"I like this--this is far better than that calm and withering
heat--this rouses me," said Amine, as she cast her eyes up, and
watched the forked lightning till her vision became obscured. "Yes,
this is as it should be. Lightning, strike me if you please--waves
wash me off and bury me in a briny tomb--pour the wrath of the whole
elements upon this devoted head.--I care not, I laugh at, I defy it
all. Thou canst but kill, this little steel can do as much. Let those
who hoard up wealth--those who live in splendour--those that are
happy--those who have husbands, children, aught to love--let them
tremble, I have nothing. Elements! be ye fire, or water, or earth, or
air, Amine defies you! And yet--no, no, deceive not thyself, Amine,
there is no hope; thus will I mount my funeral bier, and wait the will
of destiny." And Amine regained the secure place which Philip had
fitted up for her in the centre of the raft, threw herself down upon
her bed, and shut her eyes. The thunder and lightning was followed up by torrents of heavy rain,
which fell till daylight; the wind still continued fresh, but the sky
cleared, and the sun shone out. Amine remained shivering in her wet
garments; the heat of the sun proved too powerful for her exhausted
state, and her brain wandered. She rose up in a sitting posture,
looked around her, saw verdant fields in every direction, the
cocoa-nuts waving to the wind--imagined even that she saw her own
Philip in the distance hastening to her; she held out her arms; strove
to get up, and run to meet him, but her limbs refused their office;
she called to him, she screamed, and sank back exhausted on her
resting-place. Chapter XXVI


We must for a time return to Philip, and follow his strange destiny. A
few hours after he had thrown the pilot into the sea they gained the
shore, so long looked at with anxiety and suspense. The spars of the
raft, jerked by the running swell, undulated and rubbed against each
other, as they rose and fell to the waves breaking on the beach. The
breeze was fresh, but the surf was trifling, and the landing was
without difficulty. The beach was shelving, of firm white sand,
interspersed and strewed with various brilliant-coloured shells; and
here and there, the bleached fragments and bones of some animal which
had been forced out of its element to die. The island was, like all
the others, covered with a thick wood of cocoa-nut trees, whose tops
waved to the breeze, or bowed to the blast, producing a shade and a
freshness which would have been duly appreciated by any other party
than the present, with the exception only of Krantz; for Philip
thought of nothing but his lost wife, and the seamen thought of
nothing but of their sudden wealth. Krantz supported Philip to the
beach and led him to the shade; but after a minute he rose, and
running down to the nearest point, looked anxiously for the portion
of the raft which held Amine, which was now far, far away. Krantz had
followed, aware that, now the first paroxysms were past, there was no
fear of Philip's throwing away his life. "Gone, gone for ever!" exclaimed Philip, pressing his hands to the
balls of his eyes. "Not so, Philip, the same Providence which has preserved us, will
certainly assist her. It is impossible that she can perish among so
many islands, many of which are inhabited; and a woman will be certain
of kind treatment." "If I could only think so," replied Philip. "A little reflection may induce you to think that it is rather an
advantage than otherwise, that she is thus separated--not from you,
but from so many lawless companions, whose united force we could
not resist. Do you think that, after any lengthened sojourn on this
island, these people with us would permit you to remain in quiet
possession of your wife? No!--they would respect no laws; and Amine
has, in my opinion, been miraculously preserved from shame and
ill-treatment, if not from death." "They durst not, surely! Well, but Krantz, we must make a raft and
follow her; we must not remain here--I will seek her through the wide
world." "Be it so, if you wish, Philip, and I will follow your fortunes,"
replied Krantz, glad to find that there was something, however wild
the idea, for his mind to feed on. "But now let us return to the
raft, seek the refreshment we so much require, and after that we will
consider what may be the best plan to pursue." To this, Philip, who was much exhausted, tacitly consented, and he
followed Krantz to where the raft had been beached. The men had left
it, and were each of them sitting apart from one another under the
shade of his own chosen cocoa-nut tree. The articles which had been
saved on the raft had not been landed, and Krantz called upon them to
come and carry the things on shore--but no one would answer or obey. They each sat watching their money, and afraid to leave it, lest they
should be dispossessed of it by the others. Now that their lives were,
comparatively speaking, safe, the demon of avarice had taken full
possession of their souls; there they sat, exhausted, pining for
water, and longing for sleep, and yet they dared not move--they were
fixed as if by the wand of the enchanter. "It is the cursed dollars which have turned their brains," observed
Krantz to Philip; "let us try if we cannot manage to remove what we
most stand in need of, and then we will search for water." Philip and Krantz collected the carpenter's tools, the best arms, and
all the ammunition, as the possession of the latter would give them
advantage in case of necessity; they then dragged on shore the sail
and some small spars, all of which they carried up to a clump of
cocoa-nut trees, about a hundred yards from the beach. In half an hour they had erected an humble tent, and put into it what
they had brought with them, with the exception of the major part of
the ammunition, which, as soon as he was screened by the tent, Krantz
buried in a heap of dry sand behind it; he then, for their immediate
wants, cut down with an axe a small cocoa-nut tree in full bearing. It
must be for those who have suffered the agony of prolonged thirst, to
know the extreme pleasure with which the milk of the nuts were one
after the other poured down the parched throats of Krantz and Philip. The men witnessed their enjoyment in silence, and with gloating eyes. Every time that a fresh cocoa-nut was seized and its contents quaffed
by their officers, more sharp and agonising was their own devouring
thirst--still closer did their dry lips glue themselves together--yet
they moved not, although they felt the tortures of the condemned. Evening closed in; Philip had thrown himself down on the spare sails,
and had fallen asleep, when Krantz set off to explore the island upon
which they had been thrown. It was small, not exceeding three miles in
length, and at no one part more than five hundred yards across.