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+Project Gutenberg's The Survivors of the Chancellor, by Jules Verne
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Survivors of the Chancellor
+
+Author: Jules Verne
+
+Posting Date: November 20, 2008 [EBook #1652]
+Release Date: February, 1999
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SURVIVORS OF THE CHANCELLOR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer
+
+
+
+
+
+THE SURVIVORS OF THE CHANCELLOR.
+
+DIARY OF J.R.KAZALLON, PASSENGER.
+
+
+By Jules Verne
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+CHARLESTON, SEPTEMBER 27th, 1869.--It is high tide, and three o'clock
+in the afternoon when we leave the Battery-quay; the ebb carries us off
+shore, and as Captain Huntly has hoisted both main and top sails, the
+northerly breeze drives the "Chancellor" briskly across the bay. Fort
+Sumter ere long is doubled, the sweeping batteries of the mainland on
+our left are soon passed, and by four o'clock the rapid current of the
+ebbing tide has carried us through the harbour-mouth.
+
+But as yet we have not reached the open sea; we have still to thread our
+way through the narrow channels which the surge has hollowed out amongst
+the sand-banks. The captain takes a south-west course, rounding the
+lighthouse at the corner of the fort; the sails are closely trimmed; the
+last sandy point is safely coasted, and at length, at seven o'clock in
+the evening; we are out free upon the wide Atlantic.
+
+The "Chancellor" is a fine square-rigged three-master, of 900 tons
+burden, and belongs to the wealthy Liverpool firm of Laird Brothers. She
+is two years old, is sheathed and secured with copper, her decks being
+of teak, and the base of all her masts, except the mizzen, with all their
+fittings, being of iron. She is registered first class A I, and is now
+on her third voyage between Charleston and Liverpool. As she wended her
+way through the channels of Charleston harbour, it was the British flag
+that was lowered from her mast-head; but without colours at all,
+no sailor could have hesitated for a moment in telling her
+nationality,--for English she was, and nothing but English from her
+water-line upwards to the truck of her masts.
+
+I must now relate how it happens that I have taken my passage on board
+the "Chancellor" on her return voyage to England. At present there is no
+direct steamship service between South Carolina and Great Britain,
+and all who wish to cross must go either northwards to New York or
+southwards to New Orleans. It is quite true that if I had chosen to
+start from New York I might have found plenty of vessels belonging to
+English, French, or Hamburg lines, any of which would have conveyed me
+by a rapid voyage to my destination; and it is equally true that if I
+had selected New Orleans for my embarkation I could readily have reached
+Europe by one of the vessels of the National Steam Navigation Company,
+which join the French Transatlantic line of Colon and Aspinwall. But it
+was fated to be otherwise.
+
+One day, as I was loitering about the Charleston quays, my eye lighted
+upon this vessel. There was something about the "Chancellor" that
+pleased me, and a kind of involuntary impulse took me on board, where I
+found the internal arrangements perfectly comfortable. Yielding to the
+idea that a voyage in a sailing vessel had certain charms beyond the
+transit in a steamer, and reckoning that with wind and wave in my
+favour there would be little material difference in time; considering,
+moreover, that in these low latitudes the weather in early autumn is
+fine and unbroken, I came to my decision, and proceeded forthwith to
+secure my passage by this route to Europe.
+
+Have I done right or wrong? Whether I shall have reason to regret my
+determination is a problem to be solved in the future. However, I will
+begin to record the incidents of our daily experience, dubious as I feel
+whether the lines of my chronicle will ever find a reader.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+SEPTEMBER 28th.--John Silas Huntly, the captain of the "Chancellor," has
+the reputation of being an experienced navigator of the Atlantic. He is
+a Scotchman, a native of Dundee, and is about fifty years of age. He is
+of middle height and slight build, and has a small head, which he has a
+habit of holding a little over his left shoulder. I do not pretend to be
+much of a physiognomist, but I am inclined to believe that my few hours'
+acquaintance with our captain has given me considerable insight into
+his character. That he is a good seaman and thoroughly understands his
+duties I could not for a moment venture to deny; but that he is a man
+of resolute temperament, or that he possesses the amount of courage
+that would render him, physically or morally, capable of coping with
+any great emergency, I confess I cannot believe. I observe a certain
+heaviness and dejection about his whole carriage. His wavering glances,
+the listless motions of his hands, and his slow, unsteady gait, all seem
+to me to indicate a weak and sluggish disposition. He does not appear
+as though he could be energetic enough ever to be stubborn; he never
+frowns, sets his teeth, or clenches his fist. There is something
+enigmatical about him; however, I shall study him closely and do what
+I can to understand the man who, as commander of a vessel, should be to
+those around him "second only to God."
+
+Unless I am greatly mistaken there is another man on board who,
+if circumstances should require it, would take the more prominent
+position--I mean the mate. I have hitherto, however, had such little
+opportunity of observing his character, that I must defer saying more
+about him at present.
+
+Besides the captain and this mate, whose name is Robert Curtis, our crew
+consists of Walter, the lieutenant, the boatswain, and fourteen sailors,
+all English or Scotch, making eighteen altogether, a number quite
+sufficient for working a vessel of 900 tons burden. Up to this time my
+sole experience of their capabilities is, that under the command of the
+mate, they brought us skillfully enough through the narrow channels of
+Charleston; and I have no reason to doubt but that they are well up to
+their work.
+
+My list of the ship's officials is incomplete unless I mention Hobart,
+the steward, and Jynxstrop, the negro cook.
+
+In addition to these, the "Chancellor" carries eight passengers,
+including myself. Hitherto, the bustle of embarkation, the arrangement
+of cabins, and all the variety of preparations inseparable from starting
+on a voyage for at least twenty or five-and-twenty days have precluded
+the formation of any acquaintanceships; but the monotony of the voyage,
+the close proximity into which we must be thrown, and the natural
+curiosity to know something of each other's affairs, will doubtless lead
+us in due time to an interchange of ideas. Two days have elapsed and
+I have not even seen all the passengers. Probably sea-sickness has
+prevented some of them from making their appearance at the common
+table. One thing, however, I do know; namely, that there are two ladies
+occupying the stern-cabins, the windows of which are in the aft-board of
+the vessel.
+
+I have seen the ship's list and subjoin a list of the passengers. They
+are as follow:--Mr. and Mrs. Kear, Americans, of Buffalo. Miss Herbey,
+a young English lady, companion to Mrs. Kear. M. Letourneur and his son
+Andre, Frenchmen, of Havre. William Falsten, a Manchester engineer. John
+Ruby, a Cardiff merchant; and myself, J. R. Kazallon, of London.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+SEPTEMBER 29th.--Captain Huntly's bill of lading, that is to say, the
+document that describes the "Chancellor's" cargo and the conditions of
+transport, is couched in the following terms:--
+
+"BRONSFIELD AND CO., AGENTS, CHARLESTON.
+
+"I, John Silas Huntly, of Dundee, Scotland, commander of the ship
+'Chancellor,' of about 900 tons burden, now at Charleston, do purpose,
+by the blessing of God, at the earliest convenient season, and by the
+direct route, to sail for the port of Liverpool, where I shall obtain
+my discharge. I do hereby acknowledge that I have received from you,
+Messrs. Bronsfield and Co., Commission Agents, Charleston, and have
+placed the same under the gun-deck of the aforesaid ship, seventeen
+hundred bales of cotton, of the estimated value of 26,000l., all in
+good condition, marked and numbered as in the margin; which goods I do
+undertake to transport to Liverpool, and there to deliver, free from
+injury (save only such injury as shall have been caused by the chances
+of the sea), to Messrs. Laird Brothers, or to their order, or to their
+representative, who shall on due delivery of the said freight pay me the
+sum of 2000l. inclusive, according to the charter-party and damages in
+addition, according to the usages and customs of the sea.
+
+"And for the fulfillment of the above covenant, I have pledged and do
+pledge my person, my property, and my interest in the vessel aforesaid,
+with all its appurtenances. In witness whereof, I have signed three
+agreements, all of the same purport; on the condition that when the
+terms of one are accomplished, the other two shall be absolutely null
+and void.
+
+"Given at Charleston, September 13th, 1869,
+
+"J. S. HUNTLY."
+
+
+From the foregoing document it will be understood that the "Chancellor"
+is conveying 1700 bales of cotton to Liverpool; that the shippers are
+Bronsfield, of Charleston, and the consignees are Laird Brothers, of
+Liverpool. The ship was constructed with the especial design of carrying
+cotton, and the entire hold, with the exception of a very limited space
+reserved for passengers' luggage, is closely packed with the bales, The
+lading was performed with the utmost care, each bale being pressed into
+its proper place by the aid of screw-jacks, so that the whole freight
+forms one solid and compact mass; not an inch of space is wasted, and
+the vessel is thus made capable of carrying her full complement of
+cargo.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+SEPTEMBER 30th to OCTOBER 6th.--The "Chancellor" is a rapid sailer, and
+more than a match for many a vessel of the same dimensions. She scuds
+along merrily in the freshening breeze, leaving in her wake, far as the
+eye can reach, a long white line of foam as well defined as a delicate
+strip of lace stretched upon an azure ground.
+
+The Atlantic is not visited by many gales, and I have every reason to
+believe that the rolling and pitching of the vessel no longer incommode
+any of the passengers, who are all more or less accustomed to the sea.
+A vacant seat at our table is now very rare; we are beginning to know
+something about each other, and our daily life, in consequence, is
+becoming somewhat less monotonous.
+
+M. Letourneur, our French fellow-passenger, often has a chat with me.
+He is a fine tall man, about fifty years of age, with white hair and a
+grizzly beard. To say the truth, he looks older than he really is: his
+drooping head, his dejected manner, and his eye, ever and again suffused
+with tears, indicate that he is haunted by some deep and abiding sorrow.
+He never laughs; he rarely even smiles, and then only on his son:
+his countenance ordinarily bearing a look of bitterness tempered by
+affection, while his general expression is one of caressing tenderness.
+It excites an involuntary commiseration to learn that M. Letourneur is
+consuming himself by exaggerated reproaches on account of the infirmity
+of an afflicted son.
+
+Andre Letourneur is about twenty years of age, with a gentle,
+interesting countenance, but, to the irrepressible grief of his father,
+is a hopeless cripple. His left leg is miserably deformed, and he is
+quite unable to walk without the assistance of a stick. It is obvious
+that the father's life is bound up with that of his son; his devotion
+is unceasing; every thought, every glance is for Andre; he seems to
+anticipate his most trifling wish, watches his slightest movement, and
+his arm is ever ready to support or otherwise assist the child whose
+sufferings he more than shares.
+
+M. Letourneur seems to have taken a peculiar fancy to myself,
+and constantly talks about Andre. This morning, in the course of
+conversation, I said,--
+
+"You have a good son, M. Letourneur. I have just been talking to him. He
+is a most intelligent young man."
+
+"Yes, Mr. Kazallon," replied M. Letourneur, brightening up into a smile,
+"his afflicted frame contains a noble mind. He is like his mother, who
+died at his birth."
+
+"He is full of reverence and love for you, sir," I remarked.
+
+"Dear boy!" muttered the father half to himself. "Ah, Mr. Kazallon,"
+he continued, "you do not know what it is to a father to have a son a
+cripple, beyond hope of cure."
+
+"M. Letourneur," I answered, "you take more than your share of the
+affliction which has fallen upon you and your son. That M. Andre is
+entitled to the very greatest commiseration no one can deny; but you
+should remember, that after all a physical infirmity is not so hard to
+bear as mental grief. Now, I have watched your son pretty closely, and
+unless I am much mistaken there is nothing, that troubles him so much as
+the sight of your own sorrow."
+
+"But I never let him see it," he broke in hastily. "My sole thought
+is how to divert him. I have discovered, that in spite of his physical
+weakness, he delights in travelling; so for the last few years we have
+been constantly on the move. We first went all over Europe, and are now
+returning from visiting the principal places in the United States.
+I never allowed my son to go to college, but instructed him entirely
+myself, and these travels, I hope, will serve to complete his education.
+He is very intelligent, and has a lively imagination, and I am sometimes
+tempted to hope that in contemplating the wonders of nature he forgets
+his own infirmity."
+
+"Yes, sir, of course he does," I assented.
+
+"But," continued M. Letourneur, taking my hand, "although, perhaps, HE
+may forget, I can never forget. Ah, sir, do you suppose that Andre can
+ever forgive his parents for bringing him into the world a cripple?"
+
+The remorse of the unhappy father was very distressing, and I was
+about to say a few kind words of sympathy when Andre himself made his
+appearance. M. Letourneur hastened toward him and assisted him up the
+few steep steps that led to the poop.
+
+As soon as Andre was comfortably seated on one of the benches, and his
+father had taken his place by his side, I joined them, and we fell into
+conversation upon ordinary topics, discussing the various points of
+the "Chancellor," the probable length of the passage, and the different
+details of our life on board. I find that M. Letourneur's estimate of
+Captain Huntly's character very much coincided with my own, and that,
+like me, he is impressed with the man's undecided manner and sluggish
+appearance. Like me, too, he has formed a very favourable opinion of
+Robert Curtis, the mate, a man of about thirty years of age, of great
+muscular power, with a frame and a will that seem ever ready for action.
+
+Whilst we were still talking of him, Curtis himself came on deck, and as
+I watched his movements I could not help being struck with his physical
+development; his erect and easy carriage, his fearless glance and
+slightly contracted brow all betokened a man of energy, thoroughly
+endowed with the calmness and courage that are indispensable to the
+true sailor. He seems a kind-hearted fellow, too, and is always ready
+to assist and amuse young Letourneur, who evidently enjoys his company.
+After he had scanned the weather and examined the trim of the sails, he
+joined our party and proceeded to give us some information about those
+of our fellow-passengers with whom at present we have made but slight
+acquaintance.
+
+Mr. Kear, the American, who is accompanied by his wife, has made a large
+fortune in the petroleum springs in the United States. He is a man of
+about fifty, a most uninteresting companion, being overwhelmed with
+a sense of his own wealth and importance, and consequently supremely
+indifferent to all around him. His hands are always in his pockets,
+and the chink of money seems to follow him wherever he goes. Vain and
+conceited, a fool as well as an egotist, he struts about like a peacock
+showing its plumage, and to borrow the words of the physiognomist
+Gratiolet, "il se flaire, il se savoure, il se goute." Why he should
+have taken his passage on board a mere merchant vessel instead of
+enjoying the luxuries of a Transatlantic steamer, I am altogether at a
+loss to explain.
+
+The wife is an insignificant, insipid woman, of about forty years of
+age. She never reads, never talks, and I believe I am not wrong in
+saying, never thinks. She seems to look without seeing, and listen
+without hearing, and her sole occupation consists in giving her orders
+to her companion, Miss Herbey, a young English girl of about twenty.
+
+Miss Herbey is extremely pretty. Her complexion is fair and her eyes
+deep blue, whilst her pleasing countenance is altogether free from
+that insignificance of feature which is not unfrequently alleged to be
+characteristic of English beauty. Her mouth would be charming if she
+ever smiled, but exposed as she is to the ridiculous whims and fancies
+of a capricious mistress, her lips rarely relax from their ordinary
+grave expression. Yet humiliating as her position must be, she never
+utters a word of open complaint, but quietly and gracefully performs her
+duties accepting without a murmur the paltry salary which the bumptious
+petroleum-merchant condescends to allow her.
+
+The Manchester engineer, William Falsten, looks like a thorough
+Englishman. He has the management of some extensive hydraulic works in
+South Carolina, and is now on his way to Europe to obtain some improved
+apparatus, and more especially to visit the mines worked by centrifugal
+force, belonging to the firm of Messrs. Cail. He is forty-five years of
+age, with all his interests so entirely absorbed by his machinery that
+he seems to have neither a thought nor a care beyond his mechanical
+calculations. Once let him engage you in conversation, and there is no
+chance of escape; you have no help for it but to listen as patiently as
+you can until he has completed the explanation of his designs.
+
+The last of our fellow-passengers, Mr. Ruby, is the type of a vulgar
+tradesman. Without any originality or magnanimity in his composition, he
+has spent twenty years of his life in mere buying and selling, and as
+he has generally contrived to do business at a profit, he has realized a
+considerable fortune. What he is going to do with the money, he does
+not seem able to say: his ideas do not go beyond retail trade, his mind
+having been so long closed to all other impressions that it appears
+incapable of thought or reflection on any subject besides. Pascal says,
+"L'homme est visiblement fait pour penser. C'est toute sa dignite
+et tout-son merite;" but to Mr. Ruby the phrase seems altogether
+inapplicable.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+OCTOBER 7th.--This is the tenth day since we left Charleston, and I
+should think our progress has been very rapid. Robert Curtis, the mate,
+with whom I continue to have many a friendly chat, informed me that we
+could not be far off Cape Hatteras in the Bermudas; the ship's bearings,
+he said were lat. 32deg. 20min. N. and long. 64deg. 50min. W., so that
+he had every reason to believe that we should sight St. George's Island
+before night.
+
+"The Bermudas!" I exclaimed. "But how is it we are off the Bermudas? I
+should have thought that a vessel sailing from Charleston to Liverpool,
+would have kept northwards, and have followed the track of the Gulf
+Stream."
+
+"Yes, indeed; sir," replied Curtis, "that is the usual course; but you
+see that this time the captain hasn't chosen to take it."
+
+"But why not?" I persisted.
+
+"That's not for me to say, sir; he ordered us eastwards, and eastwards
+we go."
+
+"Haven't you called his attention to it?" I inquired.
+
+Curtis acknowledged that he had already pointed out what an unusual
+route they were taking, but that the captain had said that he was quite
+aware what he was about. The mate made no further remark; but the knit
+of his brow, as he passed his hand mechanically across his forehead,
+made me fancy that he was inclined to speak out more strongly.
+
+"All very well, Curtis," I said, "but I don't know what to think about
+trying new routes. Here we are at the 7th of October, and if we are to
+reach Europe before the bad weather sets in, I should suppose there is
+not a day to be lost."
+
+"Right, sir, quite right; there is not a day to be lost."
+
+Struck by his manner, I ventured to add, "Do you mind, Mr. Curtis giving
+me your honest opinion of Captain Huntly?"
+
+He hesitated a moment, and then replied shortly, "He is my captain,
+sir."
+
+This evasive answer of course put an end to any further interrogation on
+my part, but it only set me thinking the more.
+
+Curtis was not mistaken. At about three o'clock the lookout man sung out
+that there was land to windward, and descried what seemed as if it might
+be a line of smoke in the north-east horizon. At six, I went on deck
+with M. Letourneur and his son, and we could then distinctly make out
+the low group of the Bermudas, encircled by their formidable chain of
+breakers.
+
+"There," said Andre Letourneur to me, as we stood gazing at the distant
+land, "there lies the enchanted Archipelago, sung by your poet Moore.
+The exile Waller, too, as long ago as 1643, wrote an enthusiastic
+panegyric on the islands, and I have been told that at one time English
+ladies would wear no other bonnets than such as were made of the leaves
+of the Bermuda palm."
+
+"Yes," I replied, "the Bermudas were all the rage in the seventeenth
+century, although latterly they have fallen into comparative oblivion."
+
+"But let me tell you, M. Andre," interposed Curtis, who had as usual
+joined our party, "that although poets may rave, and be as enthusiastic
+as they like about these islands, sailors will tell a different tale.
+The hidden reefs that lie in a semicircle about two or three leagues
+from shore make the attempt to land a very dangerous piece of business.
+And another thing, I know. Let the natives boast as they will about
+their splendid climate, they, are visited by the most frightful
+hurricanes. They get the fag-end of the storms that rage over the
+Antilles; and the fag-end of a storm is like the tail of a whale;
+it's just the strongest bit of it. I don't think you'll find a sailor
+listening much to your poets,--your Moores, and your Wallers."
+
+"No, doubt you are right, Mr. Curtis," said Andre, smiling, "but poets
+are like proverbs; you can always find one to contradict another.
+Although Waller and Moore have chosen to sing the praises of the
+Bermudas, it has been supposed that Shakspeare was depicting them in the
+terrible scenes that are found in 'The Tempest.'"
+
+The whole vicinity of these islands is beyond a question extremely
+perilous to mariners. Situated between the Antilles and Nova Scotia, the
+Bermudas have ever since their discovery belonged to the English,
+who have mainly used them for a military station. But this little
+archipelago, comprising some hundred and fifty different isles and
+islets, is destined to increase, and that, perhaps, on a larger scale
+than has yet been anticipated. Beneath the waves there are madrepores,
+in infinity of number, silently but ceaselessly pursuing their labours;
+and with time, that fundamental element in nature's workings, who shall
+tell whether these may not gradually build up island after island, which
+shall unite and form another continent?
+
+I may mention that there was not another of our fellow-passengers who
+took the trouble to come on deck and give a glance at this strange
+cluster of islands. Miss Herbey, it is true, was making an attempt to
+join us, but she had barely reached the poop, when Mrs. Kear's languid
+voice was heard recalling her for some trifling service to her side.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+OCTOBER 8th to OCTOBER 13th.--The wind is blowing hard from the
+north-east; and the "Chancellor" under low-reefed top-sail and
+fore-sail, and labouring against a heavy sea, has been obliged to be
+brought ahull. The joists and girders all creak again until one's teeth
+are set on edge. I am the only passenger not remaining below; but I
+prefer being on deck notwithstanding the driving rain, fine as dust,
+which penetrates to my very skin. We have been driven along in this
+fashion for the best part of two days; the "stiffish breeze" has
+gradually freshened into "a gale;" the top-gallants have been lowered,
+and, as I write, the wind is blowing with a velocity of fifty or sixty
+miles an hour. Although the "Chancellor" has many good points, her drift
+is considerable, and we have been carried far to the south we can
+only guess at our precise position, as the cloudy atmosphere entirely
+precludes us from taking the sun's altitude.
+
+All along throughout this period, my fellow-passengers are totally
+ignorant of the extraordinary course that we are taking England lies
+to the NORTH-EAST, yet we are sailing directly SOUTH-EAST, and Robert
+Curtis owns that he is quite bewildered; he cannot comprehend why the
+captain, ever since this north-easterly gale has been blowing, should
+persist in allowing the ship to drive to the south, instead of tacking
+to the north-west until she gets into better quarters.
+
+I was alone with Curtis to-day upon the poop, and could not help saying
+to him "Curtis, is your captain mad?"
+
+"Perhaps, sir, I might be allowed to ask what YOU think upon that
+matter," was his cautious reply.
