swept
everything away but a boat, which had been thrown up beyond the reach
of the waves. For two days we had no food or water, and suffered
terribly, for the sun had shone down straight on our heads, and we
envied those who had died at once. The woman set us a good example.
She spent her time tending her child and praying to God; and we
sailors, who are rough, you know--but who know that God protects
us, and never go for a long voyage without going to the chapel and
paying for a mass for our safety--we prayed too, and the third
morning there were three turtles asleep on the shore. We turned them
over on their backs, and there was meat for us for a long time.

"We killed one and drank the blood, and ate our first meal raw.
Then we cut up the rest of the flesh and hung it up in the sun to
dry. That very night we saw the clouds banking up, and knew it
was going to rain.

"'Now,' our mate said, 'if we had but a barrel we could catch water
and start in our boat, but without that the water will last only a
day or two; for if we kill all the turtles and fill their shells,
it will evaporate in a day under this hot sun, and it may be weeks
before there is rain again, and we might as well have died at once.

"'For shame,' the woman said. 'You are doubting the good God again,
after he has saved your life and has sent you food and is now going
to send you water. Do you think he has done all this for nothing?
There must be some way out of the difficulty if we could but think
of it.'

"She sat looking at the turtle for two or three minutes, and then
said:

"'It is easy. Why have you not thought of it? See there. Cut off
one of their heads, and then you can get your arm in, if you take
the biggest. Then cut out all the meat and bones piece by piece,
and there is a great bottle which will hold gallons.'

"We shouted for joy, for it was as she had said, though I am sure
none of us would ever have thought of it if God had not given her
the idea. We soon set to work and got the shell ready. The rain
storm came quickly. We had turned the boat over, the oars had been
washed away, but the mast and sail were lashed to the thwarts. We
made a little hollow in the sand and stretched out the sail, and by
the time this was done and the men were ready with the turtle-shell
the rain came. When it rains in those parts it comes down in
bucketfuls, and we soon had enough in the sail to drink our fill
and to fill up the turtle-shell to the to