- end_line
- 2313
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:25.200Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 2255
- text
- parts still adhered together, the whole outside being covered with
soft particles of sea-bread. Wet and dripping, it had the appearance of
having been just recovered from the bottom of the sea. But I paid
slight attention to a substance of so little value to us in our present
situation, as soon as I perceived the indications it gave of Toby’s
foresight in laying in a supply of food for the expedition.
I eagerly inquired what quantity he had brought with him, when rummaging
once more beneath his garment, he produced a small handful of something
so soft, pulpy, and discoloured, that for a few moments he was as
much puzzled as myself to tell by what possible instrumentality such
a villainous compound had become engendered in his bosom. I can only
describe it as a hash of soaked bread and bits of tobacco, brought to
a doughy consistency by the united agency of perspiration and rain.
But repulsive as it might otherwise have been, I now regarded it as
an invaluable treasure, and proceeded with great care to transfer this
paste-like mass to a large leaf which I had plucked from a bush beside
me. Toby informed me that in the morning he had placed two whole
biscuits in his bosom, with a view of munching them, should he feel so
inclined, during our flight. These were now reduced to the equivocal
substance which I had just placed on the leaf.
Another dive into the frock brought to view some four or five yards of
calico print, whose tasteful pattern was rather disfigured by the yellow
stains of the tobacco with which it had been brought in contact. In
drawing this calico slowly from his bosom inch by inch, Toby reminded
me of a juggler performing the feat of the endless ribbon. The next
cast was a small one, being a sailor’s little ‘ditty bag’, containing
needles, thread, and other sewing utensils, then came a razor-case,
followed by two or three separate plugs of negro-head, which were fished
up from the bottom of the now empty receptacle. These various matters,
being inspected, I produced the few things which I had myself brought.
As might have been anticipated from the state of my companion’s edible
supplies, I found my own in a deplorable condition, and diminished to a
quantity that would not have formed half a dozen mouthfuls for a hungry
man who was partial enough to tobacco not to mind swallowing it. A
few morsels of bread, with a fathom or two of white cotton cloth, and
several pounds of choice pigtail, composed the extent of my possessions.
Our joint stock of miscellaneous articles were now made up into a
compact bundle, which it was agreed we should carry alternately. But the
sorry remains of the biscuit were not to be disposed of so summarily:
the precarious circumstances in which we were placed made us regard them
as something on which very probably, depended the fate of our adventure.
After a brief discussion, in which we both of us expressed our
resolution of not descending into the bay until the ship’s departure,
I suggested to my companion that little of it as there was, we should
divide the bread into six equal portions, each of which should be a
day’s allowance for both of us. This proposition he assented to; so I
took the silk kerchief from my neck, and cutting it with my knife into
half a dozen equal pieces, proceeded to make an exact division.
At first, Toby with a degree of fastidiousness that seemed to me
ill-timed, was for picking out the minute particles of tobacco
with which the spongy mass was mixed; but against this proceeding I
protested, as by such an operation we must have greatly diminished its
quantity.
- title
- Chunk 2