MAROONED 0N BOUGHTON ISLAND By Observer Nov. 14, 1953.

Part 2.

As I mentioned in the first chapter of this tale, the first two or three hours of the vigil were occupied chiefly in divers complaints on the part of B and sundry admonitions on the part of A. Meanwhile, C contented himself with a matter-of-fact appraisal of the situation. “it could be better and it could be worse,” he said “and we must make the best of it.”

With the aid of a flashlight which threatened to go dark at any moment he discovered a small crock of lard and a wick which some previous occupant of the cottage had left behind on a shelf. It did not provide adequate illumination and the smoke it sent out was not particularly fragrant, but the fact that it glowed for a few minutes was of real importance.

When you are forced by circumstances to go back to primitive things you are apt to realize a closer affinity with your ancestors, and that is good. One of the three remarked that there is something about a dim light that inspires thought. This led one of the others to recall that Hillaire Belloc, the distinguished essayist who died only recently, always wrote by candle-light. Neither of these observations had the effect of making a dark room light, but each contributed a little bit of spiritual illumination which was helpful.

By 10 o‘clock the situation had been fairly well examined. A’s bias towards optimism, B’s pseudo—complainings, and C’s pragmatic busy-ness had, by a sort of compelling necessity, come together in an issuance of resignation if not of grace.

Lying on a spring with no mattress would hardly be considered as luxury by any standards. However, it is better than lying on the floor and comfort, like a lot of other things in this life, is a relative term. And there is some consolation in the knowledge that sleep does not wait upon luxury. It is as democratic an institution as any that has yet been devised.

Understandably enough, the “talk of the night" began with various references to sleep which is one of the things that science has not yet been able to define in wholly material

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