136 THE SHIPWRECK,

not heard: their words have gone out to the end of the
world.”

Sometimes the count would amuse himself with a
flute which they had found in the trunk of the lamented
Lieutenant Saint Ague; and the solemn stillness of a beau-
tiful moonlight night would render its melodious sounds at
once charming and melancholy to the ears of Philip.
But the delicate health of the count made Philip fear that
this exercise might prove injurious to him, and in a playful
manner he would take the flute from the hands of Charles,
who was fondly devoted to music, and careless of those
precautions which his shattered constitution required him
to observe.

The happiness that Philip now enjoyed was alloyed by
the fear that the day of their departure from the island was
fast approaching. The count was of opinion, that as soon
as certain winds set in some vessel would surely touch at
the island, either to procure water or turtles; and Philip,
on his part, thought that as soon as they embarked the
etiquette of society would rear an insurmountable barrier
between them. He was sensibly afflicted by these con-
siderations; and especiaily so when he would see the count
spending whole hours on the summit of the rock, searching
the ocean in every direction with his telescope.