“If you will give me leave, I will,” replied he. “Let me have a duck frock and a pair of trousers.”
I handed the articles to him, and then went back for the rest, which I had left on the rocks.
When I returned, with my arms full, I found that he had put them on, and his other clothes were beside him. “I feel more like a Christian now,” said he.
“A Christian,” said I, “what is that?”
“I will tell you by-and-bye. It is what I have not been for a long, long while,” replied he. “Now, what have you brought this time?”
“Here,” said I, “what is this?”
“This is a roll of duck, to make into frocks and trousers,” replied he. “That is bees’-wax.” He then explained to me all the tools, sailing-needles, fish-hooks, and fishing-lines, some sheets of writing-paper, and two pens, I had brought up with me. “All these are very valuable,” said he, after a pause, “and would have added much to our comfort, if I had not been blind.”
“There are more things yet,” said I; “I will go and fetch them.”
This time I replaced the remaining articles, and brought up the chest. It was a heavy load to carry up the rocks, and I was out of breath when I arrived and set it down on the cabin floor.
“Now I have the whole of them,” said I. “Now, what is this?”