help to
make it go further than it would otherwise do."

Walter very willingly did as the mate advised, and ate the biscuit and
beef with more appetite than he had felt since they had been on the
raft. The mate then handed him a cup of wine, which he had diluted with
water. Walter thankfully swallowed the liquid.

"Now, it has done you good, has it not?" said the mate.

Walter nodded.

"I knew it would; and instead of throwing the wine away, we will fill
the bottle up with water. We shall then have a mixture all ready. Now,
as for the rum, that's bad by itself, I know; but, mixed with water, it
will help to digest our dry biscuit and cheese, and any other food we
may obtain,--which, if we do get any, we shall have to eat raw."

The mate was a temperate man, and had never been drunk in his life. But
what are called temperance principles were not known in those days. He
took his share of biscuit and beef; then pouring some rum into the cup,
mixed it with water from the sail, afterwards filling up the rum bottle
with water. He evidently felt satisfied that they had not yielded to
their first impulse and thrown the wine and spirits away.

"Now, to my mind, Walter, both the wine and spirits are given to us as
blessings; and what we have got to do is not to abuse them. If we had a
disorderly crew, I would stave every spirit-cask on board sooner than
let them get drunk. But our case is very different; and as neither you
nor I are likely to take more than would be good for us, and having a
wine-cask full, of the more precious liquid, I am sure we should be
wrong in throwing away what may, under present circumstances, help to
preserve our lives."

All this time Walter and the mate had been kneeling with the sail, still
half-full of water, between them. The rain had ceased. They looked
affectionately at the precious fluid. It might be long before they
could get any more. Once again they each dipped down their heads and
took another long draught. The mate suddenly exclaimed,--"We will still
make use of it. We will first bathe our heads and faces, and then wash
our clothes, to get some of the salt out of them. It will make us feel
more comfortable, and help to keep the scurvy at bay. At present I feel
like a Yarmouth bloater."

Walter was greatly refreshed by his ablutions. He then thoroughly
washed his shirt, and wringing it out, hung it up to dry. The old mate
afterwards performed the same operation.