The Rival Crusoes; Or, The Ship Wreck: Also A Voyage to Norway; and The Fisherman's Cottage.Strickland, Agnes
General
The Rival Crusoes; Or, The Ship Wreck: Also A Voyage to Norway; and The Fisherman's Cottage.
Strickland, Agnes
Children's stories; Fiction
"Ah, my poor Neptune! Is it you?" exclaimed Lord Robert, with mingled
anguish and pleasure, as he threw his arms round the faithful animal,
and gave vent to his feelings with a burst of tears. "Yes!" said he, as
he threw himself on the beach in bitter sorrow, "the Diomede must indeed
have foundered, or my kind, my benevolent uncle, would never have
committed this old memorial of his lost nephew to the mercy of the
waves, for the sake of lightening the vessel, or saving the morsel of
food he would have consumed." But again remembering the chance that some
of the crew might be saved by the pinnace, and condemning the indulgence
of his grief, he rose, and, dripping as he was, pursued his search,
attended by his faithful Neptune, who bounded round him with joyful
affection. In the course of his walk, he found some limes and cocoa-nuts
scattered on the beach; and, yielding to the painful thirst that
consumed him, he raised one of the limes to his parched lips, when he
recollected that they were some of the fruit young Harley had gathered,
and was carrying to the ship at the time the boat was upset, and the
unfortunate youth had been buried in the waves. This thought recalled
the bitter reflections he had with difficulty succeeded in banishing
from his mind; and when he remembered that, though he had not been the
immediate, he had certainly been the ultimate cause of his death, he
sickened at the thought, and casting the untasted fruit from him, he
said, "No; I cannot eat these!" Proceeding on his walk, he gained the
spot where he had landed with his unfortunate companions the day
before. He sighed deeply as he passed it; and, doubling a projection of
rock, he discovered the pinnace, floating bottom upwards close in shore.
At that sight, the most agonizing in the world to the heart of a sailor,
he turned away, and wept almost to suffocation. For some moments, he
continued to give way to the grief which oppressed him, till roused from
the indulgence of his feelings by a loud and joyful bark from Neptune,
and, uncovering his eyes, he perceived a young sailor, whose face was
turned from him, gazing on the pinnace, apparently in as melancholy a
mood as himself. This doubtless was the only one of her unfortunate crew
who had escaped the violence of the waves; and Lord Robert, losing all
distinction of rank in the fellowship of misfortune, sprang towards him
with open arms, exclaiming, in a voice broken by emotion--"What cheer,
my lad?" At the sound of his voice, the young man turned slowly round,
and discovered a face pale with contending feelings--it was Philip
Harley! For a moment, the two enemies surveyed each other in silence;
each wondering at the other's preservation; each somewhat softened by
the traces of sorrow and suffering in the countenance of the
other,--but, alas! each mutually yielding to the same stubborn and
haughty temper which had so long been the spring of all that was evil in
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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