+
+"Well to say the truth," I answered, "I can hardly tell; but I confess
+there is every now and then a wandering in his eye, and an odd look on
+his face that I do not like. Have you ever sailed with him before?"
+
+"No; this is our first voyage together. Again last night I spoke to him
+about the route we were taking, but he only said he knew all about it,
+and that it was all right."
+
+"What do Lieutenant Walter and your boatswain think of it all?" I
+inquired.
+
+"Think; why they think just the same as I do," replied the mate; "but
+if the captain chooses to take the ship to China we should obey his
+orders."
+
+"But surely," I exclaimed, "there must be some limit to your obedience!
+Suppose the man is actually mad, what then?"
+
+"If he should be mad enough, Mr. Kazallon, to bring the vessel into any
+real danger, I shall know what to do."
+
+With this assurance I am forced to be content. Matters, however, have
+taken a different turn to what I bargained for when I took my passage
+on board the "Chancellor." The weather has become worse and worse. As I
+have already said, the ship under her large low-reefed top-sail and fore
+stay-sail has been brought ahull, that is to say, she copes directly
+with the wind, by presenting her broad bows to the sea; and so we go on
+still drift, drift, continually to the south.
+
+How southerly our course has been is very apparent; for upon the night
+of the 11th we fairly entered upon that portion of the Atlantic which
+is known as the Sargassos Sea. An extensive tract of water is this,
+enclosed by the warm current of the Gulf Stream, and thickly covered
+with the wrack, called by the Spaniards "sargasso," the abundance of
+which so seriously impeded the progress of Columbus's vessels on his
+first voyage across the ocean.
+
+Each morning at daybreak the Atlantic has presented an aspect so
+remarkable, that at my solicitation, M. Letourneur and his son have
+ventured upon deck to witness the unusual spectacle. The squally gusts
+make the metal shrouds vibrate like harp-strings; and unless we were
+on our guard to keep our clothes wrapped tightly to us, they would have
+been torn off our backs in shreds. The scene presented to our eyes is
+one of strangest interest. The sea, carpeted thickly with masses of
+prolific fucus, is a vast unbroken plain of vegetation, through which
+the vessel makes her way as a plough. Long strips of seaweed caught up
+by the wind become entangled in the rigging, and hang between the masts
+in festoons of verdure; whilst others, varying from two to three hundred
+feet in length, twine themselves up to the very mast-heads, from whence
+they float like streaming pendants. For many hours now, the "Chancellor"
+has been contending with this formidable accumulation of algae; her
+masts are circled with hydrophytes; her rigging is wreathed everywhere
+with creepers, fantastic as the untrammelled tendrils of a vine, and as
+she works her arduous course, there are times when I can only compare
+her to an animated grove of verdure making its mysterious way over some
+illimitable prairie.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+OCTOBER 14th.--At last we are free from the sea of vegetation, the
+boisterous gale has moderated into a steady breeze, the sun is shining
+brightly, the weather is warm and genial, and thus, two reefs in her
+top-sails, briskly and merrily sails the "Chancellor."
+
+Under conditions so favourable, we have been able to take the ship's
+bearings: our latitude, we find, is 21deg. 33min. N., our longitude
+50deg. 17min. W.
+
+Incomprehensible altogether is the conduct of Captain Huntly. Here we
+are, already more than ten degrees south of the point from which, we
+started, and yet still we are persistently following a south-easterly
+course! I cannot bring myself to the conclusion that the man is mad. I
+have had various conversations with him: he has always spoken rationally
+and sensibly. He shows no tokens of insanity. Perhaps his case is one
+of those in which insanity is partial, and where the mania is of
+a character which extends only to the matters connected with his
+profession. Yet it is unaccountable.
+
+I can get nothing out of Curtis; he listens coldly whenever I allude
+to the subject, and only repeats what he has said before, that nothing
+short of an overt act of madness on the part of the captain could induce
+him to supersede the captain's authority and that the imminent peril of
+the ship could alone justify him in taking so decided a measure.
+
+Last evening I went to my cabin about eight o'clock, and after an hour's
+reading by the light of my cabin-lamp, I retired to my berth and was
+soon asleep. Some hours later I was aroused by an unaccustomed noise on
+deck. There were heavy footsteps hurrying to and fro, and the voices
+of the men were loud and eager, as if the crew were agitated by some
+strange disturbance. My first impression was, that some tacking had been
+ordered which rendered it needful to fathom the yards; but the vessel
+continuing to lie to starboard convinced me that this was not the origin
+of the commotion, I was curious to know the truth, and made all haste
+I could to go on deck; but before I was ready, the noise had ceased.
+I heard Captain Huntly return to his cabin, and accordingly I retired
+again to my own berth. Whatever may have been the meaning of the
+manoeuvre, I cannot tell; it did not seem to have resulted in any
+improvement in the ship's pace; still it must be owned there was not
+much wind to speed us along.
+
+At six o'clock this morning I mounted the poop and made as keen a
+scrutiny as I could of everything on board. Everything appeared as
+usual. The "Chancellor" was running on the larboard tack, and carried
+low-sails, top-sails, and gallant-sails. Well braced she was; and under
+a fresh, but not uneasy breeze, was making no less than eleven knots an
+hour.
+
+Shortly afterwards M. Letourneur and Andre came an deck. The young man
+enjoyed the early morning air, laden with its briny fragrance, and I
+assisted him to mount the poop. In answer to my inquiry as to whether
+they had been disturbed by any bustle in the night, Andre replied that
+he did not wake at all, and had heard nothing.
+
+"I am glad, my boy," said his father, "that you have slept so soundly. I
+heard the noise of which Mr. Kazallon speaks. It must have; been about
+three o'clock this morning, and it seemed to me as though they were
+shouting. I thought I heard them say, 'Here, quick, look to the
+hatches!' but as nobody was called up, I presumed that nothing serious
+was the matter."
+
+As he spoke I cast my eye at the panel-slides, which fore and aft of the
+main-mast open into the hold. They seemed to be all close as usual,
+but I now observed for the first time that they were covered with heavy
+tarpauling. Wondering; in my own mind what could be the reason for
+these extra precautions I did not say anything to M. Letourneur, but
+determined to wait until the mate should come on watch, when he would
+doubtless give me, I thought, an explanation of the mystery.
+
+The sun rose gloriously, with every promise of a fine dry day. The
+waning moon was yet above the western horizon, for as it still wants
+three days to her last quarter she does not set until 10.57 am. On
+consulting my almanac, I find that there will be a new moon on the 24th,
+and that on that day, little as it may affect us here in mid ocean, the
+phenomenon of the high sygyzian tides will take place on the shores of
+every continent and island.
+
+At the breakfast hour M. Letourneur and Andre went below for a cup of
+tea, and I remained on the poop alone. As I expected, Curtis appeared,
+that he might relieve Lieutenant Walter of the watch. I advanced to meet
+him, but before he even wished me good morning, I saw him cast a quick
+and searching glance upon the deck, and then, with a slightly contracted
+brow, proceed to examine the state of the weather and the trim of the
+sails.
+
+"Where is Captain Huntly?" he said to Walter.
+
+"I have seen nothing of him," answered the lieutenant "is there anything
+fresh up?"
+
+"Nothing, whatever," was the curt reply.
+
+They then conversed for a few moments in an undertone, and I could see
+that Walter by his gesture gave a negative answer to some question which
+the mate had asked him. "Send me the boatswain, Walter," said Curtis
+aloud as the lieutenant moved away.
+
+The boatswain immediately appeared, and another conversation was carried
+on in whispers. The man repeatedly shook his head as he replied to
+Curtis's inquiries, and then, in obedience to orders, called the men
+who were on watch, and made them plentifully water the tarpauling that
+covered the great hatchway.
+
+Curious to fathom the mystery I went up to Curtis and began to talk to
+him upon ordinary topics, hoping that he would himself introduce the
+subject that was uppermost in my mind; finding, however, that he did not
+allude to it; I asked him point blank.
+
+"What was the matter in the night, Curtis?"
+
+He looked at me steadily, but made no reply.
+
+"What was it?" I repeated. "M. Letourneur and myself were both of us
+disturbed by a very unusual commotion overhead."
+
+"Oh, a mere nothing," he said at length; "the man at the helm had made a
+false move, and we had to pipe hands to brace the ship a bit; but it was
+soon all put to rights. It was nothing, nothing at all."
+
+I said no more; but I cannot resist the impression that Robert Curtis
+has not acted with me in his usual straightforward manner.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+OCTOBER 15th to OCTOBER 18th.--The wind is still in the north-east.
+There is no change in the "Chancellor's" course, and to an unprejudiced
+eye all would appear to be going on as usual. But I have an uneasy
+consciousness that something is not quite right. Why should the
+hatchways be so hermetically closed as though a mutinous crew was
+imprisoned between decks? I cannot help thinking too that there is
+something in the sailors so constantly standing in groups and breaking
+off their talk so suddenly whenever we approach; and several times I
+have caught the word "hatches" which arrested M. Letourneur's attention
+on the night of the disturbance.
+
+On the 15th, while I was walking on the forecastle, I overheard one of
+the sailors, a man named Owen say to his mates,--
+
+"Now I just give you all warning that I am not going to wait until the
+last minute. Every one for himself, say I."
+
+"Why, what do you mean to do?" asked Jynxstrop, the cook.
+
+"Pshaw!" said Owen, "do you suppose that longboats were only made for
+porpoises?"
+
+Something at that moment occurred to interrupt the conversation, and I
+heard no more. It occurred to me whether there was not some conspiracy
+among the crew, of which probably Curtis had already detected the
+symptoms. I am quite aware that some sailors are most rebelliously
+disposed, and require to be ruled with a rod of iron.
+
+Yesterday and to-day I have observed Curtis remonstrating somewhat
+vehemently with Captain Huntly, but there is no obvious result arising
+from their interviews; the Captain apparently being bent upon some
+purpose, of which it is only too manifest that the mate decidedly
+disapproves.
+
+Captain Huntly is undoubtedly labouring under strong nervous excitement;
+and M. Letourneur has more than once remarked how silent he has become
+at meal-times; for although Curtis continually endeavours to start some
+subject of general interest, yet neither Mr. Falsten, Mr. Kear, nor Mr.
+Ruby are the men to take it up, and consequently the conversation flags
+hopelessly, and soon drops. The passengers too are now, with good cause,
+beginning to murmur at the length of the voyage, and Mr. Kear, who
+considers that the very elements ought to yield to his convenience, lets
+the captain know by his consequential and haughty manner that he holds
+him responsible for the delay.
+
+During the course of yesterday the mate gave repeated orders for the
+deck to be watered again and again, and although as a general rule this
+is a business which is done, once for all, in the early morning, the
+crew did not utter a word of complaint at the additional work thus
+imposed upon them. The tarpaulins on the hatches have thus been kept
+continually wet, so that their close and heavy texture is rendered quite
+impervious to the air, The "Chancellor's" pumps afford a copious supply
+of water, so that I should not suppose that even the daintiest and most
+luxurious craft belonging to an aristocratic yacht-club was ever subject
+to a more thorough scouring. I tried to reconcile myself to the belief
+that it was the high temperature of the tropical regions upon which
+we are entering, that rendered such extra sousings a necessity, and
+recalled to my recollection how, during the night of the 13th, I had
+found the atmosphere below deck so stifling that in spite of the heavy
+swell I was obliged to open the porthole of my cabin, on the starboard
+side, to get a breath of air.
+
+This morning at daybreak I went on deck. The sun had scarcely risen, and
+the air was fresh and cool, in strange contrast to the heat which below
+the poop had been quite oppressive. The sailors as usual were washing
+the deck, A great sheet of water, supplied continuously by the pumps was
+rolling in tiny wavelets, and escaping now to starboard, now to larboard
+through the scupper-holes. After watching the men for a while as they
+ran about bare-footed, I could not resist the desire to join them, so
+taking off my shoes and stockings I proceeded to dabble in the flowing
+water.
+
+Great was my amazement to find the deck perfectly hot to my feet! Curtis
+heard my exclamation of surprise, and before I could put my thoughts
+into words, said,--
+
+"Yes! there is fire on board!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+OCTOBER 19th.--Everything, then, is clear. The uneasiness of the crew,
+their frequent conferences, Owen's mysterious words, the constant
+scourings of the deck and the oppressive heat of the cabins which had
+been noticed even by my fellow-passengers, all are explained.
+
+After his grave communication, Curtis remained silent. I shivered with a
+thrill of horror; a calamity the most terrible that can befall a voyager
+stared me in the face, and it was some seconds before I could recover
+sufficient composure to inquire when the fire was first discovered.
+
+"Six days ago," replied the mate.
+
+"Six days ago!" I exclaimed; "why, then, it was that night."
+
+"Yes," he said, interrupting me; "it was the night you heard the
+disturbance upon deck. The men on watch noticed a slight smoke issuing
+from the large hatchway and immediately called Captain Huntly and
+myself. We found beyond all doubt, that the cargo was on fire, and what
+was worse, that there was no possibility of getting at the seat of the
+combustion. What could we do? Why; we took the only precaution that
+was practicable under the circumstances, and resolved most carefully
+to exclude every breath of air from penetrating into the hold, For some
+time I hoped that we had been successful. I thought that the fire was
+stifled; but during the last three days there is every reason to make us
+know that it has been gaining strength. Do what we will, the deck gets
+hotter and hotter, and unless it were kept constantly wet, it would be
+unbearable to the feet. But I am glad, Mr. Kazallon," he added; "that
+you have made the discovery. It is better that you should know it."
+
+I listened in silence, I was now fully aroused to the gravity of the
+situation and thoroughly comprehended how we were in the very face of a
+calamity which it seemed that no human power could avert.
+
+"Do you know what has caused the fire?" I presently inquired.
+
+"It probably arose," he answered, "from the spontaneous combustion of
+the cotton. The case is rare, but it is far from unknown. Unless the
+cotton is perfectly dry when it is shipped, its confinement in a damp
+or ill-ventilated hold will sometimes cause it to ignite; and I have no
+doubt it is this that has brought about our misfortune."
+
+"But after all," I said, "the cause matters very little. Is there no
+remedy? Is there nothing to be done?"
+
+"Nothing; Mr. Kazallon," he said. "As I told you before, we have adopted
+the only possible measure within our power to check the fire. At one
+time I thought of knocking a hole in the ship's timbers just on
+her waterline, and letting in just as much water as the pumps could
+afterwards get rid of again; but we found the combustion was right
+in the middle of the cargo and that we should be obliged to flood
+the entire hold before we could get at the right place. That scheme
+consequently was no good. During the night, I had the deck bored in
+various places and water poured down through the holes; but that again
+seemed all of no use. There is only one thing that can be done; we must
+persevere in excluding most carefully every breath of outer air, so that
+perhaps the conflagration deprived of oxygen may smoulder itself out.
+That is our only hope."
+
+"But, you say the fire is increasing?"
+
+"Yes; and that shows that in spite of all our care there is some
+aperture which we have not been able to discover, by which, somehow or
+other, air gets into the hold."
+
+"Have you ever heard of a vessel surviving such circumstances?" I asked.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Kazallon," said Curtis; "it is not at all an unusual thing for
+ships laden with cotton to arrive at Liverpool or Havre with a portion
+of their cargo consumed; and I have myself known more than one captain
+run into port with his deck scorching his very feet, and who, to save
+his vessel and the remainder of his freight has been compelled to unload
+with the utmost expedition. But, in such cases, of course the fire has
+been more or less under control throughout the voyage; with us, it
+is increasing day by day, and I tell you I am convinced there is an
+aperture somewhere which has escaped our notice."
+
+"But would it not be advisable for us to retrace our course, and make
+for the nearest land?"
+
+"Perhaps it would," he answered. "Walter and I, and the boatswain, are
+going to talk the matter over seriously with the captain to-day. But,
+between ourselves, I have taken the responsibility upon myself; I have
+already changed the tack to the south-west; we are now straight before
+the wind, and consequently we are sailing towards the coast."
+
+"I need hardly ask," I added; "whether any of the other passengers are
+at all aware of the imminent danger in which we are placed."
+
+"None of them," he said; "not in the least; and I hope you will not
+enlighten them. We don't want terrified women and cowardly men to add to
+our embarrassment; the crew are under orders to keep a strict silence on
+the subject. Silence is indispensable."
+
+I promised to keep the matter a profound secret, as I fully entered into
+Curtis's views as to the absolute necessity for concealment.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+OCTOBER 20th AND 21st.--The "Chancellor" is now crowded with all the
+canvas she can carry, and at times her top-masts threaten to snap with
+the pressure. But Curtis is ever on the alert; he never leaves his post
+beside the man at the helm, and without compromising the safety of the
+vessel, he contrives by tacking to the breeze, to urge her on at her
+utmost speed.
+
+All day long on the 20th, the passengers were assembled on the poop.
+Evidently they found the heat of the cabins painfully oppressive, and
+most of them lay stretched upon benches and quietly enjoyed the gentle
+rolling of the vessel. The increasing heat of the deck did not reveal
+itself to their well-shod feet and the constant scouring of the boards
+did not excite any suspicion in their torpid minds. M. Letourneur, it
+is true, did express his surprise that the crew of an ordinary merchant
+vessel should be distinguished by such extraordinary cleanliness, but as
+I replied to him in a very casual tone, he passed no further remark. I
+could not help regretting that I had given Curtis my pledge of silence,
+and longed intensely to communicate the melancholy secret to
+the energetic Frenchman; for at times when I reflect upon the
+eight-and-twenty victims who may probably, only too soon, be a prey to
+the relentless flames, my heart seems ready to burst.
+
+The important consultation between captain, mate, lieutenant, and
+boatswain has taken place. Curtis has confided the result to me. He says
+that Huntly, the captain, is completely demoralized; he has lost all
+power and energy; and practically leaves the command of the ship to him.
+It is now certain the fire is beyond control, and that sooner or
+later it will burst out in full violence The temperature of the crew's
+quarters has already become almost unbearable. One solitary hope
+remained; it is that we may reach the shore before the final catastrophe
+occurs. The Lesser Antilles are the nearest land; and although they
+are some five or six hundred miles away, if the wind remains north-east
+there is yet a chance of reaching them in time.
+
+Carrying royals and studding-sails, the "Chancellor" during the last
+four-and-twenty hours has held a steady course. M. Letourneur is the
+only one of all the passengers who has remarked the change of tack;
+Curtis however, has set all speculation on his part to rest by telling
+him that he wanted to get ahead of the wind, and that he was tacking to
+the west to catch a favourable current.
+
+To-day, the 21st, all has gone on as usual; and as far as the
+observation of the passengers has reached, the ordinary routine has been
+undisturbed. Curtis indulges the hope even yet that by excluding the
+air, the fire may be stifled before it ignites the general cargo; he has
+hermetically closed every accessible aperture, and has even taken the
+precaution of plugging the orifices of the pumps, under the impression
+that their suction-tubes, running as they do to the bottom of the
+hold, may possibly be channels for conveying some molecules of air.
+Altogether, he considers it a good sign that the combustion has not
+betrayed itself by some external issue of smoke.
+
+The day would have passed without any incident worth recording if I had
+not chanced to overhear a fragment of a conversation which demonstrated
+that our situation hitherto precarious enough, had now become most
+appalling.
+
+As I was sitting on the poop, two of my fellow-passengers, Falsten,
+the engineer, and Ruby, the merchant whom I had observed to be often in
+company, were engaged in conversation almost close to me. What they said
+was evidently not intended for my hearing, but my attention was directed
+towards them by some very emphatic gestures of dissatisfaction on the
+part of Falsten, and I could not forbear listening to what followed.
+
+"Preposterous! shameful!" exclaimed Falsten; "nothing could be more
+imprudent."
+
+"Pooh! pooh!" replied Ruby; "it's all right; it is not the first time I
+have done it."
+
+"But don't you know that any shock at any time might cause an
+explosion?"
+
+"Oh, it's all properly secured," said Ruby, "tight enough; I have no
+fears on that score, Mr. Falsten."
+
+"But why," asked Falsten, "did you not inform the captain?"
+
+"Just because if I had informed him, he would not have taken the case on
+board."
+
+The wind dropped for a few seconds; and for a brief interval I could
+not catch what passed; but I could see that Falsten continued to
+remonstrate, whilst Ruby answered by shrugging his shoulders. At length
+I heard Falsten say,--
+
+"Well, at any rate the captain must be informed of this, and the package
+shall be thrown overboard. I don't want, to be blown up."
+
+I started. To what could the engineer be alluding? Evidently he had not
+the remotest suspicion that the cargo was already on fire. In another
+moment the words "picrate of potash" brought me to my feet? and with an
+involuntary impulse I rushed up to Ruby, and seized him by the shoulder.
+
+"Is there picrate of potash on board?" I almost shrieked.
+
+"Yes," said Falsten, "a case containing thirty pounds."
+
+"Where is it?" I cried.
+
+"Down in the hold, with the cargo."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+What my feelings were I cannot describe; but it was hardly in terror so
+much as with a kind of resignation that I made my way to Curtis on
+the forecastle, and made him aware that the alarming character of our
+situation was now complete, as there was enough explosive matter on
+board to blow up a mountain. Curtis received the information as coolly
+as it was delivered, and after I had made him acquainted with all the
+particulars said,--
+
+"Not a word of this must be mentioned to any one else, Mr. Kazallon,
+where is Ruby now?"
+
+"On the poop," I said.
+
+"Will you then come with me, sir?"
+
+Ruby and Falsten were sitting just as I had left them. Curtis walked
+straight up to Ruby, and asked him whether what he had been told was
+true.
+
+"Yes, quite true," said Ruby, complacently, thinking that the worst
+that could befall him would be that he might be convicted of a little
+smuggling.
+
+I observed that Curtis was obliged for a moment or two to clasp his
+hands tightly together behind his back to prevent himself from
+seizing the unfortunate passenger by the throat; but suppressing his
+indignation, he proceeded quietly, though sternly, to interrogate him
+about the facts of the case. Ruby only confirmed what I had already told
+him. With characteristic Anglo-Saxon incautiousness he had brought
+on board with the rest of his baggage, a case containing no less than
+thirty pounds of picrate, and had allowed the explosive matter to be
+stowed in the hold with as little compunction as a Frenchman would feel
+in smuggling a single bottle of wine. He had not informed the captain
+of the dangerous nature of the contents of the package, because he was
+perfectly aware that he would have been refused permission to bring the
+package on board.
