led from the stream, we kept our plants fresh in times of drought. Nor
was this the sole use we made of the pond; for in it we kept small fish
and crabs, and took them out with a rod and line when we had need of
food, and time to spare for that kind of sport. In the ground round the
mouth of the Cave we drove a row of strong canes, bound at the top to a
piece of wood, so as to form a fence, up which grew a vine, and, at
each side, plants that threw a good show of gay bloom crept up to meet
it. Shells of great size and strange shapes were got from the shore,
and these we built up here and there with burnt clay, so as to form
clumps of rock work, on which grew ferns and rare plants. All this gave
a charm to our home, and made the grounds round it a source of joy
when, we laid by our work for the day. In fact, we thought there was
now scarce a thing to wish for that we had not got.

Our cares were few, and our life was as full of joy and peace as we
could well wish; yet I oft cast a look on the sea, in the hope that
some day I should spy a sail, and once more greet a friend from the
wide world from which we had been so long shut out. This hope, vague as
it was, led me to store up such things as would bring a price, if we
had the chance to sell them; they might prove a source of wealth to us
if a ship came that way, or would at least help to pay the charge of a
cruise back to the land we came from.

It is but just to say that the boys did not share my hopes, nor did
they seem to wish that we should leave the place where they had been
brought up. It was their world, and the cave, to which we gave the name
Rock House, was more dear to them than any spot on the earth.

"Go back!" Fritz would say; "to leave our cave, that we dug with our
own hands; to part with our dear kind beasts and birds; to bid good-by