and drinking
my fill of the salt-water that looked so tempting and refreshing.

My companion sought to encourage me to hope, long after all hope had
vanished--then she preached resignation to the Divine will, and in her
own nature gave a practical commentary on her text.

I perceived that her voice was getting more and more faint--and that she
was becoming hourly more feeble. She was not able to move from her
seat, and at last asked me to assist her to lie down at the bottom of
the boat. Then I noticed that she prayed fervently, and I could often
distinguish my name in these petitions to the throne of Grace.

I felt a strange sensation in my head, and my tongue became in my mouth
as a dry stick--from this I was relieved by chewing the sleeve of my
shirt; but my head grew worse. My eyes too were affected in a strange
manner. I continually fancied that I saw ships sailing about at a
little distance from me, and I strove to attract their attention by
calling to them. My voice was weak, and I could create only a kind of
half-stifled cry. Then I thought I beheld land: fair forests and green
pastures spread before me--bright flowers and refreshing fruits grew all
around--and I called to my companion to make haste, for we were running
ashore and should presently be pulling the clustering grapes and should
lay ourselves down among the odorous flowers.

Mrs Reichardt opened her eyes and gazed at me with a more painful
interest. She knew I was haunted by the chimeras created by famine and
thirst; but she seemed to have lost all power of speech. She motioned
me to join her in prayer; I, however, was too much occupied with the
prospect of landing, and paid no attention to her signs.

Presently the bright landscape faded away, and I beheld nothing but the
wide expanse of water, the circle of which appeared to expand and spread
into the sky, and the sky seemed lost and broken up in the water, and
for a few minutes they were mixed together in the wildest and strangest
confusion. Subsequently to this I must have dropped asleep, for after a
while I found myself huddled up in a corner of the boat, and must have
fallen there from my seat. I stared about me for some time unconscious
where I was. The bright sun still shone over my head; the everlasting
sea still rolled beneath my feet.

I looked to the bottom of the boat, and met the upturned gaze of my
fellow voyager. The pale face had grown paler, and the expression of