+
+"Any way," he said, with a shrug of his shoulders, "you can't hang me
+for it; and if the package gives you so much concern, you are quite at
+liberty to throw it into the sea. My luggage is insured."
+
+I was beside myself with fury, and not being endowed with Curtis's
+reticence and self-control, before he could interfere to stop me, I
+cried out,--
+
+"You fool! don't you know that there is fire on board?"
+
+In an instant I regretted my words. Most earnestly I wished them
+unuttered, But it was too late: their effect upon Ruby was electrical.
+He was paralyzed with terror his limbs stiffened convulsively; his eye
+was dilated; he gasped for breath, and was speechless. All of a
+sudden he threw up his arms and, as though he momentarily expected an
+explosion, he darted down from the poop, and paced frantically up and down
+the deck, gesticulating like a madman, and shouting,--
+
+"Fire on board! Fire! Fire!"
+
+On hearing the outcry, all the crew, supposing that the fire had now
+in reality broken out, rushed on deck; the rest of the passengers soon
+joined them, and the scene that ensued was one of the utmost confusion.
+Mrs. Kear fell down senseless on the deck, and her husband, occupied in
+looking after himself, left her to the tender mercies of Miss Herbey.
+Curtis endeavoured to silence Ruby's ravings, whilst I, in as few words
+as I could, made M. Letourneur aware of the extent to which the cargo
+was on fire. The father's first thought was for Andre but the young
+man preserved an admirable composure, and begged his father not to be
+alarmed, as the danger was not immediate. Meanwhile the sailors had
+loosened all the tacklings of the long-boat; and were preparing to
+launch it, when Curtis's voice was heard peremptorily bidding them to
+desist; he assured them that the fire had made no further progress; that
+Mr. Ruby had been unduly excited and not conscious of what he had said;
+and he pledged his word that when the right moment should arrive he
+would allow them all to leave the ship; but that moment, he said, had
+not yet come.
+
+At the sound of a voice which they had learned to honour and respect,
+the crew paused in their operations, and the long-boat remained
+suspended in its place. Fortunately, even Ruby himself in the midst
+of his ravings, had not dropped a word about the picrate that had
+been deposited in the hold; for although the mate had a power over the
+sailors that Captain Huntly had never possessed, I feel certain that if
+the true state of the case had been known, nothing on earth would
+have prevented some of them, in their consternation, from effecting an
+escape. As it was, only Curtis, Falsten, and myself were cognizant of
+the terrible secret.
+
+As soon as order was restored, the mate and, I joined Falsten on the
+poop, where he had remained throughout the panic, and where we found
+him with folded arms, deep in thought, as it might be, solving some hard
+mechanical problem. He promised, at my request, that he would reveal
+nothing of the new danger to which we were exposed through Ruby's
+imprudence. Curtis himself took the responsibility of informing Captain
+Huntly of our critical situation.
+
+In order to insure complete secrecy, it was necessary to secure the
+person of the unhappy Ruby, who, quite beside himself, continued to rave
+up and down the deck with the incessant cry of "Fire! fire!" Accordingly
+Curtis gave orders to some of his men to seize him and gag him; and
+before he could make any resistance the miserable man was captured and
+safely lodged in confinement in his own cabin.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+OCTOBER 22nd.--Curtis has told the captain everything; for he persists
+in ostensibly recognizing him as his superior officer, and refuses
+to conceal from him our true situation. Captain Huntly received the
+communication in perfect silence, and merely passing his hand across his
+forehead as though to, banish some distressing thought, re-entered his
+cabin without a word.
+
+Curtis, Lieutenant Walter, Falsten, and myself have been discussing
+the chances of our safety, and I am surprised to find with how much
+composure we can all survey our anxious predicament.
+
+"There is no doubt" said Curtis, "that we must abandon all hope
+of arresting the fire; the heat towards the bow has already become
+well-nigh unbearable, and the time must come when the flames will find
+a vent through the deck. If the sea is calm enough for us to make use
+of the boats, well and good; we shall of course get quit of the ship as
+quietly as we can; if on the other hand, the weather should be adverse,
+or the wind be boisterous, we must stick to our place, and contend with
+the flames to the very last; perhaps, after all, we shall fare better
+with the fire as a declared enemy than as a hidden one."
+
+Falsten and I agreed with what he said, but I pointed out to him that
+he had quite overlooked the fact of there being thirty pounds of
+combustible matter in the hold.
+
+"No" he gravely replied, "I have not forgotten it, but it is a
+circumstance of which I do not trust myself to think I dare not run
+the risk of admitting air into the hold by going down to search for the
+powder, and yet I know not at what moment it may explode. No; it is a
+matter that I cannot take at all into my reckoning, it must remain in
+higher hands than mine."
+
+We bowed our heads in a silence which was solemn. In the present state
+of the weather, immediate flight was, we knew, impossible.
+
+After a considerable pause, Falsten, as calmly as though he were
+delivering some philosophic dogma, observed,--
+
+"The explosion, if I may use the formula of science, is not necessary,
+but contingent."
+
+"But tell me, Mr. Falsten," I asked, "is it possible for picrate of
+potash to ignite without concussion?"
+
+"Certainly it is," replied the engineer. "Under-ordinary circumstances,
+picrate of potash although not MORE inflammable than common powder, yet
+possesses the same degree of inflammability."
+
+We now prepared to go on deck. As we left the saloon, in which we had
+been sitting, Curtis seized my hand.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Kazallon," he exclaimed, "if you only knew the bitterness of
+the agony I feel at seeing this fine vessel doomed to be devoured by
+flames, and at being so powerless to save her." Then quickly recovering
+himself, he continued, "But I am forgetting myself; you, if no other,
+must know what I am suffering. It is all over now," he said more
+cheerfully.
+
+"Is our condition quite desperate?" I asked.
+
+"It is just this," he answered deliberately "we are over a mine, and
+already the match has been applied to the train. How long that train may
+be, 'tis not for me to say." And with these words he left me.
+
+The other passengers, in common with the crew, are still in entire
+ignorance of the extremity of peril to which we are exposed, although
+they are all aware that there is fire in the hold. As soon as the fact
+was announced, Mr. Kear, after communicating to Curtis his instructions
+that he thought he should have the fire immediately extinguished and
+intimating that he held him responsible for all contingencies that might
+happen, retired to his cabin, where he has remained ever since, fully
+occupied in collecting and packing together the more cherished articles
+of his property and without the semblance of a care or a thought for his
+unfortunate wife, whose condition, in spite of her ludicrous complaints,
+was truly pitiable. Miss Herbey, however, is unrelaxing in her
+attentions, and the unremitted diligence with which she fulfills her
+offices of duty, commands my highest admiration.
+
+OCTOBER 23rd.--This morning, Captain Huntly sent for Curtis into his
+cabin, and the mate has since made me acquainted with what passed
+between them.
+
+"Curtis," began the captain, his haggard eye betraying only too plainly
+some mental derangement, "I am a sailor, am I not?"
+
+"Certainly, captain," was the prompt acquiescence of the mate.
+
+"I do not know how it is," continued the captain, "but I seem
+bewildered; I cannot recollect anything. Are we not bound for Liverpool?
+Ah! yes! of course. And have we kept a north-easterly direction since we
+left?"
+
+"No, sir, according to your orders we have been sailing south-east, and
+here we are in the tropics."
+
+"And what is the name of the ship?"
+
+"The 'Chancellor,' sir."
+
+"Yes, yes, the 'Chancellor,' so it is. Well, Curtis, I really can't take
+her back to the north. I hate the sea, the very sight of it makes me
+ill, I would much rather not leave my cabin."
+
+Curtis went on to tell me how he had tried to persuade him that with a
+little time and care he would soon recover his indisposition, and feel
+himself again; but the captain had interrupted him by saying,--
+
+"Well, well; we shall see by-and-by; but for the present you must take
+this for my positive order; you must, from this time, at once take
+the command of the ship, and act just as if I were not on board. Under
+present circumstances, I can do nothing. My brain is all in a whirl, you
+cannot tell what I am suffering;" and the unfortunate man pressed both
+his hands convulsively against his forehead.
+
+"I weighed the matter carefully for a moment," added Curtis, "and seeing
+what his condition too truly was, I acquiesced in all that he required
+and withdrew, promising him that all his orders should be obeyed."
+
+After hearing these particulars, I could not help remarking how
+fortunate it was that the captain had resigned of his own accord, for
+although he might not be actually insane, it was very evident that his
+brain was in a very morbid condition.
+
+"I succeed him at a very critical moment;" said Curtis thoughtfully;
+"but I shall endeavour to do my duty."
+
+A short time afterwards he sent for the boatswain, and ordered him to
+assemble the crew at the foot of the main-mast. As soon as the men were
+together, he addressed them very calmly, but very firmly.
+
+"My men," he said, "I have to tell you that Captain Huntly, on account
+of the dangerous situation in which circumstances have placed us, and
+for other reasons known to myself, has thought right to resign his
+command to me. From this time forward, I am captain of this vessel."
+
+Thus quietly and simply the change was effected, and we have the
+satisfaction of knowing that the "Chancellor" is now under the command
+of a conscientious, energetic man, who will shirk nothing that he
+believes to be for our common good. M. Letourneur, Andre, Mr. Falsten,
+and myself immediately offered him our best wishes, in which Lieutenant
+Walter and the boatswain most cordially joined.
+
+The ship still holds her course south-west and Curtis crowds on all
+sail and makes as speedily as possible for the nearest of the Lesser
+Antilles.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+OCTOBER 24th to 29th.--For the last five days the sea has been very
+heavy, and although the "Chancellor" sails with wind and wave in her
+favour, yet her progress is considerably impeded. Here on board this
+veritable fireship I cannot help contemplating with a longing eye this
+vast ocean that surrounds us. The water supply should be all we need.
+
+"Why not bore the deck?" I said to Curtis. "Why not admit the water by
+tons into the hold? What could be the harm? The fire would be quenched;
+and what would be easier than to pump the water out again?"
+
+"I have already told you, Mr. Kazallon," said Curtis, "that the very
+moment we admit the air, the flames will rush forth to the very top of
+the masts. No; we must have courage and patience; we must wait. There is
+nothing whatever to be done, except to close every aperture."
+
+The fire continued to progress even more rapidly than we had hitherto
+suspected. The heat gradually drove the passengers nearly all, on deck,
+and the two stern cabins, lighted, as I said, by their windows in the
+aft-board were the only quarters below that were inhabitable. Of these
+Mrs. Kear occupied one, and Curtis reserved the other for Ruby, who,
+a raving maniac, had to be kept rigidly under restraint. I went down
+occasionally to see him, but invariably found him in a state of abject
+terror, uttering horrible shrieks, as though possessed with the idea
+that he was being scorched by the most excruciating heat.
+
+Once or twice, too, I looked in upon the ex-captain. He was always calm
+and spoke quite rationally upon any subject except his own profession;
+but in connexion with that he prated away the merest nonsense. He
+suffered greatly, but steadily declined all my offers of attention, and
+pertinaciously refused to leave his cabin.
+
+To-day, an acrid, nauseating smoke made its way through the panellings
+that partition off the quarters of the crew. At once Curtis ordered the
+partition to be enveloped in wet tarpaulin, but the fumes penetrated
+even this, and filled the whole neighbourhood of the ship's bows with
+a reeking vapour that was positively stifling. As we listened, too, we
+could hear a dull rumbling sound, but we were as mystified as ever to
+comprehend where the air could have entered that was evidently fanning
+the flames. Only too certainly, it was now becoming a question not
+of days nor even of hours before we must be prepared for the final
+catastrophe. The sea was still running high, and escape by the boats was
+plainly impossible. Fortunately, as I have said, the main-mast and the
+mizzen are of iron; otherwise the heat at their base would long ago
+have brought them down and our chances of safety would have been
+much imperiled; but by crowding on sail the "Chancellor" in the full
+north-east wind continued to make her way with undiminished speed.
+
+It is now a fortnight since the fire was first discovered, and the
+proper working of the ship has gradually become a more and more
+difficult matter. Even with thick shoes any attempt to walk upon deck up
+to the forecastle was soon impracticable, and the poop, simply because
+its door is elevated somewhat above the level of the hold, is now the
+only available standing-place. Water began to lose its effect upon the
+scorched and shrivelling planks; the resin oozed out from the knots
+in the wood, the seams burst open, and the tar, melted by the heat,
+followed the rollings of the vessel, and formed fantastic patterns about
+the deck.
+
+Then to complete our perplexity, the wind shifted suddenly round to the
+north-west, whence it blew a perfect hurricane. To no purpose did Curtis
+do everything in his power to bring the ship ahull; every effort was
+vain; the "Chancellor" could not bear her trysail, so there was nothing
+to be done but to let her go with the wind, and drift further and
+further from the land for which we are longing so eagerly.
+
+To-day, the 29th, the tempest seemed to reach its height; the waves
+appeared to us mountains high, and dashed the spray most violently
+across the deck. A boat could not live for a moment in such a sea.
+
+Our situation is terrible. We all wait in silence, some few on the
+forecastle, the great proportion of us on the poop. As for the picrate,
+for the time we have quite forgotten its existence; indeed it might
+almost seem as though its explosion would come as a relief, for no
+catastrophe, however terrible, could far exceed the torture of our
+suspense.
+
+While he had still the remaining chance, Curtis rescued from the
+store-room such few provisions as the heat of the compartment allowed
+him to obtain; and a lot of cases of salt meat and biscuits, a cask of
+brandy, some barrels of fresh water, together with some sails and wraps,
+a compass and other instruments are now lying packed in a mass all ready
+for prompt removal to the boats whenever we shall be obliged to leave
+the ship.
+
+About eight o'clock in the evening, a noise is heard, distinct even
+above the raging of the hurricane. The panels of the deck are upheaved,
+and volumes of black smoke issue upwards as if from a safety-valve. An
+universal consternation seizes one and all: we must leave the volcano
+which is about to burst beneath our feet. The crew run to Curtis for
+orders. He hesitates; looks first at the huge and threatening waves;
+looks then at the boats. The long-boat is there, suspended right along
+the centre of the deck; but it is impossible to approach it now;
+the yawl, however, hoisted on the starboard side, and the whale-boat
+suspended aft, are still available. The sailors make frantically for the
+yawl.
+
+"Stop, stop," shouts Curtis; "do you mean to cut off our last and only
+chance of safety? Would you launch a boat in such a sea as this?"
+
+A few of them, with Owen at their head, give no heed to what he says.
+Rushing to the poop, and seizing a cutlass, Curtis shouts again,--
+
+"Touch the tackling of the davit, one of you; only touch it, and I'll
+cleave your skull."
+
+Awed by his determined manner, the men retire, some clambering into the
+shrouds, whilst others mount to the very top of the masts.
+
+At eleven o'clock, several loud reports are heard, caused by the
+bursting asunder of the partitions of the hold. Clouds of smoke issue
+from the front, followed by a long tongue of lambent flame that seems to
+encircle the mizzen-mast. The fire now reaches to the cabin occupied by
+Mrs. Kear, who, shrieking wildly, is brought on deck by Miss Herbey.
+A moment more, and Silas Huntly makes his appearance, his face all
+blackened with the grimy smoke; he bows to Curtis, as he passes, and
+then proceeds in the calmest manner to mount the aft-shrouds, and
+installs himself at the very top of the mizzen.
+
+The sight of Huntly recalls to my recollection the prisoner still below,
+and my first impulse is to rush to the staircase and do what I can to
+set him free. But the maniac has already eluded his confinement, and
+with singed hair and his clothes already alight, rushes upon deck. Like
+a salamander he passes across the burning deck with unscathed feet,
+and glides through the stifling smoke with unchoked breath. Not a sound
+escapes his lips.
+
+Another loud report; the long-boat is shivered into fragments; the
+middle panel bursts the tarpaulin that covered it, and a stream of fire,
+free at length from the restraint that had held it, rises half-mast
+high.
+
+"The picrate! the picrate!" shrieks the madman; "we shall all be blown
+up! the picrate will blow us all up."
+
+And in an instant, before we can get near him, he has hurled himself,
+through the open hatchway, down into the fiery furnace below.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+OCTOBER 29th:--NIGHT.--The scene, as night came on, was terrible indeed.
+Notwithstanding the desperateness of our situation, however, there
+was not one of us so paralyzed by fear, but that we fully realized the
+horror of it all.
+
+Poor Ruby, indeed, is lost and gone, but his last words were productive
+of serious consequences. The sailors caught his cry of "Picrate,
+picrate!" and being thus for the first time made aware of the true
+nature of their peril, they resolved at every hazard to accomplish their
+escape. Beside themselves with terror, they either did not or would
+not, see that no boat could brave the tremendous waves that were raging
+around, and accordingly they made a frantic rush towards the yawl.
+Curtis again made a vigorous endeavour to prevent them, but this time
+all in vain; Owen urged them on, and already the tackling was loosened,
+so that the boat was swung over to the ship's side, For a moment it hung
+suspended in mid-air, and then, with a final effort from the sailors, it
+was quickly lowered into the sea. But scarcely had it touched the water,
+when it was caught by an enormous wave which, recoiling with resistless
+violence, dashed it to atoms against the "Chancellor's" side.
+
+The men stood aghast; they were dumbfoundered. Long-boat and yawl both
+gone, there was nothing now remaining to us but a small whale-boat. Not
+a word was spoken; not a sound was heard but the hoarse whistling of
+the wind, and the mournful roaring of the flames. From the centre of the
+ship, which was hollowed out like a furnace, there issued a column of
+sooty vapour that ascended to the sky. All the passengers, and several
+of the crew, took refuge in the aft-quarters of the poop. Mrs. Kear
+was lying senseless on one of the hen-coops, with Miss Herbey sitting
+passively at her side; M. Letourneur held his son tightly clasped to his
+bosom. I saw Falsten calmly consult his watch, and note down the time
+in his memorandum-book, but I was far from sharing his, composure, for I
+was overcome by a nervous agitation that I could not suppress.
+
+As far as we knew, Lieutenant Walter, the boatswain, and such of the
+crew as were not with us, were safe in the bow; but it was impossible
+to tell how they were faring because the sheet of fire intervened like a
+curtain, and cut off all communication between stem and stern.
+
+I broke the dismal silence, saying "All over now, Curtis."
+
+"No, sir, not yet," he replied, "now that the panel is open we will set
+to work, and pour water with all our might down into the furnace, and
+may be, we shall put it out, even yet."
+
+"But how can you work your pumps while the deck is burning? and how can
+you get at your men beyond that sheet of flame?"
+
+He made no answer to my impetuous questions, and finding that he had
+nothing more to say, I repeated that it was all over now.
+
+After a pause, he said, "As long as a plank of the ship remains to stand
+on, Mr. Kazallon, I shall not give up my hope."
+
+But the conflagration raged with redoubled fury, the sea around us was
+lighted with a crimson glow, and the clouds above shone with a lurid
+glare. Long jets of fire darted across the hatchways, and we were forced
+to take refuge on the taffrail at the extreme end of the poop. Mrs.
+Kear was laid in the whale-boat that hung from the stern, Miss Herbey
+persisting to the last in retaining her post by her side.
+
+No pen could adequately portray the horrors of this fearful night. The
+"Chancellor" under bare poles, was driven, like a gigantic fire-ship
+with frightful velocity across the raging ocean; her very speed as it
+were, making common cause with the hurricane to fan the fire that was
+consuming her. Soon there could be no alternative between throwing
+ourselves into the sea, or perishing in the flames.
+
+But where, all this time, was the picrate? perhaps, after all, Ruby
+had deceived us and there was no volcano, such as we dreaded, below our
+feet.
+
+At half-past eleven, when the tempest seems at its very height there
+is heard a peculiar roar distinguishable even above the crash of the
+elements. The sailors in an instant recognize its import.
+
+"Breakers to starboard!" is the cry.
+
+Curtis leaps on to the netting, casts a rapid glance at the snow-white
+billows, and turning to the helmsman shouts with all his might
+"Starboard the helm!"
+
+But it is too late. There is a sudden shock; the ship is caught up by an
+enormous wave; she rises upon her beam ends; several times she strikes
+the ground; the mizzen-mast snaps short off level with the deck, falls
+into the sea, and the "Chancellor" is motionless.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE NIGHT OF THE 29th CONTINUED.--It was not yet midnight; the darkness
+was most profound, and we could see nothing. But was it probable that we
+had stranded on the coast of America?
+
+Very shortly after the ship had thus come to a standstill a clanking of
+chains was heard proceeding from her bows.
+
+"That is well," said Curtis; "Walter and the boatswain have cast both
+the anchors. Let us hope they will hold."
+
+Then, clinging to the netting, he clambered along the starboard side,
+on which the ship had heeled, as far as the flames would allow him. He
+clung to the holdfasts of the shrouds, and in spite of the heavy
+seas that dashed against the vessel he maintained his position for a
+considerable time, evidently listening to some sound that had caught
+his ear in the midst of the tempest. In about a quarter of an hour he
+returned to the poop.
+
+"Heaven be praised!" he said, "the water is coming in, and perhaps may
+get the better of the fire."
+
+"True," said I, "but what then?"
+
+"That," he replied, "is a question for by-and-by. We can now only think
+of the present."
+
+Already I fancied that the violence of the flames was somewhat abated,
+and that the two opposing elements were in fierce contention. Some plank
+in the ship's side was evidently stove in, admitting free passage for
+the waves. But how, when the water had mastered the fire, should we be
+able to master the water? Our natural course would be to use the
+pumps, but these, in the very midst of the conflagration, were quite
+unavailable.
+
+For three long hours, in anxious suspense, we watched and watched, and
+waited. Where we were we could not tell. One thing alone was certain:
+the tide was ebbing beneath us, and the waves were relaxing in their
+violence. Once let the fire be extinguished, and then, perhaps, there
+would be room to hope that the next high tide would set us afloat.
+
+Towards half-past four in the morning the curtain of fire and smoke,
+which had shut off communication between the two extremities of the
+ship, became less dense, and we could faintly distinguish that party
+of the crew who had taken refuge in the forecastle; and before long,
+although it was impracticable to step upon the deck, the lieutenant and
+the boatswain contrived to clamber over the gunwale, along the rails,
+and joined Curtis on the poop.
+
+Here they held a consultation, to which I was admitted. They were all
+of opinion that nothing could be done until daylight should give us
+something of an idea of our actual position. If we then found that we
+were near the shore, we would, weather permitting, endeavour to land,
+either in the boat or upon a raft. If, on the other hand, no land were
+in sight, and the "Chancellor" were ascertained to be stranded on some
+isolated reef, all we could do would be to get her afloat, and put her
+into condition for reaching the nearest coast. Curtis told us that it
+was long since he had been able to take any observation of altitude, but
+there was no doubt the north-west wind had driven us far to the south;
+and he thought, as he was ignorant of the existence of any reef in this
+part of the Atlantic, that it was just possible that we had been driven
+on to the coast of some portion of South America.
