are very glad to have found you, Ben," I answered. "Do you
think that poor Jose has escaped?"

"I am afraid not, sir," answered Ben. "He could not swim, and he must
have been washed off the raft on the outside of the reef."

"Have you managed to save any of the provisions?" inquired Halliday.

"I am sorry to say, sir, that I am afraid they are all lost. The raft,
however, was knocking about so much that I couldn't get hold of it by
myself, to see if anything is still fast to it; but now you have come,
we will try what we can do."

Weary as we were, hunger prompted us to exert ourselves; and approaching
the raft, which was heaving up and down in the surf, we got hold of it,
after some difficulty, and at the risk of being crushed, and succeeded
in dragging it partly up the beach. On examining it, to our infinite
satisfaction we found a pork-cask,--which Ben had fastened so securely
that it had escaped being carried away. It was, however, almost crushed
in two. We examined it eagerly, and found that, though part of the
contents had been washed out, several pieces of pork still remained.
The water-casks, which we should have been still more thankful to find,
had, alas! been completely destroyed.

It required all the exertion we were capable of to secure the pork-cask,
which we managed to drag out of reach of the water; and though very
thirsty, our hunger induced us to eat a portion of the pork raw--which,
however, we could with difficulty get down.

"Never fear! Chaw, sir, chaw!" cried Ben, as he saw me hesitating about
putting a piece between my parched lips. "It will seem dry at first;
but go on, and it will slip down easy enough at last, and do you good."

I followed his advice, and found that I could get down far more of the
raw meat than I could have supposed possible.

The wind had in the meantime been increasing, and the surf broke with a
loud, sullen roar on the beach. Having eaten as much as we could
swallow, we now turned the undamaged side of the cask uppermost, so as
to cover its contents; and then, at Boxall's suggestion, we made our way
to a spot a short distance off, between some sand-hills, where, pretty
well worn out, we threw ourselves down to rest.

Though thankful to get back honest Ben, we felt very melancholy at the
dreary prospect before us. Strong as he was, he also appeared utterly
worn out with his exertions; and, stretched at full length on the sand,
he was soon fast asleep. I