It was likely soon to do so.
During all, Captain Redwood showed that he was thinking less of himself than his children.

Willingly would he have lain down and died, could that have secured their surviving him.

But it was a fate that threatened all alike.

On this account, he was wishing that either he or one of his comrades, Murtagh or Saloo, might outlive the young people long enough to give them the rites of sepulture.

He could not bear the thought that the bodies of his two beautiful children were to be left above ground, on the desolate shore, their flesh to be torn from them by the teeth of ravenous beasts or the beaks of predatory birds--their bones to whiten and moulder under the sun and storms of the tropics.
Despite the pain he was himself enduring, he secretly communicated his wishes to Murtagh and the Malay, imploring them to obey what might be almost deemed a dying request.
Parting speeches were from time to time exchanged in the muttered tones of despair.