Perhaps the war and its doubling the usual dangers of the sea would keep a ship of any kind whatever from visiting it.

He refused to let the thought remain with him, suppressing it resolutely, and insisting to himself that such a pleasant little island was bound to have callers some time or other, some day.
But the weeks dragged by, and he was absolutely alone in his world.

He had acquired so many stores from the schooner that life was comfortable.
It even had a touch of luxury, and the struggle for existence was far from consuming all his hours.

He found himself as time went on driven more and more upon his books, and he read them, as few have ever read anything, trying to penetrate everything and to draw from them the best lessons.
As a student, in a very real sense of the term, Robert became more reconciled to his isolation.

His mind was broadening and deepening, and he felt that it was so.