MAROONED 121 



a broken barrel and some hundredweight of 

 drifted sand. 



The old barrel, with the staves battered 

 out on one side in some past encounter with 

 the tides, had stood half buried on the crest 

 of a sand-ridge raised by the long prevailing 

 wind. Under its lee the cat had found a 

 sheltered hollow, full of sun, where she had 

 been wont to lie curled up for hours at a 

 time, basking and sleeping. Meanwhile, the 

 sand had been steadily piling itself higher 

 and higher behind the unstable barrier. At 

 last, it had piled too high, and suddenly, 

 before a stronger gust, the barrel had come 

 toppling over beneath a mass of sand, bury- 

 ing the sleeping cat out of sight and light ; 

 but at the same time the sound half of the 

 barrel had formed a safe roof to her prison, 

 and she was neither crushed nor smothered. 

 When the children, in their anxious search all 

 over the island, came upon the mound of 

 fine white sand, they gave it but one careless 

 look. They could not hear the faint cries 

 that came at intervals from the close dark- 

 ness within. So they went away sorrowfully, 

 little dreaming that their friend was im- 

 prisoned almost beneath their feet. 



For three days the prisoner kept up her 

 intermittent appeals for help. On the third 



