eat anxiety about those we had left on
shore. Even should they have escaped injury, I felt how anxious Captain
Davenport would be when he found that the ship had disappeared; and
Emily, too, how great would be her grief at the thought that I was
probably lost. What the Lascars were about, I could not tell. Our
people remained aft, while they kept forward. I have gone through many
trying scenes, but that was decidedly one of the most trying. We felt
it the more because we were personally safe. We could walk about and
take our food, but at the same time we were every moment expecting
destruction. I was soon to be in a far more dangerous position, but
then I was looking out, hoping to be saved.

The morning at length broke. We saw the Lascars clustered forward.
What they were about to do we could not tell. Still we drove on. Land
appeared on either hand in the far distance. It was evident that we
were between two islands. The chart showed me that one was Gilolo, and
the other the island of Batchian. The want of sails prevented our
taking the ship into some sheltered place which we might hope to find on
one side or the other.

"We must either compel the Lascars to assist us in bending sails and
getting the anchor ready, or attack them and drive them overboard," said
the boatswain to me.

"That cannot be done without bloodshed, I fear," I answered, "for they
are armed as well as we are."

Thus the two parties remained watching each other. Our men were eager
to make a dash forward and attack the Lascars, but the boatswain
restrained them.

"Wait a bit, lads," he said; "maybe they will attack us, and then, if we
beat them, as I am very sure we shall, we shall not have their blood on
our hands. Depend upon it, if they slipped the cables--and I am very
sure they did--they did not expect the hurricane to continue so long as
it has done. They wish it over as much as we do; and, like many other
villains, in attempting to work us injury they are likely enough to
bring destruction on their own heads."

Hour after hour passed by, and once more the land seemed to recede from
us, and we were in the open sea. The wind had slightly gone down, but
still it blew with fearful violence. Again darkness was stealing over
us. Our deck presented a strange appearance--a very sad one, in truth.
The small number of human beings there collected, instead of helping
each other, stood prepared for a desperate fight. Possibly,