Page:Traits and Trials.pdf/173

Rh a tent sufficient to shelter them from the nighnight [sic] dews.

They soon discovered that their place of refuge was a small island, apparently quite uninhabited, and with no sign of any species of animal; but a complete aviary of the most brilliant-coloured birds. With the exception of the little knot of palm-trees where their tent was, that side of the island was a low sandy beach, which, indeed, ran around it like a belt; but the interior was a fertile and beautiful valley; and Frank saw with delight tamarinds growing in great profusion—a species of the bread fruit-tree, the cocoa-nut, and some wild nutmegs; these last, however, imperfect for want of cultivation. The ground, and all the lower branches of the trees, were covered with the most luxuriant creeping plants, whose profusion of flowers Marion was never weary of gathering; and often, after having piled them up in heaps, she would be found asleep half hidden amid their bright and odoriferous blossoms. The first week passed in continual voyagings backwards and forwards to the ship, when, as Michael had foreseen, a rough gale blew one night, and in the morning there was not a trace of the wreck. That very day, walking along the coast, Frank's eye was