Page 252 - for-the-term-of-his-natural-life

such good service, he dragged the carcases to the shore,
and proceeded to pack them upon his floats. He discovered,
however, that the weight was too great, and that the water,
entering through the loops of the stitching in the hide, had
so soaked the rush-grass as to render the floats no longer
buoyant. He was compelled, therefore, to spend two hours
in re-stuffing the skin with such material as he could find.
Some light and flock-like seaweed, which the action of the
water had swathed after the fashion of haybands along the
shore, formed an excellent substitute for grass, and, having
bound his bundle of rushes lengthwise, with the goat-skin
as a centre-piece, he succeeded in forming a sort of rude ca-
noe, upon which the carcases floated securely.
He had eaten nothing since the morning, and the vio-
lence of his exertions had exhausted him. Still, sustained by
the excitement of the task he had set himself, he dismissed
with fierce impatience the thought of rest, and dragged his
weary limbs along the sand, endeavouring to kill fatigue by
further exertion. The tide was now running in, and he knew
it was imperative that he should regain the further shore
while the current was in his favour. To cross from the Pilot
Station at low water was impossible. If he waited until the
ebb, he must spend another day on the shore, and he could
not afford to lose an hour. Cutting a long sapling, he fas-
tened to one end of it the floating bundle, and thus guided it
to a spot where the beach shelved abruptly into deep water.
It was a clear night, and the risen moon large and low, flung
a rippling streak of silver across the sea. On the other side of
the bay all was bathed in a violet haze, which veiled the inlet

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