190 CRUSOE'S ISLAND. 



and was happy as a king ; in fact, happier than the 

 average of kings, and wouldn't swap situations with 

 the best of them. He had been born to work, and I 

 had not ; he liked work, no matter of what kind, as he 

 couldn't discriminate, while I had my decided prefer- 

 ences ; and, finally, if ever a man born a stranger to 

 another, without obligations to that other, ever loved 

 that other more than Thomas Ned loved me, then all 

 the signs were at fault ! 



"We had never raised the question of compensa- 

 tion ; but, as he was a self -avowed pauper, and had 

 not been able to accumulate anything in fifty years 

 or so of work ; whereas he was now reveling in com- 

 parative luxury, clothed and clean, I did not have 

 any compunctions on that score. And besides, if it 

 should come about that I should leave the island — 

 an unwelcome suggestion which I never entertained 

 without a shudder — of course Thomas Ned would 

 then fall into my possessions as residuary legatee, so 

 to speak. But not the shadow of such suggestion 

 ever entered his honest old brain ; he was serving me 

 loyally and happily, wholly from choice, and had at 

 last, after years of rude buffeting, fallen into the very 

 place his soul had craved all his life. 



It was a pleasure to watch his enjoyment, his per- - 

 feet trust in the rectitude of things, the ease and natu- 

 ralness with which he went about his self-imposed 

 labors. His chief delight was in smoking, and, as I 

 had a small stock of tobacco, and cared little for the 

 weed except in ruminative moments, I abandoned it 

 all to him ; added to this, he made a find of the 



