Page:The crater; or, Vulcan's peak.djvu/62

56 THE CRATER; be done with difficulty. I am still of opinion we had better try it, for the alternative is a very serious matter." " I don t exactly understand what you mean by attorney- tives, Mr. Mark; though it s little harm, or little good that any attorney can do the old Cocus, now ! But, as for getting this craft through them reefs, to windward, and into clear water, it surpasses the power of man. Did you just notice the tide-ripples, Mr. Mark, when you was up in the cross-trees?" "I saw them, Bob, and am fully aware of the difficulty of running as large a vessel as this among them, even with a full crew. But what will become of us, unless we get the ship into open water?" " Sure enough, sir. I see no other hope for us, Mr. Mark, but to Robinson Crusoe it awhile, until our times come; or, till the Lord, in his marcy, shall see fit to have us picked up." "Robinson Crusoe it!" repeated Mark, smiling at the quaintness of Bob s expression, which the well-meaning fellow uttered in all simplicity, and in perfect good faith " where are we to find even an uninhabited island, on which to dwell after the mode of Robinson Crusoe?" " There s a bit of a reef to leeward, where I dare say a man might pick up a living, arter a fashion," answered Bob, coolly ; " then, here is the ship." "And how long would a hempen cable hold the ship in a place like this, where every time the vessel lifts to a sea, the clench is chafing on a rock ? No, no, Bob the ship cannot long remain where she is, depend on that. "We must try and pass down to leeward, if we cannot beat the ship through the dangers to windward." " Harkee, Mr. Mark ; I thought this matter over in my mind, while we was aloft, and this is my idee as to what is best to be done, for a start. There s the dingui on the poop, in as good order as ever a boat was. She will easily carry two on us, and, on a pinch, she might carry half a dozen. Now, my notion is to get the dingui into the water, to put a breaker and some grub in her, and to pull down to that bit of a reef, and have a survey of it. I ll take the sculls going down, and you can keep heaving the lead, by way of finding out if there be sich a thing as a