e sailed at a
considerable distance apart, so that we would not both go to pot if an
English gunboat caught us. Therefore, we always had to sail in coastal
water. That is full of coral reefs, however."

"The Commander," Lieutenant Gerdts said, "had charge of the first
sambuk; I of the second, which was the larger of the two, for we had
four sick men aboard. At first everything went nicely for three days.
For the most part I could see the sails of the first ship ahead of
men. On the third day I received orders to draw nearer and to remain
in the vicinity of the first boat, because its pilot was sailing less
skillfully than mine. Suddenly, in the twilight, I felt a shock, then
another, and still another. The water poured in rapidly. I had run
upon the reef of a small island, where the smaller sambuk was able
barely to pass because it had a foot less draught than mine. Soon my
ship was quite full, listed over, and all of us--twenty-eight men--had
to sit on the uptilted edge of the boat. The little island lies at
Jesirat Marka, 200 miles north of Jebaua. To be sure, an Arab boat lay
near by, but they did not know us. Nobody could help us. If the
Commander had not changed the order a few hours before and asked us to
sail up closer, we would probably have drowned on this coral
reef--certainly would have died of thirst. Moreover, the waters
thereabouts are full of sharks, and the evening was so squally that
our stranded boat was raised and banged with every wave. We could
scarcely move, and the other boat was nowhere in sight. And now it
grew dark. At this stage I began to build a raft of spars and old
pieces of wood, that might at all events keep us afloat.

"But soon the first boat came into sight again. The commander turned
about and sent over his little canoe; in this and in our own canoe, in
which two men could sit at each trip, we first transferred the sick.
Now the Arabs began to help us. But just then the tropical helmet of
our doctor suddenly appeared above the water in which he was standing
up to his ears. Thereupon the Arabs withdrew; we were Christians, and
they did not know that we were friends. Now the other sambuk was so
near that we could have swam to it in half an hour, but the seas were
too high. At each trip a good swimmer trailed along, hanging to the
painter of the canoe. When it became altogether dark we could not see
the boat any more, for over there they were prevented by the wind from
keeping any lig