I don't expect
anything, but it is well to see. When we get back here, it will be time
to have our supper and prepare our beds."
"Agreed!" cried Peterkin and I together, as, indeed, we would have
agreed to any proposal that Jack made, for, besides his being older and
much stronger and taller than either of us, he was a very clever
fellow, and I think would have induced people much older than himself
to choose him for their leader, especially if they required to be led
on a bold enterprise.
Now, as we hastened along the white beach, which shone so brightly in
the rays of the setting sun that our eyes were quite dazzled by its
glare, it suddenly came into Peterkin's head that we had nothing to eat
except the wild berries which grew in profusion at our feet.
"What shall we do, Jack?" said he, with a rueful look; "perhaps they
may be poisonous!"
"No fear," replied Jack confidently; "I have observed that a few of
them are not unlike some of the berries that grow wild on our own
native hills. Besides, I saw one or two strange birds eating them just
a few minutes ago, and what won't kill the birds won't kill us. But
look up there, Peterkin," continued Jack, pointing to the branched head
of a cocoa-nut palm. "There are nuts for us in all stages."
"So there are!" cried Peterkin, who, being of a very unobservant
nature, had been too much taken up with other things to notice anything
so high above his head as the fruit of a palm tree.
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