And yet even then I felt its unutterable loneliness, as I have felt it a
thousand times since; the loneliness that starves the heart, tortures
the brain, and leaves the mind diseased; the loneliness that is
exemplified in the solitude of Alexander Selkirk.

Robinson Crusoe lived in very truth for me the moment I saw and
comprehended that summer isle. He also is immortal. From that hour we
scoured the sea for islands: from dawn to dark we were on the watch. The
Caribbean Sea is well stocked with them. We were threading our way among
them, and might any day hear the glad cry of "Land ho!" But we heard it
not until the morning of the eleventh day out from New York. The sea
seemed more lonesome than ever when we lost our, island; the monotony of
our life was almost unbroken. We began to feel as prisoners must feel
whose _time_ is near out. Oh, how the hours lagged!--but deliverance was
at hand. At last we gave a glad shout, for the land was ours again; we
were to disembark in the course of a few hours, and all was bustle and
confusion until we dropped anchor off the Mosquito Shore.




II.

CROSSING THE ISTHMUS


We approached the Mosquito Shore timidly. The shallowing sea was of the
color of amber; the land so low and level that the foliage which covered
it seemed to be rooted in the water. We dropped anchor in the mouth of