this
patiently, though he firmly believed that the honest fellow was
deceiving himself the whole time. Such a craft could scarcely be in the
ship, and he not hear of it, if he did not actually see it; though he
thought it possible that the captain and owners may have had some such
plan in contemplation, and conversed together on it, in Betts's
presence. As there were plenty of tools on board, however, by using
stuff of one sort or another, that was to be found in the ship, Mark
had strong hopes of their being able, between them, to construct, in the
course of time--though he believed a long time might be necessary--a
craft of some sort, that should be of sufficient stability to withstand
the billows of that ordinarily mild sea, and enable them to return to
their homes and friends. In conversing of things of this sort, in
religious observances, and in speculating on the probable fate of their
shipmates, did our mariners pass this holy day. Bob was sensibly
impressed with the pause in their ordinary pursuits, and lent himself to
the proper feelings of the occasion with a zeal and simplicity that gave
Mark great satisfaction; for, hitherto, while aware that his friend was
as honest a fellow as ever lived, in the common acceptation of such a
phrase, he had not supposed him in the least susceptible of religious
impressions. But the world had suddenly lost its hold on Betts, the
barrier offered by the vast waters of the Pacific, being almost as
impassable, in his actual circumstances, as that of the grave; and the
human heart turns to God in its direst distress, as to the only being
who can administer relief. It is when men are prosperous that they
vainly imagine they are sufficient for their own wants, and are most apt
to neglect the hand that alone can give durable support.

The following morning our mariners resumed their more worldly duties
with renewed powers. While the kettle was boiling for their tea, they
rolled ashore a couple of empty water-casks, and filled them with fresh
water, at one of the largest natural reservoirs on the reef; it having
rained hard in the night. After breakfast, Mark walked round to examine
his piles of loam, in the crater, while Bob pulled away in the dingui,
to catch a few fish, and to get a new cargo of the earth; it being the
intention of Mark to join him at the next trip, with the raft, which
required some little arranging, however, previously to its being used
for such a purpose. The ra