“Yes,” replied I; “I know he is in heaven, and so is my mother; for Jackson said that they were both very good.”
“I mean your Heavenly Father, God. Do you not say in the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Our Father which art in heaven?’ You must love him.”
I was about to reply, when John Gough, the mate, came up, and told my companion, that he had been speaking to the men, and they had agreed that the day after the next they would, if the weather permitted, leave the island; that they had examined the boat, and found it required very little repair, and that all would be ready the next day.
“I hope that they will not overload the boat,” said she.
“I fear that they will, but I must do all I can to prevent it. The cask of rum was rather an unfortunate discovery, and we had been better without it. Leave it they will not, so we must put out of the boat all that we can possibly do without, for we shall be nine of us, and that will be plenty of weight with the addition of the cask.”
“You promised to take my chest, you remember,” said I.
“Yes, I will do so if I possibly can; but recollect, I may not be able to keep my promise; for now that they have the liquor, the men do not obey me as they did before, ma’am,” said the mate. “Perhaps he had better take the best of his clothes in a bundle, in case they should refuse to take in the chest; and I must say, that, loaded as the boat will be, they will be much to blame if they do not refuse, for the boat is but small for stowage, and there’s all the provisions to put in her, which will take up a deal of room.”
“That is very true,” replied the woman. “It will be better to leave the chest here, for I do not think that the boat will hold it. You must not mind your chest, my good boy, it is of no great value.”
“They take my rum and all my birds, and they ought to take both me and my chest.”
“Not if it takes up too much room,” replied the woman. “You cannot expect it. The wishes of one person must give way to the wishes of many.”