CHAPTER FIFTY THREE.
As soon as they had carried up the whole of the cargo, they secured theboat, and went up to the house to sleep. Just as they went in, Remuscame bounding up to them with a letter round his neck.
"Here's the dog, William," said Ready; "he won't go home after all."
"How provoking! I made sure he would go back; I really am disappointed.We will give him nothing to eat, and then he will; but, dear me, Ready!this is not the paper I tied round his neck. I think not. Let me see."William took the paper, opened it, and read--
"Dear William:--Your letter arrived safe, and we are glad you are well.Write every day, and God bless you; it was very clever of you and Remus.Your affectionate mother, SELINA SEAGRAVE."
"Well, it is clever," said Ready; "I'm sure I had no idea he had gone;and his coming back again, too, when he was ordered."
"Dear Remus, good dog," said William, caressing it: "now I'll give you agood supper, for you deserve it."
"So he does, sir. Well, you've established a post on the island, whichis a great improvement. Seriously, William, it may prove very useful."
"At all events it will be a great comfort to my mother."
"Yes, especially as we shall be obliged all three to be here when we fitup the storehouse, and make the proposed alterations. Now I think wehad better go to bed, for we must be up with the lark to-morrow."
"Here I suppose we ought to say, up with the parrots; for they are theonly land birds on the island."
"You forget the pigeons; I saw one of them in the wood the other day.Good night!"
The next morning, they were off before breakfast. The boat was soonloaded, and they returned under sail. They then breakfasted, and havingleft the things they had brought on the beach, that they might lose notime, they set off again, and returned with another cargo two hoursbefore dusk; this they landed, and then secured the boat. As soon asthey were in the house, William wrote on a piece of paper:--
"Dear Mamma:--We have brought round two cargoes to-day. All well, andvery tired. Yours, WILLIAM."
Remus did not require any teaching this time. William patted him, andsaid, "Good dog. Now, Remus, go back--go home, sir;" and the dog waggedhis tail, and set off immediately.
Before they were in bed, the dog returned with the answer.
"How fast he must run, Ready! he has not been away more than two hours."
"No. So, now, Remus, you shall have plenty of supper, and plenty ofpatting and coaxing, for you are a clever, good little dog."
The next day, as they had to take the two cargoes up to the house, theycould only make one trip to the cove. On Saturday they only made onetrip, as they had to return to the tents, which they did by water,having first put a turtle into the boat; on their arrival, they foundthem all at the little harbour, waiting to receive them.
"Well, William, you did keep your promise and send me a letter by post,"said Mrs Seagrave. "How very delightful it is! I shall have no fearnow when you are all away."
"I must teach Romulus and Vixen to do the same, mamma."
"And I'll teach the puppies," said Tommy.
"Yes, Tommy; by the time you can write a letter, the puppies will be oldenough to carry it," said Ready. "Come, Albert, I'll carry you up; youand I haven't had a game of play for a long while. How does the ditchand hedge get on, Mr Seagrave?"
"Pretty well, Ready," replied Mr Seagrave; "I have nearly finished twosides. I think by the end of next week I shall have pretty wellinclosed it."
"Well, sir, you must not work too hard, there is no great hurry; Williamand I can get through a great deal together."
"It is my duty to work, Ready; and I may add, it is a pleasure."
As they were at supper the conversation turned upon the cleverness shownby the dog Remus.
Mr Seagrave narrated many instances of the sagacity of animals, whenWilliam asked the question of his father: "What is the difference thenbetween reason and instinct?"
"The difference is very great, William, as I will explain to you; but Imust first observe, that it has been the custom to say that man isgoverned by reason, and animals by instinct, alone. This is an error.Man has instinct as well as reason; and animals, although chieflygoverned by instinct, have reasoning powers."
"In what points does man show that he is led by instinct?"
"When a child is first born, William, it acts by instinct only: thereasoning powers are not yet developed; as we grow up, our reasonbecomes every day more matured, and gains the mastery over our instinct,which decreases in proportion."
"Then when we have grown to a good old age, I suppose we have noinstinct left in us?"
"Not so, my dear boy; there is one and a most powerful instinctimplanted in man which never deserts him on this side of the grave. Itis the fear, not of death, but of utter annihilation, that of becomingnothing after death. This instinctive feeling could not have been sodeeply implanted in us, but as an assurance that we shall not beannihilated after death, but that our souls shall still exist, althoughour bodies shall have perished. It may be termed the instinctiveevidence of a future existence."
"That is very true, Mr Seagrave," observed Ready.
"Instinct in animals, William," continued Mr Seagrave, "is a feelingwhich compels them to perform certain acts without previous thought orreflection; this instinct is in full force at the moment of their birth;it was therefore perfect in the beginning, and has never varied. Theswallow built her nest, the spider its web, the bee formed its comb,precisely in the same way four thousand years ago, as they do now. Imay here observe, that one of the greatest wonders of instinct is themathematical form of the honeycomb of the bee, which has been proved bydemonstration to be that by which is given the greatest possible savingof time and labour."
"But that is all pure instinct, papa; now you said that animals hadreasoning powers. Will you point out to me how they show that theyhave?"
"I will, my dear boy; but we had better defer it till another evening.It is now time to go to bed."