+
+I reminded him that we were in momentary expectation of an explosion,
+and suggested that it would be advisable to abandon the ship and take
+refuge on the reef. But he would not hear of such a proceeding, said
+that the reef would probably be covered at high tide, and persisted in
+the original resolution, that no decided action could be taken before
+the daylight appeared.
+
+I immediately reported this decision of the captain to my fellow
+passengers. None of them seem to realize the new danger to which the
+"Chancellor" may be exposed by being cast upon an unknown reef, hundreds
+of miles it may be from land. All are for the time possessed with one
+idea, one hope; and that is, that the fire may now be quenched and the
+explosion averted.
+
+And certainly their hopes seem in a fair way of being fulfilled. Already
+the raging flames that poured forth from the hatches have given place
+to dense black smoke, and although occasionally some fiery streaks dart
+across the dusky fumes, yet they are instantly extinguished. The waves
+are doing what pumps and buckets could never have effected; by their
+inundation they are steadily stifling the fire which was as steadily
+spreading to the whole bulk of the 1700 bales of cotton.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+OCTOBER 30th.--At the first gleam of daylight we eagerly scanned the
+southern and western horizons, but the morning mists limited our view.
+Land was nowhere to be seen. The tide was now almost at its lowest ebb,
+and the colour of the few peaks of rock that jutted up around us showed
+that the reef on which we had stranded was of basaltic formation. There
+were now only about six feet of water around the "Chancellor," though
+with a full freight she draws about fifteen. It was remarkable how far
+she had been carried on to the shelf of rock, but the number of times
+that she had touched the bottom before she finally ran aground left us
+no doubt that she had been lifted up and borne along on the top of an
+enormous wave. She now lies with her stern considerably higher than her
+bows, a position which renders walking upon the deck anything but an
+easy matter; moreover as the tide-receded she heeled over so much to
+larboard that at one time Curtis feared she would altogether capsize;
+that fear, however, since the tide has reached its lowest mark, has
+happily proved groundless.
+
+At six o'clock some violent blows were felt against the ship's side, and
+at the same time a voice was distinguished, shouting loudly, "Curtis!
+Curtis!" Following the direction of the cries we saw that the broken
+mizzen-mast was being washed against the vessel, and in the dusky morning
+twilight we could make out the figure of a man clinging to the rigging.
+Curtis, at the peril of his life, hastened to bring the man on board,
+It proved to be none other than Silas Huntly, who, after being carried
+overboard with the mast, had thus, almost by a miracle, escaped a
+watery grave. Without a word of thanks to his deliverer, the ex-captain,
+passive, like an automaton, passed on and took his seat in the most
+secluded corner of the poop. The broken mizzen may, perhaps, be of
+service to us at some future time, and with that idea it has been
+rescued from the waves and lashed securely to the stern.
+
+By this time it was light enough to see for a distance of three miles
+round; but as yet nothing could be discerned to make us think that
+we were near a coast. The line of breakers ran for about a mile from
+south-west to north-east, and two hundred fathoms to the north of the
+ship an irregular mass of rocks formed a small islet. This islet rose
+about fifty feet above the sea, and was consequently above the level of
+the highest tides; whilst a sort of causeway, available at low water,
+would enable us to reach the island, if necessity required. But
+there the reef ended; beyond it the sea again resumed its sombre hue,
+betokening deep water. In all probability, then, this was a solitary
+shoal, unattached to a shore, and the gloom of a bitter disappointment
+began to weigh upon our spirits.
+
+In another hour the mists had totally disappeared, and it was broad
+daylight. I and M. Letourneur stood watching Curtis as he continued
+eagerly to scan the western horizon. Astonishment was written on his
+countenance; to him it appeared perfectly incredible that, after our
+course for so long had been due south from the Bermudas, no land should
+be in sight. But not a speck, however minute, broke the clearly-defined
+line that joined sea and sky. After a time Curtis made his way along the
+netting to the shrouds, and swung himself quickly up to the top of the
+mainmast. For several minutes he remained there examining the open space
+around, then seizing one of the backstays he glided down and rejoined us
+on the poop.
+
+"No land in sight," he said, in answer to our eager looks of inquiry.
+
+At this point Mr. Kear interposed, and in a gruff, ill-tempered tone,
+asked Curtis where we were. Curtis replied that he did not know.
+
+"You don't know, sir? Then all I can say is that you ought to know!"
+exclaimed the petroleum merchant.
+
+"That may be, sir; but at present I am as ignorant of our whereabouts as
+you are yourself," said Curtis.
+
+"Well," said Mr. Kear, "just please to know that I don't want to stay
+for ever on your everlasting ship, so I beg you will make haste and
+start off again."
+
+Curtis condescended to make no other reply than a shrug of the
+shoulders, and turning away he informed M. Letourneur and myself that if
+the sun came out he intended to take its altitude and find out to what
+part of the ocean we had been driven. His next care was to distribute
+preserved meat and biscuit amongst the passengers and crew already half
+fainting with hunger and fatigue, and then he set to work to devise
+measures for setting the ship afloat.
+
+The conflagration was greatly abated; no flames now appeared, and
+although some black smoke still issued from the interior, yet its volume
+was far less than before. The first step was to discover how much water
+had entered the hold. The deck was still too hot to walk upon; but
+after two hours' irrigation the boards became sufficiently cool for the
+boatswain to proceed to take some soundings, and he shortly afterwards
+announced that there were five feet of water below. This the captain
+determined should not be pumped out at present, as he wanted it
+thoroughly to do its duty before he got rid of it.
+
+The next subject for consideration was whether it would be advisable to
+abandon the vessel, and to take refuge on the reef. Curtis thought not;
+and the lieutenant and the boatswain agreed with him. The chances of an
+explosion were greatly diminished, as it had been ascertained that the
+water had reached that part of the hold in which Ruby's luggage had been
+deposited; while, on the other hand, in the event of rough weather,
+our position even upon the most elevated points of rock might be very
+critical. It was accordingly resolved that both passengers and crew were
+safest on board.
+
+Acting upon this decision we proceeded to make a kind of encampment on
+the poop, and the few mattresses that were rescued uninjured have been
+given up for the use of the two ladies. Such of the crew as had saved
+their hammocks have been told to place them under the forecastle where
+they would have to stow themselves as best they could, their ordinary
+quarters being absolutely uninhabitable.
+
+Fortunately, although the store-room has been considerably exposed
+to the heat, its contents are not very seriously damaged, and all
+the barrels of water and the greater part of the provisions are quite
+intact. The stack of spare sails, which had been packed away in front,
+is also free from injury. The wind has dropped considerably since the
+early morning, and the swell in the sea is far less heavy. On the whole
+our spirits are reviving, and we begin to think we may yet find a way
+out of our troubles.
+
+M. Letourneur, his son, and I, have just had a long conversation about
+the ship's officers. We consider their conduct, under the late trying
+circumstances, to have been most exemplary, and their courage, energy,
+and endurance to have been beyond all praise. Lieutenant Walter,
+the boatswain, and Dowlas the carpenter have all alike distinguished
+themselves, and made us feel that they are men to be relied on. As for
+Curtis, words can scarcely be found to express our admiration of his
+character; he is the same as he has ever been, the very life of his
+crew, cheering them on by word or gesture; finding an expedient for
+every difficulty, and always foremost in every action.
+
+The tide turned at seven this morning, and by eleven all the rocks were
+submerged, none of them being visible except the cluster of those which
+formed the rim of a small and almost circular basin from 250 to 300 feet
+in diameter, in the north angle of which the ship is lying. As the tide
+rose the white breakers disappeared, and the sea, fortunately for
+the "Chancellor," was pretty calm; otherwise the dashing of the waves
+against her sides, as she lies motionless, might have been attended by
+serious consequences.
+
+As might be supposed, the height of the water in the hold increased
+with the tide from five feet to nine; but this was rather a matter for
+congratulation, inasmuch as it sufficed to inundate another layer of
+cotton.
+
+At half-past eleven the sun, which had been behind the clouds since
+ten o'clock, broke forth brightly. The captain, who had already in the
+morning been able to calculate an horary angle, now prepared to take
+the meridian altitude, and succeeded at midday in making his observation
+most satisfactorily. After retiring for a short time to calculate the
+result; he returned to the poop and announced that we are in lat; 18deg.
+5min. N. and long. 45deg. 53min. W., but that the reef on which we are
+aground is not marked upon the charts. The only explanation that can be
+given for the omission is that the islet must be of recent formation,
+and has been caused by some subterranean volcanic disturbance. But
+whatever may be the solution of the mystery, here we are 800 miles from
+land; for such, on consulting the map, we find to be the actual distance
+to the coast of Guiana, which is the nearest shore. Such is the position
+to which we have been brought, in the first place, by Huntly's senseless
+obstinacy, and, secondly, by the furious north-west gale.
+
+Yet, after all, the captain's communication does not dishearten us. As
+I said before, our spirits are reviving. We have escaped the peril of
+fire; the fear of explosion is past and gone; and oblivious of the fact
+that the ship with a hold full of water is only too likely to founder
+when she puts out to sea, we feel a confidence in the future that
+forbids us to despond.
+
+Meanwhile Curtis prepares to do all that common sense demands. He
+proposes, when the fire is quite extinguished, to throw overboard the
+whole, or the greater portion of the cargo, including of course, the
+picrate; he will next plug up the leak, and then, with a lightened
+ship, he will take advantage of the first high tide to quit the reef as
+speedily as possible.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+OCTOBER 30th.--Once again I talked to M. Letourneur about our situation,
+and endeavoured to animate him with the hope that we should not be
+detained for long in our present predicament; but he could not be
+brought to take a very sanguine view of our prospects.
+
+"But surely," I protested, "it will not be difficult to throw overboard
+a few hundred bales of cotton; two or three days at most will suffice
+for that."
+
+"Likely enough," he replied, "when the business is once begun; but you
+must remember, Mr. Kazallon, that the very heart of the cargo is still
+smouldering, and that it will still be several days before any one will
+be able to venture into the hold. Then the leak, too, that has to be
+caulked; and, unless it is stopped up very effectually, we shall be
+only doomed most certainly to perish at sea. Don't, then, be deceiving
+yourself; it must be three weeks at least before you can expect to put
+out to sea. I can only hope meanwhile that the weather will continue
+propitious; it wouldn't take many storms to knock the 'Chancellor,'
+shattered as she is, completely into pieces."
+
+Here, then, was the suggestion of a new danger to which we were to be
+exposed; the fire might be extinguished, the water might be got rid of
+by the pumps, but, after all, we must be at the mercy of the wind and
+waves; and, although the rocky island might afford a temporary refuge
+from the tempest, what was to become of passengers and crew if the
+vessel should be reduced to a total wreck? I made no remonstrance,
+however, to this view of our case, but merely asked M. Letourneur if he
+had confidence in Robert Curtis?
+
+"Perfect confidence," he answered; "and I acknowledge it most
+gratefully, as a providential circumstance, that Captain Huntly had
+given him the command in time. Whatever man can do I know that Curtis
+will not leave undone to extricate us from our dilemma."
+
+Prompted by this conversation with M. Letourneur I took the first
+opportunity of trying to ascertain from Curtis himself, how long he
+reckoned we should be obliged to remain upon the reef; but he merely
+replied, that it must depend upon circumstances, and that he hoped the
+weather would continue favourable. Fortunately the barometer is rising
+steadily, and there is every sign of a prolonged calm.
+
+Meantime Curtis is taking active measures for totally extinguishing the
+fire. He is at no great pains to spare the cargo, and as the bales that
+lie just above the level of the water are still a-light he has resorted
+to the expedient of thoroughly saturating the upper layers of the
+cotton, in order that the combustion may be stifled between the moisture
+descending from above and that ascending from below. This scheme has
+brought the pumps once more into requisition. At present the crew are
+adequate to the task of working them, but I and some of our fellow
+passengers are ready to offer our assistance whenever it shall be
+necessary.
+
+With no immediate demand upon our labour, we are thrown upon our own
+resources for passing our time. Letourneur, Andre and myself, have
+frequent conversations; I also devote an hour or two to my diary.
+Falsten holds little communication with any of us, but remains absorbed
+in his calculations, and amuses himself by tracing mechanical diagrams
+with ground-plan, section, elevation, all complete. It would be a happy
+inspiration if he could invent some mighty engine that could set us all
+afloat again. Mr. and Mrs. Kear, too, hold themselves aloof from
+their fellow passengers, and we are not sorry to be relieved from the
+necessity of listening to their incessant grumbling; unfortunately,
+however, they carry off Miss Herbey with them, so that we enjoy little
+or nothing of the young lady's society. As for Silas Huntly, he has
+become a complete nonentity; he exists, it is true, but merely, it would
+seem, to vegetate.
+
+Hobart, the steward, an obsequious, sly sort of fellow, goes through his
+routine of duties just as though the vessel were pursuing her ordinary
+course; and, as usual, is continually falling out with Jynxstrop, the
+cook, an impudent, ill-favoured negro, who interferes with the other
+sailors in a manner which, I think, ought not to be allowed.
+
+Since it appears likely that we shall have abundance of time on our
+hands, I have proposed to M. Letourneur and his son that we shall
+together explore the reef on which we are stranded. It is not very
+probable that we shall be able to discover much about the origin of this
+strange accumulation of rock, yet the attempt will at least occupy us
+for some hours, and will relieve us from the monotony of our confinement
+on board. Besides, as the reef is not marked in any of the maps, I could
+not but believe that it would be rendering a service to hydrography if
+we were to take an accurate plan of the rocks, of which Curtis could
+afterwards verify the true position by a second observation made with a
+closer precision than the one he has already taken.
+
+M. Letourneur agrees to my proposal, Curtis has promised to let us have
+the boat and some sounding-lines, and to allow one of the sailors to
+accompany us; so to-morrow morning, we hope to make our little voyage of
+investigation.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+OCTOBER 31st to NOVEMBER 5th.--Our first proceeding on the morning of
+the 31st was to make the proposed tour of the reef, which is about a
+quarter of a mile long. With the aid of our sounding-lines we found that
+the water was deep, right up to the very rocks, and that no shelving
+shores prevented us coasting along them. There was not a shadow of doubt
+as to the rock being of purely volcanic origin, upheaved by some mighty
+subterranean convulsion. It is formed of blocks of basalt, arranged
+in perfect order, of which the regular prisms give the whole mass the
+effect of being one gigantic crystal; and the remarkable transparency
+of the sea enabled us plainly to observe the curious shafts of the
+prismatic columns that support the marvelous substructure.
+
+"This is indeed a singular island," said M. Letourneur; "evidently it is
+of quite a recent origin."
+
+"Yes, father," said Andre, "and I should think it has been caused by
+a phenomenon similar to those which produced the Julia Island, off
+the coast of Sicily, or the group of the Santorini, in the Grecian
+Archipelago. One could almost fancy that it had been created expressly
+for the 'Chancellor' to stand upon."
+
+"It is very certain," I observed, "that some upheaving has lately taken
+place. This is by no means an unfrequented part of the Atlantic, so that
+it is not at all likely that it could have escaped the notice of sailors
+if it had been always in existence; yet it is not marked even in the
+most modern charts. We must try and explore it thoroughly and give
+future navigators the benefit of our observations."
+
+"But, perhaps, it will disappear as it came," said Andre. "You are no
+doubt aware, Mr. Kazallon, that these volcanic islands sometimes have
+a very transitory existence. Not impossibly, by the time it gets marked
+upon the maps it may no longer be here."
+
+"Never mind, my boy," answered his father, "it is better to give warning
+of a danger that does not exist than overlook one that does. I daresay
+the sailors will not grumble much, if they don't find a reef where we
+have marked one."
+
+"No, I daresay not, father," said Andre "and after all this island is
+very likely as firm as a continent. However, if it is to disappear, I
+expect Captain Curtis would be glad to see it take its departure as soon
+as possible after he has finished his repairs; it would save him a world
+of trouble in getting his ship afloat."
+
+"Why, what a fellow you are Andre!" I said, laughing, "I believe you
+would like to rule Nature with a magic wand; first of all, you would
+call up a reef from the depth of the ocean to give the 'Chancellor' time
+to extinguish her flames, and then you would make it disappear just that
+the ship might be free again."
+
+Andre smiled; then, in a more serious tone, he expressed his gratitude
+for the timely help that had been vouchsafed us in our hour of need.
+
+The more we examined the rocks that formed the base of the little
+island, the more we became convinced that its formation was quite
+recent, Not a mollusk, not a tuft of seaweed was found clinging to the
+sides of the rocks; not a germ had the wind carried to its surface, not
+a bird had taken refuge amidst the crags upon its summits. To a lover of
+natural history, the spot did not yield a single point of interest; the
+geologist alone would find subject of study in the basaltic mass.
+
+When we reached the southern point of the island I proposed that we
+should disembark. My companions readily assented, young Letourneur
+jocosely observing that if the little island was destined to vanish,
+it was quite right that it should first be visited by human beings. The
+boat was accordingly brought alongside, and we set, foot upon the
+reef, and began to ascend the gradual slope that leads to its highest
+elevation.
+
+The walking was not very rough, and as Andre could get along tolerably
+well without the assistance of an arm, he led the way, his father and I
+following close behind. A quarter of an hour sufficed to bring us to the
+loftiest point in the islet, when we seated ourselves on the basaltic
+prism that crowned its summit.
+
+Andre took a sketch-book from his pocket, and proceeded to make a
+drawing of the reef. Scarcely had he completed the outline when his
+father exclaimed,--
+
+"Why, Andre, you have drawn a ham!"
+
+"Something uncommonly like it, I confess," replied Andre. "I think we
+had better ask Captain Curtis to let us call our island Ham Rock."
+
+"Good," said I; "though sailors will need to keep it at a respectful
+distance, for they will scarcely find that their teeth are strong enough
+to tackle with it."
+
+M. Letourneur was quite correct; the outline of the reef as it stood
+clearly defined against the deep green water resembled nothing so much,
+as a fine York ham, of which the little creek, where the "Chancellor"
+had been stranded, corresponded to the hollow place above the knuckle.
+The tide at this time was low, and the ship now lay heeled over very
+much to the starboard side, the few points of rock that emerged in the
+extreme south of the reef plainly marking the narrow passage through
+which she had been forced before she finally ran aground.
+
+As soon as Andre had finished his sketch we descended by a slope as
+gradual as that by which we had come up, and made our way towards the
+west. We had not gone very far when a beautiful grotto, perfect as an
+architectural structure, arrested our attention, M. Letourneur and Andre
+who have visited the Hebrides, pronounced it to be a Fingal's cave
+in miniature; a Gothic chapel that might form a fit vestibule for the
+cathedral cave of Staffa. The basaltic rocks had cooled down into the
+same regular concentric prisms; there was the same dark canopied
+roof with its interstices filled up with its yellow lutings; the same
+precision of outline in the prismatic angles, sharp as though chiselled
+by a sculptor's hand; the same sonorous vibration of the air across the
+basaltic rocks, of which the Gaelic poets have feigned that the harps of
+the Fingal minstrelsy were made. But whereas at Staffa the floor of the
+cave is always covered with a sheet of water, here the grotto was beyond
+the reach of all but the highest waves, whilst the prismatic shafts
+themselves formed quite a solid pavement.
+
+After remaining nearly an hour in our newly-discovered grotto we
+returned to the "Chancellor," and communicated the result of our
+explorations to Curtis, who entered the island upon his chart by the
+name that Andre Letourneur had proposed.
+
+Since its discovery we have not permitted a day to pass without spending
+some time in our Ham Rock grotto. Curtis has taken an opportunity of
+visiting it, but he is too preoccupied with other matters to have much
+interest to spare for the wonders of nature. Falsten, too, came once and
+examined the character of the rocks, knocking and chipping them about
+with all the mercilessness of a geologist. Mr. Kear would not trouble
+himself to leave the ship; and although I asked his wife to join us in
+one of our excursions she declined, upon the plea that the fatigue, as
+well as the inconvenience of embarking in the boat, would be more than
+she could bear.
+
+Miss Herbey, only too thankful to escape even for an hour from her
+capricious mistress, eagerly accepted M. Letourneur's invitation to pay
+a visit to the reef but to her great disappointment Mrs. Kear at first
+refused point-blank to allow her to leave the ship. I felt intensely
+annoyed, and resolved to intercede in Miss Herbey's favour; and as I
+had already rendered that self-indulgent lady sundry services which she
+thought she might probably be glad again to accept, I gained my point,
+and Miss Herbey has several times been permitted to accompany us across
+the rocks, where the young girl's delight at her freedom has been a
+pleasure to behold.
+
+Sometimes we fish along the shore, and, then enjoy a luncheon in the
+grotto, whilst the basalt columns vibrate like harps to the breeze.
+This arid reef, little as it is, compared with the cramped limits of
+the "Chancellor's" deck is like some vast domain; soon there will be
+scarcely a stone with which we are not familiar, scarcely a portion of
+its surface which we have not merrily trodden, and I am sure that when
+the hour of departure arrives we shall leave it with regret.
+
+In the course of conversation, Andre Letourneur one day happened to say
+that he believed the island of Staffa belonged to the Macdonald family,
+who let it for the small sum of 12 pounds a year.
+
+"I suppose then," said Miss Herbey, "that we should hardly get more than
+half-a-crown a year for our pet little island."
+
+"I don't think you would get a penny for it, Miss Herbey; but are you
+thinking of taking a lease?" I said, laughing.
+
+"Not at present," she said; then added, with a half-suppressed sigh,
+"and yet it is a place where I have seemed to know what it is to be
+really happy."
+
+Andre murmured some expression of assent, and we all felt that there was
+something touching in the words of the orphaned, friendless girl who had
+found her long-lost sense of happiness on a lonely rock in the Atlantic.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+NOVEMBER 6th to NOVEMBER 15th.--For the first five days after the
+"Chancellor" had run aground, there was a dense black smoke continually
+rising from the hold; but it gradually diminished until the 6th of
+November, when we might consider that the fire was extinguished. Curtis,
+nevertheless, deemed it prudent to persevere in working the pumps, which
+he did until the entire hull of the ship, right up to the deck, had been
+completely inundated.
