But, the captain’s niece had not come back, and the two men seated themselves beside the little retreat, both remaining silent for a long time under the influence of a feeling akin to despair. The harpooner was the first to speak:
“I can never know a moment’s peace until Alice is found,” said he, “for I can not rid my mind of the idea that she is in some position in which she is suffering both mental and physical pain.”
“We’ll find her when the fog clears—ay, ay, we’ll have her then, I’ll warrant you,” returned Stump, pressing the hand of his chum. “And now,” he added, throwing open the side of the canvas-roof, “you had better turn in and get a nap, while I remain up and keep a sort of a watch.”
“No, no,” responded the young man, “for I am confident that I could not sleep at present, and I doubt that I shall close my eyes throughout the whole night. If either of us sleeps, you must be the man to do so.”
“I may do it, lad—ay, ay, I may do so after awhile, which wouldn’t be the case, hows’ever, if I wasn’t confident that we’ll find the gal in the morning. I’ll even go further than that,” added Stump, thrusting his arm into the boat, and drawing forth the breaker of hard bread, and the chunk of salt meat, which he had carefully wrapped in a piece of canvas. “I’ll even go further, and acknowledge that I am hopeful enough to feel hungry, and to believe that you’ll help me eat some of our allowance.”
Notwithstanding his boast, however, which in reality was but a ruse to cheer the drooping spirits of his companion, the shipkeeper, while bringing his teeth together with a clicking sound, and smacking his lips as though he were enjoying his meal with a keen relish, scarcely tasted a morsel. But a half-smothered sigh escaped him when he perceived that his well-meant trick failed to produce the intended effect; for Marline would not partake of the food. “Some other time,” said he, “I’m not hungry now.”
And Stump rolled up the provision again, and dropped it into the boat, muttering rapidly to himself in an undertone:
“That’s the way with ’em—ay, ay, that’s the way with them lovers the world over. They live on moonlight when they’re together, and on grief when they are separated, and it’s only when they find themselves a-dying for the want of nourishment, that they pitch into the provisions.”
In order, however, to carry out the deception he had commenced, the shipkeeper now crawled into the boat, remarking that he should try a little nap after his meal.
Accordingly, he soon began to snore; but the noises that emanated from his nostrils were so loud and peculiar—for in his anxiety to perform his part well, he went far beyond the limits prescribed by nature—that Marline, notwithstanding his anguish, could not fail to penetrate the ruse.