Chapter 20

"Pass on relentless world! I grieve
No more for all that thou hast riven!
Pass on, in God's name--only leave
The things thou never yet hast given.--"
LUNT.

After every means had been uselessly exhausted to persuade Marble from
his design, it only remained to do all we could to make him
comfortable and secure. Of enemies, there was no danger, and care was
not necessary for defence. We got together, however, some of the
timber, planks and other materials, that were remaining at the
shipyard, and built him a cabin, that offered much better shelter
against the tropical storms that sometimes prevailed, than any tent
could yield. We made this cabin as wide as a plank is long, or twelve
feet, and some five or six feet longer. It was well sided and tightly
roofed, having three windows and a door. The lights of the wreck
supplied the first, and her cabin-door the last. We had hinges, and
everything that was necessary to keep things in their place. There was
no chimney required, fire being unnecessary for warmth in that
climate; but the French had brought their camboose from the wreck, and
this we placed under a proper covering at a short distance from the
hut, the strength of one man being insufficient to move it. We also
enclosed, by means of ropes, and posts made of the ribs of the wreck,
a plot of ground of two acres in extent, where the land was the
richest and unshaded, so as to prevent the pigs from injuring the
vegetables; and, poor Marble knowing little of gardening, I had a
melancholy pleasure in seeing the whole piece dug, or rather hoed up,
and sown and planted myself, before we sailed. We put in corn,
potatoes, peas, beans, lettuce, radishes, and several other things, of
which we found the seeds in the French garden. We took pains,
moreover, to transport from the wreck, many articles that it was
thought might prove of use, though they were too heavy for Marble to
handle. As there were near forty of us, all busy in this way for three
or four days, we effected a great deal, and may be said to have got
the island in order. I felt the same interest in the duty, that I
should in bestowing a child for life.

Marble, himself, was not much among us all this time. He rather
complained that I should leave him nothing to do, though I could see
he was touched by the interest we manifested in his welfare. The
French launch had been used as the means of conveyance between the
wreck and the beach, and we found it where it had been left by its
original owners, anchored to-leeward of the island, and abreast of the
ship. It was the last thing I meddled with and it was my care to put
it in such a state that, at need, it might be navigated across that
tranquil sea, to some other island,