Evening closed in; Philip had thrown himself down on the spare sails,
and had fallen asleep, when Krantz set off to explore the island upon
which they had been thrown. It was small, not exceeding three miles in
length, and at no one part more than five hundred yards across. Water
there was none, unless it were to be obtained by digging; fortunately
the young cocoa-nuts prevented the absolute necessity for it. On his
return, Krantz passed the men in their respective stations. Each was
awake, and raised himself on his elbow to ascertain if it were an
assailant; but perceiving Krantz, they again dropped down. Krantz
passed the raft--the water was now quite smooth, for the wind had
shifted off shore, and the spars which composed the raft hardly
jostled each other. He stepped upon it, and, as the moon was bright in
the heavens, he took the precaution of collecting all the arms which
had been left, and throwing them as far as he could into the sea. He
then walked to the tent, where he found Philip still sleeping soundly,
and in a few minutes he was reposing by his side. And Philip's dreams
were of Amine; he thought that he saw the hated Schriften rise again
from the waters, and, climbing up to the raft, seat himself by her
side. He thought that he again heard his unearthly chuckle and his
scornful laugh, as his unwelcome words fell upon her distracted ears.
He thought that she fled into the sea to avoid Schriften, and that the
waters appeared to reject her--she floated on the surface. The storm
rose, and once more he beheld her in the sea-shell skimming over the
waves. Again, she was in a furious surf on the beach, and her shell
sank, and she was buried in the waves; and then he saw her walking on
shore without fear and without harm, for the water which spared
no one, appeared to spare her. Philip tried to join her, but was
prevented by some unknown power, and Amine waved her hand and said,
"We shall meet again, Philip; yes, once more on this earth shall we
meet again."
The sun was high in the heavens and scorching in his heat, when Krantz
first opened his eyes, and awakened Philip. The axe again procured for
them their morning's meal. Philip, was silent; he was ruminating upon
his dreams, which had afforded him consolation. "We shall meet again!"
thought he. "Yes, once more at least we shall meet again. Providence!
I thank thee."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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