longing to another world,--pleasures
of the past, never more to be indulged in!

Now that the gleam of a galley-fire--as they believed the light to be--
rose up before their eyes, the spirits of all became suddenly
electrified by the wildest imaginings; and the contest so lately carried
on,--as well as the combatants engaged in it,--was instantaneously
forgotten; while the thoughts, and eager glances, of every individual on
the raft were now directed towards that all-absorbing speck,--still
gleaming but obscurely against the reddish background of the sun-stained
horizon.

As they continued to gaze, the tiny spark seemed to increase, not only
in size, but intensity; and, before many minutes had elapsed, it
proclaimed itself no longer a mere spark, but a blaze of light, with its
own luminous halo around it. The gradual chastening of colour in the
western sky, along with the increased darkness of the atmosphere around
it, would account for this change in the appearance of the light. So
reasoned the spectators,--now more than ever convinced that what they
saw was the glare of a galley-fire.

CHAPTER SEVENTY FIVE.

TOWARDS THE BEACON!

As soon as they were satisfied that the bright spark upon the horizon
was a burning light, every individual on the raft became inspired with
the same impulse,--to make for the spot where the object appeared.
Whether in the galley or not,--and whether the glow of a fire or the
gleam of a lamp,--it must be on board a ship. There was no land in that
part of the ocean; and a light could not be burning upon the water,
without something in the shape of a ship to carry it.

That it was a ship, no one for a moment doubted. So sure were they,
that several of the men, on the moment of making it out, had
vociferated, at the top of their voices, "Ship ahoy!"

The voices of none of them were particularly strong just then. They
were weak, in proportion to their attenuated frames; but had they been
ten times as strong as they were, they could not have been heard at such
a distance as that light was separated from the raft.

It was not less than twenty miles from them. In the excited state of
their senses,--arising from thirst, starvation, and all the wild
emotions which the discovery itself had roused within them,--they had
formed a delusive idea of the distance; many of them fancying that the
light was quite near!

There were some among them who reasoned more rationally. These, instead