Of the booty from that ship:
The raspberries, lemons, oranges, and peaches were, of course, more valuable for their seeds than their pulp. From seedlings to saplings to being transplanted to their permanent homes, these fruit-bearing trees (and bushes) grew in earnest. I planted about fifty orange and fifty peach trees, only five lemon trees, and countless raspberry bushes. And so, with the hundred or more banana trees that already grew on the island, Rachel and I were that much further away from . . . worry.
The bookcase made a handsome addition to the cottage’s interior and we used the dresser to store blankets, towels, brushes, soaps, games, and pocket watches . . . of which we found twelve . . . which brought my collection to a total of seventeen.
“Oh to be in China for a day!”
The money we hid. The coins . . . mostly pieces of eight and gold doubloons . . . we added to the coins I had taken off The Sea Serpent and then wrapped the whole pile with sail cloth. We put this bundle into a large jar, made sure the jar was securely sealed, and then buried it . . . marking the spot so we wouldn’t forget where it was. We then did the same thing for the paper money.
The games were perhaps the most useful things we took off the ship as they gave Rachel and me countless hours of fun. There was a beautiful chess set, a nice backgammon set, a set of dominoes, a few packets of playing cards, and a checkers set . . . which we also used to play tick-tack-toe.
Love grows when people do fun things together. It’s true. And it grows even more when they do work-type things together . . . voluntarily. But there is no expression of love more pure than the laughter of a child . . . as when she “triple jumps” her opponent in a game of checkers.