u might be able to get some
food into your mouth without being observed. I should like to give the
carpenter some, though."

I undertook to convey a small portion to him. He was very grateful for
it, and did not even ask if we had any more. I then told him of the
casks. He called several men whom he could trust; who went to the side
and, with our assistance, got the casks on the raft. The larger one
contained spirits, the other water. On discovering this, a number of
the people made a rush towards them, afraid of losing their share,--and
we were compelled to keep them at bay with our weapons.

"The water and spirits shall be served out so that each shall have a due
share," cried the carpenter. Some small cups were found which served as
measures; and the people, awed by the bold front we exhibited, waited
patiently till each person had received his proper portion. Very nearly
half the cask of water was thus exhausted; and we should have acted more
wisely had we waited till the people's thirst had become greater. Some
of them had apparently a few biscuits and other eatable things in their
pockets; but besides this, a cask of pork, which had been thrown
overboard, and hauled up on the raft before it left the ship, was the
only food we possessed. Our only hope of escaping starvation was by
speedily reaching the shore.

"How soon shall we get there?" asked Halliday of Boxall.

"Never--unless a breeze springs up, and these fellows act like rational
beings instead of madmen," he answered, in a more gloomy tone than I had
ever yet heard him use. "We must not conceal from ourselves the fearful
position in which we are placed. These ruffians will probably try to
destroy the gunner and the other officers as they did the boatswain; and
watchful as we may be, we shall scarcely be able to guard ourselves
against them."

"I wish we had Ben with us," said Halliday. "A stout, brave fellow such
as he is would have been of great help, and with the assistance of the
better disposed we might have kept the villains at bay. I wonder what
can have become of him!"

"He and his companion have probably paddled towards the shore," answered
Boxall. "Self-preservation is the first thing a man thinks of; and
though he might not, under other circumstances, have deserted us, he
probably thought himself much better off on his light raft than he would
be on this large one,--and was afraid, if he came near us, that others
would attem