ing, so as to run straight to
leeward and so get the greatest possible speed out of her.

We steered in spells of two hours each, the rest seeking shelter from
the sun's rays in the shadow of the sail, the seamen trying to pass away
the time as much as possible in sleep. As the morning wore on, the heat
became very great and our thirst grew with it, but we managed to stave
off its worst pangs by pouring sea-water plentifully over each other, as
we sat in our clothes. About noon we thought of dinner, but, hungry as
we by that time were, we scarcely fancied our fare, which was one of the
dead fowls, to be eaten raw of course, since we had no means of cooking
it. Finding that the rest were equally as squeamish as myself in this
respect, I suggested and it was agreed that the fowls should remain
untouched until we felt hungry enough to eat the uncooked flesh with a
relish. Toward sun-down we had a most unwelcome addition to our
company, in the shape of three sharks, which suddenly made their
appearance close under the stern of the raft, maintaining their
position, at about three yards distance, with a perseverance which was
worthy of a better cause. The size of their dorsal fins, which were
carried well out of the water, assured us that our followers were sharks
of the largest size, and enabled us to form a pretty fair idea of what
would be our fate should any of us be unfortunate enough to fall or be
washed off the raft.

A keen lookout was maintained during the whole of that day, but no sail
was seen, and at length the sun went down in a cloudless sky, giving us
an assurance of the continuance of fine weather.

I anxiously marked the position of the luminary when he reached the
horizon, and saw, with a heart-sick feeling which I cannot describe,
that we were--and had probably been all day--sailing a course about
W.S.W., or two points more to the northward than I had hoped. This was
a most serious matter, since it would throw us much farther to the
westward, and necessitate our going a much greater distance, probably
nearly double, before we could possibly reach land; and I began, for the
first time, to fear that we might possibly miss Saint Domingo
altogether. And I knew that if we did that we might give ourselves up
for lost, as I could not entertain much hope of our being able to hold
out until we should reach the Windward Channel, and even if we did, we
might still fail to fall in with a ship to pick us up, in