the rest of the day, an' we got
out a couple of bar'ls of water, which was all right, havin' been tight
bunged, an' a lot of sea-biscuit, all soaked an sloppy, but we only got
a half-bar'l of meat, though three or four of the men stripped an' dove
fur more'n an hour. We cut up some of the meat an' eat it raw, an' the
cap'n sent some over to the other wreck, which had drifted past us to
leeward, an' would have gone clean away from us if the cap'n hadn't had
a line got out an' made us fast to it while we was a-workin' at the
stores.

"That night the cap'n took us three, as well as the provisions we'd got
out, on board his hull, where the 'commodations was consid'able better
than they was on the half-sunk Mary Auguster. An' afore we turned in
he took me aft an' had a talk with me as commandin' off'cer of my
vessel. `That wreck o' yourn,' says he, `has got a vallyble cargo in
it, which isn't sp'iled by bein' under water. Now, if you could get
that cargo into port it would put a lot of money in your pocket, fur
the owners couldn't git out of payin' you fur takin' charge of it an'
havin' it brung in. Now I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll lie by you,
an' I've got carpenters aboard that'll put your pumps in order, an'
I'll set my men to work to pump out your vessel. An' then, when she's
afloat all right, I'll go to work ag'in at my vessel--which I didn't
s'pose there was any use o' doin', but whilst I was huntin' round
amongst our cargo to-day I found that some of the machinery we carried
might be worked up so's to take the place of what is broke in our
engine. We've got a forge aboard, an' I believe we can make these
pieces of machinery fit, an' git goin' ag'in. Then I'll tow you into
Sydney, an' we'll divide the salvage money. I won't git nothin' fur
savin' my vessel, coz that's my business, but you wasn't cap'n o'
yourn, an' took charge of her a-purpose to save her, which is another
thing.'

"I wasn't at all sure that I didn't take charge of the Mary Auguster to
save myself an' not the vessel, but I didn't mention that, an' asked
the cap'n how he expected to live all this time.

"`Oh, we kin git at your stores easy enough,' says he, when the water's
pumped out.' `They'll be mostly sp'iled,' says I. `That don't matter'
says he. `Men'll eat anything when they can't git nothin' else.' An'
with that he left me to think it over.

"I must say, young man, an' you kin b'lieve me if you know anything
about sech thin