`a conscience void of offence towards God': not that he did
not feel and know himself to be a sinner; but he felt himself to be a
pardoned one, as a sincere believer in Christ. That was the secret of
his light-heartedness. Still he had a longing for pure water. He knew,
too, that he could the better cook any fish he might obtain if he could
find it. How was he to light a fire, however? Just before the gale
came on, the cook had sent him below to get his tin-box of matches, and
after the cook had taken one out, Ben had put it into his pocket. There
it was, and, the lid fitting tightly down, the matches were uninjured.
"I must cherish them carefully, however," he thought; "when they are
gone, I shall be unable to light a fire." He looked about and found
several other cocoa-nuts, which he collected, and piled up where he
could again find them.

Much refreshed, Ben continued his walk. At last he saw the end of the
island. For a quarter of a mile or more it was low and barren, hard
rock washed apparently by the sea; so he turned round and went back by
the other shore. The island was, altogether, nearly two miles long; but
there were not many cocoa-nut trees on it,--nor much soil indeed, which
was the reason probably that it was not inhabited. He might now
exclaim, though sadly, "I am monarch of all I survey;" but he would
rather have been the meanest subject of a small kingdom, with civilised
companions, than a king and all alone on that nearly barren reef. Still
he had no fear of starving; shell-fish he saw on the rocks in abundance.
During the calm, too, some of the natives had been fishing over the
side of the vessel, and he also had got some hooks and a long line.
These he had put into his pockets. He might, he hoped, find some roots,
and thus be able to vary his diet. As the sun rose, the horizon became
very clear, and he thought that he could distinguish land in one
direction; it was at all events a long way off, and it was so faint that
it might be only a cloud just rising above the horizon. He should be
able to judge better after watching it for a day or two.

As Ben walked on, his eye was continually roving about for signs of
water. How gladly would he have welcomed the sight of even a little
mossy pool, or some moisture in the crevice of a rock! He did not
despair. He had hitherto only explored the shore; water might rise in
the interior, and be lost in the sand before it reached the beach. "One