Added the most forcible of arguments, I for a long the addressed
him in vain.
It is a kind of rule at sea not to send out a boat. The captain was
a good-natured man; but men with common minds seldom break through
general rules. Prudence is ever the resort of weakness, and they
rarely go as far as they may in any undertaking who are determined
not to go beyond it on any account. If, however, I had some trouble
with the captain, I did not lose much time with the sailors, for
they, all alacrity, hoisted out the boat the moment I obtained
permission, and promised to row me to the lighthouse.
I did not once allow myself to doubt of obtaining a conveyance from
thence round the rocks - and then away for Gothenburg - confinement is
so unpleasant.
The day was fine, and I enjoyed the water till, approaching the
little island, poor Marguerite, whose timidity always acts as a
feeler before her adventuring spirit, began to wonder at our not
seeing any inhabitants. I did not listen to her. But when, on
landing, the same silence prevailed, I caught the alarm, which was
not lessened by the sight of two old men whom we forced out of their
wretched hut.
