"Well, what is to be done?"
"There lies the difficulty; had it been a question of anything that floats on the water, I might have suggested a remedy; but, in this case, I am fairly run aground."
"I know too well what must be done, Willis. In cases of ordinary maladies, with care and due precaution, proper nourishment and time, Nature will generally effect a cure."
"Nature has no diploma, but she accomplishes more cures than those that have."
"Unfortunately this is not a malady that can be cured by such means; and, unless its progress be checked in time, it may ultimately assume a form that will render a cure impossible."
"Is death, then, inevitable?"
"A patient may retain a languishing life under such circumstances for some time; but if the disease be cancer, a cure is hopeless without instruments and scientific skill."
"I thought I was the only wretched being in the colony," said Willis, sighing, "but I find I am not alone."
"There are no hopes of the Nelson, are there?" inquired Becker.
"None now; for some time Mr. Wolston and yourself almost persuaded me that she had escaped; but had she reached the Cape, we should have heard of her ere now."