hat other possibility happening, How were we to meet it? There was
but one answer--with the boat; and unfinished and destitute of equipment
as she was, we should undoubtedly be obliged to trust ourselves to her
if the worst came to the worst.

This point settled, the next question I asked myself was: What should we
require to take with us, supposing that it should come to our being
obliged to take to the boat in a hurry--that night, in fact? Provisions
and water, of course, in such abundance as the boat's capacity would
permit; a pair of oars, a coil of line, a baler, a bucket, a few tools;
say, half a dozen rifles, and a good supply of ammunition for same. But
why tools? I may be asked. Because if once we were compelled to trust
ourselves to a boat without mast or sails, we should be compelled to go
practically wherever the wind chose to drive us, and that might be to an
uninhabited island, where tools would be worth their weight in gold.

The carpenter's chest stood on the deck close by the boat--I had been
using the tools only a few hours earlier--and the thought came to me
that they might as well be in as out of her. I therefore emptied the
chest, since it was too heavy for me to lift full, and, having decided
upon the most suitable spot for it, I stowed it inside the boat, and
then proceeded carefully to replace its contents. This done, I hunted
up a pair of twelve-foot oars and put them aboard; found a pair of
rowlocks, and then, remembering that I had as yet made no provision for
shipping them, proceeded to cut out a good stout pair of cleats, which I
firmly secured to the gunwale of the boat. There was plenty of rope
lying about the deck, neatly done up in coils--the salvage of the
running gear; and from this I selected the mizen topgallant halyard as
of suitable size, putting it into the boat, unstopping it, and bending
one end to a hole in the stem head which I bored for the purpose.

Having gone so far, I decided that I would complete my preparations, so
that in the event of our being driven to the last extremity, we might be
ready. I considered a little as to what I would next put into the boat,
and fixed upon a case of ammunition, which I would stow alongside the
carpenter's chest, it being desirable, in order to secure stability,
that the heaviest articles should be at the bottom. Accordingly I dived
below to the magazine. Now, our Remington-rifle cartridges were done up
in small tin boxes of o