d myself out on the sofa and slept until you woke
me with your ravin'; but now that you've come to your senses I expect I
shall be able to get a really _good_ rest."

"I hope you will," said I. "And there's no time like the present; so,
as I am feeling very comfortable just now, and much inclined to sleep,
go and turn in, and get that really _good_ rest that you spoke of.
Leave open the door of my state-room, and that of your own, and if I
need anything I'll call out for you."

Thanks to the tireless attention with which Billy tended me, and the
meticulous care with which he followed the instructions set forth in the
book of directions attached to the ship's medicine-chest, for such a
case as mine, I was not again troubled with delirium, nor did I
experience any other set-back of any kind; on the contrary, I made such
excellent progress that within the fortnight I was able to be up and
about again, although it was something of a task to climb the companion
stairway to the deck, even with the help of Billy. But, that task once
achieved, I made rapid headway, and was soon my old self again. Upon my
first visit to the deck after my illness I sustained something of a
shock. My last view of the brigantine had shown her all ataunto, and
although what Billy had told me ought to have prepared me for the change
that met my gaze, I must confess that I was distinctly taken aback when
upon my first emergence from the companion I beheld both masts gone by
the board, all the bulwarks swept away, and the deck hampered by a
confused mass of raffle consisting of the mainmast with all attached
stretched fore and aft, while the foremast had gone over the bows, its
head resting upon the coral while its splintered lower extremity
projected some ten feet above the knightheads. The fore topmast had
carried away close to the cap and, with the yards, was afloat under the
bows, fast to the wreck by the standing and running rigging. The life-
boat that had served me so well had practically disappeared, only the
keel and a fragment of the sternpost remaining; but, by a miracle, the
galley remained intact, and was in regular use by Billy for the
preparation of our meals. Almost my first care was to sound the well,
in the hope that by some stroke of marvellous good fortune the hull
might have, so far, escaped serious damage and be capable of being
floated again; but, of course, that was too much to expect. I found
nearly two and a half feet