"'What could I do?' 'What should I do?' were the questions which soon crossed my mind respecting the Dean. There was, however, one very obvious answer,--'Let him alone'; so I rose up from his side, and saw, as I did so, that he was now sleeping soundly,--a genuine, quiet sleep. He had become quite warm; and, after some minutes' watching, it appeared to me very likely that he would, after a while, wake up all right,--a conclusion which made me very happy; that is, as happy as one so situated could be.
"After leaving the Dean I once more considered my condition. It seemed to me that I had grown many years older in these few hours, and I commenced reasoning with myself. Instead of sitting down on the rock, and beginning to cry, as I had done before, I sat down to reflect. And this is the way I reflected:--
"'1st,' I said, 'while there is life there is hope'; and,
"'2d. So long as the land remains unexplored, I have a right to conclude that it is inhabited'; and,
"'3d. Being inhabited, there is a good chance of our being saved; for even the worst savages cannot refuse two such helpless creatures food and clothing.'
"Having thus reflected, I arrived at these conclusions respecting what I should do; namely,--
"'1st. I will go at once in search of these inhabitants, and when I find them, I will beg them to come and help me with a sick companion.'
"'2d. On my way I will make my dinner off raw eggs, of which there are so many hereabout, for I am so frightfully hungry that I can no longer resist the repulsive food.'
"'3d. I will also hunt on my way for some water, as I am so thirsty that I scarcely know what to do.'
"'4th. For the rest I will trust to Providence.'
"Having thus resolved, I immediately set out, and in a very few minutes I had eaten a whole dozen raw eggs,--and that, too, without any disgust at all. Then, as I walked on a little farther, I discovered that there were a multitude of small streams dashing over the rocks, the water being quite pure and clear,--coming from great snow-banks on the hill-tops, which were melting away before the sun.
"Being thus refreshed with meat and drink, it occurred to me to climb up to an elevation, and see what more I could discover. The ice was very thick and closely packed together all along the shore; but beyond where the wreck had happened the sea was quite open, only a few straggling bits of field-ice mixed up with a great many icebergs,--indeed, the icebergs were too thick to be counted. I thought I saw a boat turned upside down; but it was so far away that I could not make out distinctly what it was. It was clear enough to me that nobody had been saved from the wreck except the Dean and myself.