. I do not
speak jestingly when I say that we may as well consider ourselves dead
and forgotten. I am as full of hope and confidence as anybody and I am
an optimist if there ever was one, but I don't work on the theory that
God takes any better care of an optimist than He does of a pessimist.

"It will require months, maybe years, for us to construct a ship, and
even then it will not be big enough to transport all of us. The most we
can hope for is a craft that will be stout enough to go out and bring
help to the rest of us. I am trying, at Captain Trigger's suggestion,
to convince you that we can't build a ship, that we can't expect to get
away from this island by our own endeavours, unless we go about it in
the proper and sensible way. That means, first of all, that we must
safeguard ourselves against time. We've got to live and we've got to
keep our strength.

"Mr. Landover has made a very generous proposition. He agrees to give a
hundred thousand dollars to any boat's crew that will take one of these
lifeboats and make port somewhere. He fails to mention the compensation
they are to receive if they never make port. He forgets that this big
ship floundered around for a good many days without sighting anything
but water. He would have been perfectly safe in offering a hundred
million dollars, because he would never be called upon to pay it. I
understand, however, that his offer still stands.

"Tomorrow morning surveying parties will be sent ashore to look for a
possible site for our town. Volunteers will undertake this work. As soon
as possible thereafter a temporary camp will be set up, and practically
every one on board will be moved from this ship. Captain Trigger and
a few chosen men will remain on board. It is his wish, ladies and
gentlemen. He is the captain of the Doraine. He will not leave her. We
are all here today, and alive, because Captain Trigger would not leave
his ship. We owe our lives to him. This is not the time to propose three
cheers for the gallant master of the Doraine. It is not the time to
cheer for anybody or for anything. We do not feel like cheering.
We've done all the praying that is necessary, we've offered up all the
thanksgiving that the situation calls for, so now we've got to roll up
our sleeves and go to work."

He, stepped down from the gun-platform. There were no cheers. Every
voice was stilled, every face was set. Many seconds passed before there
was even the slightest stir amo