+
+The rapidity, however, with which the water, at every retreat of the
+tide, drained off to the level of the sea, was an indication that the
+leak must be of considerable magnitude; and such, on investigation,
+proved to be the case. One of the sailors, named Flaypole, dived one
+day at low water to examine the extent of the damage, and found that the
+hole was not much less than four feet square, and was situated thirty
+feet fore of the helm, and two feet above the rider of the keel; three
+planks had been stoved in by a sharp point of rock, and it was only a
+wonder that the violence with which the heavily-laden vessel had been
+thrown ashore did not result in the smashing in of many parts besides.
+
+As it would be a couple of days or more before the hold would be in a
+condition for the bales of cotton to be removed for the carpenter to
+examine the damage from the interior of the ship, Curtis employed the
+interval in having the broken mizzen-mast repaired. Dowlas the carpenter,
+with considerable skill, contrived to mortice it into its former stump,
+and made the junction thoroughly secure by strong iron-belts and bolts.
+The shrouds, the stays and backstays, were then carefully refitted,
+some of the sails were changed, and the whole of the running rigging was
+renewed. Injury, to some extent, had been done to the poop and to the
+crew's lockers, in the front; but time and labour were all that were
+wanted to make them good; and with such a will, did every one set to
+work that it was not long before all the cabins were again available for
+use.
+
+On the 8th the unlading of the ship commenced. Pulleys and tackling were
+put over the hatches, and passengers and crew together proceeded to haul
+up the heavy bales which had been deluged so frequently by water that
+the cotton was all but spoiled. One by one the sodden bales were placed
+in the boat to be transported to the reef. After the first layer of
+cotton had been removed it became necessary to drain off part of the
+water that filled the hold. For this purpose the leak in the side had
+somehow or other to be stopped, and this was an operation which was
+cleverly accomplished by Dowlas and Flaypole, who contrived to dive at
+low tide and nail a sheet of copper over the entire hole. This, however,
+of itself would have been utterly inadequate to sustain the pressure
+that would arise from the action of the pumps; so Curtis ordered that a
+number of the bales should be piled up inside against the broken planks.
+The scheme succeeded very well, and as the water got lower and lower in
+the hold the men were enabled to resume their task of unlading.
+
+Curtis thinks it quite probable that the leaks may be mended from the
+interior. By far the best way of repairing the damage would be to careen
+the ship, and to shift the planking, but the appliances are wanting for
+such an undertaking; moreover, any bad weather which might occur while
+the ship was on her flank would only too certainly be fatal to her
+altogether. But the captain has very little doubt that by some device or
+other he shall manage to patch up the hole in such a way as will insure
+our reaching land in safety.
+
+After two days' toil the water was entirely reduced and without further
+difficulty the unlading was completed. All of us, including even Andre
+Letourneur, have been taking our turn at the pumps, for the work is so
+extremely fatiguing that the crew require some occasional respite; arms
+and back soon become strained and weary with the incessant swing of
+the handles, and I can well understand the dislike which sailors always
+express to the labour.
+
+One thing there is which is much in our favour; the ship lies on a firm
+and solid bottom, and we have the satisfaction of knowing that we
+are not contending with a flood that encroaches faster than it can be
+resisted. Heaven grant that we may not be called to make like efforts,
+and to make them hopelessly, for a foundering ship!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+NOVEMBER 15th to 20th.--The examination of the hold has at last been
+made. Amongst the first things that were found was the case of picrate,
+perfectly intact; having neither been injured by the water, nor of
+course reached by the flames. Why it was not at once pitched into the
+sea I cannot say; but it was merely conveyed to the extremity of the
+island, and there it remains.
+
+While they were below, Curtis and Dowlas made themselves acquainted with
+the full extent of the mischief that had been done by the conflagration.
+They found that the deck and the cross-beams that supported it had been
+much less injured than they expected, and the thick, heavy planks had
+only been scorched very superficially. But the action of the fire on
+the flanks of the ship had been of a much more serious character; a long
+portion of the inside boarding had been burnt away, and the very ribs
+of the vessel were considerably damaged; the oakum caulkings had all
+started away from the butt-ends and seams; so much so that it was
+little short of a miracle that the whole ship had not long since gaped
+completely open.
+
+The captain and the carpenter returned to the deck with anxious faces.
+Curtis lost no time in assembling passengers and crew, and announcing to
+them the facts of the case.
+
+"My friends," he said, "I am here to tell you that the 'Chancellor' has
+sustained far greater injuries than we suspected, and that her hull is
+very seriously damaged. If we had been stranded anywhere else than on a
+barren reef, that may at any time be overwhelmed by a tempestuous sea
+I should not have hesitated to take the ship to pieces, and construct a
+smaller vessel that might have carried us safely to land; but I dare not
+run the risk of remaining here. We are now 800 miles from the coast of
+Paramaribo, the nearest portion of Dutch Guiana, and in ten or twelve
+days, if the weather should be favourable, I believe we could reach the
+shore. What I now propose to do is to stop the leak by the best means we
+can command, and make at once for the nearest port."
+
+As no better plan seemed to suggest itself, Curtis's proposal was
+unanimously accepted Dowlas and his assistants immediately set to work
+to repair the charred frame-work of the ribs, and to stop the leak; they
+took care thoroughly to caulk from the outside all the seams that were
+above low water mark; lower than that they were unable to work, and
+had to content themselves with such repairs as they could effect in the
+interior. But after all the pains there is no doubt the "Chancellor" is
+not fit for a long voyage, and would be condemned as unseaworthy at any
+port at which we might put in.
+
+To-day, the 20th, Curtis having done all that human power could do to
+repair his ship, determined to put her to sea.
+
+Ever since the "Chancellor" had been relieved of her cargo, and of the
+water in her hold, she had been able to float in the little natural
+basin into which she had been driven. The basin was enclosed on either
+hand by rocks that remained uncovered even at high water, but was
+sufficiently wide to allow the vessel to turn quite round at its
+broadest part, and by means of hawsers fastened on the reef to be
+brought with her bows towards the south; while, to prevent her being
+carried back on to the reef, she has been anchored fore and aft.
+
+To all appearance, then, it seemed as though it would be an easy matter
+to put the "Chancellor" to sea; if the wind were favourable the sails
+would be hoisted, if otherwise, she would have to be towed through the
+narrow passage. All seemed simple. But unlooked-for difficulties had yet
+to be surmounted.
+
+The mouth of the passage is guarded by a kind of ridge of basalt, which
+at high tide we knew was barely covered with sufficient water to float
+the "Chancellor," even when entirely unfreighted. To be sure she had
+been carried over the obstacle once before, but then, as I have already
+said, she had been caught up by an enormous wave, and might have been
+said to be LIFTED over the barrier into her present position. Besides,
+on that ever-memorable night, there had not only been the ordinary
+spring-tide, but an equinoctial tide, such a one as could not be
+expected to occur again for many months. Waiting was out of the
+question; so Curtis determined to run the risk, and to take advantage of
+the spring-tide, which would occur to-day, to make an attempt to get the
+ship, lightened as she was, over the bar; after which, he might ballast
+her sufficiently to sail.
+
+The wind was blowing from the north-west, and consequently right in the
+direction of the passage. The captain, however, after a consultation,
+preferred to tow the ship over the ridge, as he considered it was
+scarcely safe to allow a vessel of doubtful stability at full sail to
+charge an obstacle that would probably bring her to a dead lock. Before
+the operation was commenced, Curtis took the precaution of having
+an anchor ready in the stern, for, in the event of the attempt being
+unsuccessful, it would be necessary to bring the ship back to her
+present moorings. Two more anchors were next carried outside the
+passage, which was not more than two hundred feet in length. The
+chains were attached to the windlass, the sailors worked away at the
+handspikes, and at four o'clock in the afternoon the "Chancellor" was in
+motion.
+
+High tide would be at twenty minutes past four, and at ten minutes
+before that time the ship had been hauled as far as her sea-range would
+allow; her keel grazed the ridge, and her progress was arrested. When
+the lowest part of her stern, however, just cleared the obstruction,
+Curtis deemed that there was no longer any reason why the mechanical
+action of the wind should not be brought to bear and contribute its
+assistance. Without delay, all sails were unfurled and trimmed to the
+wind. The tide was exactly at its height, passengers and crew together
+were at the windlass, M. Letourneur, Andre, Falsten, and myself being
+at the starboard bar. Curtis stood upon the poop, giving his chief
+attention to the sails; the lieutenant was on the forecastle; the
+boatswain by the helm. The sea seemed propitiously calm and, as it
+swelled gently to and fro, lifted the ship several times.
+
+"Now, my boys," said Curtis in his calm clear voice, "all together!
+Off!"
+
+Round went the windlass; click, click, clanked the chains as link by
+link they were forced through the hawse-holes.
+
+The breeze freshened, and the masts gave to the pressure of the sails,
+but round and round we went, keeping time in regular monotony to the
+sing-song tune hummed by one of the sailors.
+
+We had gained about twenty feet, and were redoubling our efforts when
+the ship grounded again.
+
+And now no effort would avail; all was in vain; the tide began to turn;
+and the "Chancellor" would not advance an inch. Was there time to go
+back? She would inevitably go to pieces if left balanced upon the ridge.
+In an instant the captain has ordered the sails to be furled, and the
+anchor dropped from the stern.
+
+One moment of terrible anxiety, and all is well.
+
+The "Chancellor" tacks to stern, and glides back into the basin, which
+is once more her prison.
+
+"Well, captain," says the boatswain, "what's to be done now?"
+
+"I don't know" said Curtis, "but we shall get across somehow."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+NOVEMBER 21st to 24th.--There was assuredly no time to be lost before we
+ought to leave Ham Rock reef. The barometer had been falling ever since
+the morning, the sea was getting rougher, and there was every symptom
+that the weather, hitherto so favourable, was on the point of breaking;
+and in the event of a gale the "Chancellor" must inevitably be dashed to
+pieces on the rocks.
+
+In the evening, when the tide was quite low, and the rocks uncovered,
+Curtis, the boatswain, and Dowlas went to examine the ridge which had
+proved so serious an obstruction, Falsten and I accompanied them. We
+came to the conclusion that the only way of effecting a passage was by
+cutting away the rocks with pikes over a surface measuring ten feet by
+six. An extra depth of nine or ten inches would give a sufficient gauge,
+and the channel might be accurately marked out by buoys; in this way it
+was conjectured the ship might be got over the ridge and so reach the
+deep water beyond.
+
+"But this basalt is as hard as granite," said the boatswain; "besides,
+we can only get at it at low water, and consequently could only work at
+it for two hours out of the twenty-four."
+
+"All the more reason why we should begin at once, boatswain," said
+Curtis.
+
+"But if it is to take us a month, captain, perhaps by that time the ship
+may be knocked to atoms. Couldn't we manage to blow up the rock? we have
+got some powder on board."
+
+"Not enough for that;" said the boatswain.
+
+"You have something better than powder," said Falsten.
+
+"What's that?" asked the captain.
+
+"Picrate of potash," was the reply.
+
+And so the explosive substance with which poor Ruby had so grievously
+imperilled the vessel was now to serve her in good stead, and I now saw
+what a lucky thing it was that the case had been deposited safely on the
+reef, instead of being thrown into the sea.
+
+Picric acid is a crystalline bitter product extracted from coal-tar, and
+forming, in combination with potash, a yellow salt known as picrate of
+potash. The explosive power of this substance is inferior to that
+of gun-cotton or of dynamite, but far greater than that of ordinary
+gunpowder; one grain of picric powder producing an effect equal to that
+of thirteen grains of common powder. Picrate is easily ignited by
+any sharp or violent shock, and some gun-priming which we had in our
+possession would answer the purpose of setting it alight.
+
+The sailors went off at once for their pikes, and Dowlas and his
+assistants, under the direction of Falsten, who, as an engineer,
+understood such matters, proceeded to hollow out a mine wherein to
+deposit the powder. At first we hoped that everything would be ready for
+the blasting to take place on the following morning, but when daylight
+appeared we found that the men, although they had laboured with a will,
+had only been able to work for an hour at low water and that four tides
+must ebb before the mine had been sunk to the required depth.
+
+Not until eight o'clock on the morning of the 23rd was the work
+complete. The hole was bored obliquely in the rock, and was large enough
+to contain about ten pounds of explosive matter. Just as the picrate was
+being introduced into the aperture, Falsten interposed:--
+
+"Stop," he said, "I think it will be best to mix the picrate with common
+powder, as that will allow us to fire the mine with a match instead of
+the gun-priming which would be necessary to produce a shock. Besides,
+it is an understood thing that the addition of gunpowder renders picrate
+far more effective in blasting such rocks as this, as then the violence
+of the picrate prepares the way for the powder which, slower in its
+action, will complete the disseverment of the basalt."
+
+Falsten is not a great talker, but what he does say is always very
+much to the point. His good advice was immediately followed; the two
+substances were mixed together, and after a match had been introduced
+the compound was rammed closely into the hole.
+
+Notwithstanding that the "Chancellor" was at a distance from the rocks
+that insured her from any danger of being injured by the explosion, it
+was thought advisable that the passengers and crew should take refuge in
+the grotto at the extremity of the reef, and even Mr. Kear, in spite of
+his many objections, was forced to leave the ship. Falsten, as soon as
+he had set fire to the match, joined us in our retreat.
+
+The train was to burn for ten minutes, and at the end of that time the
+explosion took place; the report, on account of the depth of the
+mine, being muffled, and much less noisy than we had expected. But the
+operation had been perfectly successful. Before we reached the ridge we
+could see that the basalt had been literally reduced to powder, and that
+a little channel, already being filled by the rising tide, had been
+cut right through the obstacle. A loud hurrah rang through the air; our
+prison-doors were opened, and we were prisoners no more!
+
+At high tide the "Chancellor" weighed anchor and floated out into the
+open sea, but she was not in a condition to sail until she had been
+ballasted; and for the next twenty-four hours the crew were busily
+employed in taking up blocks of stone, and such of the bales of cotton
+as had sustained the least amount of injury.
+
+In the course of the day, M. Letourneur, Andre, Miss Herbey, and I took
+a farewell walk round the reef, and Andre with artistic skill, carved on
+the wall of the grotto the word "Chancellor,"--the designation Ham Rock,
+which we had given to the reef,--and the date of our running aground.
+Then we bade adieu to the scene of our three week's sojourn, where we
+had passed days that to some at least of our party will be reckoned as
+far from being the least happy of their lives.
+
+At high tide this morning, the 24th, with low, top, and gallant sails
+all set, the "Chancellor" started on her onward way, and two hours later
+the last peak of Ham Rock had vanished below the horizon.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+NOVEMBER 24th to DECEMBER 1st.--Here we were then once more at sea, and
+although on board a ship of which the stability was very questionable,
+we had hopes, if the wind continued favourable, of reaching the coast of
+Guiana in the course of a few days.
+
+Our way was south-west and consequently with the wind, and although
+Curtis would not crowd on all sail lest the extra speed should have a
+tendency to spring the leak afresh, the "Chancellor" made a progress
+that was quite satisfactory. Life on board began to fall back into its
+former routine; the feeling of insecurity and the consciousness that
+we were merely retracing our path doing much, however, to destroy the
+animated intercourse that would otherwise go on between passenger and
+passenger.
+
+The first few days passed without any incident worth recording, then
+on the 29th, the wind shifted to the north, and it became necessary to
+brace the yards, trim the sails, and take a starboard tack. This made
+the ship lurch very much on one side, and as Curtis felt that she was
+labouring far too heavily, he clued up the top-gallants, prudently
+reckoning that, under the circumstances, caution was far more important
+than speed.
+
+The night came on dark and foggy. The breeze freshened considerably,
+and, unfortunately for us, hailed from the north-west. Although we
+carried no top-sails at all, the ship seemed to heel over more than
+ever. Most of the passengers had retired to their cabins, but all the
+crew remained on deck, whilst Curtis never quitted his post upon the
+poop.
+
+Towards two o'clock in the morning I was myself preparing to go to my
+cabin, when Burke, one of the sailors who had been down into the hold,
+came on deck with the ominous cry,--
+
+"Two feet of water below."
+
+In an instant Curtis and the boatswain had descended the ladder. The
+startling news was only too true; the sea-water was entering the hold,
+but whether the leak had sprung afresh, or whether the caulking in some
+of the seams was insufficient, it was then impossible to determine; all
+that could be done was to let the ship go with the wind and wait for
+day.
+
+At daybreak they sounded again:--"Three feet of water!" was the report,
+I glanced at Curtis, his lips were white, but he had not lost his
+self-possession. He quietly informed such of the passengers as were
+already on deck of the new danger that threatened us; it was better that
+they should know the worst, and the fact could not be long concealed. I
+told M. Letourneur that I could not help hoping that there might yet be
+time to reach the land before the last crisis came. Falsten was about to
+give vent to an expression of despair, but he was soon silenced by Miss
+Herbey asserting her confidence that all would yet be well.
+
+Curtis at once divided the crew into two sets, and made them work
+incessantly, turn and turn about at the pumps. The men applied
+themselves to their task with resignation rather than with ardour; the
+labour was hard and scarcely repaid them; the pumps were constantly
+getting out of order, the valves being choked up by the ashes and bits
+of cotton that were floating about in the hold, while every moment that
+was spent in cleaning or repairing them was so much time lost.
+
+Slowly, but surely, the water continued to rise, and on the following
+morning the soundings gave five feet for its depth, I noticed that
+Curtis's brow contracted each time that the boatswain or the lieutenant
+brought him their report. There was no doubt it was only a question of
+time, and not for an instant must the efforts for keeping down the level
+be relaxed. Already the ship had sunk a foot lower in the water, and as
+her weight increased she no longer rose buoyantly with the waves, but
+pitched and rolled considerably.
+
+All yesterday, and last night, the pumping continued; but still the
+sea gained upon us. The crew are weary and discouraged, but the second
+officer and the boatswain set them a fine example of endurance, and the
+passengers have now begun to take their turn at the pumps.
+
+But all are conscious of toiling almost against hope; we are no longer
+secured firmly to the solid soil of the Ham Rock reef, but we are
+floating over an abyss which daily, nay hourly, threatens to swallow us
+into its depths.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+DECEMBER 2nd and 3rd.--For four hours we have succeeded in keeping the
+water in the hold to one level; now, however, it is very evident that
+the time cannot be far distant when the pumps will be quite unequal to
+their task.
+
+Yesterday Curtis, who does not allow himself a minute's rest, made a
+personal inspection of the hold. I, with the boatswain and carpenter,
+accompanied him. After dislodging some of the bales of cotton we could
+hear a splashing, or rather gurgling sound; but whether the water
+was entering at the original aperture, or whether it found its way in
+through a general dislocation of the seams, we were unable to discover.
+But whichever might be the case, Curtis determined to try a plan which,
+by cutting off communication between the interior and exterior of the
+vessel, might, if only for a few hours, render her hull more watertight.
+For this purpose he had some strong, well-tarred sails drawn upwards by
+ropes from below the keel, as high as the previous leaking-place, and
+then fastened closely and securely to the side of the hull. The
+scheme was dubious, and the operation difficult, but for a time it
+was effectual, and at the close of the day the level of the water
+had actually been reduced by several inches. The diminution was small
+enough, but the consciousness that more water was escaping through
+the scupper-holes than was finding its way into the hold gave us fresh
+courage to persevere with our work.
+
+The night was dark, but the captain carried all the sail he could,
+eager to take every possible advantage of the wind, which was freshening
+considerably. If he could have sighted a ship he would have made signals
+of distress, and would not have hesitated to transfer the passengers,
+and even have allowed the crew to follow, if they were ready to forsake
+him; for himself his mind was made up, he should remain on board the
+"Chancellor" until she foundered beneath his feet. No sail, however,
+hove in sight; consequently escape by such means was out of our power.
+
+During the night the canvas covering yielded to the pressure of the
+waves, and this morning, after taking the sounding, the boatswain could
+not suppress an oath when he announced "Six feet of water in the hold!"
+
+The ship, then, was filling once again, and already had sunk
+considerably below her previous water-line. With aching arms and
+bleeding hands we worked harder than ever at the pumps, and Curtis makes
+those who are not pumping form a line and pass buckets, with all the
+speed they can, from hand to hand.
+
+But all in vain! At half-past eight more water is reported in the hold,
+and some of the sailors, overcome by despair, refuse to work one minute
+longer.
+
+The first to abandon his post was Owen, a man whom I have mentioned
+before, as exhibiting something of a mutinous spirit, He is about forty
+years of age, and altogether unprepossessing in appearance; his face
+is bare, with the exception of a reddish beard, which terminates in a
+point; his forehead is furrowed with sinister-looking wrinkles, his lips
+curl inwards, and his ears protrude, whilst his bleared and bloodshot
+eyes are encircled with thick red rings.
+
+Amongst the five or six other men who had struck work, I noticed
+Jynxstrop the cook, who evidently shared all Owen's ill feelings.
+
+Twice did Curtis order the men back to the pumps, and twice did Owen,
+acting as spokesman for the rest, refuse; and when Curtis made a step
+forward as though to approach him, he said savagely,--
+
+"I advise you not to touch me," and walked away to the forecastle.
+
+Curtis descended to his cabin, and almost immediately returned with a
+loaded revolver in his hand.
+
+For a moment Owen surveyed the captain with a frown of defiance; but
+at a sign from Jynxstrop he seemed to recollect himself; and, with the
+remainder of the men, he returned to his work.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+DECEMBER 4th.--The first attempt at mutiny being thus happily
+suppressed, it is to be hoped that Curtis will succeed as well in
+future. An insubordinate crew would render us powerless indeed.
+
+Throughout the night the pumps were kept, without respite, steadily at
+work, but without producing the least sensible benefit. The ship became
+so water-logged and heavy that she hardly rose at all to the waves,
+which consequently often washed over the deck and contributed their
+part towards aggravating our case. Our situation was rapidly becoming as
+terrible as it had been when the fire was raging in the midst of us;
+and the prospect of being swallowed by the devouring billows was no less
+formidable than that of perishing in the flames.
+
+Curtis kept the men up to the mark, and, willing or unwilling, they had
+no alternative but to work on as best they might; but, in spite of all
+their efforts, the water perpetually rose, till, at length, the men in
+the hold who were passing the buckets found themselves immersed up to
+their waists and were obliged to come on deck.
