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08 - Young Crusoe, or The Shipwrecked Boy by Barbara Hofland · Young Crusoe, or The Shipwrecked Boy

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  Speaker 1: The Young Crusoe or the Shipwrecked Boy by Barbara Hofland,
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  Speaker 1: chapter eight. Find the remains of serpents in the fire,
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  Speaker 1: put sand round his hut, sees a ship which passes
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  Speaker 1: on his grief and agitation, his food nearly exhausted. When
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  Speaker 1: Charles arrived at the hut, he found that the embers
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  Speaker 1: had now ceased to smolder, that the smoke was dispersed,
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  Speaker 1: and of course the mouth of the hut was all open,
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  Speaker 1: as it had been three months before. On entering, he
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  Speaker 1: observed no other harm than that which had been done
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  Speaker 1: by the wet blanket, which had preserved his mattress and
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  Speaker 1: his box from the fire. Most probably the gun was
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  Speaker 1: placed in the most distant part of the cave, and
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  Speaker 1: the powder buried in a hole in the earth, so
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  Speaker 1: that it would have been some time before either were injured.
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  Speaker 1: But if the mattress had taken fire, it would have
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  Speaker 1: reached them, and the brandy cask also, in which case
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  Speaker 1: the hut would probably have been blown up. As it was,
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  Speaker 1: all might be recovered by contrivance and industry. The first
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  Speaker 1: thing to be done was drawing the blanket, and as
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  Speaker 1: the sun was now up and it was very hot,
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  Speaker 1: on the sands. He immediately carried it thither, wringing the
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  Speaker 1: water out as well as he could. On returning, the
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  Speaker 1: first things he saw were his lamp and oil, which
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  Speaker 1: were so placed as to awaken new cause for gratitude,
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  Speaker 1: as they were within a few inches of that piece
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  Speaker 1: of the wreck which he had used for a door.
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  Speaker 1: He then looked up the remains of his clothing and
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  Speaker 1: found them still damp. Therefore, they too were placed in
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  Speaker 1: the sun. For he determined never again to make a
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  Speaker 1: fire near the hut, considering that he had already run
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  Speaker 1: a great many risks, and having had a fire so
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  Speaker 1: near to the trees. But said he with a sigh,
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  Speaker 1: I need not think about fires, for all my famous
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  Speaker 1: stock of firewood is gone, and at the same time
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  Speaker 1: the shelter it gave my hut is gone also, And
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  Speaker 1: there has been rain for two nights, so that I
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  Speaker 1: can hardly get a bit of dry stick to roast
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  Speaker 1: a fish with. However, it will grow warmer every day,
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  Speaker 1: and perhaps I can make a curtain of the shawls
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  Speaker 1: in the jacket that will keep out a little of
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  Speaker 1: the night air. Charles had always been a boy of
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  Speaker 1: neat habits, and it had happily for him, been a
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  Speaker 1: leading point with his father to render him willing to
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  Speaker 1: help himself, so that even in the East Indies, where
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  Speaker 1: persons keep so many servants and do so little for themselves,
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  Speaker 1: he had been in a great degree an active, independent
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  Speaker 1: little fellow, capable of waiting on himself. This disposition had
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  Speaker 1: increased when he read Robinson Crusoe, for he conceived it
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  Speaker 1: a proof of a manly disposition, and so it certainly
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  Speaker 1: is for a person to be thus independent. To this disposition,
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  Speaker 1: he had in the last last two years added good
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  Speaker 1: principles and great qualities under the tuition of a wise
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  Speaker 1: tutor and a truly virtuous and religious father, so that
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  Speaker 1: he had now a considerable portion of courage, much steady resolution,
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  Speaker 1: and fortitude, and as we have all along seen, a
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  Speaker 1: deep sense of religion. Owing to this improvement in his mind,
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  Speaker 1: he determined to improve his hut as much as he could,
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  Speaker 1: and not sit down in idleness, because the time had
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  Speaker 1: come when he hoped to leave it, as many boys
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  Speaker 1: of his age would have done. No, said he, though
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  Speaker 1: I may be gone before another day has passed. Yet
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  Speaker 1: I may also have to stay as long again. So
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  Speaker 1: if I can do nothing else. I will clear away
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  Speaker 1: all the ashes and rubbish. Though I live in a hut,
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  Speaker 1: I will not live in the dirt like a hog.
