ut again and I could hear Ruston saying, "I
believe we are now safe, Sir;" and I immediately ordered that two men
should go off and relieve Mr. Smith and Mr. Walker. They evidently feared
to make the attempt and said they could not swim, which was true as far
as some of them were concerned. I then ordered successively three men who
I knew could swim to take advantage of the lull and gain the boat: they
all attempted it, but before they got clear of the reef their hearts
failed them, and they declared they could not contend with the waves.

RENEWAL OF THE STORM.

Just as the last man had failed, the wind, which had hitherto been from
the south-east, shifted instantaneously to the north-west. We all quailed
or fell before it, for it came with sudden and indescribable violence;
the boat appeared to hesitate for one moment, in the next she came
dancing wildly in on the shore. The men reached her as well as they could
and we dragged her up. The storm now became so violent that even Mr.
Walker, who was a heavy man, was blown about by it like a child; there
was not a tree on the island, but the bushes were stripped from the
ground, and I found it impossible to keep my legs.

The sea all this time kept rising, being heaped up by the wind against
the shore, but whenever a momentary lull came we took advantage of it to
drag the boat a little further up; indeed the sea gained on us so much
that I had made up my mind it would sweep away the intervening sandhills
and once more wash the face of the cliffs. In this case we should to a
certainty have all perished.

DISTRESS FOR WATER.

At two P.M. the storm lulled considerably, and I immediately despatched
men in all directions to collect water from holes in the rocks, and made
the native and an old bushman try to light a fire; for those of us who
had been all the night and morning in the pelting rain, with nothing but
our shirts on, were benumbed and miserable from cold.

March 1.

The men who had gone out for water soon returned and reported that they
had been able to find very little which was not brackish from the spray
having dashed over the island; I therefore again reduced the allowance to
one pint a day and proceeded to inspect damages. Yesterday we had started
in good boats, with strong men, plenty of provisions, everything in the
best order; today I found myself in a very different position, all the
stores we had with us, with the exception of the salt provisions, were