+
+This morning, after a somewhat protracted consultation with Walter and
+the boatswain, Curtis resolved to abandon the ship. The only remaining
+boat was far too small to hold us all, and it would therefore be
+necessary to construct a raft that should carry those who could not find
+room in her. Dowlas the carpenter, Mr. Falsten, and ten sailors were
+told off to put the raft in hand, the rest of the crew being ordered to
+continue their work assiduously at the pumps, until the time came and
+everything was ready for embarkation.
+
+Hatchet or saw in hand, the carpenter and his assistants made a
+beginning without delay by cutting and trimming the spare yards and
+extra spars to a proper length. These were then lowered into the sea,
+which was propitiously calm, so as to favour the operation (which
+otherwise would have been very difficult) of lashing them together into
+a firm framework, about forty feet long and twenty-five feet wide, upon
+which the platform was to be supported.
+
+I kept my own place steadily at the pumps, and Andre Letourneur worked
+at my side; I often noticed his father glance at him sorrowfully, as
+though he wondered what would become of him if he had to struggle with
+waves to which even the strongest man could hardly fail to succumb. But
+come what may, his father will never forsake him, and I myself shall not
+be wanting in rendering him whatever assistance I can.
+
+Mrs. Kear, who had been for some time in a state of drowsy
+unconsciousness, was not informed of the immediate danger, but when
+Miss Herbey, looking somewhat pale with fatigue, paid one of her flying
+visits to the deck, I warned her to take every precaution for herself
+and to be ready for any emergency.
+
+"Thank you, doctor, I am always ready," she cheerfully replied, and
+returned to her duties below. I saw Andre follow the young girl with his
+eyes, and a look of melancholy interest passed over his countenance.
+
+Towards eight o'clock in the evening the framework for the raft was
+almost complete, and the men were lowering empty barrels, which had
+first been securely bunged, and were lashing them to the wood-work to
+insure its floating.
+
+Two hours later and suddenly there arose the startling cry, "We are
+sinking! we are sinking!"
+
+Up to the poop rushed Mr. Kear, followed immediately by Falsten and Miss
+Herbey, who were bearing the inanimate form of Mrs. Kear. Curtis ran to
+his cabin, instantly returning with a chart; a sextant, and a compass in
+his hand.
+
+The scene that followed will ever be engraven in my memory; the cries of
+distress, the general confusion, the frantic rush of the sailors towards
+the raft that was not yet ready to support them, can never be forgotten.
+The whole period of my life seemed to be concentrated into that terrible
+moment when the planks bent below my feet and the ocean yawned beneath
+me.
+
+Some of the sailors had taken their delusive refuge in the shrouds, and
+I was preparing to follow them when a hand was laid upon my shoulder.
+Turning round I beheld M. Letourneur, with tears in his eyes, pointing
+towards his son. "Yes, my friend," I said, pressing his hand, "we will
+save him, if possible."
+
+But Curtis had already caught hold of the young man, and was hurrying
+him to the main-mast shrouds, when the "Chancellor," which had been
+scudding along rapidly with the wind, stopped suddenly, with a violent
+shock, and began to settle, The sea rose over my ankles and almost
+instinctively I clutched at the nearest rope. All at once, when it
+seemed all over, the ship ceased to sink, and hung motionless in
+mid-ocean.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+NIGHT OF DECEMBER 4th.--Curtis caught young Letourneur again in his
+arms, and running with him across the flooded deck deposited him safely
+in the starboard shrouds, whither his father and I climbed up beside
+him.
+
+I now had time to look about me. The night was not very dark, and I
+could see that Curtis had returned to his post upon the poop; whilst in
+the extreme aft near the taffrail, which was still above water, I could
+distinguish the forms of Mr. and Mrs. Kear, Miss Herbey, and Mr. Falsten
+The lieutenant and the boatswain were on the far end of the forecastle;
+the remainder of the crew in the shrouds and top-masts.
+
+By the assistance of his father, who carefully guided his feet up the
+rigging, Andre was hoisted into the main-top. Mrs. Kear could not be
+induced to join him in his elevated position, in spite of being
+told that if the wind were to freshen she would inevitably be
+washed overboard by the waves; nothing could induce her to listen to
+remonstrance, and she insisted upon remaining on the poop, Miss Herbey,
+of course, staying by her side.
+
+As soon as the captain saw the "Chancellor" was no longer sinking,
+he set to work to take down all the sails, yards and all, and the
+top-gallants, in the hope that by removing everything that could
+compromise the equilibrium of the ship he might diminish the chance of
+her capsizing altogether.
+
+"But may she not founder at any moment?" I said to Curtis, when I had
+joined him for a while upon the poop.
+
+"Everything depends upon the weather," he replied, in his calmest
+manner; "that, of course, may change at any hour. One thing, however, is
+certain, the 'Chancellor' preserves her equilibrium for the present."
+
+"But do you mean to say," I further asked, "that she can sail with two
+feet of water over her deck?"
+
+"No, Mr. Kazallon, she can't sail, but she can drift with the wind, and
+if the wind remains in its present quarter, in the course of a few days
+we might possibly sight the coast. Besides, we shall have our raft as a
+last resource; in a few hours it will be ready, and at daybreak we can
+embark."
+
+"You have not then," I added, "abandoned all hope even yet?" I marvelled
+at his composure.
+
+"While there's life there's hope, you know Mr. Kazallon; out of a
+hundred chances, ninety-nine may be against us, but perhaps the odd one
+may be in our favour. Besides, I believe that our case is not without
+precedent. In the year 1795 a three-master, the 'Juno,' was precisely
+in the same half-sunk, water-logged condition as ourselves; and yet with
+her passengers and crew clinging to her top-masts she drifted for twenty
+days, until she came in sight of land, when those who had survived the
+deprivation and fatigue were saved. So let us not despair; let us hold
+on to the hope that the survivors of the 'Chancellor' may be equally
+fortunate."
+
+I was only too conscious that there was not much to be said in support
+of Curtis's sanguine view of things, and that the force of reason
+pointed all the other way; but I said nothing, deriving what comfort I
+could from the fact that the captain did not yet despond of an ultimate
+rescue.
+
+As it was necessary to be prepared to abandon the ship almost at a
+moment's notice, Dowlas was making every exertion to hurry on the
+construction of the raft. A little before midnight he was on the point
+of conveying some planks for this purpose, when, to his astonishment and
+horror, he found that the framework had totally disappeared. The ropes
+that had attached it to the vessel had snapped as she became vertically
+displaced, and probably it had been adrift for more than an hour.
+
+The crew were frantic at this new misfortune, and shouting "Overboard
+with the masts!" they began to cut down the rigging preparatory to
+taking possession of the masts for a new raft.
+
+But here Curtis interposed:--
+
+"Back to your places, my men; back to your places. The ship will not
+sink yet, so don't touch a rope until I give you leave."
+
+The firmness of the captain's voice brought the men to their senses, and
+although some of them could ill disguise their reluctance, all returned
+to their posts.
+
+When daylight had sufficiently advanced Curtis mounted the mast, and
+looked around for the missing raft; but it was nowhere to be seen. The
+sea was far too rough for the men to venture to take out the whaleboat
+in search of it, and there was no choice but to set to work and to
+construct a new raft immediately.
+
+Since the sea has become so much rougher, Mrs. Kear has been induced to
+leave the poop, and has managed to join M. Letourneur and his son on
+the main-top, where she lies in a state of complete prostration. I need
+hardly add that Miss Herbey continues in her unwearied attendance. The
+space to which these four people are limited is necessarily very small,
+nowhere measuring twelve feet across; to prevent them losing their
+balance some spars have been lashed from shroud to shroud, and for the
+convenience of the two ladies Curtis has contrived to make a temporary
+awning of a sail. Mr. Kear has installed himself with Silas Huntly on
+the foretop.
+
+A few cases of preserved meat and biscuit and some barrels of water,
+that floated between the masts after the submersion of the deck, have
+been hoisted to the top-masts and fastened firmly to the stays. These
+are now our only provisions.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+DECEMBER 5th.--The day was very hot. December in latitude 16deg. N. is a
+summer month, and unless a breeze should rise to temper the burning sun,
+we might expect to suffer from an oppressive heat.
+
+The sea still remained very rough, and as the heavy waves broke over the
+ship as though she were a reef, the foam flew up to the very top-masts,
+and our clothes were perpetually drenched by the spray.
+
+The "Chancellor's" hull is three-fourths immerged; besides the three
+masts and the bowsprit, to which the whale-boat was suspended, the poop
+and the forecastle are the only portions that now are visible; and as
+the intervening section of the deck is quite below the water, these
+appear to be connected only by the framework of the netting that
+runs along the vessel's sides. Communication between the top-masts is
+extremely difficult, and would be absolutely precluded, were it not that
+the sailors, with practised dexterity, manage to hoist themselves about
+by means of the stays. For the passengers, cowering on their narrow
+and unstable platform, the spectacle of the raging sea below was truly
+terrific; every wave that dashed over the ship shook the masts till they
+trembled again, and one could venture scarcely to look or to think lest
+he should be tempted to cast himself into the vast abyss.
+
+Meanwhile, the crew worked away with all their remaining vigour at the
+second raft, for which the top-gallants and yards were all obliged to
+be employed; the planks, too, which were continually being loosened
+and broken away by the violence of the waves from the partitions of
+the ship, were rescued before they had drifted out of reach, and were
+brought into use. The symptoms of the ship foundering did not appear
+to be immediate; so that Curtis insisted upon the raft being made with
+proper care to insure its strength; we were still several hundred miles
+from the coast of Guiana, and for so long a voyage it was indispensable
+to have a structure of considerable solidity. The reasonableness of this
+was self-apparent, and as the crew had recovered their assurance they
+spared no pains to accomplish their work effectually.
+
+Of all the number, there was but one, an Irishman, named O'Ready, who
+seemed to question the utility of all their toil. He shook his head with
+an oracular gravity. He is an oldish man, not less than sixty, with his
+hair and beard bleached with the storms of many travels. As I was making
+my way towards the poop, he came up to me and began talking.
+
+"And why, bedad, I'd like to know, why is it that they'll all be afther
+lavin' of the ship?"
+
+He turned his quid with the most serene composure, and continued,--
+
+"And isn't it me myself that's been wrecked nine times already? and
+sure, poor fools are they that ever have put their trust in rafts or
+boats sure and they found a wathery grave. Nay, nay; while the ould ship
+lasts, let's stick to her, says I."
+
+Having thus unburdened his mind he relapsed, into silence, and soon went
+away.
+
+About three o'clock I noticed that Mr. Kear and Silas Huntly were
+holding an animated conversation in the fore top. The petroleum merchant
+had evidently some difficulty in bringing the ex-captain round to his
+opinion, for I, saw him several times shake his head as he gave long and
+scrutinizing looks at the sea and sky. In less than an hour afterwards
+I saw Huntly let himself down by the forestays and clamber along to the
+forecastle where he joined the group of sailors, and I lost sight of
+him.
+
+I attached little importance to the incident, and shortly afterwards
+joined the party in the main-top, where we continued talking for some
+hours. The heat was intense, and if it had not been for the shelter'
+afforded by the sail-tent, would have been unbearable. At five o'clock
+we took as refreshment some dried meat and biscuit, each individual
+being also allowed half a glass of water. Mrs. Kear, prostrate with
+fever, could not touch a mouthful; and nothing could be done by Miss
+Herbey to relieve her, beyond occasionally moistening her parched lips.
+The unfortunate lady suffers greatly, and sometimes I am inclined to
+think that she will succumb to the exposure and privation. Not once had
+her husband troubled himself about her; but when shortly afterwards I
+heard him hail some of the sailors on the forecastle and ask them to
+help him down from the foretop, I began to think that the selfish fellow
+was coming to join his wife.
+
+At first the sailors took no notice of his request, but on his repeating
+it with the promise of paying them handsomely for their services, two
+of them, Burke and Sandon, swung themselves along the netting into the
+shrouds, and were soon at his side.
+
+A long discussion ensued. The men evidently were asking more than Mr.
+Kear was inclined to give, and at one time if seemed as though the
+negotiation would fall through altogether. But at length the bargain
+was struck, and I saw Mr. Kear take a bundle of paper dollars from his
+waistcoat pocket, and hand a number of them over to one of the men,
+The man counted them carefully, and from the time it took him, I should
+think that he could not have pocketed anything less than a hundred
+dollars.
+
+The next business was to get Mr. Kear down from the foretop, and
+Burke and Sandon proceeded to tie a rope round his waist, which they
+afterwards fastened to the forestay; then, in a way which provoked
+shouts of laughter from their mates, they gave the unfortunate man a
+shove, and sent him rolling down like a bundle of dirty clothes on to
+the forecastle.
+
+I was quite mistaken as to his object. Mr. Kear had no intention of
+looking after his wife, but remained by the side of Silas Huntly until
+the gathering darkness hid them both from view.
+
+As night drew on, the wind grew calmer, but the sea remained very rough.
+The moon had been up ever since four in the afternoon, though she only
+appeared at rare intervals between the clouds. Some long lines of vapour
+on the horizon were tinged with a rosy glare that foreboded a strong
+breeze for the morrow, and all felt anxious to know from which quarter
+the breeze would come, for any but a north-easter would bear the frail
+raft on which we were to embark far away from land.
+
+About eight o'clock in the evening Curtis mounted to the main-top but
+he seemed preoccupied and anxious, and did not speak to any one. He
+remained for a quarter of an hour, then after silently pressing my hand,
+he returned to his old post.
+
+I laid myself down in the narrow space at my disposal, and tried to
+sleep; but my mind was filled with strange forebodings, and sleep was
+impossible. The very calmness of the atmosphere was oppressive; scarcely
+a breath of air vibrated through the metal rigging, and yet the sea rose
+with a heavy swell as though it felt the warnings of a coming tempest.
+
+All at once, at about eleven o'clock, the moon burst brightly forth
+through a rift in the clouds, and the waves sparkled again as if
+illumined by a submarine glimmer. I start up and look around me. Is it
+merely imagination? or do I really see a black speck floating on the
+dazzling whiteness of the waters, a speck that cannot be a rock; because
+it rises and falls with the heaving motion of the billows? But the moon
+once again becomes overclouded; the sea, is darkened, and I return to my
+uneasy couch close to the larboard shrouds.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+DECEMBER 6th.--I must have fallen asleep for a few hours, when at four
+o'clock in the morning, I was rudely aroused by the roaring of the
+wind, and could distinguish Curtis's voice as he shouted in the brief
+intervals between the heavy gusts.
+
+I got up, and holding tightly to the purlin--for the waves made the
+masts tremble with their violence--I tried to look around and below me.
+The sea was literally raging beneath, and great masses of livid-looking
+foam were dashing between the masts, which were oscillating
+terrifically. It was still dark, and I could only faintly distinguish
+two figures on the stern, whom, by the sound of their voices, that I
+caught occasionally above the tumult, I made out to be Curtis and the
+boatswain.
+
+Just at that moment a sailor, who had mounted to the main-top to do
+something to the rigging, passed close behind me.
+
+"What's the matter?" I asked,
+
+"The wind has changed," he answered, adding something which I could not
+hear distinctly, but which sounded like "dead against us."
+
+Dead against us! then, thought I, the wind had shifted to the
+south-west, and my last night's forebodings had been correct.
+
+When daylight at length appeared, I found the wind although not blowing
+actually from the south-west, had veered round to the north-west, a
+change which was equally disastrous to us, inasmuch as it was carrying
+us away from land. Moreover, the ship had sunk considerably during
+the night, and there were now five feet of water above deck; the side
+netting had completely disappeared, and the forecastle and the poop were
+now all but on a level with the sea, which washed over them incessantly.
+With all possible expedition Curtis and his crew were labouring away
+at their raft, but the violence of the swell materially impeded their
+operations, and it became a matter of doubt as to whether the woodwork
+would not fall asunder before it could be properly fastened together.
+
+As I watched the men at their work M. Letourneur, with one arm
+supporting his son, came and stood by my side.
+
+"Don't you think this main-top will soon give way?" he said, as the
+narrow platform on which we stood creaked and groaned with the swaying
+of the masts.
+
+Miss Herbey heard his words, and pointing towards Mrs. Kear, who was
+lying prostrate at her feet, asked what we thought ought to be done.
+
+"We can do nothing but stay where we are," I replied.
+
+"No;" said Andre "this is our best refuge; I hope you are not afraid."
+
+"Not for myself," said the young girl quietly "only for those to whom
+life is precious."
+
+At a quarter to eight we heard the boatswain calling to the sailors in
+the bows.
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," said one of the men--O'Ready, I think.
+
+"Where's the whale boat?" shouted the boatswain.
+
+"I don't know, sir. Not with us," was the reply.
+
+"She's gone adrift, then!"
+
+And sure enough the whale-boat was no longer hanging from the bowsprit;
+and in a moment the discovery was made that Mr. Kear, Silas Huntly, and
+three sailors,--a Scotchman and two Englishmen,--were missing. Afraid
+that the "Chancellor" would founder before the completion of the raft,
+Kear and Huntly had plotted together to effect their escape, and had
+bribed the three sailors to seize the only remaining boat.
+
+This, then, was the black speck that I had seen during the night. The
+miserable husband had deserted his wife, the faithless captain had
+abandoned the ship that had once been under his command.
+
+"There are five saved, then," said the boatswain.
+
+"Faith, an it's five lost ye'll be maning," said O'Ready; and the state
+of the sea fully justified his opinion.
+
+The crew were furious when they heard of the surreptitious flight,
+and loaded the fugitives with all the invectives they could lay their
+tongues to. So enraged were they at the dastardly trick of which they
+had been made the dupes, that if chance should bring the deserters again
+on board I should be sorry to answer for the consequences.
+
+In accordance with my advice, Mrs. Kear has not been informed of her
+husband's disappearance. The unhappy lady is wasting away with a fever
+for which we are powerless to supply a remedy, for the medicine chest
+was lost when the ship began to sink. Nevertheless, I do not think we
+have anything to regret on that score, feeling as I do, that in a case
+like Mrs. Kear's, drugs would be of no avail.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+DECEMBER 6th CONTINUED.--The "Chancellor" no longer maintained her
+equilibrium; we felt that she was gradually going down, and her hull was
+probably breaking up. The main-top was already only ten feet above the
+water, whilst the bowsprit, with the exception of the extreme end, that
+rose obliquely from the waves, was entirely covered.
+
+The "Chancellor's" last day, we felt, had come.
+
+Fortunately the raft was all but finished, and unless Curtis preferred
+to wait till morning we should be able to embark in the evening.
+
+The raft is a very solid structure. The spars that form the framework
+are crossed one above another and lashed together with stout ropes, so
+that the whole pile rises a couple of feet above the water. The upper
+platform is constructed from the planks that were broken from the ship's
+sides by the violence of the waves, and which had not drifted away. The
+afternoon has been employed in charging the raft with such provisions,
+sails, tools, and instruments as we have been able to save.
+
+And how can I attempt to give any idea of the feelings with which, one
+and all, we now contemplated the fate before us? For my own part I was
+possessed rather by a benumbed indifference than by any sense of genuine
+resignation. M. Letourneur was entirely absorbed in his son, who, in
+his turn, thought only of his father; at the same time exhibiting a calm
+Christian fortitude, which was shown by no one else of the party
+except Miss Herbey, who faced her danger with the same brave composure.
+Incredible as it may seem, Falsten remained the same as ever, occupying
+himself with writing down figures and memoranda in his pocket-book. Mrs.
+Kear, in spite of all that Miss Herbey could do for her, was evidently
+dying.
+
+With regard to the sailors, two or three of them were calm enough, but
+the rest had well-nigh lost their wits. Some of the more ill-disposed
+amongst them seemed inclined to run into excesses; and their conduct,
+under the bad influence of Owen and Jynxstrop, made it doubtful whether
+they would submit to control when once we were limited to the narrow
+dimensions of the raft. Lieutenant Walter, although his courage never
+failed him, was worn out with bodily fatigue, and obliged to give up all
+active labour; but Curtis and the boatswain were resolute, energetic and
+firm as ever. To borrow an expression from the language of metallurgic
+art, they were men "at the highest degree of hardness."
+
+At five o'clock one of our companions in misfortune was released from
+her sufferings. Mrs. Kear, after a most distressing illness, through
+which her young companion tended her with the most devoted care, has
+breathed her last. A few deep sighs and all was over, and I doubt
+whether the sufferer was ever conscious of the peril of, her situation.
+
+The night passed on without further incident. Towards morning I touched
+the dead woman's hand, and it was cold and stiff. The corpse could
+not remain any longer on the main-top, and after Miss Herbey and I had
+carefully wrapped the garments about it, with a few short prayers the
+body of the first victim of our miseries was committed to the deep.
+
+As the sea closed over the body I heard one of the men in the shrouds
+say,--
+
+"There goes a carcass that we shall be sorry we have thrown away!"
+
+I looked round sharply. It was Owen who had spoken, But horrible as were
+his words, the conviction was forced upon my mind that the day could not
+be far distant when we must want for food.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+DECEMBER 7th.--The ship was sinking rapidly; the water had risen to the
+fore-top; the poop and forecastle were completely submerged; the top
+of the bowsprit had disappeared, and only the three mast-tops projected
+from the waves.
+
+But all was ready on the raft; an erection had been made on the fore to
+hold a mast, which was supported by shrouds fastened to the sides of the
+platform; this mast carried a large royal.
+
+Perhaps, after all, these few frail planks will carry us to the shore
+which the "Chancellor" has failed to reach; at any rate, we cannot yet
+resign all hope.
+
+We were just on the point of embarking at 7 a.m. when the "Chancellor"
+all at once began to sink so rapidly that the carpenter and men who were
+on the raft were obliged with all speed to cut the ropes that secured
+it to the vessel to prevent it from being swallowed up in the eddying
+waters. Anxiety, the most intense, took possession of us all. At the
+very moment when the ship was descending into the fathomless abyss, the
+raft, our only hope of safety, was drifting off before our eyes. Two
+of the sailors and an apprentice, beside themselves with terror, threw
+themselves headlong into the sea; but it was evident from the very first
+that they were quite powerless to combat the winds and waves. Escape was
+impossible; they could neither reach the raft, nor return to the
+ship. Curtis tied a rope round his waist and tried to swim to their
+assistance; but long before he could reach them the unfortunate men,
+after a vain struggle for life, sank below the waves and were seen no
+more. Curtis, bruised and beaten with the surf that raged about the
+mast-heads, was hauled back to the ship.
