Jack, being the youngest, would probably disappear
first, next Fritz, then Willis would be left to eat himself, in order
to avoid dying of hunger, just as the unfortunate Count Ugolino
devoured his own children to save them from orphanage.
As yet, however, there were no symptoms of such a dire disaster; they
were in excellent health and tolerable spirits; they had provisions
enough to last them for six months at least, and consequently had not
as yet, at all events, the slightest occasion to manifest a tendency
to anthropophagism.
"I can understand the sea," remarked Jack, "as I understand the land
and the sky; God created them, that is enough; but I cannot understand
how a mighty river like the Nile or the Ganges can continue eternally
discharging immense deluges of water into the sea without becoming
exhausted. From what fathomless reservoirs do the Amazon and the
Mississippi receive their endless torrents?"
"The reservoirs of the greatest rivers," replied Fritz, "are nothing
more than drops of water that fall from the crevice of some rock on or
near the summit of a hill; these are collected together in a pool or
hollow, from which they issue in the form of a slender rivulet. At
first, the smallest pebble is sufficient to arrest the course of this
thread of water; but it turns upon itself, gathers strength, finally
surmounts the obstacle, dashes over it, unites itself with other
rivulets, reaches the plain, scoops out a bed, and goes on, as you
say, for ever emptying its waters into the sea.
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