chest. Two of these were covered deeply; the other two but lightly: the
latter were unlocked, and he opened the lids. Only some old clothes
appeared, however, and these in the same stage of decay as every thing
else. In one of them was a book, or rather what had once been a book,
but now the leaves were all stuck together, and formed one lump of slime
and mould. In spite of his most careful search he had thus far found
nothing whatever which could be of the slightest benefit to him in his
solitude and necessity.

There were still two rooms which he had not yet examined. These were at
the end of the cabin, at the stern of the ship, each taking up one half
of the width. The sand had drifted in here to about the same depth as in
the side-rooms. He entered first the one nearest him, which was on the
right side of the ship. This room was about ten feet long, extending
from the middle of the ship to the side, and about six feet wide. A
telescope was the first thing which attracted his attention. It lay in a
rack near the doorway. He took it down, but it fell apart at once, being
completely corroded. In the middle of the room there was a compass,
which hung from the ceiling. But the iron pivot had rusted, and the
plate had fallen down. Some more guns and swords were here, but all
rusted like the others. There was a table at the wall by the stern,
covered with sand. An arm-chair stood close by it, and opposite this was
a couch. At the end of this room was a berth which had the same
appearance as the other berths in the other rooms. The quilts and
mattresses as he felt them beneath the damp sand were equally decayed.
Too long had the ship been exposed to the ravages of time, and Brandon
saw that to seek for any thing here which could be of the slightest
service to himself was in the highest degree useless.

This last room seemed to him as though it might have been the captain's.