aw the justness of my remarks, and
they knew that the Charon had no other boats remaining in which the rest
of those who had volunteered could come to our assistance. Accordingly,
having trimmed sails as well as could be done to keep way with the
convoy, I ordered the pumps to be manned, and we all set to with a will.
Everyone worked as if they felt their lives depended on it; so they
did, I was convinced, for had we relaxed for ten minutes the old ship
might have given one plunge too much and gone down. I took my spell
with the rest, or rather, I may say, that I and all the rest laboured
away with scarcely an interval of rest. After two hours' hard pumping I
sent Grampus to ascertain whether we had in any way diminished the water
in the hold. All we had done was to get it under about a foot. From
the quantity of water we had pumped out I therefore knew that the leak
or rather leaks must be very bad ones. Still, if I had had my fifty men
with me, I should have been able, I was sure, unless the weather came on
very bad, to keep the leaks under. However, I resolved to keep up my
own spirits and those of the people with me as well as I could. Now and
then I shouted out a few words of encouragement, then I sang a few
snatches of some well-known song, or cut a joke or two suited to the
taste of my followers. This kept them in good spirits and prevented
them from thinking of the dangerous predicament in which we were placed.
Hour after hour dragged its heavy footsteps along, and often I felt so
weary that I thought I must throw myself down on the deck and give in.
Then I would take a few minutes' rest, sitting on a gun, and go at it
again.

Everything contributed to make me persevere, and not the least, I must
own, was my anger and disgust at the shameful and cowardly way in which
the ship had been abandoned. Oh, how I wished for daylight! and yet
daylight I knew was far-off. I kept Grampus and Rockets near me that I
might send them, as might be necessary, to ascertain the state of
affairs in different parts of the ship. In a small craft I might more
easily have known what was going forward, but in a huge lumbering ship
like the Leviathan I could not tell what might be occurring. When the
condition of a ship has become desperate, sailors have very often broken
into the spirit-room, and, getting drunk, have allowed her to sink with
them. I had my fears that my poor fellows, when they became weary,
would be guilty