Digital heart book

I had grown so suspicious of the
wreck, that it was a positive relief to me to look down
into the hold, and see it full, or nearly full, of
undeniable rice packed in the Chinese fashion in
boluses of matting. Breakfast over, Johnson and the
hands turned to upon the cargo; while Nares and I,
having smashed open the sky-light and rigged up a
windsail on deck, began the work of rummaging the
cabins.
I must not be expected to describe our first day's
work, or (for that matter) any of the rest, in order
and detail as it occurred. Such particularity might
have been possible for several officers and a draft of
men from a ship of war, accompanied by an experienced
secretary with a knowledge of shorthand. For two plain
human beings, unaccustomed to the use of the broad-axe,
and consumed with an impatient greed of the result, the
whole business melts, in the retrospect, into a
nightmare of exertion, heat, hurry, and bewilderment;
sweat pouring from the face like rain, the scurry of
rats, the choking exhalations of the bilge, and the
throbs and splinterings of the toiling axes.


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