As to this last particular, I learned by the sequel of the story, when the spark, proud of his acquisition, came to me, that he had been peeping about in the cabin whilst his mother was packing the chests, and seeing a small brass knob in the wainscot, took it for a plaything, and pulling to get it out, opened a little door of a cupboard, where he had found some very pretty toys that he positively claimed for himself, among which were a small plain gold ring, and a very fine one set with diamonds, which he showed me upon two of his fingers. I wondered how the child, who had never before seen such things, or the use of them, should happen to apply these so properly; but he told me in playing with this, meaning the diamond ring, about his fingers, it slipped over his middle-finger joint, and he could not get it off again, so he put the other upon another finger to keep it company.
We watched daily, as usual on such occasions, for the arrival of our fleet. It was surprising that none of the chests which Youwarkee shot down the gulf were ever half so long in their passage as I was myself, but some came in a week, some in a few days more, and even some in less, which I attributed to their following directly the course of the water, shooting from shelf to shelf as the tide sat; and I believe my keeping the boat I sailed in so strictly and constantly in the middle of the stream, was the reason of my being detained there so long. In less than a fortnight everything came safe but one chest, which, as we never heard of it, I suppose was either sunk or bulged.
Being one day upon shore, watching to see if anything more was come through the cavern, I spied at a distance somewhat looking very black and very long, and by the colour and shape thereof I took it for a young whale. Having observed it some time making very little way, I took my old boat and followed it, but was afraid to go near it, lest a stroke with its tail--which I then fancied I saw move--might endanger my boat and myself too; but creeping nearer and nearer, and seeing it did not stir, I believed it to be dead; whereupon, taking courage, I drew so close that at length I plainly perceived it was the ship's second boat turned upside down. It is not easy to express the joy I felt on this discovery. It was the very thing I was now, as I have said, in the greatest want of. I presently laid hold of it and brought it ashore; and it was no small pleasure to find, on examining, that though it had lain so long dry, it was yet quite sound, and all its chinks filled up in its passage; and it proved to me afterwards the most beneficial thing I could have had from the ship.