the raft, he took direction of the launch.
Unluckily, he made a long stretch to the northward, intending to tack and
cross what he supposed must have been the position of the ship, and come
to my relief. While the launch was thus working its way to windward, I
fell in with, and took possession of, the raft, as has been described.
Marble's calculation was a good one, in the main; but it brought him near
the Dawn the night she sank, and the raft and boat were both too low to be
seen at any distance, the one from the other. It is probable we were not
more than ten or twelve miles asunder the most of the day I was on the
raft, Marble putting up his helm to cross the supposed position of the
ship, about three in the afternoon. This brought him down upon the raft,
about midnight, when the conversation I have related took place, within a
few yards of me, neither party having the least notion of the proximity of
the other.

I was touched by the manner in which Marble and Neb spoke of my supposed
fate. Neither seemed to remember that he was washed away from a ship, but
appeared to fancy that I was abandoned alone, on the high seas, in a
sinking vessel. While I had been regretting their misfortunes, they had
both thought of me as the party to be pitied; each fancying his own
fortune more happy than mine. In a word, their concern for me was so
great, that they altogether forgot to dwell on the hardships and dangers
of their own particular cases. I could not express all I felt on the
occasion; but the events of that morning, and the feelings betrayed by my
two old shipmates, made an impression on my heart, that time has not, nor
ever can, efface. Most men who had been washed overboard, would have
fancied themselves the suffering party; but during the remainder of the
long intercourse that succeeded, both Marble and Neb always alluded to
this occurrence as if I were the person lost and rescued.

We were an hour or more intently occupied in these explanations, before
either recollected the future. Then I felt it was time to have some
thought for our situation, which was sufficiently precarious, as it was;
though Marble and Neb made light of any risks that remained to be run. I
was saved, as it might be, by a miracle; and that was all that they could
remember, just then. But a breeze sprang up from the eastward, as the sun
appeared, and the agitation of the raft soon satisfied me that my berth
would have been most precarious, had I no