ay, all this time many of the Spanish officers standing by and not
attempting to interfere. The Spanish seamen, finding that nothing was
to be obtained but hard knocks, retreated to secure their share of the
liquor. Often had Jack and Adair cast their eyes round the horizon in
the hopes of discovering a sail by which they might escape from the
rock, but none appeared. Meantime hunger was pressing; the head of one
of the meat-casks was knocked off, and the biscuits were spread out to
dry. In vain they tried to light a fire. There was plenty of
driftwood, but it was too wet; so they had to eat the meat raw. Their
appetites were thus quickly satisfied. At first the sky gave
indications of an improvement in the weather, but by noon it came on to
blow as hard as ever. They made all the signals they could devise to
induce the people who still remained on the wreck to quit it, but they
soon found by the wretches' frantic gestures and maniacal shouts that
they also had got hold of a cask of spirits, and were in as bad a
condition as their comrades. They were soon indeed seen snapping their
fingers, and dancing about the decks as if they were in a place of
perfect safety. One poor wretch slipped overboard, but his companions,
instead of trying to help him, only laughed and shouted the louder, nor
did they appear to comprehend that he was drowning before their eyes. A
few remained on the small rock. Every now and then one would carelessly
get within the influence of the seas, and several were thus swept away.
The larger part of the crew who had been carousing at the foot of the
big rock, soon began to dispute with each other; their voices grew
higher and higher, their actions more vehement. Knives at last were
drawn, and one lay a corpse by the side of his companions. This act of
violence, instead of sobering the rest, induced another to take up the
quarrel, and another and another joining, in a short time the greater
portion were engaged in a deadly hand-to-hand struggle. The officers
contented themselves with merely shouting and ordering them to desist,
and of course their commands received no attention. In a few minutes
several of the combatants lay weltering in their blood, and two of them,
locked in a deadly embrace in each other's arms, fell off the rock into
the sea, and a huge wave rolling in washed them both away. The gale was
increasing, the wreck rocked to and fro, large portions were constantly
being de