d eyelids. The first thing after that of which I became
conscious was that the boat was rising and falling easily with a long,
steady, swinging motion; then I opened my eyes, and immediately noticed
that the sun was some two hours high. A very soft, warm, gentle breeze
fanned my cheek, and the only audible sounds were the snores and snorts
of many sleepers near me, mingling with the gentle lap of water along
the boat's planking. All hands save myself were sound asleep! I was
not greatly surprised at this, though naturally a trifle vexed that my
orders as to the maintenance of a lookout had not been more strictly
observed. But it was not until I had risen to my feet and flung an
inquiring glance round the horizon that I realised how miserably
unfortunate this negligence had been. For there, away in the western
board, distant some fourteen miles, gleamed the sails of a large ship;
and a more intent scrutiny revealed the tantalising circumstance that
she was steering such a course as had undoubtedly carried her past us
about an hour before daybreak at a distance of little more than three
miles; and, had a proper watch been maintained, we could have
intercepted and boarded her without difficulty. Whether she happened to
be a friend or an enemy was a matter of very secondary import just then,
in our miserable plight as regarded our stock of provisions and water;
our situation was such that even to have fallen into the hands of the
enemy would have been better than to be left as we were.

I at once roused all hands, and we forthwith went to work to cut adrift
the sails that had served us so well, and to bend them afresh to the
yards; while the others hauled aboard our sea anchor, cut its lashings
adrift, and took to the oars with the object of going in pursuit of the
distant sail. For there was yet a chance for us. If we could keep her
in sight long enough there was just a possibility that some one or
another of her crew, working aloft, might cast a glance astern and catch
sight of our tiny sail, when he would at once recognise it as that of a
boat, and report it; when, if the skipper happened to be a humane man,
he would assuredly heave-to and wait for us to close. So we all went to
work with a will, and soon had the boat all ataunto once more, and in
pursuit of the stranger as fast as oars and sails together could put her
through the water. But the experience of the first hour sufficed to
demonstrate beyond all qu