Then when the Rufus Smith returned and they tried to sort
us out before interment, I might have portions of Violet, for
instance, attributed to me. In that case I felt that, like Bill
Halliwell, I should walk.
Having inquired of the Honorable Cuthbert and found that for an
hour or two the boat would not be in requisition, I permitted the
beautiful youth to understand that I would not decline an
invitation to be rowed about the cove. Mr. Shaw had left his
marine glasses lying about, and I had been doing some exploring
with them. Under the great cliffs on the north shore of the bay I
had seen an object that excited my curiosity. It seemed to be the
hull of a small vessel, lying on the narrow strip of rocks and sand
under the cliff. Now wreckage anywhere fills me with sad and
romantic thoughts, but on the shore of a desolate island even a
barrel-hoop seems to suffer a sea-change into something rich and
strange. I therefore commanded the b. y. to row me over to the
spot where the derelict lay.
I lay back idly in the stern as the boat skimmed over the smooth
water beneath the strokes of my splendid oarsman. More than ever
he looked like the island god. Every day he grew more brown and
brawny, more superb in his physical vigor. But his hands, once so
beautiful, were getting rough and hard with toil. There was a
great raw bruise on his arm.
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