win and Cuffy | Page 8

great truth, it was a difficult truth to prove.
It was of still less use that those tiresome men of principle
demonstrated that the money spent in tobacco would, if accumulated,
form a snug little fortune to retire upon in his old age. John only
laughed at this. "Wot did he want with a fortin in his old age," he would
say; "he would rather work to the last for his three B's--his bread and
beer and baccy--an' die in harness. A man couldn't get on like a man
without them three B's, and he wosn't goin' for to deprive hisself of
none of 'em, not he; besides, his opponents were bad argifiers," he was
wont to say, with a chuckle, "for if, as they said, baccy would be the
means of cuttin' his life short, why then, he wouldn't never come to old
age to use his fortin, even if he should manage to save it off his baccy."
This last argument always brought Jarwin off with flying colours--no
wonder, for it was unanswerable; and thus he came to love his beer and
baccy so much that he became thoroughly enslaved to both.
His brief residence on the south-sea island had taught him, by painful
experience, that he was capable of existing without at least two of his
three B's--bread and beer. He had suffered somewhat from the change
of diet; and now that his third B was thus suddenly, unexpectedly, and
hopelessly wrenched from him, he sat himself down on the beach
beside Cuffy, and gazed out to sea in absolute despair.
We must guard the reader at this point from supposing that John Jarwin
had ever been what is called an intemperate man. He was one of those
honest, straightforward tars who do their duty like men, and who,
although extremely fond of their pipe and their glass of grog, never
lower themselves below the level of the brutes by getting drunk. At the
same time, we feel constrained to add that Jarwin acted entirely from
impulse and kindly feeling. He had little to do with principle, and did
not draw towards those who professed to be thus guided. He was wont
to say that they "was troublesome fellers, always shovin' in their oars
when they weren't wanted to, an' settin' themselves up for better than
everybody else." Had one of those troublesome fellows presented John
Jarwin with a pound of tobacco in his forlorn circumstances, at that
time he would probably have slapped him on the shoulder, and called

him one of the best fellows under the sun!
"Cuffy, my friend," exclaimed Jarwin at last, with an explosive sigh,
"all the baccy's gone, so we'll have to smoke sea-weed for the futur'."
The terrier said "Bow-wow" to this, cocked its ears, and looked earnest,
as if waiting for more.
"Come along," exclaimed the man, overturning his dog as he leaped up,
"we'll go home and have summat to eat."
Jarwin had erected a rude hut, composed of boughs and turf, near the
fountain where he had first landed. It was the home to which he
referred. At first he had devoted himself entirely to the erection of this
shelter, and to collecting various roots and fruits and shell-fish for food,
intending to delay the examination of the island until his strength
should be sufficiently restored to enable him to scale the heights
without more than ordinary fatigue. He had been so far recruited as to
have fixed for his expedition the day following that on which he
sustained his irreparable loss.
Entering his hut he proceeded to kindle a fire by means of a small
burning-glass, with which, in happier times, he had been wont to light
his pipe. Very soon he had several roots, resembling small potatoes,
baking in the hot ashes. With these, a handful of plums, a dozen of
oyster-like fish, of which there were plenty on the shore, and a draught
of clear cold water, he made a hearty repast, Cuffy coming in for a
large share of it, as a matter of course. Then he turned all his pockets
inside out, and examined them as carefully as if diamonds lurked in the
seams. No, not a speck of tobacco was to be found! He smelt them. The
odour was undoubtedly strong--very strong. On the strength of it he
shut his eyes, and endeavoured to think that he was smoking; but it was
a weak substitute for the pipe, and not at all satisfying. Thereafter he
sallied forth and wandered about the sea-shore in a miserable condition,
and went to bed that night--as he remarked to his dog--in the blues.
Reader, it is not possible to give you an adequate conception of the
sensations and sufferings of John Jarwin on that first night