ttles had been found in the cabin, and into these all
the water that remained was put, as was also the claret into others.
They, with the remainder of the biscuit and meat which had been found,
were put ready to place on the raft. In the mean time, following Mr
Collinson's directions, they increased and strengthened the raft. This
being done, it was once more dropped astern. The heat and the anxiety
they underwent was now telling on all hands. Mr Collinson again became
ill; indeed, none of the party were in a much better condition. Still
they had to keep their watch at night as usual. Bill was forward,
looking out over the ocean, and wishing that a breeze would come, when
he cried out--

"See! See! She's coming towards us! I see her white canvas shining in
the moonlight. She's coming on fast. Look, Jack, look! Can't you make
her out?"

Jack Windy at first declared he could see nothing, but when Bill more
clearly described the vessel, he also asserted that he saw her. Yet not
a breath of wind had reached them. On came the stranger.

"Shall we call up Mr Collinson?" asked Bill.

"No, no, boy, I can't make it out. Don't say anything. I fancied I
heard a voice hail us; yet I don't know. Why, there she goes, not two
cables' length off from us. I could almost declare I saw the people on
her deck. Yet I have never before seen a vessel sailing head to wind,
as some say they do, or in a calm like this."

Rapidly the vessel glided away to the east, till she was lost to sight.

"Boy, this is the strangest thing I ever saw in my life," said Jack
Windy. "It's not a thing I should like to talk about--no more will you,
I have a notion--yet both of us saw it, I'll swear to that."

On calling Grimshaw and Tommy to relieve the deck, they could not resist
telling them what they had seen.

"Maybe we shall see something of the same sort," said old Grim. "I
don't like those sort of things, but I am not surprised."

When daylight broke, old Grim declared that he also had seen a vessel
passing rapidly by, and disappearing to the east. They determined to
tell Mr Collinson.

"I am not surprised," he answered, "at what you tell me, my lads; but I
have to assure you that the vessels you think you have seen have been
all the time inside your own brains. Bill thought he saw a vessel, and
that made Jack think he had seen one; and when they told Grimshaw and
Tommy Rebow, it made them fancy the same; but, depend upon i