. . . . . .
Next day Antonio did as he had intended, and held a general survey on the quantity and condition of the stores.
The verdict communicated to our heroes and the first and second mates was this: “With economy, and if the tinned meats keep in good condition, we have food enough to last a year.”
“A year,” said poor Paddy M‘Koy. “Ach, sure it is joking entoirely you are, sorr. It’s never a year we’ll lie in this black sea.”
The captain shook his head sadly.
“I was to have been married, sorr, on my return to Dublin to one of the purtiest girls in Ould Ireland. Och and och, and what will become of her at all, at all?”
“Paddy,” said the captain, “we have all a duty to each other to perform.”
“And what is it thin, sorr?”
“To appear hopeful and cheerful, whether we feel it or not.”