Page:The crater; or, Vulcan's peak.djvu/117

 OR, VULCAN S PEAK. Ill it, and among other articles two barrels of good sharp vinegar, which Friend Abraham White had caused to be put on board to be used with anything that could be pic kled, as an anti-scorbutic. The onions and cucumbers both promising so well, Mark rejoiced at this discovery, determining at once to use some of the vinegar on a part of his expected crop of those two vegetables. One day as Bob was rummaging about in the hold, and Mark was looking on, that being the coolest place on the whole reef, the former got hold of a piece of wood, and began to tug at it to draw it out from among a pile that lay in a dark corner. After several efforts, the stick came, when Mark, struck with a glimpse he got of its form, bade Bob bring it under the light of the hatchway. The instant he got a good look at it, Woolston knew that Bob s fool ish, crooked stick, which was fit to stow nowhere/ as the honest fellow had described it when it gave him so much trouble, was neither more nor less than one of the ribs of a boat of larger size than common. &quot; This is providential, truly!&quot; exclaimed Mark. &quot;Your crooked stick, Bob, is a part of the frame of the pinnace of which you spoke, and which we had given up, as a thing not to be found on board !&quot; &quot; You re right, Mr. Mark, you re right !&quot; answered Bob &quot; and I must have been oncommon stupid not to have thought of it, when it came so hard. And if there s one of the boat s bones stowed in that place, there must be more to be found in the same latitude.&quot; This was true enough. After working in that dark corner of the hold for several hours, all the materials of the intended craft were found and collected in the steerage. Neither Mark nor Betts was a boat-builder, or a ship wright ; but each had a certain amount of knowledge on the subject, and each well knew where every piece was intended to be put. What a revolution this discovery made in the feelings of our young husband ! He had never totally despaired of seeing Bridget again, for that would scarce have comported with his youth and sanguine tem perament; but the hope had, of late, become so very dim, as to survive only as that feeling will endure in the bosoms of the youthful and inexperienced. Mark had lived a long