dismiss him from their memory! But, I assure you, this
is not always the case. You see, a ship is a sort of little world, and
those on board are so closely bound together--getting to know each other
so thoroughly from not having any others to associate with--that when
one is taken away from amongst them, particularly by a violent death,
his absence, cannot but be felt. A sailor often misses even a messmate
whom he may dislike. How much the more, therefore, did we feel the loss
of the whole boat's crew of the pinnace, every man of whom was almost as
much a brother to me as you!"

"I beg your pardon if I spoke thoughtlessly," said Fritz; "but I should
have imagined that being in such imminent danger, you would not have had
much time to mourn your lost comrades."

"Nor did we," continued Eric, "so long as we had something to do, either
in helping to bale the boat out or keeping her head to wind; but, when
we began to run before the gale, the men stretched out in the bottom and
along the stern-sheets, doing nothing,--for there was nothing for us to
do,--we began to think of the poor fellows. This was only for a short
time, however, as presently we had a more serious consideration on our
minds than even the fate of the others. During all the strain on us,
when we were in such danger, none of us had thought of eating or
drinking; and, consequently, we had not examined the provisions--put
hastily on board as we were leaving the sinking ship. But, now, feeling
almost famished, on proceeding to overhaul the lockers, we found to our
dismay that the sea water had spoilt everything, our biscuit being paste
and the other food rendered unfit for use."

"What a calamity!" exclaimed Fritz.

"Yes," said Eric, "it was. Fortunately, we had some water, although our
two barricoes did not contain an over-abundant supply for seven men as
there were of us in the jolly-boat all told, including me. The captain,
too, had stowed away a bottle of rum in the pocket of his pea jacket;
and this being served out all round in a little tin pannikin we had,
diluted to the strength of about four-water grog, it strengthened us all
up a bit, bracing up our energies for what lay before us."

"What did you do?" asked Fritz.

"Why, what could we do, save let the boat go where the wind chose to
take us, and trust in providence!" said Eric, seemingly surprised at the
question.

"Ah, we had an awful time of it," he resumed presently. "When you co