Punch: Punch (11.1846)

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

33

OUR AETIST,

THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OP

MISS ROBINSON CRUSOE.

chapter j v.

Walking on, I raised my eyes, and what was my astonishment, my
delight, to behold the ship—the Ramo Samee—reclining as upon a sofa,
on a bank of sand about two miles distant ! My heart fluttered.
After all, I might not be alone upon a desolate island. The captain
might be spared ; if not the captain, at least the boatswain. Again,
when I looked upon the vessel, soft thoughts stole into my bosom ;
hope stirred within me, and all about my plum-coloured silk and my
crimson velvet,—and the band-boxes, every one with a love of a bonnet,
and the night-caps (I was always particular in my night-caps,) with
their beautiful lace borders, chosen with an eye to the hopeful future.
These thoughts forced tears from my eyes ; and I resolved to save my
wardrobe ; or, as I once heard a gentleman in blue silk and spangles
exclaim, " perish in the attempt."

I satiated my hunger with raw periwinkles,— for I found they
strewed the lower part of the beach,—which I was enabled to do,
having several pins in my dress. I had never thought of it before ;
but how beautifully has Nature or Fashion, or whatever it may be,
ordained that woman should never be without pins ? Even as Nature
benevolently guards the rose with thorns, so does she endow woman
with pins ; a sharp truth not all unknown to the giddy and frolicsome.

Though dreading to approach my boxes, lest I should discover that
the salt water had spoilt all my things, I nevertheless determined to
visit the ship, and preserve what I could of my beautiful outfit. A
pang shot through my heart when I thought of a certain white satin,
made up—for I had provided against being married unawares in case
of the officer coming off in the yam-boat. Allowing it to be preserved
from the wrathful billows, of what avail would it be in such a place ?
Of what avail, indeed, any of my clothes, for who could see them ?
And when I thought of this, my tears flowed anew.

As I proceeded, my eyes beheld what, at the distance, they believed
to be a monstrous eeL It is a fish I am prodigiously fond of ; and I
will own it, for the moment I forgot the horrors of my situation in
the thought of my gratified palate. I ran to seize the prize, when, to
my passing disappointment I discovered that what I thought to be an
eel was nothing more than an india-rubber life-preserver, that had
floated from the vessel. My better feelings were aroused, and I will
not repeat what thanks I uttered for the accident.

Taking off my gown—for the flounces were very full, and there-

fore would hold much water, I put on the life preserver, and made for
the ship. It is true I was a good swimmer, and could have gained
the vessel without any foreign aid ; but I husbanded my strength, for
I knew not what trials awaited me. Now and then I shivered as a
flying-fish rose before me ; for where flying-fishes were found, there,
I had heard, were sharks ; and my feet were wholly unprotected, the
Adelaide boot being at that time wholly unknown. How strangely
doth fear magnify circumstances ! More than once I screamed at
what I believed I felt to be an alligator,—at the very greatest, perhaps,
it was a shrimp. I swam round and round the ship, looking for an
easy place to get up. At length, I saw a bit of rope hanging out of
the captain's window, and—always being a good climber—I was speed-
ily in his cabin. The silence—the solitude appalled me. His pipe
—relinquished when the breeze began to freshen—still lay upon tiie
table. There was something about that pipe that—I know v it why—
affected me.

I crept from cabin to cabin : all was still. I sat down upon a bench,
and was buried in reflection. Now my thoughts dwelt upon my sad
condition, and now they wandered to the wardrobe and jewels of the
female passengers : poor things ! all removed from the toil and
trouble of such vanities. Whilst thus occupied, I felt something rub
against my knee. The thought electrically shot through me—" I am
not alone, then. Is it the captain : is it the boatswain ? " This, I
say, was the thought of a second, and ere I could look about me.
Then, casting my eyes downwards, I beheld a cat—the ship cat.
Now, cats I had always treated with very distinguished contempt ;
believing them, in my maidenly superstition, the inevitable companions
of single wretchedness. And as the animal continued to rub against
me, and stare at me with—as somebody somewhere says of melan-
choly—its " green and yellow eyes." and mew and mew, that its voice
thrilled my heart-strings, I thought the creature cried, " Welcome,
Miss Robinson, to old-maidenhood ; welcome for ever to celibacy."
The idea was too much for me. I rose, and running and stumbling,
reached my own cabin. There I found some water, and a bottle of
eau-de-cologne. Equally mixing the liquids in a horn, I drank the
beverage, and was revived considerably. Another and another libation
put new heart into me, and I continued my search from place to place.
My own boxes were safe, and—shall I ever forget the emotion that
swelled my heart—dry. A canary-coloured satin slip was, however
utterly ruined by the salt-water ; though I thought that probably
the surrounding country might furnish me with materials to dye it
for common.

It was with some natural feelings of curiosity that I rummaged all
the boxes of my late female companions. Could I choose my readers,
I would not hesitate to name the many artifices of millinery that I
discovered ; the many falsehoods made of buckram, and wool, and
wadding,—and—but no ; far bo it from me to put a weapon in the
hands of the male malignant. In every box I found a large supply of
French slippers and shoes : but, of course, they were all much too
big for me,

By dint of great exertion I got all these boxes upon deck. Had
their weight been of anything else than beautiful dresses, I do not
think I could have lifted it. But I know"not what it was that put a
mysterious power within me. I carried up trunk upon trunk as
though it had been no more than a Tunbridge Wells work-box.
"How happy," thought 1, "could I be with such a wardrobe, if any-
body could see me wear it!"

In the steward's cabin there were all sorts of pickles and preserves,
guava jelly, and preserved ginger. All these, and fifty other kinds of
pleasant eatables, with—what could have prompted me to take it, I
know not—one bottle of gin, I brought and set down upon the deck.
My next thought was—and for a long time it puzzled me—how to
get them ashore. But this I managed, as the reader shall learn.

AN INTERESTING QUESTION.

Weal of Fortin, July 18.

Mr. Jeames Plush presence complimince to his Exlensy the Lord
Leftenint, and aving sean advuttisd in the Hirish peapers, the appint-
ment of Mr. So and So as ' Gentleman at Large,' begs respeckfly to
inquire what is a Gentleman at lawge ; whats the dooties, what sawt of
yowniform : whether it's a heasy place : and whether there are any
more on 'em ?

To His Xlansy the Lord Leftenint

Dubling Castle, Castle Street, Dubling
II ireland.

Vol. H.

2