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

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  Speaker 1: So or The Shipwrecked Boy by Barbara Houghland. Chapter four,
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  Speaker 1: Charles seeks his father, finds him gone, his distress and
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  Speaker 1: his resolution. He finds the boat and secures it, prepares
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  Speaker 1: the last food which remains. Charles found the labor of
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  Speaker 1: walking much less than it had been on the preceding day,
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  Speaker 1: because the wet high grass was considerably dried, and when
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  Speaker 1: he had proceeded about half a mile, he became sensible
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  Speaker 1: that the hurricane which had swept so furiously over one
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  Speaker 1: part of the little island, had scarcely touched the other.
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  Speaker 1: He had seen many trees blown down, several scathes by
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  Speaker 1: the lightning in the beginning of his walk, but as
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  Speaker 1: he proceeded, these appearances ceased, and everything looked the same
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  Speaker 1: as it did on the evening when he walked round
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  Speaker 1: the island with his father. It was still very difficult
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  Speaker 1: for him to proceed in his weeks through the brushwood
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  Speaker 1: and grass without his dear father's arm, and he could
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  Speaker 1: not help entertaining many terrible surmises. Though the wind and
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  Speaker 1: rain had confined their ravages to one end of the island,
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  Speaker 1: the lightning had probably fallen at the other, and his
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  Speaker 1: poor father might be at that moment a corpse. When
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  Speaker 1: he emerged from the wood which completely occupied the middle
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  Speaker 1: part of the island, and as he hoped approached the
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  Speaker 1: spot where his father kept watch, he fired his pistol
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  Speaker 1: and listened with intense anxiety for some answer. He was
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  Speaker 1: too weak to raise a loud hallo. Therefore he could
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  Speaker 1: only practice this mode of challenge. But his repeated firings
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  Speaker 1: gained no attention, and he pushed on in extreme agitation,
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  Speaker 1: sometimes running a few yards, at others trembling to such
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  Speaker 1: a degree that he sunk down on the ground, as
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  Speaker 1: if he could rather die than proceed any further lest
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  Speaker 1: he should find his father a corpse, and sambo weeping
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  Speaker 1: over him. At length, poor Charles reached the point where
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  Speaker 1: his father had proposed to watch. It was evident he
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  Speaker 1: had done so, for the sheet was waving from the
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  Speaker 1: tree at the farthest end, and a little nearer there
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  Speaker 1: was a large stone which appeared to have been rolled
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  Speaker 1: thither for the sake of forming the seat. Near it
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  Speaker 1: lay his father's silk pocket handkerchief, which he seized with eagerness,
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  Speaker 1: crying aloud, Papa, Papa, where are you speak to me? Pray,
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  Speaker 1: speak to me, But alas no answer was made, this part,
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  Speaker 1: though there were some trees, was sufficiently open to show
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  Speaker 1: him that no human being was near. He now perceived
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  Speaker 1: that the soft sand seemed as if it had been
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  Speaker 1: trodden by many feet near the place where he stood,
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  Speaker 1: But yet it might be only those of his father,
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  Speaker 1: as he walked up and down the beach looking out
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  Speaker 1: for a vessel. This place was so evidently the best
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  Speaker 1: in the island for such a purpose that it was
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  Speaker 1: utterly unlikely his father should ever removed to any other
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  Speaker 1: It was possible, barely possible, that, worn out with watching,
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  Speaker 1: he had returned to the hut to procure provisions by
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  Speaker 1: one coast of the island, whilst Charles came by the other.
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  Speaker 1: But then where was Sambo at all events? Weary and
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  Speaker 1: faint as he was, he determined to go round that way,
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  Speaker 1: But just as he was leaving the little promontory for
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  Speaker 1: that purpose, he perceived a cloak which Sambo wore in
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  Speaker 1: rainy weather, and which it was very probable he had
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  Speaker 1: put on when he went to his father, Lying amongst
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  Speaker 1: some bushes. What could he think had either one or
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  Speaker 1: both of those he had lost been killed by the lightning,
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  Speaker 1: he should have found their remains. There were no wild
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  Speaker 1: beasts on the island, so that they could not have
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  Speaker 1: been destroyed. No, No, in a little time he should
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  Speaker 1: see them. He must not allow himself to despair. But
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  Speaker 1: it was not a little time, in his present enfeebled
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  Speaker 1: and agitated state, that would take the poor boy the
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  Speaker 1: circuit he had prescribed himself. Though the way was less
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  Speaker 1: difficult from impediments than that which he had traversed. He
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  Speaker 1: loaded his pistol, took up his staff, and walked forward carefully,
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  Speaker 1: as if he feared the creatures which he yet knew
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  Speaker 1: the place to be free from. But it was in
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  Speaker 1: vain that he looked either towards the beach and the
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  Speaker 1: wide expanse of ocean on the one hand, or among
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  Speaker 1: the foliage and high grass on the other. He reached
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  Speaker 1: the hut at length, and the lass. It too was empty,
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  Speaker 1: and exactly as he had left it. The sorrow, the
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  Speaker 1: very agony of Charles, now knew no bounds. He had
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  Speaker 1: lost his father, who was to him his whole world.
