Page:Adrift in the Pacific, Sampson Low, 1889.djvu/43

Rh and jerseys much too roomy for them, but reduced to a proper length of arm and leg. The others were not idle. Under Garnett or Baxter, they were off among the rocks at low tide, gathering mollusks, or fishing with lines and nets at the mouth of the stream, amusing themselves to the advantage of all. Busy in a way that pleased them, they hardly thought of the position in which they were placed, and they did not know how serious it was. When they thought of their parents and friends, as they often did, they were sorrowful enough; but the idea that they would never see them again never occurred to them.

Gordon and Briant seldom left the wreck. Service was with them a good deal, and was always good-tempered and useful. He liked Briant, and had never joined Donagan's party, and Briant was not insensible to his loyalty.

"This is first rate," said Service. "The schooner must have been dropped gently on the beach by some good fairy! There was no such luck as this with Robinson Crusoe nor the Swiss family." Young Jack grew stranger in his manner every day. Although he helped his brother in many ways, yet he rarely replied to a question, and turned away his eyes whenever he was looked at in the face. Briant was seriously uneasy at all this. Being his senior by some four years, he had always had a good deal of influence over him, and ever since they had come on board the schooner he had noticed that Jack seemed like a boy afflicted with remorse. Had he done anything that he dared not tell his brother? Several times Briant noticed that his eyes were red from crying. Was Jack going to be seriously ill? If so, how could they look after him? Here was trouble in store! And so Briant asked his brother quietly what ailed him.

"There's nothing the matter with me," answered Jack. And that was all he could get from him.

During the 11th and 15th of March, Donagan, Wilcox, Webb, and Cross went shooting rock pigeons. They