The Boy Tar

Yes, biscuits--each of them as large as a small plate, and nearly half an inch in thickness, smooth and round and pleasant to the touch, and of a rich brown colour--I could tell...

You will fancy that the lesson I had thus received should have been a warning to me to keep away from the water. Not so, however. So far as that went, the ducking did me no good...

To find the cubic contents of the butt in feet or inches, and afterwards reduce them to liquid measure--to gallons or quarts--would have been easy enough, and only required a si...

It was Sunday morning, and as fine a one as I can remember. It was in the month of May, and not likely to be otherwise than fine. The sun was shining brightly, and the birds fil...

Fortunately for me I had learnt to swim, and I was a tolerably good hand at it. It was the most useful accomplishment I could have possessed at that moment; and but for it I sho...

While examining the cask, to find if there was not some means of ascertaining its different diameters, I discovered the very way itself. All I wanted was a straight rod or stick...

No; the warning was all in vain. Even the narrow escape I had had, did not cure me of my fondness for being on the water, but rather had an opposite effect.

From my earliest days, I was fond of the water--instinctively so. Had I been born a duck, or a water-dog, I could not have liked it better. My father had been a seaman, and his...

Even this narrow escape had no effect. I was not more afraid of the water than ever; but _rather liked_ it all the more on account of the very excitement which its dangers produ...

I had stretched myself lengthwise in my cell, and was lying upon my right side, with my head resting upon my arm. While thus placed, I felt something pressing against my thigh,...

I was not disappointed. I slept for a period of twelve hours' duration--not without many fearful dreams--terrible encounters with crabs and rats. So far as the comfort of the th...

It was near night when we arrived at the farm; and I took care during the remainder of the evening to act as naturally as if there was nothing unusual in my thoughts. Little dre...

These were the difficulties that presented themselves. I might walk on deck as I had already done, but not without being observed by some of the crew, and of course ordered asho...

I was full of complacence. There was nothing now to cause me uneasiness. The prospect of being cooped up for six months might have been very unpleasant under other circumstances...

My belief now was, that my life was in peril--nay, rather, that death was almost certain. My hopes of being rescued on that day were but slight from the first, but now they were...

There was one reason that would have influenced me to cut upward through the lid. It was, that by taking that direction, I should arrive the sooner at the top of all the package...

On crossing the gangway, I stopped near the main-hatchway, where five or six sailors were busy with a large pile of barrels and boxes. I saw that they were lading the vessel, an...

I succeeded in reaching the reef, but not without a tough struggle. As I breasted the water, I felt that there was a current against me--the tide; and this it was, as well as th...

The continued motion of the vessel, and the seething sound of the water, which I could hear very plainly, convinced me that we had parted from the quay, and were moving onward....

I only mean that it was bold for one so young and so little as I was at the time. Three miles rowing would be a good long pull, and that right out into the great deep water almo...

Having resolved, then, not to die by my own hand, I at the same time came to the resolution to live as long as I could. Though my two biscuits would not have served me for anoth...

Yes, the blade was broken quite through, and remained sticking between the pieces of wood. The haft came away in my hand; and as I passed my thumb over the end of it, I could pe...

Having disposed of the bonnets, my next step was to climb up into the empty box; and, if possible, get the lid, or part of it, removed. But, first, I endeavoured to ascertain wh...

The result of my calculation was of the most satisfactory nature. Eighty gallons of water would give half a gallon each day for 160 days, or a quart _per diem_ for 320 days--nea...

My next operation was to put all the biscuits back into the box, for strewed loosely about as they were, they interfered seriously with the accommodation of my cabin, which by t...

The good ship _Inca_, then, was like most others built to the merchants' order. She was "pigeon-breasted," and bulged out along the sides in such a fashion, that her hold was fa...

It was with unpleasant feelings I arrived at this knowledge. Beyond doubt, the piano would be a difficult obstacle, if not a complete barrier, to my further progress in that dir...

My sleep was neither very sweet nor very sound. In addition to my gloomy prospects, I was rendered uncomfortable by the hot atmosphere, now closer than ever, in consequence of t...

To say that I awaited the result with confidence would not be at all true. Quite the contrary. Fear and trembling were far more the characteristics of my mind in that hour. Had...

I have styled it a quiet village, and so it really is, though it boasts of being a seaport. There is a little pier or jetty of chiselled granite, alongside which you may usually...

Sleep followed, brought on by weariness and long exertion; and when I awoke, I felt my strength greatly restored. Singular enough, my spirits were a good deal lighter, and I was...

As I had eaten so many biscuits for breakfast, I intended to make breakfast serve me for that day; but, hungering as I was, I could not carry out my good intent. About mid-day,...

