making a great splashing in the water. It was evident he was killing
Mrs. Huggermugger's frogs, a few of which he put in his basket, and
then strode away in another direction. Little Jacket now made the best
use of his little legs that he ever made in his life. If he could only
keep the giant in sight! He was much encouraged by perceiving that
Huggermugger, who, as I said before, was a lazy giant, walked at a
leisurely pace, and occasionally stopped to pick the berries that grew
everywhere in the fields. Little Jacket could see his large figure
towering up some miles ahead. Another fortunate circumstance, too,
was, that the giant was smoking his pipe as he went, and even when
Little Jacket almost lost sight of him, he could guess where he was
from the clouds of smoke floating in the air, like the vapor from a
high-pressure Mississippi steamboat. So the little sailor toiled
along, scrambling over rocks, and through high weeds and grasses and
bushes, till they came to a road. Then Jacky's spirits began to rise,
and he kept along as cautiously, yet as fast as he could, stopping
only when the giant stopped. At last, after miles and miles of
walking, he caught a glimpse of the sea through the huge trees that
skirted the road. How his heart bounded! "I shall at least see my
messmates again," he said, "and if we are destined to remain long in
this island, we will at least help each other, and bear our hard lot
together."

It was not long before he saw the beach, and the huge Huggermugger
groping in the wet sand for his shell-fish. "If I can but reach my
companions without being seen, tell them my strange adventures, and
all hide ourselves till the giant is out of reach, I shall be only too
happy." Very soon he saw the group of beautiful great shells, just as
they were when he left them, except that _his_ shell, of course,
was not there, as it graced Mrs. Huggermugger's domestic fireside.