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  Speaker 1: Charles therefore proceeded to gather a large bunch of light twigs,
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  Speaker 1: which he tied firmly on a good bamboo stick, and
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  Speaker 1: made an excellent broom, with which he proceeded to brush
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  Speaker 1: away the embers and remains of the sticks, taking them
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  Speaker 1: by the action as far as possible from the hut.
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  Speaker 1: In doing this he saw, as he thought, something moved
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  Speaker 1: two or three times, which startled him, so he threw
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  Speaker 1: a basin of water to clear away the ashes that
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  Speaker 1: he might see what it was. To his astonishment, he
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  Speaker 1: perceived parts of several small green serpents, and he had
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  Speaker 1: no doubt but the violent noise and hissing he had
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  Speaker 1: heard on a waking had proceeded from these creatures, which
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  Speaker 1: were providentially destroyed by the fire which had threatened his life.
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  Speaker 1: So nearly he knew not how long they might have
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  Speaker 1: been under the stack of wood, which was a very
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  Speaker 1: likely shelter for such creatures, or whether the extraordinary fire
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  Speaker 1: he had made the night before had been their attraction,
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  Speaker 1: But it was evident that he had had a remarkable
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  Speaker 1: escape for even allowing that they had not entered his hut,
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  Speaker 1: which was perfectly open to them. Yet he would inevitably
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  Speaker 1: soon have disturbed them by putting his hand, as usual
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  Speaker 1: upon the stack, which was now getting very low, in
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  Speaker 1: which case he would have received a death more slow
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  Speaker 1: and agonizing than that which had so lately threatened him
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  Speaker 1: from the fire. He remembered that in India country houses
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  Speaker 1: were considered defended from snakes by being surrounded with gravel,
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  Speaker 1: as these creatures do not like to injure their skins
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  Speaker 1: by coming upon this rough substance, and he therefore concluded
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  Speaker 1: it would be advisable for him to cover the ground
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  Speaker 1: for a considerable distance with sand and pebbles. Unfortunately, there
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  Speaker 1: were no stones on the island with which he could
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  Speaker 1: form a wall. But for this mode of defense he
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  Speaker 1: was well provided, as a bed of sand lay behind
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  Speaker 1: the hut, which was itself much of the same substance,
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  Speaker 1: so that it was very possible to cover it as
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  Speaker 1: well as surrounded by the sand. Charles lost no time
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  Speaker 1: therefore in adopting the only method that promised security, and
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  Speaker 1: as he could not with all the pains, he took
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  Speaker 1: perceive one living snake amongst the grass or trees. He
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  Speaker 1: hoped that it might answer, especially as by making the
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  Speaker 1: fire always at a considerable distance, and only on the sand,
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  Speaker 1: they would not be drawn thither by warmth. It was
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  Speaker 1: a great labor for the poor boy to carry load
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  Speaker 1: after load in his tin case, for he had no
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  Speaker 1: other method of pebbles to cast about the place, and
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  Speaker 1: he worked so hard to accomplish it that at night
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  Speaker 1: he slept very soundly, forgetting his fears in his fatigue.
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  Speaker 1: At the end of three days, he had not only
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  Speaker 1: effected his intention, but greatly improved the appearance of his hut,
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  Speaker 1: which he also, in some measure enclosed by placing before
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  Speaker 1: it a hedge of prickly firs, which stuck so close
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  Speaker 1: together that he could easily push it away when he
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  Speaker 1: wanted light or draw near to exclude the air. And
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  Speaker 1: over it he threw the silk shawl, which he had
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  Speaker 1: previously designated his veil. It may be readily supposed that,
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  Speaker 1: notwithstanding his great accumulation of business lately, there were two
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  Speaker 1: things which our young exile never forgot, that is that
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  Speaker 1: of marking every returning morning in the almanac near his
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  Speaker 1: hut and climbing into the higher trees to make observations.
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  Speaker 1: When he had finished that task, without which he durst
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  Speaker 1: not lie down in the hut, he gave more time
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  Speaker 1: to watching, and as he could almost be certain of
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  Speaker 1: gaining fish for a dinner at this season, he nearly
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  Speaker 1: divided his time between looking out from the promontory, which
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  Speaker 1: perhaps he ought rather to have called a peninsula, seeing
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  Speaker 1: there was no high land, and from the tree he
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  Speaker 1: named his observatory. Day after day, however, passed on without varying.
