one of them
could have escaped, and only one body was cast on shore, which was that
of a young woman, who lay with her face to the ground, and her wet
clothes clinging round her. We turned her carefully over, and I beheld
a face that seemed to me wonderfully fair and beautiful. She had
escaped the sharks, and had been dead several hours--most probably she
had been cast on shore by the waves, soon after the ship struck, for she
had escaped also the rocks, which, had she been dashed against, would
have left fearful signs of their contact on her delicate frame.

The sight of her corpse gave me many melancholy thoughts. I thought of
the delight she might have caused both of us, had she been saved. What
a pleasant companion she might have proved. Indeed, as I looked on her
pale cold features, I fancied that she might have reconciled me to
ending my existence on the island--ay, even to the abandonment of my
favourite scheme of seeking my grandfather to give him back his
diamonds.

We took her up with as much pity and affection as if she were our
nearest and dearest relative, and carried her home, and placed her on
Mrs Reichardt's bed; and then I laid some planks together, in the shape
of what Mrs Reichardt called a coffin--and I dug her a deep grave in
the guano.

And all the while I found myself crying as I had never cried before, and
my heart seemed weary and faint. In solemn silence we carried her to
her grave, and read over her the funeral service out of the Prayer-book,
kneeling and praying for this nameless creature, whom we had never seen
alive, as though she had been our companion for many years; both of us
shedding tears, for her hapless fate, as if we had lost a beloved
sister. And when we had filled up her grave and departed, we went home,
and passed the most miserable day we had ever had to endure since we had
first been cast upon the island.

I had now numerous occupations that kept me actively employed. Still I
could not for a long time help recalling to mind that pale face that
looked so piteously upon me when I first beheld it; and then I would
leave off my work, and give myself up to my melancholy thoughts till my
attention was called off by some appeal from my companion. I made a
kind of monument over the place where she was buried, and planted there
the finest flowers we had; and I never passed the spot without a prayer,
as if I were approaching holy ground.

I must not forget to add, that a