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  Speaker 1: His desolation and misery was beyond anything we can conceive
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  Speaker 1: a child to suffer. There is not one of my
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  Speaker 1: young readers that could have forborne to cry, as if
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  Speaker 1: they had seen him thrown on the ground, weeping and
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  Speaker 1: wailing for very anguish. He was weak and ill, and
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  Speaker 1: had no one to nurse and comfort him. He loved
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  Speaker 1: his father with the tenderest affection, and he was torn
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  Speaker 1: from him. He knew not how no human being was
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  Speaker 1: left on this desolate island save him, now perishing in
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  Speaker 1: the cold grave. His situation was desperate and hopeless, beyond
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  Speaker 1: all other situations of misfortune and wretchedness. Last night had
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  Speaker 1: been one of wakefulness and sorrow, not unmixed with anger,
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  Speaker 1: for he felt that he ought to have been attended
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  Speaker 1: to as being sick. But now no anger blended with
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  Speaker 1: his deep, deep affliction. Once it crossed his mind that
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  Speaker 1: perhaps his father had seen a vessel, hailed it, and
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  Speaker 1: been taken away by it. But this idea he repelled
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  Speaker 1: with scorn and indignation. No, no, he cried, Never would
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  Speaker 1: my dear good father have forsaken me. He would have
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  Speaker 1: died a thousand times. First, besides, where is poor Sambo?
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  Speaker 1: Why was his cloak left on the shore. Perhaps they
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  Speaker 1: ventured to bathe in the sea, or they swam out
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  Speaker 1: together to get the boat, and they are both lost.
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  Speaker 1: Oh that I had died with them. So extreme was
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  Speaker 1: the weakness and exhaustion that the poor child now suffered
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  Speaker 1: from his past illness, long exertion, and violent fits of crying,
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  Speaker 1: that he believed he was really going to die, and
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  Speaker 1: that God in mercy would remove him before another day
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  Speaker 1: of misery arose upon him. Under this idea, he rose
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  Speaker 1: from the ground to open the cage of the poor parrot,
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  Speaker 1: that he might go out and seek for subsistence on
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  Speaker 1: the island. When the stock of food he had given
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  Speaker 1: him was exhausted, Paul was very sleepy, but Charles, considering
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  Speaker 1: it the only living thing that had any interest in him,
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  Speaker 1: could not forbear taking it out, and laid down with
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  Speaker 1: it in his bosom, commending himself to God and begging
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  Speaker 1: that he might die without He fell into a profound sleep,
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  Speaker 1: the consequence of crying so long and of the extraordinary
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  Speaker 1: exertion he had used. When he awoke, he was sensible
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  Speaker 1: of intolerable hunger, and although his miserable situation came by
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  Speaker 1: degrees forcibly to his mind, yet nature impelled him to
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  Speaker 1: seek eagerly for provision before he had as it were
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  Speaker 1: time to reflect on his misery that source from which
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  Speaker 1: he had hitherto been supplied was now much reduced. The
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  Speaker 1: biscuit was nearly finished, and constituted his present meal with
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  Speaker 1: a cup of spring water, into which he put a
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  Speaker 1: small portion of the liquor from that flask which he
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  Speaker 1: had the preceding day taken to support his father, and
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  Speaker 1: which they had found in the captain's pocket. It appeared
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  Speaker 1: to be of a very strong but an unpleasant taste,
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  Speaker 1: and was most probably a medicine of a restorative quality.
