“Oh, dear!  I hope there are no cannibals here,” said Mr. Tarbill at the mention of the word natives.  “Suppose they should eat us up?”

“They’d have to fight first,” observed the captain grimly.  “I’ll not be eaten without a struggle.”

“But I never fought a cannibal in my life,” objected the nervous castaway.  “I shouldn’t know how to go about it.”

“No more would I, but I’d soon learn.  But don’t think about such things, Mr. Tarbill.”

“I can’t help it.  I wonder how long it will be before we are rescued?”

“That is a grave question,” said the captain slowly.  “I fear this island is too far out of the regular course of ships to hope that we will be picked up soon.  We must make some kind of a distress signal and hoist it where it will be seen.  We’ll do that as soon as we have completed the circuit of the island.”

It was long past noon, to judge by the position of the sun, when they had circled the island and again reached the place where Bob had built the fire.  They had seen no signs of natives, nor any of animals, though there might be small beasts.

“Well, we know what to expect now,” said the Captain, as they sat down under the trees to talk matters over.  “We’ll have to depend for a living on fish, turtles, and fruit.  We have no natives to fear, and our situation is not so bad as it might be.  Now we had better set about matters in a shipshape and orderly fashion.  In the first place we will name our island.  There’s nothing like having an address where your friends can write to you,” he added, with grim humor.

“Let’s call it ‘Lonely Land,’” suggested Bob.

“I have a better name,” said the commander.  “It is the custom to call islands and mountains after the person who discovers them.  I propose that we name this ‘Bob’s Island,’ for he discovered it first.”

“Aye, aye, sir!” cried Tim Flynn heartily.

Bob blushed and was about to protest, but, to his surprise, Mr. Tarbill joined in and favored the proposition.

“That’s settled, then,” spoke the captain.  “Now you needn’t say anything, Bob, we’re three to one, and we’re going to have our way.  So far so good.  The next thing is to rig up our distress signal.  I’ll leave that to Flynn.  Tim, climb the highest tree you can find and run up a signal.”

“Aye, aye, sir,” replied the sailor, saluting and starting off.

“Now then, we’d better catch some more fish for dinner,” the captain continued.  “I’ll leave that to you, Bob, and I’ll build another fire, for this one is out.  Mr. Tarbill can go and see if he can’t catch a couple of turtles.”

“Turtles!  I never caught a turtle in my life!” exclaimed the nervous man.  “I’d be afraid to!”

“Not the least danger,” the captain assured him.  “All you have to do is to get between them and the water as they’re on the beach sunning themselves and turn them on their backs.  They’ll stay there until I can come and get them.  It’s time you learned to catch turtles.”