+
+Meantime, Dowlas and his men, by means of some spars which they used as
+oars, were exerting themselves to bring back the raft, which had drifted
+about two cables-lengths away; but, in spite of all their efforts, it
+was fully an hour,--an hour which seemed to us, waiting as we were with
+the water up to the level of the top-masts, like an eternity--before
+they succeeded in bringing the raft alongside, and lashing it once again
+to the "Chancellor's" main-mast.
+
+Not a moment was then to be lost. The waves were eddying like a
+whirlpool around the submerged vessel, and numbers of enormous
+air-bubbles were rising to the surface of the water.
+
+The time was come. At Curtis's word "Embark!" we all hurried to the
+raft. Andre who insisted upon seeing Miss Herbey go first, was helped
+safely on to the platform, where his father immediately joined him. In
+a very few minutes all except Curtis and old O'Ready had left the
+"Chancellor."
+
+Curtis remained standing on the main-top, deeming it not only his duty,
+but his right, to be the last to leave the vessel he had loved so well,
+and the loss of which he so much deplored.
+
+"Now then, old fellow off of this!" cried the captain to the old
+Irishman, who did not move.
+
+"And is it quite sure ye are that she's sinkin?" he said.
+
+"Ay, ay! sure enough, my man; and you'd better look sharp."
+
+"Faith, then, and I think I will;" and not a moment too soon (for the
+water was up to his waist) he jumped on to the raft.
+
+Having cast one last, lingering look around him, Curtis then left the
+ship; the rope was cut and we went slowly adrift.
+
+All eyes were fixed upon the spot where the "Chancellor" lay foundering.
+The top of the mizzen was the first to disappear, then followed the
+main-top; and soon, of what had been a noble vessel, not a vestige was
+to be seen.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+Will this frail float, forty feet by twenty, bear us in safety? Sink
+it cannot; the material of which it is composed is of a kind that
+must surmount the waves. But it is questionable whether it will hold
+together. The cords that bind it will have a tremendous strain to bear
+in resisting the violence of the sea. The most sanguine amongst us
+trembles to face the future; the most confident dares to think only of
+the present. After the manifold perils of the last seventy-two days'
+voyage all are too agitated to look forward without dismay to what in
+all human probability must be a time of the direst distress.
+
+Vain as the task may seem, I will not pause in my work of registering
+the events of our drama, as scene after scene they are unfolded before
+our eyes.
+
+Of the twenty-eight persons who left Charleston in the "Chancellor,"
+only eighteen are left to huddle together upon this narrow raft; this
+number includes the five passengers, namely M. Letourneur, Andre,
+Miss Herbey, Falsten, and myself; the ship's officers, Captain Curtis,
+Lieutenant Walter, the boatswain, Hobart the steward, Jynxstrop the
+cook, and Dowlas the carpenter; and seven sailors, Austin, Owen, Wilson,
+O'Ready, Burke, Sandon, and Flaypole.
+
+Such are the passengers on the raft; it is but a brief task to enumerate
+their resources.
+
+The greater part of the provisions in the store-room were destroyed at
+the time when the ship's deck was submerged, and the small quantity that
+Curtis has been able to save will be very inadequate to supply the wants
+of eighteen people, who too probably have many days to wait ere they
+sight either land or a passing vessel. One cask of biscuit, another of
+preserved meat, a small keg of brandy, and two barrels of water complete
+our store, so that the utmost frugality in the distribution of our daily
+rations becomes absolutely necessary.
+
+Of spare clothes we have positively none; a few sails will serve for
+shelter by day, and covering by night. Dowlas has his carpenter's tools,
+we have each a pocket-knife, and O'Ready an old tin pot; of which he
+takes the most tender care; in addition to these, we are in possession
+of a sextant, a compass, a chart, and a metal tea-kettle, everything
+else that was placed on deck in readiness for the first raft having been
+lost in the partial submersion of the vessel.
+
+Such then is our situation; critical indeed, but after all perhaps
+not desperate. We have one great fear; some there are amongst us whose
+courage, moral as well as physical, may give way, and over failing
+spirits such as these we may have no control.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+DECEMBER 7th CONTINUED.--Our first day on the raft has passed without
+any special incident. At eight o'clock this morning Curtis asked our
+attention for a moment.
+
+"My friends," he said, "listen to me. Here on this raft, just as when we
+were on board the 'Chancellor,' I consider myself your captain; and as
+your captain, I expect that all of you will strictly obey my orders. Let
+me beg of you, one and all, to think solely of our common welfare; let
+us work with one heart and with one soul, and may Heaven protect us!"
+
+After delivering these few words with an emotion that evidenced their
+earnestness, the captain consulted his compass, and found that the
+freshening breeze was blowing from the north. This was fortunate for us,
+and no time was to be lost in taking advantage of it to speed us on our
+dubious way. Dowlas was occupied in fixing the mast into the socket that
+had already been prepared for its reception, and in order to support
+it more firmly he placed spurs of wood, forming arched buttresses, on
+either side. While he was thus employed the boatswain and the other
+seamen were stretching the large royal sail on the yard that had been
+reserved for that purpose.
+
+By half-past nine the mast was hoisted, and held firmly in its place by
+some shrouds attached securely to the sides of the raft; then the
+sail was run up and trimmed to the wind, and the raft began to make a
+perceptible progress under the brisk breeze.
+
+As soon as we had once started, the carpenter set to work to contrive
+some sort of a rudder, that would enable us to maintain our desired
+direction. Curtis and Falsten assisted him with some serviceable
+suggestions, and in a couple of hours' time he had made and fixed to
+the back of the raft a kind of paddle, very similar to those used by the
+Malays.
+
+At noon, after the necessary preliminary observations, Curtis took
+the altitude of the sun. The result gave lat. 15deg. 7min. N. by long.
+49deg. 35min. W. as our position, which, on consulting the chart, proved
+to be about 650 miles north-east of the coast of Paramaribo in Dutch
+Guiana.
+
+Now even under the most favourable circumstances, with trade-winds and
+weather always in our favour, we cannot by any chance hope to make more
+than ten or twelve miles a day, so that the voyage cannot possibly be
+performed under a period of two months. To be sure there is the hope to
+be indulged that we may fall in with a passing vessel, but as the part
+of the Atlantic into which we have been driven is intermediate between
+the tracks of the French and English Transatlantic steamers either
+from the Antilles or the Brazils, we cannot reckon at all upon such a
+contingency happening in our favour; whilst if a calm should set in,
+or worse still, if the wind were to blow from the east, not only two
+months, but twice, nay, three times that length of time will be required
+to accomplish the passage.
+
+At best, however, our provisions, even though used with the greatest
+care, will barely last three months. Curtis has called us into
+consultation, and as the working of the raft does not require such
+labour as to exhaust our physical strength, all have agreed to submit
+to a regimen which, although it will suffice to keep us alive, will
+certainly not fully satisfy the cravings of hunger and thirst.
+
+As far as we can estimate, we have somewhere about 500 lbs. of meat and
+about the same quantity of biscuit. To make this last for three months
+we ought not to consume very much more than 5 lbs. a day of each, which,
+when divided among eighteen people, will make the daily ration 5 oz. of
+meat and 5 oz. of biscuit for each person. Of water we have certainly
+not more than 200 gallons, but by reducing each person's allowance to
+a pint a day, we hope to eke out that, too, over the space of three
+months.
+
+It is arranged that the food shall be distributed under the boatswain's
+superintendence every morning at ten o'clock. Each person will then
+receive his allowance of meat and biscuit, which may be eaten when and
+how he pleases. The water will be given out twice a day--at ten in the
+morning and six in the evening; but as the only drinking-vessels in our
+possession are the tea-kettle and the old Irishman's tin pot, the water
+has to be consumed immediately on distribution. As for the brandy,
+of which there are only five gallons, it will be doled out with the
+strictest limitation, and no one will be allowed to touch it except with
+the captain's express permission.
+
+I should not forget that there are two sources from which we may hope to
+increase our store. First, any rain that may fall will add to our supply
+of water, and two empty barrels have been placed ready to receive it;
+secondly, we hope to do something in the way of fishing, and the sailors
+have already begun to prepare some lines.
+
+All have mutually agreed to abide by the rules that have been laid down,
+for all are fully aware that by nothing but the most precise regimen can
+we hope to avert the horrors of famine, and forewarned by the fate,
+of many who in similar circumstances have miserably perished, we are
+determined to do all that prudence can suggest for husbanding our
+stores.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+DECEMBER 8th to 17th.--When night came we wrapped ourselves in our
+sails. For my own part, worn out with the fatigue of the long watch in
+the top-mast, I slept for several hours; M. Letourneur and Andre did
+the same, and Miss Herbey obtained sufficient rest to relieve the tired
+expression that her countenance had lately been wearing. The night
+passed quietly. As the raft was not very heavily laden the waves did not
+break over it at all, and we were consequently able to keep ourselves
+perfectly dry. To say the truth, it was far better for us that the sea
+should remain somewhat boisterous, for any diminution in the swell of
+the waves would indicate that; the wind had dropped, and it was with a
+feeling of regret that when the morning came I had to note down "weather
+calm" in my journal.
+
+In these low latitudes the heat in the day-time is so intense, and
+the sun burns with such an incessant glare, that the entire atmosphere
+becomes pervaded with a glowing vapour. The wind, too, blows only in
+fitful gusts and through long intervals of perfect calm the sails flap
+idly and uselessly against the mast. Curtis and the boatswain, however,
+are of opinion that we are not entirely dependent on the wind. Certain
+indications, which a sailor's eye alone could detect, make them almost
+sure that we are being carried along by a westerly current, that flows
+at the rate of three or four miles an hour. If they are not mistaken,
+this is a circumstance that may materially assist our progress, and
+at which we can hardly fail to rejoice, for the high temperature often
+makes our scanty allowance of water quite inadequate to allay our
+thirst.
+
+But with all our hardships I must confess that our condition is
+far preferable to what it was when we were still clinging to the
+"Chancellor." Here at least we have a comparatively solid platform
+beneath our feet, and we are relieved from the incessant dread of being
+carried down with a foundering vessel. In the day-time we can move about
+with a certain amount of freedom, discuss the weather, watch the sea,
+and examine our fishing-lines; whilst at night we can rest securely
+under the shelter of our sails.
+
+"I really think, Mr. Kazallon," said Andre Letourneur to me a few
+days after we had embarked, "that our time on board the raft passes as
+pleasantly as it did upon Ham Rock; and the raft has one advantage even
+over the reef, for it is capable of motion."
+
+"Yes, Andre," replied, "as long as the wind continues favourable the
+raft has decidedly the advantage; but supposing the wind shifts, what
+then?"
+
+"Oh, we mustn't think about that," he said; "let us keep up our courage
+while we can."
+
+I felt that he was right, and that the dangers we had escaped should
+make us more hopeful for the future; and I think that nearly all of us
+are inclined to share his opinion.
+
+Whether the captain is equally sanguine I am unable to say. He holds
+himself very much aloof, and as he evidently feels that he has the great
+responsibility of saving other lives than his own, we are reluctant to
+disturb his silent meditations.
+
+Such of the crew as are not on watch spend the greater portion of their
+time in dozing on the fore part of the raft. The aft, by the captain's
+orders, has been reserved for the use of us passengers, and by erecting
+some uprights we have contrived to make a sort of tent, which affords
+some shelter from the burning sun. On the whole our bill of health is
+tolerably satisfactory. Lieutenant Walter is the only invalid, and he,
+in spite of all our careful nursing, seems to get weaker every day.
+
+Andre Letourneur is the life of our party, and I have never appreciated
+the young man so well. His originality of perception makes his
+conversation both lively and entertaining and as he talks, his wan
+and suffering countenance lights up with an intelligent animation. His
+father seems to become more devoted to him than ever, and I have seen
+him sit for an hour at a time, with his hand resting on his son's,
+listening eagerly to his every word.
+
+Miss Herbey occasionally joins in our conversation, but although we all
+do our best to make her forget that she has lost those who should have
+been her natural protectors, M. Letourneur is the only one amongst us to
+whom she speaks without a certain reserve. To him, whose age gives him
+something of the authority of a father, she has told the history of her
+life--a life of patience and self-denial such as not unfrequently falls
+to the lot of orphans. She had been, she said, two years with Mrs.
+Kear, and although now left alone in the world, homeless and without
+resources, hope for the future does not fail her. The young lady's
+modest deportment and energy of character command the respect of all
+on board, and I do not think that even the coarsest of the sailors has
+either by word or gesture acted towards her in a way that she could deem
+offensive.
+
+The 12th, 13th, and 14th of December passed away without any change in
+our condition. The wind continued to blow in irregular gusts, but always
+in the same direction, and the helm, or rather the paddle at the back of
+the raft has never once required shifting; and the watch, who are posted
+on the fore, under orders to examine the sea with the most scrupulous
+attention, have had no change of any kind to report.
+
+At the end of a week we found ourselves growing accustomed to our
+limited diet, and as we had no manual exertion, and no wear and tear
+of our physical constitution, we managed very well. Our greatest
+deprivation was the short supply of water, for, as I said before, the
+unmitigated heat made our thirst at times very painful.
+
+On the 15th we held high festival. A shoal of fish, of the sparus tribe,
+swarmed round the raft, and although our tackle consisted merely of long
+cords baited with morsels of dried meat stuck upon bent nails, the fish
+were so voracious that in the course of a couple of days we had caught
+as many as weighed almost 200lbs., some of which were grilled, and
+others boiled in sea-water over a fire made on the fore part of the
+raft. This marvelous haul was doubly welcome, inasmuch as it not only
+afforded us a change of diet, but enabled us to economize our stores; if
+only some rain had fallen at the same time we should have been more than
+satisfied.
+
+Unfortunately the shoal of fish did not remain long in our vicinity. On
+the 17th they all disappeared, and some sharks, not less than twelve or
+fifteen feet long, belonging to the species of spotted dog-fish, took
+their place. These horrible creatures have black backs and fins, covered
+with white spots and stripes. Here, on our low raft, we seem almost on
+a level with them, and more than once their tails have struck the spars
+with terrible violence. The sailors manage to keep them at a distance
+by means of handspikes, but I shall not be surprised if they persist in
+following us, instinctively intelligent that we are destined to become
+their prey. For myself, I confess that they give me a feeling of
+uneasiness; they seem to me like monsters of ill-omen.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+DECEMBER 18th to 20th.--On the 18th the wind freshened a little, but as
+it blew from the same favourable quarter we did not complain, and only
+took the precaution of putting an extra support to the mast, so that it
+should not snap with the tension of the sail. This done, the raft was
+carried along with something more than its ordinary speed, and left a
+long line of foam in its wake.
+
+In the afternoon the sky became slightly overclouded, and the heat
+consequently somewhat less oppressive. The swell made it more difficult
+for the raft to keep its balance, and we shipped two or three heavy
+seas; but the carpenter managed to make with some planks a kind of wall
+about a couple of feet high, which protected us from the direct action
+of the waves. Our casks of food and water were secured to the raft
+with double ropes, for we dared not run the risk of their being carried
+overboard, an accident that would at once have reduced us to the direst
+distress.
+
+In the course of the day the sailors gathered some of the marine plants
+known by the name of sargassos, very similar to those we saw in such
+profusion between the Bermudas and Ham Rock. I advised my companions to
+chew the laminary tangles, which they would find contained a saccharine
+juice, affording considerable relief to their parched lips and throats.
+
+The remainder of the day passed without incident. I should not, however,
+omit to mention that the frequent conferences held amongst the sailors,
+especially between Owen, Burke, Flaypole, Wilson, and Jynxstrop, the
+negro, aroused some uneasy suspicions in my mind. What was the subject
+of their conversation I could not discover, for they became silent
+immediately that a passenger or one of the officers approached them.
+When I mentioned the matter to Curtis I found he had already noticed
+these secret interviews, and that they had given him enough concern to
+make him determined to keep a strict eye upon Jynxstrop and Owen, who,
+rascals as they were themselves, were evidently trying to disaffect
+their mates.
+
+On the 19th the heat was again excessive. The sky was cloudless, and as
+there was not enough wind to fill the sail the raft lay motionless
+upon the surface of the water. Some of the sailors found a transient
+alleviation for their thirst by plunging into the sea, but as we were
+fully aware that the water all round was infested with sharks, none of
+us was rash enough to follow their example, though if, as seems likely,
+we remain long becalmed, we shall probably in time overcome our fears,
+and feel constrained to indulge ourselves with a bath.
+
+The health of Lieutenant Walter continues to cause us grave anxiety, the
+young man being weakened by attacks of intermittent fever. Except for
+the loss of the medicine-chest we might have temporarily reduced this by
+quinine; but it is only too evident that the poor fellow is consumptive,
+and that that hopeless malady is making ravages upon him that no
+medicine could permanently arrest. His sharp dry cough, his short
+breathing, his profuse perspirations, more especially in the morning;
+the pinched-in nose, the hollow cheeks, of which the general pallour is
+only relieved by a hectic flush, the contracted lips, the too brilliant
+eye and wasted form--all bear witness to a slow but sure decay.
+
+To-day, the 20th, the temperature is as high as ever, and the raft still
+motionless. The rays of the sun penetrate even through the shelter of
+our tent, where we sit literally gasping with the heat. The impatience
+with which we awaited the moment when the boatswain should dole out our
+meagre allowance of water, and the eagerness with which those lukewarm
+drops were swallowed, can only be realized by those who for themselves
+have endured the agonies of thirst.
+
+Lieutenant Walter suffers more than any of us from the scarcity of
+water, and I noticed that Miss Herbey reserved almost the whole of her
+own share for his use. Kind and compassionate as ever, the young girl
+does all that lies in her power to relieve the poor fellow's sufferings.
+
+"Mr. Kazallon," she said to me this morning, "that young man gets
+manifestly weaker every day."
+
+"Yes, Miss Herbey," I replied, "and how sorrowful it is that we can do
+nothing for him, absolutely nothing."
+
+"Hush!" she said, with her wonted consideration, "perhaps he will hear
+what we are saying."
+
+And then she sat down near the edge of the raft, where, with her head
+resting on her hands, she remained lost in thought.
+
+An incident sufficiently unpleasant occurred to-day. For nearly an
+hour Owen, Flaypole, Burke, and Jynxstrop had been engaged in close
+conversation and, although their voices were low, their gestures had
+betrayed that they were animated by some strong excitement. At the
+conclusion of the colloquy Owen got up and walked deliberately to
+the quarter of the raft that has been reserved for the use of the
+passengers.
+
+"Where are you off to now, Owen?" said the boatswain.
+
+"That's my business," said the man insolently, and pursued his course.
+
+The boatswain was about to stop him, but before he could interfere
+Curtis was standing and looking Owen steadily in the face.
+
+"Ah, captain, I've got a word from my mates to say to you," he said,
+with all the effrontery imaginable.
+
+"Say on, then," said the captain coolly.
+
+"We should like to know about that little keg of brandy. Is it being
+kept for the porpoises or the officers?"
+
+Finding that he obtained no reply, he went on,--
+
+"Look here, captain, what we want is to have our grog served out every
+morning as usual."
+
+"Then you certainly will not," said the captain.
+
+"What! what!" exclaimed Owen, "don't you mean to let us have our grog?"
+
+"Once and for all, no."
+
+For a moment, with a malicious grin upon his lips, Owen stood
+confronting the captain; then, as though thinking better of himself,
+he turned round and rejoined his companions, who were still talking
+together in an undertone.
+
+When I was afterwards discussing the matter with Curtis I asked him
+whether he was sure he had done right in refusing the brandy.
+
+"Right!" he cried, "to be sure I have. Allow those men to have brandy! I
+would throw it all overboard first."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+DECEMBER 21st.--No further disturbance has taken place amongst the men.
+For a few hours the fish appeared again, and we caught a great many
+of them, and stored them away in an empty barrel. This addition to our
+stock of provisions makes us hope that food, at least, will not fail us.
+
+Usually the nights in the tropics are cool, but to-day, as evening drew
+on, the wonted freshness did not return, but the air remained stifling
+and oppressive, whilst heavy masses of vapour hung over the water.
+
+There was no moonlight; there would be a new moon at half-past one in
+the morning, but the night was singularly dark, except for dazzling
+flashes of summer lightning that from time to time illumined the horizon
+far and wide. There was, however, no answering roll of thunder, and the
+silence of the atmosphere seemed almost awful, For a couple of hours,
+in the vain hope of catching a breath of air, Miss Herbey, Andre
+Letourneur, and I, sat watching the imposing struggle of the electric
+vapours. The clouds appeared like embattled turrets crested with flame,
+and the very sailors, coarse-minded men as they were, seemed struck with
+the grandeur of the spectacle, and regarded attentively, though with an
+anxious eye, the preliminary tokens of a coming storm. Until midnight we
+kept our seats upon the stern of the raft, whilst the lightning ever and
+again shed around us a livid glare similar to that produced by adding
+salt to lighted alcohol.
+
+"Are you afraid of a storm, Miss Herbey?" said Andre to the girl.
+
+"No, Mr. Andre, my feelings are always rather those of awe than of
+fear," she replied. "I consider a storm one of the sublimest phenomena
+that we can behold--don't you think so too?"
+
+"Yes, and especially when the thunder is pealing," he said; "that
+majestic rolling, far different to the sharp crash of artillery, rises
+and falls like the long-drawn notes of the grandest music, and I can
+safely say that the tones of the most accomplished ARTISTE have never
+moved me like that incomparable voice of nature."
+
+"Rather a deep bass, though," I said, laughing.
+
+"That may be," he answered; "but I wish we might hear it now, for this
+silent lightning is somewhat unexpressive."
+
+"Never mind that, Andre" I said; "enjoy a storm when it comes, if you
+like, but pray don't wish for it."
+
+"And why not?" said he; "a storm will bring us wind, you know."
+
+"And water, too," added Miss Herbey, "the water of which we are so
+seriously in need."
+
+The young people evidently wished to regard the storm from their own
+point of view, and although I could have opposed plenty of common sense
+to their poetical sentiments, I said no more, but let them talk on as
+they pleased for fully an hour.
+
+Meantime the sky was becoming quite overclouded, and after the zodiacal
+constellations had disappeared in the mists that hung round the horizon,
+one by one the stars above our heads were veiled in dark rolling
+masses of vapour, from which every instant there issued forth sheets of
+electricity that formed a vivid background to the dark grey fragments of
+cloud that floated beneath.
+
+As the reservoir of electricity was confined to the higher strata of the
+atmosphere, the lightning was still unaccompanied by thunder; but the
+dryness of the air made it a weak conductor. Evidently the fluid could
+only escape by terrible shocks, and the storm must ere long burst forth
+with fearful violence.