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  Speaker 1: Whilst Charles was taking it out of the paper in
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  Speaker 1: which it was wrapped, the parrot jumped about him, saying,
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  Speaker 1: don't be a child, don't be a child, and then
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  Speaker 1: stalked back into his own cage and settled himself comfortably,
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  Speaker 1: repeating a few Latin words in a melancholy tone, But
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  Speaker 1: from time to time he screamed out, don't be a
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  Speaker 1: child vehemently. Charles recollected that these words had often been
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  Speaker 1: used by his tutor when he had shown an indisposition
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  Speaker 1: to his lessons, and he had no doubt but the
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  Speaker 1: sight and rustling of the paper had brought them into
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  Speaker 1: the bird's memory. Nevertheless, They were words which, in his
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  Speaker 1: present forlorn state, seemed very applicable. He found to use
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  Speaker 1: his own term that he could not die. He remembered
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  Speaker 1: that he had once even wished to be placed, like
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  Speaker 1: Robinson Crusoe on a desert island and find the means
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  Speaker 1: of existence solely from his own exertion. Ah, cried he
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  Speaker 1: as this thought came into his mind. I was then
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  Speaker 1: a very silly boy. I did not know my obligations
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  Speaker 1: to my dear parents, nor our servants, nor even the
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  Speaker 1: people amongst whom I lived. Since every creature I knew
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  Speaker 1: more or less contributed to my safety and happiness. I
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  Speaker 1: am now punished for my ingratitude and folly. I am
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  Speaker 1: left to pine away my life in solitude, to die
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  Speaker 1: at least of hunger, without one kind voice to cheer me.
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  Speaker 1: Don't be a child, Don't be a child, cried the parrot.
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  Speaker 1: Poor Charles, who was again weeping, bitterly wiped his eyes
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  Speaker 1: and once more betook him to searching for any vestiges
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  Speaker 1: of his father. As before, he obtained no trace of
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  Speaker 1: him whatever. But in surveying the coast he found the
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  Speaker 1: boat of which they had been in search, now actually
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  Speaker 1: upon the sands where it had been left by the
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  Speaker 1: receding waves. Had his father and Sambo lost their lives
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  Speaker 1: in a vain endeavor to regain this boat again, he
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  Speaker 1: searched anxiously for their bodies, which, in that case would,
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  Speaker 1: by the same direction of the waves, have been washed
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  Speaker 1: on the shore. No vestiges of them were ever found,
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  Speaker 1: beside Sambo's cloak, which it was certain he would throw
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  Speaker 1: off when he went into the water to assist his master.
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  Speaker 1: Was it not possible that they had recovered the boat
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  Speaker 1: and put to sea with an intention of fetching him,
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  Speaker 1: seeing the boat was considerably nearer to the hut than
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  Speaker 1: the little promontory, and that in this situation they had
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  Speaker 1: been picked up by some vessel from the neighboring island.
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  Speaker 1: Or perhaps they had been driven very far out to
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  Speaker 1: sea in the violence of the storm, and were then
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  Speaker 1: taken up by some vessel that could not come for him.
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  Speaker 1: In this thought, the poor boy took great comfort, for
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  Speaker 1: he was certain that his father would leave no means
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  Speaker 1: untried to bring him from the island. When he once
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  Speaker 1: reached the port and had the means of hiring a vessel,
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  Speaker 1: and till that time arrived he thought he could have
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  Speaker 1: patience to wait and courage to endure the evils of
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  Speaker 1: his situation. He remembered that his Papa had repeatedly told
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  Speaker 1: him never to despair. That Captain Gordon had said it
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  Speaker 1: was a chance of a thousand for a single ship
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  Speaker 1: should be seen in those seas for the following three months,
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  Speaker 1: but that after that time many might be expected to
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  Speaker 1: navigate within such a distance as that their signals might
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  Speaker 1: be seen, so that if they could make shift to
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  Speaker 1: live that time, relief might be confidently expected, especially if
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  Speaker 1: they could construct the boat with which to venture out
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  Speaker 1: a few leaves, to which mister Crusoe had replied, with
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  Speaker 1: so many birds and hares about us and the sea
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  Speaker 1: into the bargain, we shall surely not want food, and
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  Speaker 1: I think we shall manage to make a raft of
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  Speaker 1: some kind. Now I have got a boat, cried Charles
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  Speaker 1: as these words rose to his mind, and he instantly
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  Speaker 1: returned to the hut, where he had still some cordage.
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  Speaker 1: Though his father had taken a coil of the best
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  Speaker 1: with him when he had left him for the last time,
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  Speaker 1: it was not without great labor that he at length
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  Speaker 1: succeeded in securing the vessel, which he effected partly by
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  Speaker 1: tying her to the strongest tree in the neighborhood, and
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  Speaker 1: partly by filling her with stones and sand from the beach.
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  Speaker 1: When this was done, he returned to the hut, lighted
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  Speaker 1: a fire, and boiled the last piece of pork he
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  Speaker 1: had in the tea kettle, which was the only vessel
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  Speaker 1: he possessed capable of such a service. End of Chapter
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  Speaker 1: four