o a piece of wreck in the middle
of the Mediterranean. It was not an agreeable position to be in,
certainly, but it might have been worse. I might have been in the
middle of the Atlantic, or the Bay of Biscay, or near a country
inhabited by cannibals, or with nothing to float on, as was the case
till I got hold of the shattered mast. I did not feel it a very serious
matter, I suppose, for I slept soundly. I knew that the sea at that
time was swarming with vessels--men-of-war, transports, store-ships, and
merchantmen, sailing in every direction, and I hoped one or the other
would pick me up.

At last the sun shining in my eyes awoke me, and looking around, I saw,
about two miles or so to the eastward, a brig with her foretopmast gone
and maintopsail-yard carried away. The damage had been done, I had no
doubt, by the squall which had sent me out of my warm hammock into the
cold water. The squall had passed over, and the sea was almost as
smooth as glass. I had a handkerchief round my waist. I took it off,
and, standing as high as I could on the wreck, I waved it above my head.
I waited anxiously to see if my signal had produced any effect; but the
brig's crew were all so busily engaged in repairing the damage she had
received, that they did not see me. So I sat down again, hoping that
by-and-by they might knock off work, and find a moment to look about
them. One comfort was, that while the calm lasted the brig was not
likely to go far away from me.

The time seemed very long, and I was beginning to get hungry too as the
hour of breakfast drew on. So I got up again and waved my handkerchief,
and could not help shouting, though I well knew that no one at such a
distance could hear me. I waved till my arm ached, and still I was
unobserved; so I sat down a second time, and began to consider what
means existed of attracting the attention of the people aboard the brig.
I thought of swimming to her; but I reflected that it would be better
to let well alone, and that, as there was a long distance to traverse
before I could reach her, I might lose my strength, and sink without
being observed. The sun, however, rose higher and higher in the sky,
and I grew still more hungry; so for a third time I stood up and waved,
and shouted, and played all sorts of curious antics, in my eagerness to
attract notice. At length there was a stir aboard, and I thought I saw
some one waving in return. I was right. A quarter-boat was