But food never had been an interest to give our solitary man much uneasiness.  From the hour when he found muck, and sea-weed, and guano, he felt assured of the means of subsistence; being in truth, though he may not have known it himself, more in danger of falling behind hand, in consequence of the indisposition to activity that almost ever accompanies the abundance of a warm climate, than from the absolute want of the means of advancing.  That night Mark and Bridget knelt, side by side, and returned thanks to God for all his mercies.  How sweet the former found it to see the light form of his beautiful companion moving about the spacious cabin, giving it an air of home and happiness, no one can fully appreciate who has not been cut off from these accustomed joys, and then been suddenly restored to them.

Chapter XV.

    “I beg, good Heaven, with just desires,
    What need, not luxury, requires;
    Give me, with sparing hands, but moderate wealth,
    A little honour, and enough of health;
    Free from the busy city life,
    Near shady groves and purling streams confined,
    A faithful friend, a pleasing wife;
    And give me all in one, give a contented mind.”

    Anonymous.

Mark and Bridget remained at the Reef a week, entirely alone.  To them the time seemed but a single day; and so completely were they engrossed with each other, and their present happiness, that they almost dreaded the hour of return.  Everything was visited, however, even to the abandoned anchor, and Mark made a trip to the eastward, carrying his wife out into the open water, in that direction.  But the ship and the crater gave Bridget the greatest happiness.  Of these she never tired, though the first gave her the most pleasure.  A ship was associated with all her earliest impressions of Mark; on board that very ship she had been married; and now it formed her home, temporarily, if not permanently.  Bridget had been living so long beneath a tent, and in savage huts, that the accommodations of the Rancocus appeared like those of a palace.  They were not inelegant even, though it was not usual, in that period of the republic, to fit up vessels with a magnificence little short of royal yachts, as is done at present.  In the way of convenience, however, our ship could boast of a great deal.  Her cabins were on deck, or under a poop, and consequently enjoyed every advantage of light and air.  Beneath were store-rooms, still well supplied with many articles of luxury, though time was beginning to make its usual inroads on their qualities.  The bread was not quite as sound as it was once, nor did the teas retain all their strength and flavour.  But the sugar was just as sweet as the day it was shipped, and in the coffee there was no apparent change.  Of the butter, we do not choose to say anything.  Bridget, in the prettiest manner imaginable, declared that as soon as she could set Dido at work the store-rooms should be closely examined, and thoroughly cleaned.  Then the galley made such a convenient and airy kitchen!  Mark had removed the house, the awning answering every purpose, and his wife declared that it was a pleasure to cook a meal for him, in so pleasant a place.