It was the boat, then, that had caused me this sudden surprise, or rather alarm, for it speedily came to this. What, you will ask, had happened to the boat? Had she gone to the...

After several hours spent in dozing and dreaming by "fits and starts," I was again fairly awake, and could sleep no more for thinking of the great rat. Indeed, the pain I suffer...

If I was uncomfortable before with the presence of a single rat, how much more uneasy was I with the knowledge that a whole gang of these disgusting animals was in my neighbourh...

Before proceeding to use the knife, I had endeavoured to burst one of the boards outward, first by pressing upon it with my hands. Finding I could not move it in this way, I lay...

This was a work that cost me both time and labour much more than you might imagine. No doubt the cloth had been packed with the idea of economising space, and the pieces were we...

I soon touched with my hands the interesting piece of wood, and felt as proud at that moment as if it had been the North Pole itself, and I its discoverer. I was not a little su...

For a long while I did not sleep, but lay thinking over the mysterious disappearance of the half biscuit. I say _mysterious_, for I was more than half convinced that I had _not_...

My reflections were anything but pleasant, for never had I been so mortified in my life. All my fine dreams of reefing topsails, and seeing foreign lands, had been dissipated in...

The ugly animal left me no choice to doubt of its species. The moment my fingers touched its smooth coat, I recognised it by the "feel;" but I felt the wicked creature in a doub...

When I came to my senses again, I saw that I was lying upon the deck. A crowd was gathered around, and look in what direction I might, my eyes rested upon faces. They were rude...

I remained in this state of insensibility for several hours, and was not even troubled, as was usual when I slept, with painful dreams. I did not dream at all; but, on awaking t...

It will be remembered that in my former expedition into the two boxes of cloth--while in hopes of finding more biscuits, or something else that was eatable--I had ascertained th...

I had not lost presence of mind as yet, but once more set about considering how I might be able to keep above water. I could easily slide up the staff without taking out a singl...

It was into the cloth-case which I had entered--that one which lay contiguous to the box that had contained the biscuits. It was from it I determined to start with my new tunnel...

On entering, I groped about for my knife. I had quite forgotten how or where I had laid it down. I had already searched for it outside, but without success; and I concluded that...

So wearied had I become with fears and long waking, that my cheek had scarce touched my pillow, before I was off into the land of dreams. And not the _land_ of dreams either, fo...

I could now comprehend why the night had seemed so long. There had been light enough, but it reached me not. The great box had intercepted it. There had been day, and I knew it...

As soon as I had screened myself behind the butt, I squatted down; and, in five minutes after, was so fast asleep; that it would have taken all the bells of Canterbury to have w...

I slept neither very long, nor very soundly. My sleep was full of dreams, all troubled and horrid; but not more horrid than the reality to which I once more awoke.

The effect was not immediate--the first long draught did not relieve me, or only for a time. I longed again, and again placed my lips to the spouting stream; and this I did repe...

I was lying, or half-standing erect, with my shoulder against one of the great ribs of the ship that traversed my little chamber from top to bottom, dividing it into two nearly...

I passed the night--I should rather say the hours of rest--in my old apartment, behind the water-butt. Whether it was night or day, I no longer knew nor cared. On this occasion...

Notwithstanding that it was all a dream, and that no crab could possibly have crept up my arm--notwithstanding that I was now awake, and knew I had been only dreaming about it--...

More than a week had I spent under this tedious monotony of existence. The only sound that reached my ears was the hoarse rushing of the waves _above_ me. Above me--for I knew t...

I now proceeded to the further carrying out of my design, which had all been matured while I was working at the bag. The next step was the "setting of the net," and this was don...

For many hours I remained brooding over the altered state of my affairs, with no thought arising to cheer me. I felt so hopeless that I did not even take stock of the biscuits,...

My feeling of security proved to be a false one. I could not have been asleep more than a quarter of an hour, when I was suddenly awakened by something running over my breast. W...

I was not long about this business. I soon perceived that the back of the empty space was closed in by a large box, and a similar one blocked up the right side. The left was the...

The aspect of my affairs had now undergone a complete change for the better. My larder was replenished with store enough to last me for ten days, at the least; for I made a sort...

It was some time before I recovered strength or spirit to arouse myself. But for hunger, I might have remained longer in the sort of torpid lethargy into which I had fallen; but...

I tried to think of some way by which I might be enabled to make reparation for the loss; but my reflections were only foolish, as they were bitter. I owned nothing in the world...

Yes, my eyes were once more cheered with heavenly light, producing within my heart a joy sudden and complete. I could not describe the happiness I felt. Every fear at once forso...

For some time I have said nothing of the _rats_. Do not fancy, from this silence about them, that they had gone away and left me to myself! They had done no such thing. They wer...