Chapter 5 - Page 2

the remainder of his days on it. How long he
and his companion could find the means of subsistence in a place so
barren, was merely matter of conjecture; but so long as Providence
should furnish these means, was it highly probable that solitary and
little-favoured spot was to be their home. It is unnecessary to state
with what bitter regrets the young bridegroom admitted this painful
idea; but Mark was too manly and resolute to abandon himself to despair,
even at such a moment. He kept his sorrows pent up in the repository of
his own bosom, and endeavoured to imitate the calm exterior of his
companion. As for Bob, he was a good deal of a philosopher by nature
and, having made up his mind that they were doomed to 'Robinson Crusoe
it,' for a few years at least, he was already turning over in his
thoughts the means of doing so to the best advantage. Under such
circumstances, and with such feelings, it is not at all surprising that
their present situation and their future prospects soon became the
subject of discourse, between these two solitary seamen.

"We are fairly in for it, Mr. Mark," said Bob, "and differ from Robinson
only in the fact that there are two of us; whereas he was obliged to set
up for himself, and by himself, until he fell in with Friday!"

"I wish I could say _that_ was the only difference in our conditions,
Betts, but it is very far from being so. In the first place he had an
island, while we have little more than a reef; he had soil, while we
have naked rock; he had fresh water, and we have none; he had trees,
while we have not even a spear of grass. All these circumstances make
out a case most desperately against us."

"You speak truth, sir; yet is there light ahead. We have a ship, sound
and tight as the day she sailed; while Robinson lost his craft under his
feet. As long as there is a plank afloat, a true salt never gives up."

"Ay, Bob, I feel that, as strongly as you can yourself; nor do I mean to
give up, so long as there is reason to think God has not entirely
deserted us. But that ship is of no use, in the way of returning to our
friends and home; or, of no use as a ship. The power of man could
scarcely extricate her from the reefs around her."

"It's a bloody bad berth," said Bob, squirting the saliva of his tobacco
half-way down the wall of the crater, "that I must allow. Howsomever,
the ship will be of use in a great many ways, Mr. Mark, if we can keep
her afloat, even where she is. The water that's in her will last us two
a twelvemonth, if we are a little particular about it; and when the
rainy season sets in, as the rainy season will be sure to do in this
latitude, we can fill up for a fresh start.