vast quantity of
food in various shapes and forms. At this news we were greatly pleased,
seeing that we need have no more anxiety regarding a lack of victuals,
and so in the letter which I went into the tent to write, I put down
that we were in no great plentitude of provisions, at which hint I
guessed they would add somewhat to the bread when it should be ready. And
after that I wrote down such chief events as my memory recalled as having
occurred in the course of the past seven years, and then, a short account
of our own adventures, up to that time, telling them of the attack which
we had suffered from the weed men, and asking such questions as my
curiosity and wonder prompted.

Now whilst I had been writing, sitting in the mouth of the tent, I had
observed, from time to time, how that the bo'sun was busied with the men
in passing the end of the big rope round a mighty boulder, which lay
about ten fathoms in from the edge of the cliff which overlooked the
hulk. This he did, parceling the rope where the rock was in any way
sharp, so as to protect it from being cut; for which purpose he made use
of some of the canvas. And by the time that I had the letter completed,
the rope was made very secure to the great piece of rock, and, further,
they had put a large piece of chafing gear under that part of the rope
where it took the edge of the cliff.

Now having, as I have said, completed the letter, I went out with it to
the bo'sun; but, before placing it in the oilskin bag he bade me add a
note at the bottom, to say that the big rope was all fast, and that they
could heave on it so soon as it pleased them, and after that we
dispatched the letter by means of the small line, the men in the hulk
hauling it off to them so soon as they perceived our signals.

By this, it had come well on to the latter part of the afternoon, and the
bo'sun called us to make some sort of a meal, leaving one man to watch
the hulk, perchance they should signal to us. For we had missed our
dinner in the excitement of the day's work, and were come now to feel the
lack of it. Then, in the midst of it, the man upon the lookout cried out
that they were signaling to us from the ship, and, at that, we ran all of
us to see what they desired, and so, by the code which we had arranged
between us, we found that they waited for us to haul upon the small line.
This did we, and made out presently that we were hauling something across
the weed, of a very fair bulk