After having enjoyed for a few moments the surprise and transports of
his companion, Selkirk takes his Bible and his pipe, and, placing the
book on the table, bends over it, preparing to read and to meditate.
But, whether in consequence of her joyous excitement, or whether she
is emboldened by the species of fraternity which costume establishes
between them, Marimonda, without hesitation, directs herself to the
little shelf, chooses from it a pipe in her turn, places it gravely
between her lips, astonished at not seeing the smoke issue from it in
a spiral column; and, with an important air, still imitating her
master, comes to sit opposite him, with her brow inclined, and her
elbow resting on the table.

Willingly humoring her whim, Selkirk takes the pipe from her hands,
fills it with his most spicy tobacco, lights it, and restores it to
her.

Hardly has Marimonda respired the first breath, when suddenly letting
fall the pipe, overturning the table, emitting the smoke through her
mouth and nostrils, she disappears, uttering plaintive cries, as if
she had just tasted burning lava.

At sight of the poor monkey, thus thrown into confusion, Selkirk, for
the first time since his residence in the island, laughs so loudly,
that the echo follows the fugitive to the grotto, where she had taken
refuge, and is prolonged from the grotto to the _Oasis_, from the
Oasis to the summit of the _Discovery_.

The exile has at last laughed, laughed aloud, and, at the same moment,
a terrible disaster is taking place without his knowledge; a new war
is preparing for him, in which his arms will be useless.