ard of the island, and your chance of
being picked up would in that case have been remote in the extreme, for
although I have now been here for some months I have not sighted a
single sail since I arrived here. And now, if you have no objection, I
should like to hear your yarn."

"Well, sir," answered Nicholls, "I don't know that there's very much to
tell; but, such as it is, you're welcome to it. We belonged to a very
tidy little barque--the _Wanderer_, of Liverpool--and sailed from
Otago--which, as I suppose you know, sir, is in New Zealand--for London
on--what's to-day?"

Leslie gave him the date.

"The dickens it is," ejaculated Nicholls; "then I've lost a day of my
reckoning! Must have been a day longer on that raft than I thought.
Well, anyhow, if what you say, sir, be true--and I'm sure I don't doubt
your word--it's just a month ago, this blessed day, that we sailed from
Otago, bound, as I say, for London, with orders to call at Callao on our
way home. We sailed with a regular westerly roarer astern of us, to
which the `old man'--I mean the capt'n, sir,--showed every rag that
would draw, up to to'gallant stunsails, and the skipper kept well to the
south'ard, hoping to make all the easting that he wanted out of that
westerly wind. And I reckon that he did, too, for we carried that same
breeze with us to longitude 115 degrees, when we hauled up to the
nor'ard and east'ard. Then about two days later--wasn't it, Bob?"

"Ay," answered the boatswain, who seemed to know exactly to what
Nicholls was referring, "just two days a'terwards, Mr Nicholls."

"Yes," resumed Nicholls, "two days later we got a shift of wind, the
breeze coming out at about east-north-east, and we broke off to about
due north, which was disappointing, as we hoped to pick up the
south-east trades just where we then were. But we held all on, hoping
that the wind would gradually haul round. It didn't, however; on the
contrary, it came on to blow hard and heavy, until we were hove-to under
close-reefed topsails, and the sea--well _I_ never saw anything like it
in all my born days; the _Wanderer_ was mostly a very comfortable little
hooker when she was hove-to, but this time she rolled so frightfully--
being in light trim, you must understand, sir--that I, for one, expected
any minute to see her roll her masts over the side. And after we had
been hove-to for twenty-six hours she scared the skipper so badly that
he decided to up-helm and try