h each of
us got rather more sleep. The next morning there was the same dull
calm. Noon came, and with a heavy heart I served out the remainder of
our provisions, but none of us seemed to care much for food. Water was
what we craved for. A thimbleful to moisten our tongues would have been
worth its bulk in gold. A raging thirst was growing on us. I urged the
men to abstain from drinking salt water, for I well knew that if they
did, it would only increase their sufferings. Earnestly did I pray that
we might not have to endure another night on the wreck, for I thought
that we could never exist through it; but the night came, and we passed
it, how, I scarcely know, for, though not asleep, I was certainly not
fully awake, except to a sense of some overpowering misfortune. The day
came, a day which we must pass without food or water. Our sufferings
hitherto had not been great, but this morning they became very intense.
Hope, which had till now never deserted us, began to grow faint, and
alas! even trust in God's providence to wane. I tried to pray, but my
thoughts were confused. I could not for two consecutive minutes fix
them on the same subject, and I experienced practically the folly of
attempting to wait for a death-bed repentance, for sickness, or for such
a moment as the present, for reconciliation with God. I speak of my own
feelings, and I believe that they were not far different from those of
my men. Hour after hour we sat gazing stupidly at each other. The hot
sun rose and scorched us as before, while the bright glare his rays cast
on the smooth ocean almost blinded our eyes. Several times I tried to
rouse myself to talk to my men, and to encourage them; but I own that I
failed miserably in the attempt, and, from weakness, I was scarcely able
to refrain from giving way to a flood of tears. It was some time past
noon, when I saw Jack's countenance brighten up.

"What is it?" I asked.

He pointed eagerly to the southward. I turned round, and looked, and
there I saw in the horizon a long, thin, well-defined, dark blue line,
and in the centre of it a white speck.

"A breeze! a breeze!" I cried.

"Ay, and a sail, too," added Jack. "She is standing this way. Huzza!
my lads."

Jim and Sandy cheered faintly. They were the first words they had
uttered for some hours. We now all found our tongues, a fillip had been
given to our spirits, and we thought scarcely of our hunger or thirst.
The dark bl