The Solitary of Juan Fernandez, or the Real Robinson Crusoe by Joseph Xavier Saintine
page 100 of 144 (69%)
page 100 of 144 (69%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
way to recover his strength, carries her to the dwelling on the shore.
This shore he finds deserted and in confusion. Deprived of their daily nourishment during the prolonged absence of their master, the goats have made a passage through the inclosure, by gnawing the still green foliage which imprisoned them; the hurricane of the night has overthrown the rest. Before leaving, they had ravaged the garden, destroyed the promises of the approaching harvest, and devoured even the bark of the young trees. The cats have followed the goats. Selkirk has before his eyes a spectacle of desolation; his props, his trellises, the remains of his orchard, of his inclosure, of his shed, a part even of the roof of his cabin, strew the earth in confusion around him. But it is not this which occupies him now. He has prepared for Marimonda a bed beside his own; he takes care of her, he watches over her, he leaves her only to seek in the woods, or on the mountains, the herb which may heal her; he brings all sorts, and by armfuls, that she may choose;--does she not know them better than himself? As she turns away her head, or repulses with the hand those which he presents, he thinks he has not yet discovered the one she requires, and though still suffering, though himself exhausted by so many varying emotions, he re-commences his search, to summon the entire island to the assistance of Marimonda. From each of his trees he borrows a branch; from his bushes, his rocks, his streams--a plant, a fruit, a leaf, a root! For the first time he ventures across the _pajonals_--spongy marshes formed by the sea along the cliffs, and where, beneath the shade of the mangroves, grow those singular |
|