"Oh, Ready, how grateful I am! I trust that we may he taken away, for
you have no idea how my poor father suffers in silence - and so does my
mother."
"I know it, William, I know it, and it is natural; they do their best
to control their yearnings, and they can do no more. But now we must be
quick, and at work before breakfast. But stop, I will show you the
vessel."
Ready caught the vessel in the field of the telescope, which he leant
against the trunk of a cocoa-nut, and William put his eye to the glass.
"Do you see her?"
"Oh yes, Ready, and she is coming this way."
"Yes, she is steering right for the island. I will put the telescope
down here, and we will go about our work."
William and Ready went to the storehouse for the axe. Ready selected a
very slight cocoa-nut tree nearest to the beach, which he cut down, and
as soon as the top was taken off with the assistance of William he
carried it down to the point.
"Now, William, go for a shovel and dig a hole here, that we may fix it
up as a flag-staff. When all is ready, I will go for a small block and
some rope for halyards to hoist up the flags as soon as the vessel is
likely to see them.
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