ar, to which I managed to lash the basket, I then
got into the latter, where I could sit without much risk of being washed
out. It served, indeed, as a tolerably efficient life-preserver; for
although the water washed in and washed out, and the seas frequently
broke over my head, I was able to hold myself in without much trouble.
I still had some hopes that the ship would come back and look for me.

At length I thought I saw her approaching through the darkness. It
raised my spirits, and I felt a curious satisfaction, in addition to the
expectation of being saved, at the thought that I was not to be
carelessly abandoned to my fate. I anxiously gazed in the direction
where I fancied the ship to be, but she drew no nearer, and the dark
void filled the space before me. Still I did not give way to despair,
though I found it a hard matter to keep up. I had been rescued before,
and I hoped to be saved another time. Then, however, I had been in a
comparatively narrow sea, with numerous vessels passing over it. Now I
was in the middle of the Atlantic, which, although rightly called a
highway, was a very broad one. I could not also help recollecting that
I was in the latitude where sharks abound, and I thought it possible
that one might make a grab at my basket, and try to swallow it and me
together, although I smiled at the thought of the inconvenience the fish
would feel when it stuck its teeth into the yard, and got it fixed
across its mouth. Happily no shark espied me.

Day at last dawned. As I looked around when I rose to the summit of a
sea, my eyes fell alone on the dark, tumbling, foaming waters, and the
thick clouds going down to meet them. I began to feel very hungry and
thirsty, for though I had water enough around me, I dare not drink it.
I now found it harder than ever to keep up my spirits, and gloomy
thoughts began to take possession of my mind. No one, I confess, would
have called me Happy Jack just then. I was sinking off into a state of
stupor, during which I might easily have been washed out of my cradle,
when, happening to open my eyes, they fell on the sails of a large brig
standing directly for me. I could scarcely fail to be seen by those on
board. On she came before the breeze; but as she drew nearer I began to
fear that she might still pass at some distance. I tried to stand up
and shout out, but I was nearly toppling overboard in making the
attempt. I managed, however, to kneel upon the