- end_line
- 2477
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:25.200Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 2417
- text
- conducted us to so singular a place, and began to suspect that after all
I might have been deceived in supposing it to have been a trick
formed by the islanders. This was rather an agreeable reflection than
otherwise, for it diminished our dread of accidentally meeting with any
of them, and I came to the conclusion that perhaps we could not have
selected a more secure hiding-place than this very spot we had so
accidentally hit upon.
Toby agreed with me in this view of the matter, and we immediately began
gathering together the limbs of trees which lay scattered about, with
the view of constructing a temporary hut for the night. This we were
obliged to build close to the foot of the cataract, for the current of
water extended very nearly to the sides of the gorge. The few moments
of light that remained we employed in covering our hut with a species of
broad-bladed grass that grew in every fissure of the ravine. Our hut,
if it deserved to be called one, consisted of six or eight of the
straightest branches we could find laid obliquely against the steep wall
of rock, with their lower ends within a foot of the stream. Into the
space thus covered over we managed to crawl, and dispose our wearied
bodies as best we could.
Shall I ever forget that horrid night! As for poor Toby, I could
scarcely get a word out of him. It would have been some consolation to
have heard his voice, but he lay shivering the live-long night like a
man afflicted with the palsy, with his knees drawn up to his head, while
his back was supported against the dripping side of the rock. During
this wretched night there seemed nothing wanting to complete the perfect
misery of our condition. The rain descended in such torrents that our
poor shelter proved a mere mockery. In vain did I try to elude the
incessant streams that poured upon me; by protecting one part I only
exposed another, and the water was continually finding some new opening
through which to drench us.
I have had many a ducking in the course of my life, and in general
cared little about it; but the accumulated horrors of that night, the
deathlike coldness of the place, the appalling darkness and the dismal
sense of our forlorn condition, almost unmanned me.
It will not be doubted that the next morning we were early risers, and
as soon as I could catch the faintest glimpse of anything like daylight
I shook my companion by the arm, and told him it was sunrise. Poor Toby
lifted up his head, and after a moment’s pause said, in a husky voice,
‘Then, shipmate, my toplights have gone out, for it appears darker now
with my eyes open that it did when they were shut.’
‘Nonsense!’ exclaimed I; ‘You are not awake yet.’
‘Awake!’ roared Toby in a rage, ‘awake! You mean to insinuate I’ve been
asleep, do you? It is an insult to a man to suppose he could sleep in
such an infernal place as this.’
By the time I had apologized to my friend for having misconstrued his
silence, it had become somewhat more light, and we crawled out of our
lair. The rain had ceased, but everything around us was dripping with
moisture. We stripped off our saturated garments, and wrung them as dry
as we could. We contrived to make the blood circulate in our benumbed
limbs by rubbing them vigorously with our hands; and after performing
our ablutions in the stream, and putting on our still wet clothes,
we began to think it advisable to break our long fast, it being now
twenty-four hours since we had tasted food.
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