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Then came twilight itself, and, long though it was, its intense beauty was the best reward for the waiting, watching little Crusoes. Every heart was beating quickly, and Pansy was standing on brave Tom's shoulder, just to be "nearer the sky", she said. All were silent. The sun came at last, and with such a silvery sheen, too, that the children were dazzled.
"Come on, Veevee," cried the mastiff, "come for a run in the sunshine." And off they set. But the day soon ended, for the sun quickly disappeared. Yet the Crusoes had seen it, and that was joy enough for once. And now the days began to lengthen out, but at the same time earthquakes and thunder-storms became more and more frequent.
"It is an unheard-of thing," observed the professor, "that Crusoes cannot at the least find a cavern, which, later on, they can make their home!" "Let us look," said Godfrey. It was unheard of. We must avow, however, that on this occasion the tradition was broken. In vain did they search along the rocky shore on the southern part of the bay.
"Well, there are shipwrecks," defended Tommy. "Yes, but they are not half as interesting as they used to be." "And desert islands." "A few maybe. But it is such an old story to hear about Robinson Crusoes." Tommy looked blank. He had always implicitly believed the marvelous tales of yarn spinners, and his soul had been fired by the thought of a life of adventure on the deep.
"You might milk into our hats," said Julius. "I've got a thimble in my pocket," said Sarah Ketchum. "Do stop your nonsense," said Constance; "it's a very serious question a life and death matter. We're a company of Crusoes." But the boys couldn't stop their nonsense immediately.
One night he sprang to his feet and barked very loudly and angrily. The Crusoes were awake at once. And no wonder, for terrible noises, like distant thunder, were heard just beneath their feet. They were startled still more when explosion after explosion took place, both in the air and in the earth, while the ground was shaken under them.
Still, the two Crusoes agreed that it would be wise in them to get their craft ready for sea, in case of being compelled to put off from the island. It was a day of rejoicing when they had at length completed the hull, and as they looked all round her they felt satisfied that she was of equal thickness at the sides, except the bow and stern, which were of course thicker.
And when all was finished, and wicker seats made, it did look a cosy little hut indeed. But all the cooking was done out-of-doors. There were no sauce-pans to clean, nor knives nor forks. The plates were broad leaves, and for knives and forks the castaways used pointed sticks. It really wasn't bad fun at all being Crusoes in such a place as this.
"Your complexion isn't the fairest in the world, but you are not black yet." "Well, I had much sooner be a white Friday than a black one," rejoined Ben Zoof. Still no ship appeared; and Captain Servadac, after the example of all previous Crusoes, began to consider it advisable to investigate the resources of his domain. The new territory of which he had become the monarch he named Gourbi Island.
The traveller as he passes along on that smooth turnpike road that leads from Coburg to Cold Springs, and from thence to Gore's Landing, may notice a green waste by the road-side on either hand, and fancy that thereabouts our Canadian Crusoes' home once stood he sees the lofty wood-crowned hill, and sees in spring-time, for in summer it is hidden by the luxuriant foliage, the little forest creek, and he may if thirsty, taste of the pure fresh icy water, as it still wells out from a spring in the steep bank, rippling through the little cedar-trough that Louis Perron placed there for the better speed of his mother when filling her water jug.
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