A butterfly lighted on their sail the ninth
day, and though it was held to be a messenger of good, yet many a
greedy eye was cast upon it. Some sea-fowl also appeared; but it was
impossible to catch them. The misery of the survivors increased with a
rapidity which cannot be described; they even stole from each other
little goblets of urine which had been set to cool in the sea water, and
were now considered a luxury. The most trifling article of food, a
lemon, a small bottle of spirituous dentrifice, a little garlic, became
causes of contention; and every daily distribution of wine awakened a
spirit of selfishness and ferocity, which common sufferings and common
interest could not subdue into more social feelings.
Three days more passed over in expressible anguish, when they
constructed a smaller and more manageable raft, in the hope of directing
it to the shore; but on trial it was found insufficient. On the
seventeenth day, a brig was seen; which, after exciting the vicissitudes
of hope and fear, proved to be the Argus, sent out in quest of the
Medusa.
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