Finding the rain running down
upon us, and our jackets getting wet through, and the rough,
knotty-logs, rather indifferent couches, we turned out; and taking
an iron pan which we brought with us, we wiped it out dry, put some
stones around it, cut the wet bark from some sticks, and striking a
light, made a small fire in the pan. Keeping some sticks near, to dry,
and covering the whole over with a roof of boards, we kept up a
small fire, by which we cooked our muscles, and eat them, rather for
an occupation than from hunger. Still, it was not ten o'clock, and the
night was long before us, when one of the party produced an old pack
of Spanish cards from his monkey-jacket pocket, which we hailed as a
great windfall; and keeping a dim, flickering light by our fagots,
we played game after game, one or two o'clock, when, becoming really
tired, we went to our logs again, one sitting up at a time, in turn,
to keep watch over the fire. Toward morning, the rain ceased, and
the air became sensibly colder, so that we found sleep impossible, and
sat up, watching for daybreak. No sooner was it light than we went
ashore, and began our preparations for loading our vessel.
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