Читать книгу Men Against the Sea – Book Set. The Greatest Maritime Adventure Novels: The Bounty Trilogy, Lost Island, The Hurricane, Botany Bay, The Far Lands, Tales of the South Seas… онлайн

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“Now for the shellfish!” he remarked, as he rose shakily to his feet. “Gad, Ledward! I feel a new man to-day!”

I set to work with the cutlass, opening the oysters growing here and there on the rocks below high-water mark; with his Indian spear, Nelson waded among the pools. I soon had three or four dozen oysters in the basket. Nelson added two large cockles of the Tridacna kind to our bag: the pair of them a meal for a man. It was mid-afternoon when we took up our burdens and trudged back to the encampment, halting frequently to rest.

Our stew that afternoon was a noble one—oysters, cockles, and chopped-up heart of palm. This latter was added at Nelson’s suggestion, and was the cause of some murmuring.

“Are we to have no bread, sir?” asked the carpenter sourly.

“No,” replied Captain Bligh; “we shall save our bread. Mr. Nelson says these palm hearts are as good cooked as raw.”

Fryer stood by with a gloomy face. “It will ruin the stew,” he said. “The bread was the making of it at dinner time.”