sizes (some of them evidently the growth of many years), among which could be seen no prostrate trunks, showed, as we thought, that nothing was to be feared from that source. We therefore selected a smooth open space near the edge of the terrace, commanding a view of the sea through a vista of noble trees. Max insisted that inasmuch as, with our limited architectural resources, we could not make our house of more than one storey, we ought to build in "cottage style," and make up for deficiency in height by spreading over a large surface. He then pro ceeded to mark out a ground-plan, upon a scale that would have been shockingly extravagant, had we been in a part of the world where the price of building-lots was to be taken into consideration. A parallelogram nearly forty feet long by twenty-five in width, the narrower side fronting the sea, was the plan of the main building. This was to be flanked by two wings, each some sixteen feet square, which would serve to strengthen and support the principal structure. "Upon this model," Max complacently observed, "he intended one of these days to build his country-seat near Mount Merino, on the Hudson: meantime we were welcome to the benefit of the idea." Really we're greatly obliged to you, Max," said Browne, "for helping us so generously through with the most difficult part of the business. All that we now want in order to finish it at once, is merely a few loads of joist, plank, pine-boards, shingles, and window-sash; a supply of nails, a set of carpenters' tools, and a couple of carpenters to use them." "Of course," rejoined Max, “we shall want a supply of building materials, tools, &c., and I am expecting them along daily. We have now been here several weeks, and it is quite time, in the natural and regular course of things, and according to the uniform experience of people situated as we are, for a ship heavily laden (say in our case) with lumber and hardware to be driven upon our shores in the midst of a terrible storm (yesterday, when it began to thunder, I thought it was at hand). The ship will come driving upon the reef-the crew will take to the boats; but no boat can live in such a sea, and notwithstanding our humane and daring efforts to assist them, all perish among the breakers—that is to say, all except the carpenter-whom I rescue, by plunging into the raging flood, and dragging him ashore by the hair, just as he is about sinking for the third time." “Nobly done,” said Browne; "but couldn't you at the same time manage to save a drowning washerwoman? She would be as great an acquisition as the carpenter, in my mind." "At length," resumed Max," the storm abates-the sea becomes smooth- -we go out in the yawl to the stranded vessel, where she lies upon a coral patch, and bring off, in two boat-loads, the carpenter's chest, a keg of gunpowder, a blunderbuss, seven muskets, fourteen pairs of pistols, and a bag of doubloons (think of that, Charlie !) That very night the wind rises again: the surf breaks the wreck to pieces, and washes the fragments ashore, and in the morning the sea is strewn far and wide with floating spars, and bales, and barrels; and the reef is covered for miles with ‘joist, plank, pine-boards, shingles, windowsash,' and whatever other trifling conveniences are requisite for building my cottage. This is what Charlie and I confidently calculate upon."* "In the meantime," said Arthur, "in case, by any unfortunate accident, your ship should fail to arrive in time to enable us to get the cottage up before the rains set in, I propose that we commence a less ambitious structure ;" and he began to trace upon the ground with a pointed stick the oval outline of what he called “ a Tahi * The disposition here and elsewhere manifested by Master Adeler to be savagely witty at the expense of "the story-books," on the score of their frequent inconsistencies, and the fortunate accidents, wonderful coincidences, and hairbreadth escapes with which they abound, strikes me as being somewhat ungracious under the circumstances. One would think that after the long series of all sorts of unheard-of perils from mutineers, sharks, tempests, whales, waterspouts, and what not, through which himself and his fellow-adventurers had passed, without damage to life or limb, he might reasonably have been more indulgent toward the seeming extravagances of professed works of fiction. In fact, the "narrative" of our young friends, the Islanders, though strictly true in every particular (as we are bound in common justice to believe, until their veracity is impeached), might itself, with some show of plausibility, be made the subject of precisely the same style of invidious and ill-natured remark.-ED. tian faré." "But even for my faré," he added, "we shall need the means of cutting down a number of good-sized trees." "Of which we are entirely destitute," said Max with an air of triumph; "and I don't see but that we shall have to wait for my ship after all." "Not so," answered Arthur, "for I think that two or three of the cutlasses may be converted into tolerable saws, with which, by dint of a little patience, we can get out as many posts and rafters as will be requisite for the frame of our building, though I admit it will be tedious work." Charlie heaved a profound sigh at the prospect of the difficulties that lay in the way of his pet project of housebuilding, and wished that "that old magician who built the castle with a thousand windows for Aladdin, in a single night, would only be clever enough to lend us his assistance." But upon second thoughts, he concluded that there would be "no fun" in having our house ready-made for us, and magnanimously declared that if he had the wonderful lamp in his hands that minute, with full power to summon up the obedient genius, and set him to work, he would not do it. "I hope you would make him supply us with a few good axes, Charlie, at least," said Browne. But Charlie was disposed to be very self-denying and high-minded; he did not think he ought to do it; we should take a great deal more pleasure in our house if we made it ourselves, without any magical assistance of any kind. "Now that you mention axes," said Morton, “it occurs to me that there is an old hatchet-head among the rubbish in the locker of the yawl, and though it is a good deal battered and worn, it could be fitted with a handle, and made useful." "We all now remembered having seen it, though no one had before thought of it. Arthur suggested that wo should make an excursion to Palm Islet as soon as the heat of the day was over, and the sea-breeze had set in, for the purpose of getting the hatchet, and bringing the boat round to the side of the island where we intended to fix our residence, as we might have occasion for its use. "We can get there before dark," said he, "and pass the night once more at our old quarters on the little island; then we can row back in the fresh of the morning before sunrise, and be ready to commence our building in earnest." CHAPTER XIX. THE CORAL REEF. CHARLIE AND THE CHAMA-AMATEUR PEARL-DIVING A SHARK BLOCKADE-CULINARY GENIUS. "Down in the depths of the lonely sea I work at my mystic masonry; I've crusted the plants of the deep with stone, LATE in the afternoon, when the slanting beams of the sun began to lose their fierceness, and the heat was tempered by the breeze setting in from the ocean, we descended to the beach, and set out for the eastern side of the island, in accordance with Arthur's suggestion mentioned at the L |