, an attentive listener. The only proof
given of any difference in religious faith between our mariners, was of
so singular a nature as to merit notice. Notwithstanding Bob's early
familiarity with Mark, his greater age, and the sort of community of
feeling and interest created by their common misfortune, the former had
not ceased to treat the last with the respect due to his office. This
deference never deserted him, and he had riot once since the ship was
embayed, entered the cabin without pulling off his hat As soon as church
commenced, however, Bob resumed his tarpaulin, as a sort of sign of his
own orthodoxy in the faith of his fathers; making it a point to do as
they had done in meeting, and slightly concerned lest his companion
might fall into the error of supposing he was a man likely to be
converted. Mark also observed that, in the course of that Sabbath, Bob
used the pronouns 'thee' and 'thou,' on two or three occasions, sounding
oddly enough in the mouth of the old salt.

Well did both our mariners prove the efficacy of the divine provision of
a day of rest, in a spiritual sense, on the occasion of this their first
Sabbath on the reef. Mark felt far more resigned to his fate than he
could have believed possible, while Betts declared that he should be
absolutely happy, had he only a better boat than the dingui; not that
the dingui was at all a bad craft of its kind, but it wanted size. After
the religious services, for which both our mariners had shaved and
dressed, they took a walk together, on the reef, conversing of their
situation and future proceedings. Bob then told Mark, for the first
time, that, in his opinion, there was the frame and the other materials
of a pinnace, or a large boat, somewhere in the hold, which it was
intended to put together, when the ship reached the islands, as a
convenience for cruising about among them to trade with the savages, and
to transport sandal-wood. The mate had never heard of this boat, but
acknowledged that a part of the hold-had been stowed while he was up at
Bristol, and it might have been taken in then. Bob confessed that he had
never seen it, though he had worked in the stevedore's gang; but was
confident he had heard Friend Abraham White and Captain Crutchely
talking of its dimensions and uses. According to his recollection it was
to be a boat considerably larger than the launch, and to be fitted with
masts and sails, and to have a half-deck. Mark listened to ah1