e must wait till the sea is smooth, and then we'll get the
companion hatch off and have a look below; we may be able to bale the
water out, and shift enough of the ballast to right her; but as long as
the sea is running it's safer to trust to Providence, and to hold on
with hands and teeth where we are, and--

"`Poor Spider, I'm afraid he'll have an uncomfortable time of it, left
all alone in the dark below, and not knowing what can have happened to
the vessel,' said Mr Rogers, as if he thought the monkey more to be
pitied than himself or us.

"The poor brute had been made fast below, to keep him out of mischief,
when they went on shore, and had remained there since. I had an idea
that he was very likely drowned if he was over on the lee side, but I
didn't say so for fear of grieving his young masters. Thinks I to
myself, if we are hard up for grub, whether dead or alive, he'll serve
us for a meal or two at all events.

"Having no longer the steering of the craft to attend to, as evening
drew on I began to feel very drowsy, and it made me fear that the
youngsters, who would be getting sleepy, likewise, to a certainty might
drop off into the water and be drowned, or be grabbed by a shark. The
thought had no sooner come into my head than I saw one of the brutes
swimming by and casting his two wicked eyes up at us. I roused myself
up in a moment, and getting hold of some lashings, pointed him out to
the young gentlemen. When I told them what I feared, they did not
object to my making them all fast to the chains with their legs along
the shrouds. I afterwards secured myself close to them on the bulwarks.
I hadn't been there many minutes before I went off into a sort of
sleep, though it wasn't exactly sleep, because I knew where I was, and
never forgot what had happened. I could hear, too, the voices of my
young companions, trying by talking to keep each other awake, though it
was a hard job for them, poor lads. The seas, do ye see, had been
washing over us all the time, and even now, though they broke less
heavily than before, pretty often nearly smothered us, but even they
could not make me keep my eyes open. Darkness soon came down upon the
ocean, but it was growing calmer and calmer, and I could feel that the
vessel was no longer tossed and tumbled about, while the voices of the
midshipmen ceased to sound in my ears. I tried to rouse myself up.
That was, however, more than I could do, and at last I dropped of