With that I set off , undaunted , across the top of the isle , to fetch and carry it back . It was a weary tramp in all ways , and if hope had not buoyed me up , I must have cast myself down and given up . Whether with the sea salt , or because I was growing fevered , I was distressed with thirst , and had to stop , as I went , and drink the peaty water out of the hags . I came to the bay at last , more dead than alive ; and at the first glance , I thought the yard was something farther out than when I left it . In I went , for the third time , into the sea . The sand was smooth and firm , and shelved gradually down , so that I could wade out till the water was almost to my neck and the little waves splashed into my face . But at that depth my feet began to leave me , and I durst venture in no farther . As for the yard , I saw it bobbing very quietly some twenty feet beyond . I had borne up well until this last disappointment ; but at that I came ashore , and flung myself down upon the sands and wept . The time I spent upon the island is still so horrible a thought to me , that I must pass it lightly over . In all the books I have read of people cast away , they had either their pockets full of tools , or a chest of things would be thrown upon the beach along with them , as if on purpose . My case was very different . I had nothing in my pockets but money and Alan 's silver button ; and being inland bred , I was as much short of knowledge as of means . I knew indeed that shell-fish were counted good to eat ; and among the rocks of the isle I found a great plenty of limpets , which at first I could scarcely strike from their places , not knowing quickness to be needful . There were , besides , some of the little shells that we call buckies ; I think periwinkle is the English name . Of these two I made my whole diet , devouring them cold and raw as I found them ; and so hungry was I , that at first they seemed to me delicious . Perhaps they were out of season , or perhaps there was something wrong in the sea about my island . But at least I had no sooner eaten my first meal than I was seized with giddiness and retching , and lay for a long time no better than dead . A second trial of the same food -LRB- indeed I had no other -RRB- did better with me , and revived my strength . But as long as I was on the island , I never knew what to expect when I had eaten ; sometimes all was well , and sometimes I was thrown into a miserable sickness ; nor could I ever distinguish what particular fish it was that hurt me .
All day it streamed rain ; the island ran like a sop , there was no dry spot to be XXXXX ; and when I lay down that night , between two boulders that made a kind of roof , my feet were in a bog .
being borne came carry counted found revived saw strike wept