76 T H E C R A T E U ; exclaimed Bob. " I had it once, in an old v y ge round the Horn, and have no wish to try it ag in. But there must be fish in plenty among these rocks, Mr. Mark, and we have a good stock of bread. By dropping the beef and pork, for a few days at a time, might we not get shut of the danger ?" " Fish will help us, and turtle would be a great resource, could we meet with any of that. But, man requires mixed food, meats and vegetables, to keep him healthy ; and no thing is so good for the scurvy as the last. The worst of our situation is a want of soil, to grow any vegetables in. I did not see so much as a rush, or the coarsest sea-plant, when we were on the island yesterday. If we had soil, there is seed in plenty on board, and this climate would bring forward vegetation at a rapid rate." "Ay, ay, sir, and I ll tell you what I ve got in the way of seeds, myself. You may remember the delicious musk and water-melons we fell in with last v y ge, in the east. Well, sir, I saved some of the seed, thinking to give it to my brother, who is a Jarsey farmer, you know, sir ; and, sailor-like, I forgot it altogether, when in port. If a fellow could get but a bit of earth to put them melon-seeds in, we might be eating our fruit like gentlemen, two months hence, or three months, at the latest." " That is a good thought, Beits, arid we will turn it over in our minds. If such a thing is to be done at all, the sooner it is done the better, that the melons may be getting ahead while we are busy with the other matters. This is just the season to put seed into the ground, and I think we might make soil enough to sustain a few hills of melons. If I remember right, too, there are some of the sweet pota toes left." Bob assented, and during the rest of the meal they did nothing but pursue this plan of endeavouring to obtain half-a-dozen or a dozen hills of melons. As Mark felt all the importance of doing everything that lay in his power to ward off the scurvy, and knew that time was not to be lost, he determined that the very first thing he would now attend to, would be to get all the seed into as much ground as he could contrive to make. Accordingly, as soon as the breakfast was ended, Mark went to collect his seeds,
