Page:The crater; or, Vulcan's peak.djvu/99

 OR, VULCAN S PEAK. 93 the old Cocus, ag in and ag in. How deep it is, I don t pretend to know; but it s a good hundred paces across it, and the spot is as round as that there chimbly, that you call a cr ature.&quot; &quot; If that be the case, we will try our hands at it next week, and see what can be done with an importation. I do not give up the blessed hope of. the boat, Bob that you will always bear in mind but it is best to keep an eye on the means of living, should it please God to prevent our getting to sea again.&quot; &quot; To sea, Mr. Mark, neither you nor I, nor any mortal man will ever get, in the old Cocus ag in, as I know by the looks of things outside of us. T will never do to plant in my patch, however, for the salt water must wash it whenever it blows; though a very little work, too, might keep it out, when I come to think on it. Sparrowgrass would grow there, as it is, desperately well ; and Friend Abraham White had both seeds and roots put up for the use of the savages, if a body only know d whereabouts to look for them, among the lot of rubbish of that sort, that he sent aboard.&quot; &quot; All the seeds and roots are in two or three boxes, in the steerage,&quot; answered Mark. &quot;I ll just step up to the crater and bring a shovel, to throw this loam out of the boat with, while you can clean the fish and cook the sup per. A little fresh food, after so much salt, will be both pleasant and good for us.&quot; Bob assented, and each went his way. Mark threw the loam into a wheelbarrow, of which Friend Abraham had put no less than three in the ship, as presents to the savages, and he wheeled it, at two or three loads, into the crater, where he threw it down in a pile, intending to make a compost heap of all the materials of the sort he could lay his hands on. As for Bob he cleaned both fish, taking them on board the ship to do so. He put the largest and coarsest into the coppers, after cutting it up, mixing with it onions, pork, and ship s bread, intending to start a fire beneath it early in the morning, and cook a sort of chowder. The other he fried, Mark and he making a most grateful meal OB it, that evening.