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
completely exhausted by fatigue, notwithstanding his distress and
discontent, sank into a profound sleep.
The next morning saw him still perplexed with those minor difficulties.
For though he could bear, with heroic self-denial, the hardships
incidental to his profession, and had not taken a morsel more food, or a
drop more water, in their late distress on board ship, than any other of
the suffering crew, and had even shared his scanty morsel with his
famishing dog, this he _could_ do, for he felt there was something noble
and refined in such conduct; but he felt sadly irritated at being thrown
on his own resources in the little common everyday necessaries of life.
From his infancy, he had been surrounded by servants, who were
accustomed to perform for him the most minute services, so that at
seventeen his Lordship (though a valiant officer, and perfect in his
professional duties,) was ignorant of many things very necessary for
every one to know; and if he was acquainted with the methods resorted to
in many situations, he was at least very awkward in his attempts of
putting them into practice. However, on this occasion, making use of his
own good sense, after a little calm reflection, he collected from the
sides of the rock some dry grey moss, and, drawing some rays from the
sun in the focus of a little perspective glass he had in his pocket, he
soon set his pile of wood in a blaze, and cooked sufficient turtle to
feed him for a day or two.
He had scarcely completed this employment, when the sun, which had for
days been shaded by tempestuous clouds, broke forth with its usual
splendour; and there was promise of a continuance of that sultry weather
so seldom interrupted in these latitudes. Lord Robert, when he felt the
sun beat on his uncovered temples, fled for shelter to his cave, which
he found nearly of the same temperature as an oven half heated. Panting
for breath, he remembered the grove, of which Philip had taken
possession, and bent his steps towards it; but he found that this spot
of verdure did not consist of more than a rood of land; and he did not
choose to be so near young Harley as the farthest extremity of its
shelter. So he remained on the burning beach, or under the shade of some
arid rock, during the day, determining to make a tour of the island in
the cool of the evening, and hoping to fix his residence in some shady
vale similar to Philip's territories. But how can his disappointment be
expressed, when, after a most fatiguing walk, all the good he gained was
a knowledge of the extent of his prison? He had in vain searched for a
grove; barren rocks and burning sands alone met his sight: at last, he
climbed a conical hill, which towered above the other rocks, and which,
from his geological knowledge, he was certain contained the exhausted
crater of a volcano. Here he had a view of every nook of the island,
which was of the extent of about five miles, and presented a prospect of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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