immovable, and the men's dinner-
hour had arrived; the second longboat was therefore dropped astern, and
the hands knocked off for their midday meal.

In addition to her longboat the _Indian Queen_ carried a jolly-boat, a
dinghy, and four very fine, roomy gigs, two of which hung in davits in
the wake of the mizzen rigging while the other two were supported on a
gallows that stood abaft the mainmast. It will be seen, therefore,
that, even apart from the longboat and gig of the _Dolores_, this ship
was very well supplied with boats, only two of which--the two
longboats--were thus far loaded. The gigs, although they were of course
of much smaller capacity than the longboats, and having fixed thwarts
were not so adaptable for the purpose of temporarily receiving cargo,
were nevertheless capable of being made very good use of, and in the
afternoon they were brought alongside and loaded one after another,
until all four of the ship's own gigs were as deep in the water as it
was prudent to put them, when they also were dropped astern, leaving
only the dinghy, and the gig of the _Dolores_, unutilised. The dinghy,
of course, was too small to be of any use as a temporary receptacle of
cargo, and I felt that it would be unwise to deprive ourselves of the
services of the remaining gig for other purposes. I therefore decided,
in conjunction with Carter, that if it should prove necessary to lighten
the ship still further, we would discharge the two longboats on to the
sandbank--a considerable area of which remained dry even at high-water--
and then strike another cargo down into the empty boats. But as it was
by this time within half an hour of sunset, and the men had been working
very hard all day, we arranged to let them knock off and, after clearing
up the decks and replacing the hatches, to take a good rest, in view of
the possibility that we might be obliged to call upon them during the
night, should the savages elect to become troublesome.

Night fell calm and gracious upon the scene, the air breathless, and the
sky without a cloud, but with a thin strip of new moon hanging in the
western sky in the wake of the vanished sun. The anchor-watch was set,
and by the time that I had taken a bath and changed my clothes the
dinner-hour had arrived, and we all gathered round the "hospitable
board" which Briggs and his satellites had prepared for us. Everybody
was in the best of spirits, for the men had not only worked well but h