them, drive the soul on with such a force, that to lose all
chance of the thing one hopes for, would seem to make one mad;
and thus was it with me.

Now, I thought, was the time to use my boat; so I set to work at
once to fit it out. I took on board some rum (of which I still
had a good deal left), some dry grapes, a bag of rice, some
goat's milk, and cheese, and then put out to sea. A dread came on
me at the thought of the risk I had run on the same rocks; but my
heart did not quite fail me, though I knew that, as my boat was
small, if a gale of wind should spring up, all would be lost.
Then I found that I must go back to the shore till the tide
should turn, and the ebb come on.

I made up my mind to go out the next day with the high tide, so I
slept that night in my boat. At dawn I set out to sea, and in
less than two hours I came up to the wreck. What a scene was
there! The ship had struck on two rocks. The stern was torn by
the force of the waves, the masts were swept off, ropes and
chains lay strewn on the deck, and all was wrapt in gloom. As I
came up to the wreck, a dog swam to me with a yelp and a whine.
I took him on board my boat, and when I gave him some bread he
ate it like a wolf, and as to drink, he would have burst, if I
had let him take his fill of it.

I went to the cook's room, where I found two men, but they were
both dead. The tongue was mute, the ear was deaf, the eye was
shut, and the lip was stiff; still the sad tale was told, for
each had his arm round his friend's neck, and so they must have
sat to wait for death. What a change had come on the scene, once