Everywhere lay those dust-heaps, with here or there a tooth, a ring, a
bit of jewelry showing--everywhere he saw them, all the way down the
stairs, in every room and office he peered into, and in the
time-ravished confusion of the arcade.

But this was scarcely the time for reflections of any sort. Life
called, and labor, and duty; not mourning for the dead world, nor even
wonder or pity at the tragedy which had so mysteriously--befallen.

And as the man made his way over and through the universal wreckage,
he took counsel with himself.

"First of all, water!" thought he. "We can't depend on the bottled
supply. Of course, there's the Hudson; but it's brackish, if not
downright salt. I've got to find some fresh and pure supply, close at
hand. That's the prime necessity of life.

"What with the canned stuff, and such game as I can kill, there's
bound to be food enough for a while. But a good water-supply we must
have, and at once!"

Yet, prudent rather for the sake of Beatrice than for his own, he
decided that he ought not to issue out, unarmed, into this new and
savage world, of which he had as yet no very definite knowledge. And
for a while he searched hoping to find some weapon or other.

"I've got to have an ax, first of all," said he. "That's mans first
need, in any wilderness. Where shall I find one?"

He thought a moment.