other traders from having any friendly intercourse with the islanders
and discovering his secret, and thereby spoiling his market. Tom Platt
was the only person among the crew who suspected what the white
beads really were, and he managed, unknown to the captain, to obtain a
necklace, which he hid in his pocket. The very evening before the
natives were to have been seized a heavy gale sprang up, and the
schooner was driven out to sea. Before many days had gone by she was
cast away on an uninhabited island, when all hands, with the exception
of Tom Platt, were lost. He supported existence on shell-fish and a few
birds he knocked down, while a small cask of water washed ashore
saved him from dying of thirst. Just as it was exhausted, he was taken
off by a vessel bound for this place. I met him, looking very ill and
wretched, wandering about the street the very day he landed. We
recognised each other, and I took him to my house, where he became so
much worse that, had it not been for the careful way he was nursed, I
believe he would have died. He seemed to think so himself, and was
very grateful. While I was sitting with him one day, having a yarn of
old times, he gave me an account of the pearl islands, and assured me
that he could find them again, having carefully noted the distance the
schooner had run to the reef on which she was wrecked, as also its
position on the chart. He then showed me the necklace, of which he had
not spoken to any one. His narrative first put our proposed venture into
my head. When I told him of my idea he at once agreed to
accompanying me, saying that he should be content with any wages I
could afford to give him. Though a first-rate seaman, he cannot be
much of a navigator, so that had you, Ned, not come out I should have
been obliged to get another mate; and now that you have come, we will
forthwith commence our preparations."
"The first thing to be done is to find a suitable craft," I said.
"I have had my eye on one--a schooner, the Dainty, of a hundred and
twenty tons, built for a fruit-trader, which was brought out here from
England by a settler only a month ago," he answered.
"Then let us go at once and have a look at her, and, if she is in good
condition, secure her," I exclaimed; for, after the account Harry had
given me, I had become very eager to undertake the expedition.
We started forthwith. The Dainty was even more suited for our object
than we had expected. She had well fitted up cabins, like those of a
yacht, with a hold large enough for all the cargo and stores we might
wish to stow--was well-found and in capital condition; so Harry at once
made an offer for her, which being accepted, the Dainty became his.
In the evening Harry said what he had done.
"You do not intend to leave me behind, I hope," exclaimed Mary.
"Or me either," cried Miss Fanny Amiel. "What should we poor girls
do all alone by ourselves in this little bakehouse?"
"You must let me go as cabin-boy," said Nat. "I'll make myself
tremendously useful."
"I'll talk it over with Mary," answered Harry, who looked not at all ill
pleased at the thoughts of having his wife to accompany him of her
own free will. The result of the talk was that the next morning it was
settled that we were all to go, the house and business being left in
charge of a trustworthy old clerk, Mr Simon Humby, who had
accompanied Harry when he came out the first time from England. We
were very busy for the next few days in making preparations for the
voyage--the ladies in the house assisted by Nat, and Harry, and I in
refitting the schooner--purchasing provisions, stores, and articles for
bartering with the natives. We procured also four small brass guns,
with some muskets, pistols, boarding-pikes, and cutlasses.
"We shall not, I hope, have to use them," said Harry. "But, now
especially that we are to have ladies on board, we must be well
prepared for defence should we be attacked."
It was easy enough to prepare the vessel for sea, but Harry expected to
find some difficulty in securing an efficient crew. He of course at once
applied to Tom Platt.
"I'll see about that, sir," he answered. "You mustn't be too particular as
to what sort of chaps they may be, provided they are good seamen--for
as to their characters, I'm not likely to be able to say much."
"Pick up

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