being rowed seaward flank on; a sailor stood in the bow
holding a coil of rope. Close in and seen over the tops of the waves
were the shaking and slatting sails of a pilot-boat, lying to. One of
the sails bore an enormous number six.

Vandover slept all that day and the night following, rolled in hot
blankets. The next morning he awoke with a strange sense of unreality
and of having dropped a day somewhere. As he lay in his stuffy little
bunk between decks, and felt the rolling of the pilot-boat under him, he
still fancied himself upon the _Mazatlan_; he felt the pain in his
bandaged thumb and wondered how it came there. Then his fall on the deck
came back to him, the wreck of the steamer, the excitement on board,
the reports of the rifle fired as a minute gun, the clouds of steam that
smelt of a great laundry, and the drowning of the little Jew of the
plush cap with the ear-laps. He shuddered and grew sick again for a
minute, telling himself that he would never forget that scene.

Such of the passengers as could get about breakfasted as best they could
in the cabin with the boatkeeper and four of the pilots. Here they were
informed as to what was to be done with them. The schooner would not go
in for two weeks, and it was out of the question to keep the castaways
on board for that length of time. However, at that moment the pilots
were cruising in the neighbourhood on the lookout for two Cape Horners
that were expected to be up at any moment. It was decided that when the
first of these should be met with the party should be transferred.

An hour after they had been picked up, the wind had begun to freshen. By
noon of the second day it had come on to blow half a gale. One could
hope only for the best as regarded the rest of the _Mazatlan's_ boats
and rafts. Not another sign of the wreck was seen by the schooner.

The castaways filled the little schooner to overflowing, hindering her
management, and getting in the way at every step. The pilot crew hustled
them about without ceremony, and after dinner one had to intervene to
prevent a fight between one of them and a sailor from the _Mazatlan_
over the question of a broken pipe. The women of the _Mazatlan_ kept in
their berths continually, rolled in hot blankets, dosed with steaming
whisky punches. In the afternoon, however, Vandover saw two of them in
the lee of the house attempting to dry their hair; one of them was the
woman he had particularly noticed in the lifeboat