n a manner that would surprise any
porpoise; you whoop and you yell like a young devil let loose! Never
in the world would I take you to be a hard, money-making, lucre-loving
man! Why, my dear Friday, you are a perfect jewel of a savage! I
didn't know it was you, and doubt if you knew it yourself! Isn't it
glorious? I feel a thousand years younger! Don't you hear me singing,

"Oh, poor Robinson Crusoe!
Tinky ting tang, tinky ting tang,
Oh, poor Robinson Crusoe!"

But the water is rather fresh--considering how much salt there is in
it. We had better take a race over the rocks. Run, Friday, for your
life. If I catch you, overboard you go into the sea again. Run, you
savage, run! Voices? you say, human voices?

Great Heavens! Where are you, Friday? Gone! disappeared behind that
projecting ledge of rocks. And here am I, all alone, up to my arm-pits
in the water, with a group of Finnish ladies standing there, not a
hundred yards off, looking at me!--ay, gazing steadfastly at me, and,
what is worse, splitting their sides laughing at my confusion! What in
the world is to be done? The water seems to be growing colder and
colder. I am chilled through. My jaws begin to chatter. Suppose a
shark should seize me by the leg--or a sudden and violent cramp should
take possession of me? My gracious! what are those women doing now?
Actually seating themselves on the rocks, within ten steps of my
clothes, and spreading several packages of bread, cheese, and cakes
around them! They are going to enjoy a picnic while I enjoy my bath! I
hear their merry voices; I can imagine the general drift of their
jokes. How innocently they eat, and drink, and laugh. Possibly they
take me for a seal or a walrus! Certainly nothing is visible but my
head, on the crown of which, I regret to say, is a bald spot about the
size of your hand. It may be very funny to see it dodging up and down
among the breakers--but I can't stand it much longer. Already the
spray has wellnigh strangled me; I shiver all over; a horrible
presentiment is uppermost in my mind that polypi, and sea-leeches, and
shiny jelly-fish are fastening their suckers upon my legs; I jump, and
kick, and plunge in an agony of apprehension, while those fair
creatures on the rock imagine, no doubt, that I am disporting myself
in sheer exuberance of joy. If they only knew that I had been full
half an hour in the water before they appeared, there might be some
hope of a release; but t