rkness, there being a slight surface fog on the water; so, hearing
nothing and seeing nothing of us, her people must have come to the
conclusion that we had gone to the bottom, and so put her on her course
again."

"Why," inquired the captain, "did not those wretched scoundrels cry out
when the steamer came on them like that?"

"How could they? It was all done in a moment, as I have told you. One
instant the devils were there, gambling and drinking and swearing
amongst themselves, and the next, cr-r-r-ash, and they were gone to
their patron saint below!"

"And then you were alone?"

"Yes, so far as I knew; but I was not quite certain yet that the
scoundrel Gomez had not lied merely to sport with my misery, and that,
perhaps, my poor brother might be still alive. However as the hours
wore on without him ever making his appearance, and the crash of the
collision would have well-nigh wakened the dead, I gave up hope,
beginning to wonder then, as the sun rose up and the sea became
illumined with light, whether some passing vessel might not sight the
wreck and bear down to rescue me. By-and-by, though, on morning melting
into day, and, later on, the afternoon waning on the approach of the
shades of night, without ever a distant sail coming in sight to banish
my despair, this hope, too, fled."

"You saw nothing, then?"

"Nothing but the seagulls, which swooped down over my head to see
whether I were alive or dead; and it was fortunate my hands were free,
or else they would have pecked out my eyes. Nothing but these and the
boundless waste of the ocean, whose waters lapped the sides of the ship,
which kept afloat, much to my surprise. Her buoyant cargo supported
her, although her hold was full up to the main deck, and the sea washing
in and out of her forwards; and, there was I, tied up there in the
rigging like a dog, listening to the melancholy sound of the breaking
waves. I was, you must recollect, utterly unable to help myself, for my
arms were pinioned like my legs, although my hands were loose and I
could move them about: but, otherwise, I was powerless and could not
stir from the place where I was lashed, the ropes binding me being just
secured beyond my reach by that villain Gomez, so as to make my agony
all the greater."

"It must have been fearful," said Captain Farmer. "I wonder your brain
did not give way."

"Thanks be to God, no! My reason was preserved throughout this terrible
ordeal for some