Page:Barbour--Lost island.djvu/224

 By common consent the first hut finished was handed over to the cook. His apparatus had been transferred bodily from the ship, and he dished out meals as regularly and satisfactorily as before. He was the only man of the party who had any real knowledge of that department, and when he realized how much every one was dependent on him he developed a slight touch of swollen head. Nobody minded that, however, so long as he had something to cook and kept on cooking it.

Tempest's first impression that the island was uninhabited proved correct. Nor was there any sign of a ship or natives having visited the place. The island was about a mile long and half a mile wide in the centre. A dear spring bubbled near the camping-ground, so, fortunately, no dread of thirst faced the men. Snakes were conspicuous by their absence. The only animal they encountered was a small species of wild hog. These creatures scurried about in the undergrowth, peeping out in alarm when any one went near and