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  Speaker 1: The scene, for the ocean continued bright and smooth for
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  Speaker 1: nearly a fortnight after he had ventured upon it with
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  Speaker 1: so little encouragement for a second trial, and yet he
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  Speaker 1: perceived nothing to vary its wide expanse at length. As
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  Speaker 1: he was about to descend and was taking one more
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  Speaker 1: farewell look through his glass, he thought he perceived something
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  Speaker 1: like a sail in the extreme distance towards the west,
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  Speaker 1: with an emotion that rendered him almost incapable of seeing
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  Speaker 1: it all. He yet determined not to lose sight of
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  Speaker 1: his object, and in a short time became sensible that
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  Speaker 1: he had not deceived himself. A noble ship was pursuing
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  Speaker 1: her way with steady magnificence, neither accelerated by rapid breezes,
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  Speaker 1: nor distressed by the failure of customary wind. Might they not,
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  Speaker 1: in this state be most likely to look round on
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  Speaker 1: the islands and discern the flag from this desert spot.
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  Speaker 1: Would they not know it to be the signal of distress,
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  Speaker 1: the cry of the shipwrecked mariner for assistance to his
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  Speaker 1: fellow creatures. They could not. Surely they could not, like
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  Speaker 1: the cold hearted Levite in the Gospel, passed by on
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  Speaker 1: the other side. From whatever European country they might come. Still,
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  Speaker 1: they professed the same faith, They were bound by the
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  Speaker 1: same general laws of humanity, and they would surely seek
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  Speaker 1: and rescue those that were lost. Charles remembered that his father,
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  Speaker 1: when giving him an account of the loss of the
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  Speaker 1: grovenor East Indiaman, which was shipwrecked on the southern coast
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  Speaker 1: of Africa, had said, and to the honor of the
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  Speaker 1: Dutch governor then resident at the Cape of Good Hope,
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  Speaker 1: be it remembered that although his country and therefore himself
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  Speaker 1: was at war with us, he lost not a day
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  Speaker 1: in sending a body of soldiers and servants to seek
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  Speaker 1: and succor their wretched persons cast on this inhospitable coast,
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  Speaker 1: for which purpose they traveled more than four hundred miles,
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  Speaker 1: and succeeded in saving the lives of the few which
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  Speaker 1: survived the h hardships and famine they had encountered. With
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  Speaker 1: these thoughts passing in his mind no wonder, Charles hoped
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  Speaker 1: every moment to see the vessel approach somewhat nearer, or
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  Speaker 1: give signal. But alas she passed and gave no sign.
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  Speaker 1: For hours she was in sight, but never near enough
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  Speaker 1: to hear his gun, or perhaps to see his flag.
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  Speaker 1: He descended with the shades of evening, worn out with
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  Speaker 1: hunger and sorrow, and slowly retraced his steps to that home,
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  Speaker 1: which now seemed more melancholy than ever. Such was the
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  Speaker 1: sinking of his heart on this memorable evening, that weak
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  Speaker 1: as he was with extreme anxiety and long fasting, he
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  Speaker 1: would not have roused himself even to get the food
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  Speaker 1: he so much needed. If Paul had not been clamorous
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  Speaker 1: for his own share and said over and over, don't despair,
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  Speaker 1: my dear boy, and every other word to which he
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  Speaker 1: could apply his tongue. He felt as if he had
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  Speaker 1: lost a certain good hold in possession. And as he
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  Speaker 1: ground the few grains of coffee which he allowed himself,
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  Speaker 1: he looked at the remains of his canister and observed
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  Speaker 1: that it was so nearly finished. He had nothing but
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  Speaker 1: famine to expect. All the evils of his situation at
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  Speaker 1: once rushed to his mind. His stores were exhausted, or
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  Speaker 1: nearly so, The season for fruits was not arrived. The
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  Speaker 1: green carpet of the island yielded no roots that he
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  Speaker 1: knew to be fit for food, and the birds did
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  Speaker 1: not now frequent the island, being employed in hatching their
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  Speaker 1: young at Amsterdam. And what was worse, far worse than
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  Speaker 1: all the rest, his dear Papa must have died, or
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  Speaker 1: by this time he would have found means of rescuing him.
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  Speaker 1: Bitter tears rolled down poor Charles's cheeks as these sad
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  Speaker 1: thoughts came over him, And the only prayer he could
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  Speaker 1: offer under this depression of his heart was a few
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  Speaker 1: words from that book which was always on his mind,
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  Speaker 1: Save Lord, or I perish. End of Chapter eight. Recording
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  Speaker 1: by Pamela Grantz