became evident that they had abandoned all hope. They hung about so listlessly tha

ething, no matter what, if it would help in the struggle for life; but I, like the rest, could only wait-wait with

vain. José sat beside me, endeavouring to rouse me. It must rain, he said, or the wind w

away into an unknown sea. All was still around me, though I was not alone. Sailors walked the deck or huddled in the forecastle-sailors with skin of wrinkled parchment, with deep-set, burning yet unseeing eyes, with moving lips from which no sound came

e stricken with fear. My head burned, but my face and limbs were wet as if I had just come f

ok no notice of me either then or afterwards. They had troubles en

it cold and gray; the sea was dull and lifeless,

whisper, and from his face, though not

ing in a weak, quavering voice. José spoke to him soothingly; but he only laughed, and continued his weird song. His face haunted me; even when darkness closed like a pall around us I could still see it. He sang on and on in the gloom, and it appeared to me that he was wailing our death-chant. Prese

oil of rope, and did our best to cheer him. The skipper joined us, but no other man stirre

his shoulder; "bear up, there's a good fellow. Rain m

roat is parched, parched; my head is like a burnin

d the captain piteously, as

José. "Once cut ourselves adrift from

rope, we waited for the night to pass, longing for yet dreading the appearance of another dawn. It was

one o'clock in the morning, when José sudd

d; and he, clapping

hearties; the wind's rising. There's a beautiful cla

ain and helped by José, they spread every sail and awning that could be used, collected buckets and a spare cask, and awaited the rain eagerly and expectantly. Would it come? Fiery snakes played

. Now we exulted in the certainty of relief; again we were thrown into the abyss of despair. We stood look

out the land, and afterwards the main body in a crowd beating fiercely, heavily upon us. How we laughed as, making cups of our hands, we lapped the welcome water greedily! What cries of delight asc

ain all day untasted, and then, doubly refreshed, they relieved their comrades. José and I,

w short of three men, could barely manage the schooner. José and I knew nothing of seamanship, but we bore a hand he

e wind battered against the schooner in howling gusts, and presently the topgallant mast fell with a crash to the deck. Fortunately no one was hurt, and we quickly

ed with might and main to keep the water down. Thus the remainder of the night pass

rricane fury, the schooner tossed, a helpless wreck, in the midst of a mountainous sea. The carpenter reported that, in spite of all our labours, the water was fast gaining on us. The sailors now lost hea

oot you down like a dog! Call yourself a man? W

d more certain that no amount of pumping would save the ship. Even now she

less than twenty-four hours, and that he knew not whether we were close to the shore or a hundred leagues from it. Jo

t-that's as good a motto as any other. You heard the skipper say the schooner is bound to go down, and you know we have no boats-they wouldn't be any good if we had, while this storm lasts; but if the sea ca

ve stopped work in a body. However, he kept them at it, and towards noon the tempest ceased almost as suddenl

om gaining, and a germ of hope crept back into our hearts. Every hour now was likely to be in our favour, as the captain judged the wind was blowing us to some part of the coa

dark line of coast with a barrier of mountains in the

ng surf? These were the questions which agitated our minds as, impelled by the breeze, she drove thro

rth in the sky, but were soon veiled by grayish clouds. The broad white band

ry out. José and I were resting at the moment, when the schooner lurched heavi

seemed impossible to stay longer without opening my mouth and swallowing the salt water. By an e

across the waste of waters. Twice again it came, and then all was silent, though in imagination I still could hear that anguished cry. The sea rolled in long surges, carrying me forward without effort and at a great rate toward the clear white line. Live

ted foam; then feeling that the end was very near, I prayed silently yet fervently

he crest of a second huge roller, and then was flung with the velocity o

t little, only that for a moment I lay brui

impotence against the immovable rocks. The wild, weird scene, too, frightened me; for I was but a boy, remember, who up to this had never met with a more stirring adventure, perhaps, than a tussle with a high-spirited pony. I was worn out, too, by hard toil, faint from loss of blood, saddened by the loss of my faithful José, and by

r the time safe! Although half dead with privation and exposure, I wandered some way along the be

being walled in by a rocky cliff, steep and high, and but f

aid, the track was little more than a fissure in the rock, and my head was far from clear. I toiled on, cutting my hands and legs with the jagged rocks, but making some progress, till at length I had covered the greater part of the distance; then I could do no more. A tiny crevice gave me foothold, and I was able to re

ar of the surf below. Presently, on the summit of the cliff, not far above me, a la

ir, for my strength was fast ebbing. I must soon lose m

tone bounding and bouncing from rock to rock whizzed past my head, and disappeared in the gloo

and though moving slowly, it certainly advanced in my direction. Yes, I saw a man's outline

was saved. Putting the lantern on the ledge and grasping the collar of my coa

xclaimed, faintly

new I w

crowded around me as I reached the top; but being u

ach. There may have bee

men carried me away, leaving their companions,