They were, however, disappointed. I gave them a severe reproof
for their disobedience, and sent them home with a message to their
mother that I thought we might be detained all night, and begged she
would not be uneasy.
They listened to me in great confusion, and were much mortified at
their dismissal; but I begged Fritz to give Ernest his silver watch,
that they might know how the time passed; and I knew that I could
replace it, as there was a case of watches in the ship. This reconciled
them a little to their lot, and they left us. We went forward to our
boat, embarked, and, aided by the current, soon reached the vessel.
My first care was to construct some more convenient transport-vessel
than our boat. Fritz proposed a raft, similar to those used by savage
nations, supported on skins filled with air. These we had not; but we
found a number of water-hogsheads, which we emptied, and closed again,
and threw a dozen of them into the sea, between the ship and our boat.
Some long planks were laid on these, and secured with ropes. We added a
raised edge of planks to secure our cargo, and thus had a solid raft,
capable of conveying any burden. This work occupied us the whole day,
scarcely interrupted by eating a little cold meat from our game-bags.
Exhausted by fatigue, we were glad to take a good night's rest in the
captain's cabin on an elastic mattress, of which our hammocks had made
us forget the comfort.
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