ope stirs them, drive the soul on with
such a force, that to lose all chance of the thing one hopes for, would
seem to make one mad; and thus was it with me.

Now, I thought, was the time to use my boat; so I set to work at once to
fit it out. I took on board some rum (of which I still had a good deal
left), some dry grapes, a bag of rice, some goat's milk, and cheese, and
then put out to sea. A dread came on me at the thought of the risk I had
run on the same rocks; but my heart did not quite fail me, though I
knew that, as my boat was small, if a gale of wind should spring up, all
would be lost. Then I found that I must go back to the shore till the
tide should turn, and the ebb come on.

I made up my mind to go out the next day with the high tide, so I slept
that night in my boat. At dawn I set out to sea, and in less than two
hours I came up to the wreck. What a scene was there! The ship had
struck on two rocks. The stern was torn by the force of the waves, the
masts were swept off, ropes and chains lay strewn on the deck, and all
was wrapt in gloom. As I came up to the wreck, a dog swam to me with a
yelp and a whine. I took him on board my boat, and when I gave him some
bread he ate it like a wolf, and as to drink, he would have burst, if I
had let him take his fill of it.

I went to the cook's room, where I found two men, but they were both
dead. The tongue was mute, the ear was deaf, the eye was shut, and the
lip was stiff; still the sad tale was told, for each had his arm round
his friend's neck, and so they must have sat to wait for death. What a
change had come on the scene, once so wild with the lash of the waves
and the roar of the wind! All was calm now--death had done its work,
and all had felt its stroke, save the dog, and he was the one thing that
still had life.

I thought the ship must have come from Spain, and there was much gold
on board. I took some of the chests and put them in my boat, but did not
wait to see what they held, and with this spoil, and three casks of rum,
I came back.

I found all things at home just as I had left them, my goats, my cats,
and my bird. The scene in the cook's room was in my mind day and night,
and to cheer me up I drank some of the rum. I then set to work to bring
my freight from the shore, where I had left it. In the chests were two
great bags of gold, and some bars of the same, and near these lay three
small flasks and three bags of shot which were a great priz