ld remember, and proceeded to carry it
out. Sauntering leisurely off the poop, he descended to the waist of
the ship, repeating eagerly over and over again the words "spars--raft,"
lest he should forget them. There were several spare spars of various
sizes, ranging from topmasts down to studding-sail booms, lashed to the
deck on each side of the main-hatchway, and these he deliberately set to
work to cast adrift. With considerable difficulty he at length
succeeded in accomplishing this task, the result being that the spars
were set rolling athwart the deck with the roll of the ship. Nothing
daunted by this, however, he dashed recklessly in among them, and
escaping, heaven knows how, from the incessant danger of fractured
limbs, managed to drag out, one after the other, and launch overboard
several of the lighter spars. Having commenced the work, he now toiled
persistently on, allowing himself neither pause nor rest until he had
disposed of every spar which his unaided strength would allow him to
move. Then, panting, breathless, and reeking with perspiration, he
walked to the side and peered over. The spars were nowhere to be seen;
in his madness it had never occurred to him to secure them with ropes,
and they had consequently drifted astern, and were of course tossing,
some of them miles away, in the wake of the ship.

Somehow the loss of the spars caused him no distress; indeed, as a
matter of fact, he had again forgotten all about the raft, and had
continued to labour on, merely because it had not occurred to him to
stop. Now that he had stopped, however, he began to be conscious not
only of fatigue, but also of hunger, for he had tasted no food for
nearly twenty-four hours, and had been working hard all through the
night; so he made his way by instinct into the saloon and thence to the
steward's pantry, where he found an abundance of food, which he attacked
ravenously. He then, after satisfying his hunger, bent his steps in the
direction of his own state-room, and, entering, flung himself upon the
bed, and soon sank into an uneasy and restless sleep.

Meanwhile the wind had been steadily dropping, the sea going down at the
same time, and when, just before sunset, the glorious orb burst through
and dispersed the curtain of storm-tattered clouds which had for so long
a time overspread the sky, his golden rays fell upon the _Princess
Royal_, now no longer rolling gunwale-under, but swinging with a slow
stately