away from. He took it up and dashed it down
with rage many times; but it all ended in his lighting the lamp at night,
and torturing himself with every word of that loving letter.

And she was going home to the writer of that letter, and he was left
prisoner on the island. He cursed his generous folly, and writhed in
agony at the thought. He raged with jealousy, so that his very grief was
blunted for a time.

He felt as if he must go mad.

Then he prayed--prayed fervently. And at last, worn out with such fierce
and contending emotions, he fell into a deep sleep, and did not wake till
the sun was high in heaven.

He woke; and the first thing he saw was the fatal letter lying at his
feet in a narrow stream of sunshine that came peering in.

He eyed it with horror. This, then, was then to haunt him by night and
day.

He eyed it and eyed it. Then turned his face from it; but could not help
eying it again.

And at last certain words in this letter seemed to him to bear an
affinity to another piece of writing that had also caused him a great
woe. Memory by its subtle links connected these two enemies of his
together. He eyed it still more keenly, and that impression became
strengthened. He took the letter and looked at it close, and held it at
arm's length and devoured it; and the effect of this keen examination was
very remarkable. It seemed to restore the man to energy and to something
like hope. His eyes sparkled, and a triumphant "Ah!" burst from his
bosom.

He became once more a man of action. He rose, and bathed, and walked
rapidly to and fro upon the sands, working himself up to a daring
enterprise. He took his saw into the jungle, and cut down a tree of a
kind common enough there. It was wonderfully soft, and almost as light as
cork. The wood of this was literally useless for any other purpose than
that to which Penfold destined it. He cut a great many blocks of this
wood, and drilled holes in them, and, having hundreds of yard of good
line, attached these quasi corks to the gunwale, so as to make a
life-boat. This work took him several days, during which time an event
occurred that encouraged him.

One morning he saw about a million birds very busy in the bay, and it
proved to be a spermaceti whale come ashore.

He went out to her directly with all his tools, for he wanted oil for his
enterprise, and the seal oil was exhausted.

When he got near the whale in his boat, he observed a harpoon sticking in
t