aboard here to brace up, and haul aft, and ease off, and to swing yards
sich as our'n?"

"I was not altogether without the hope, Bob, of getting the ship into
clear water: though I have thought it would be done with difficulty, I
am still of opinion we had better try it, for the alternative is a very
serious matter."

"I don't exactly understand what you mean by attorneytives, Mr. Mark;
though it's little harm, or little good that any attorney can do the old
'Cocus, now! But, as for getting this craft through them reefs, to
windward, and into clear water, it surpasses the power of man. Did you
just notice the tide-ripples, Mr. Mark, when you was up in the
cross-trees?"

"I saw them, Bob, and am fully aware of the difficulty of running as
large a vessel as this among them, even with a full crew. But what will
become of us, unless we get the ship into open water?"

"Sure enough, sir. I see no other hope for us, Mr. Mark, but to Robinson
Crusoe it awhile, until our times come; or, till the Lord, in his marcy,
shall see fit to have us picked up."

"Robinson Crusoe it!" repeated Mark, smiling at the quaintness of Bob's
expression, which the well-meaning fellow uttered in all simplicity, and
in perfect good faith--"where are we to find even an uninhabited island,
on which to dwell after the mode of Robinson Crusoe?"

"There's a bit of a reef to-leeward, where I dare say a man might pick
up a living, arter a fashion," answered Bob, coolly; "then, here is the