+
+This was the opinion of Curtis and the boatswain. The boatswain is only
+weather-wise from his experience as a sailor; but Curtis, in addition to
+his experience, has some scientific knowledge, and he pointed out to me
+an appearance in the sky known to meteorologists as a "cloud-ring,"
+and scarcely ever seen beyond the regions of the torrid zone, which are
+impregnated by damp vapours brought from all quarters of the ocean by
+the action of the trade-winds.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Kazallon," said Curtis, "our raft has been driven into the
+region of storms, of which it has been justly remarked that any one
+endowed with very sensitive organs can at any moment distinguish the
+growlings of thunder."
+
+"Hark!" I said, as I strained my ears to listen, "I think I can hear it
+now."
+
+"You can," he answered; "yet what you hear is but the first warning of
+the storm which, in a couple of hours, will burst upon us with all its
+fury. But never mind, we must be ready for it."
+
+Sleep, even if we wished it, would have been impossible in that stifling
+temperature. The lightning increased in brilliancy, and appeared from
+all quarters of the horizon, each flash covering large arcs, varying
+from 100deg. to 150deg., leaving the atmosphere pervaded by one
+incessant phosphorescent glow.
+
+The thunder became at length more and more distinct, the reports, if I
+may use the expression, being "round," rather than rolling. It seemed
+almost as though the sky were padded with heavy clouds of which the
+elasticity muffled the sound of the electric bursts.
+
+Hitherto, the sea had been calm, almost stagnant as a pond. Now,
+however, long undulations took place, which the sailors recognized, all
+too well, as being the rebound produced by a distant tempest. A ship, in
+such a case, would have been instantly brought ahull, but no manoeuvring
+could be applied to our raft, which could only drift before the blast.
+
+At one o'clock in the morning one vivid flash, followed, after the
+interval of a few seconds, by a loud report of thunder, announced that
+the storm was rapidly approaching. Suddenly the horizon was enveloped in
+a vapourous fog, and seemed to contract until it was close around us. At
+the same instant the voice of one of the sailors was heard shouting,--
+
+"A squall! a squall!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+DECEMBER 21st, NIGHT.--The boatswain rushed to the halliards that
+supported the sail, and instantly lowered the yard; and not a moment too
+soon, for with the speed of an arrow the squall was upon us, and if
+it had not been for the sailor's timely warning we must all have been
+knocked down and probably precipitated into the sea; as it was, our tent
+on the back of the raft was carried away.
+
+The raft itself, however, being so nearly level with the water, had
+little peril to encounter from the actual wind; but from the mighty
+waves now raised by the hurricane we had everything to dread. At first
+the waves had been crushed and flattened as it were by the pressure of
+the air, but now, as though strengthened by the reaction, they rose with
+the utmost fury. The raft followed the motions of the increasing swell,
+and was tossed up and down, to and fro, and from side to side with the
+most violent oscillations "Lash yourselves tight," cried the boatswain,
+as he threw us some ropes; and in a few moments, with Curtis's
+assistance, M. Letourneur, Andre, Falsten, and myself were fastened so
+firmly to the raft, that nothing but its total disruption could carry us
+away. Miss Herbey was bound by a rope passed round her waist to one
+of the uprights that had supported our tent, and by the glare of the
+lightning I could see that her countenance was as serene and composed as
+ever.
+
+Then the storm began to rage indeed. Flash followed flash, peal followed
+peal in quick succession. Our eyes were blinded, our ears deafened, with
+the roar and glare. The clouds above, the ocean beneath, seemed verily
+to have taken fire, and several times I saw forked lightnings dart
+upwards from the crest of the waves, and mingle with those that radiated
+from the fiery vault above. A strong odour of sulphur pervaded the air,
+but though thunderbolts fell thick around us, not one had touched our
+raft.
+
+By two o'clock the storm had reached its height. The hurricane had
+increased, and the heavy waves, heated to a strange heat by the general
+temperature, dashed over us until we were drenched to the skin. Curtis,
+Dowlas, the boatswain, and the sailors did what they could to strengthen
+the raft with additional ropes. M. Letourneur placed himself in front
+of Andre to shelter him from the waves. Miss Herbey stood upright and
+motionless as a statue.
+
+Soon dense masses of lurid clouds came rolling up, and a crackling, like
+the rattle of musketry, resounded through the air. This was produced by
+a series of electrical concussions, in which volleys of hailstones were
+discharged from the cloud-batteries above. In fact, as the storm-sheet
+came in contact with a current of cold air, hail was formed with great
+rapidity, and hailstones, large as nuts, came pelting down, making the
+platform of the raft re-echo with a metallic ring.
+
+For about half an hour the meteoric shower continued to descend, and
+during that time the wind slightly abated in violence; but after having
+shifted from quarter to quarter, it once more blew with all its former
+fury. The shrouds were broken, but happily the mast, already bending
+almost double, was removed by the men from its socket before it should
+be snapped short off. One gust caught away the tiller, which went adrift
+beyond all power of recovery, and the same blast blew down several of
+the planks that formed the low parapet on the larboard side, so that the
+waves dashed in without hindrance through the breach.
+
+The carpenter and his mates tried to repair the damage, but, tossed from
+wave to wave, the raft was inclined to an angle of more than forty-five
+degrees, making it impossible for them to keep their footing, and
+rolling one over another, they were thrown down by the violent shocks.
+Why they were not altogether carried away, why we were not all hurled
+into the sea, was to me a mystery. Even if the cords that bound us
+should retain their hold, it seemed perfectly incredible that the raft
+itself should not be overturned, so that we should be carried down and
+stifled in the seething waters.
+
+At last, towards three in the morning, when the hurricane seemed to be
+raging more fiercely than ever, the raft, caught up on the crest of
+an enormous wave, stood literally perpendicularly on its edge. For
+an instant, by the illumination of the lightning, we beheld ourselves
+raised to an incomprehensible height above the foaming breakers. Cries
+of terror escaped our lips. All must be over now! But no; another
+moment, and the raft had resumed its horizontal position. Safe, indeed,
+we were, but the tremendous upheaval was not without its melancholy
+consequences. The cords that secured the cases of provisions had
+burst asunder. One case rolled overboard, and the side of one of the
+water-barrels was staved in, so that the water which it contained was
+rapidly escaping. Two of the sailors rushed forward to rescue the case
+of preserved meat; but one of them caught his foot between the planks
+of the platform, and, unable to disengage it, the poor fellow stood
+uttering-cries of distress.
+
+I tried to go to his assistance, and had already untied the cord that
+was round me; but I was too late. Another heavy sea dashed over us, and
+by the light of a dazzling flash I saw the unhappy man, although he
+had managed without assistance to disengage his foot, washed overboard
+before it was in my power to get near him. His companion had also
+disappeared.
+
+The same ponderous wave laid me prostrate on the platform, and as my
+head came in collision with the corner of a spar, for a time I lost all
+consciousness.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+DECEMBER 22nd.--Daylight came at length, and the sun broke through and
+dispersed the clouds that the storm had left behind. The struggle of the
+elements, while it lasted, had been terrific, but the swoon into which
+I was thrown by my fall, prevented me from observing the final incidents
+of the visitation. All that I know is, that shortly after we had shipped
+the heavy sea that I have mentioned, a shower of rain had the effect
+of calming the severity of the hurricane, and tended to diminish the
+electric tension of the atmosphere.
+
+Thanks to the kind care of M. Letourneur and Miss Herbey, I recovered
+consciousness, but I believe that it is to Robert Curtis that I owe my
+real deliverance, for he it was that prevented me from being carried
+away by a second heavy wave.
+
+The tempest, fierce as it was, did not last more than a few hours;
+but even in that short space of time what an irreparable loss we have
+sustained, and what a load of misery seems stored up for us in the
+future!
+
+Of the two sailors who perished in the storm, one was Austin, a fine
+active young man of about eight-and-twenty; the other was old O'Ready,
+the survivor of so many ship wrecks. Our party is thus reduced to
+sixteen souls, leaving a total barely exceeding half the number of those
+who embarked on board the "Chancellor" at Charleston.
+
+Curtis's first care had been to take a strict account of the remnant of
+our provisions. Of all the torrents of rain that fell in the night we
+were unhappily unable to catch a single drop; but water will not fail us
+yet, for about fourteen gallons still remain in the bottom of the broken
+barrel, whilst the second barrel has not yet been touched. But of food
+we have next to nothing. The cases containing the dried meat, and the
+fish that we had preserved, have both been washed away, and all that now
+remains to us is about sixty pounds of biscuit. Sixty pounds of biscuit
+between sixteen persons! Eight days, with half a pound a day apiece,
+will consume it all.
+
+The day has passed away in silence. A general depression has fallen
+upon all: the spectre of famine has appeared amongst us, and each
+has remained wrapped in his own gloomy meditations, though each has
+doubtless but one idea dominant in his mind.
+
+Once, as I passed near the group of sailors lying on the fore part of
+the raft, I heard Flaypole say with a sneer,--
+
+"Those who are going to die had better make haste about it."
+
+"Yes," said Owen, "leave their share of food to others."
+
+At the regular hour each person received his half-pound of biscuit.
+Some, I noticed, swallowed it ravenously, others reserved it for another
+time. Falsten divided his ration into several portions, corresponding,
+I believe, to the number of meals to which he was ordinarily accustomed.
+What prudence he shows! If any one survives this misery, I think it will
+be he.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+DECEMBER 23rd to 30th--After the storm the wind settled back into its
+old quarter, blowing pretty briskly from the north-east. As the breeze
+was all in our favour it was important to make the most of it, and
+after Dowlas had carefully readjusted the mast, the sail was once more
+hoisted, and we were carried along at the rate of two or two and a half
+knots an hour. A new rudder, formed of a spar and a good-sized plank,
+has been fitted in the place of the one we lost, but with the wind in
+its present quarter it is in little requisition. The platform of the
+raft has been repaired, the disjointed planks have been closed by means
+of ropes and wedges, and that portion of the parapet that was washed
+away has been replaced, so that we are no longer wetted by the waves. In
+fact, nothing has been left undone to insure the solidity of our raft,
+and to render it capable of resisting the wear and tear of the wind and
+waves. But the dangers of wind and waves are not those which we have
+most to dread.
+
+Together with the unclouded sky came a return of the tropical
+heat, which during the preceding days had caused us such serious
+inconvenience; fortunately on the 23rd the excessive warmth was somewhat
+tempered by the breeze, and as the tent was once again put up, we were
+able to find shelter under it by turns.
+
+But the want of food was beginning to tell upon us sadly, and our sunken
+cheeks and wasted forms were visible tokens of what we were enduring.
+With most of us hunger seemed to attack the entire nervous system, and
+the constriction of the stomach produced an acute sensation of pain. A
+narcotic, such as opium or tobacco, might have availed to soothe, if not
+to cure, the gnawing agony; but of sedatives we had none, so the pain
+must be endured.
+
+One alone there was amongst us who did not feel the pangs of hunger.
+Lieutenant Walter seemed as it were to feed upon the fever that raged
+within him; but then he was the victim of the most torturing thirst,
+Miss Herbey, besides reserving for him a portion of her own insufficient
+allowance, obtained from the captain a small extra supply of water, with
+which every quarter of an hour she moistened the parched lips of the
+young man, who almost too weak to speak, could only express his thanks
+by a grateful smile. Poor fellow! all our care cannot avail to save him
+now; he is doomed, most surely doomed to die.
+
+On the 23rd he seemed to be conscious of his condition, for he made
+a sign to me to sit down by his side, and then summoning up all his
+strength to speak, he asked me in a few broken words how long I
+thought he had to live? Slight as my hesitation was, Walter noticed it
+immediately.
+
+"The truth," he said; "tell me the plain truth."
+
+"My dear fellow, I am not a doctor, you know," I began, "and I can
+scarcely judge--"
+
+"Never mind," he interrupted, "tell me just what you think."
+
+I looked at him attentively for some moments, then laid my ear against
+his chest. In the last few days his malady had made fearfully rapid
+strides, and it was only too evident that one lung had already ceased
+to act, whilst the other was scarcely capable of performing the work of
+respiration. The young man was now suffering from the fever which is the
+sure symptom of the approaching end in all tuberculous complaints.
+
+The lieutenant kept his eye fixed upon me with a look of eager inquiry.
+I knew not what to say, and sought to evade his question.
+
+"My dear boy," I said, "in our present circumstances not one of us can
+tell how long he has to live. Not one of us knows what may happen in the
+course of the next eight days."
+
+"The next eight days," he murmured, as he looked eagerly into my face.
+
+And then, turning away his head, he seemed to fall into a sort of doze.
+
+The 24th, 25th, and 26th passed without any alteration in our
+circumstances, and strange, nay, incredible as it may sound, we began to
+get accustomed to our condition of starvation. Often, when reading the
+histories of shipwrecks, I have suspected the accounts to be greatly
+exaggerated; but now I fully realize their truth, and marvel when I find
+on how little nutriment it is possible to exist for so long a time. To
+our daily half-pound of biscuit the captain has thought to add a few
+drops of brandy, and the stimulant helps considerably to sustain our
+strength. If we had the same provisions for two months, or even for one,
+there might be room for hope; but our supplies diminish rapidly, and the
+time is fast approaching when of food and drink there will be none.
+
+The sea had furnished us with food once, and, difficult as the task of
+fishing had now become, at all hazards the attempt must be made again.
+Accordingly the carpenter and the boatswain set to work and made lines
+out of some untwisted hemp, to which they fixed some nails that they
+pulled out of the flooring of the raft, and bent into proper shape. The
+boatswain regarded his device with evident satisfaction.
+
+"I don't mean to say," said he to me, "that these nails are first-rate
+fish-hooks; but one thing I do know, and that is, with proper bait they
+will act as well as the best. But this biscuit is no good at all. Let me
+but just get hold of one fish, and I shall know fast enough how to use
+it to catch some more."
+
+And the true difficulty was how to catch the first fish. It was evident
+that fish were not abundant in these waters, nevertheless the lines were
+cast. But the biscuit with which they were baited dissolved at once in
+the water, and we did not get a single bite. For two days the attempt
+was made in vain, and as it only involved what seemed a lavish waste of
+our only means of subsistence, it was given up in despair.
+
+To-day, the 30th, as a last resource, the boatswain tried what a piece
+of coloured rag might do by way of attracting some voracious fish, and
+having obtained from Miss Herbey a little piece of the red shawl she
+wears, he fastened it to his hook. But still no success; for when,
+after several hours, he examined his lines, the crimson shred was still
+hanging intact as he had fixed it. The man was quite discouraged at his
+failure.
+
+"But there will be plenty of bait before long," he said to me in a
+solemn undertone.
+
+"What do you mean?" said I, struck by his significant manner.
+
+"You'll know soon enough," he answered.
+
+What did he insinuate? The words, coming from a man usually so reserved,
+have haunted me all night.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+JANUARY 1st to 5th.--More than three months had elapsed since we left
+Charleston in the "Chancellor," and for no less than twenty days had
+we now been borne along on our raft at the mercy of the wind and waves.
+Whether we were approaching the American coast, or whether we were
+drifting farther and farther to sea, it was now impossible to determine,
+for, in addition to the other disasters caused by the hurricane, the
+captain's instruments had been hopelessly smashed, and Curtis had no
+longer any compass by which to direct his course, nor a sextant by which
+he might make an observation.
+
+Desperate, however, as our condition might be judged, hope did not
+entirely abandon our hearts, and day after day, hour after hour were
+our eyes strained towards the horizon, and many and many a time did our
+imagination shape out the distant land. But ever and again the illusion
+vanished; a cloud, a mist, perhaps even a wave, was all that had
+deceived us; no land, no sail ever broke the grey line that united sea
+and sky, and our raft remained the centre of the wide and dreary waste.
+
+On the 1st of January we swallowed our last morsel of biscuit. The
+1st of January! New Year's Day! What a rush of sorrowful recollections
+overwhelmed our minds! Had we not always associated the opening of
+another year with new hopes, new plans, and coming joys? And now, where
+were we? Could we dare to look at one another, and breathe a new year's
+greeting?
+
+The boatswain approached me with a peculiar look on his countenance.
+
+"You are surely not going to wish me a happy new year?" I said.
+
+"No indeed, sir," he replied, "I was only going to wish you well through
+the first day of it; and that is pretty good assurance on my part, for
+we have not another crumb to eat."
+
+True as it was, we scarcely realized the fact of there being actually
+nothing until on the following morning the hour came round for the
+distribution of the scanty ration, and then, indeed, the truth was
+forced upon us in a new and startling light. Towards evening I was
+seized with violent pains in the stomach, accompanied by a constant
+desire to yawn and gape that was most distressing; but in a couple of
+hours the extreme agony passed away, and on the 3rd I was surprised to
+find that I did not suffer more. I felt, it is true, that there was some
+great void within myself, but the sensation was quite as much moral
+as physical. My head was so heavy that I could not hold it up; it was
+swimming with giddiness, as though I were looking over a precipice.
+
+My symptoms were not shared by all my companions, some of whom endured
+the most frightful tortures. Dowlas and the boatswain especially, who
+were naturally large eaters, uttered involuntary cries of agony,
+and were obliged to gird themselves tightly with ropes to subdue the
+excruciating pain that was gnawing their very vitals.
+
+And this was only the second day of our misery! what would we not have
+given for half, nay, for a quarter of the meagre ration which a few days
+back we had deemed so inadequate to supply our wants, and which now,
+eked out crumb by crumb, might, perhaps, serve for several days? In the
+streets of a besieged city, dire as the distress may be, some gutter,
+some rubbish-heap, some corner may yet be found that will furnish a
+dry bone or a scrap of refuse that may for a moment allay the pangs
+of hunger; but these bare planks, so many times washed clean by the
+relentless waves, offer nothing to our eager search, and after every
+fragment of food that the wind carried into their interstices has been
+scraped out devoured, our resources are literally at an end.
+
+The nights seem even longer than the days. Sleep, when it comes, brings
+no relief; it is rather a feverish stupour, broken and disturbed by
+frightful nightmares. Last night, however, overcome by fatigue, I
+managed to rest for several hours.
+
+At six o'clock this morning I was roused by the sound of angry voices,
+and, starting up, I saw Owen and Jynxstrop, with Flaypole, Wilson,
+Burke, and Sandon, standing in a threatening attitude. They had taken
+possession of the carpenter's tools, and now, armed with hatchets,
+chisels, and hammers, they were preparing to attack the captain, the
+boatswain, and Dowlas. I attached myself in a moment to Curtis's party.
+Falsten followed my example, and although our knives were the only
+weapons at our disposal, we were ready to defend ourselves to the very
+last extremity.
+
+Owen and his men advanced towards us. The miserable wretches were
+all drunk, for during the night they had knocked a hole in the
+brandy-barrel, and had recklessly swallowed its contents. What they
+wanted they scarcely seemed to know, but Owen and Jynxstrop, not quite
+so much intoxicated as the rest; seemed to be urging them on to massacre
+the captain and the officers.
+
+"Down with the captain! Overboard with Curtis! Owen shall take the
+command!" they shouted from time to time in their drunken fury; and,
+armed as they were, they appeared completely masters of the situation.
+
+"Now, then, down with your arms!" said Curtis sternly, as he advanced to
+meet them.
+
+"Overboard with the captain!" howled Owen, as by word and gesture he
+urged on his accomplices.
+
+Curtis' pushed aside the excited rascals, and, walking straight up to
+Owen, asked him what he wanted.
+
+"What do we want? Why, we want no more captains; we are all equals now."
+
+Poor stupid fool! as though misery and privation had not already reduced
+us all to the same level.
+
+"Owen," said the captain once, again, "down with your arms!"
+
+"Come on, all of you," shouted Owen to his companions, without giving
+the slightest heed to Curtis's words.
+
+A regular struggle ensued. Owen and Wilson attacked Curtis, who defended
+himself with a piece of a spar; Burke and Flaypole rushed upon Falsten
+and the boatswain, whilst I was left to confront the negro Jynxstrop, who
+attempted to strike me with the hammer which he brandished in his hand.
+I endeavoured to paralyze his movements by pinioning his arms, but the
+rascal was my superior in muscular strength. After wrestling for a few
+moments, I felt that he was getting the mastery over me when all of a
+sudden he rolled over on to the platform, dragging me with him. Andre
+Letourneur had caught hold of one of his legs, and thus saved my life.
+Jynxstrop dropped his weapon in his fall; I seized it instantly, and
+was about to cleave the fellow's skull, when I was myself arrested by
+Andre's hand upon my arm.
+
+By this time the mutineers had been driven back to the forepart of the
+raft, and Curtis, who had managed to parry the blows which had been
+aimed at him, had caught hold of a hatchet, with which he was preparing
+to strike at Owen. But Owen made a sidelong movement to avoid the blow,
+and the weapon caught Wilson full in the chest. The unfortunate man
+rolled over the side of the raft and instantly disappeared.
+
+"Save him! save him!" shouted the boatswain.
+
+"It's too late; he's dead!" said Dowlas.
+
+"Ah, well! he'll do for--" began the boatswain; but he did not finish
+his sentence.
+
+Wilson's death, however, put an end to the fray. Flaypole and Burke were
+lying prostrate in a drunken stupour, and Jynxstrop was soon overpowered,
+and lashed tightly to the foot of the mast. The carpenter and the
+boatswain seized hold of Owen.
+
+"Now then," said Curtis, as he raised his blood-stained hatchet, "make
+your peace with God, for you have not a moment to live."
+
+"Oh, you want to eat me, do you?" sneered Owen, with the most hardened
+effrontery.
+
+But the audacious reply saved his life; Curtis turned as pale as death,
+the hatchet dropped from his hand, and he went and seated himself
+moodily on the farthest corner of the raft.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+JANUARY 5th and 6th.--The whole scene made a deep impression on our
+minds, and Owen's speech coming as a sort of climax, brought before us
+our misery with a force that was well-nigh overwhelming.
+
+As soon as I recovered my composure, I did not forget to thank Andre
+Letourneur for the act of intervention that had saved my life.
+
+"Do you thank me for that; Mr. Kazallon?" he said; "it has only served
+to prolong your misery."
+
+"Never mind, M. Letourneur," said Miss Herbey; "you did your duty."
+
+Enfeebled and emaciated as the young girl is, her sense of duty never
+deserts her, and although her torn and bedraggled garments float
+dejectedly about her body, she never utters a word of complaint, and
+never loses courage.
+
+"Mr. Kazallon," she said to me, "do you think we are fated to die of
+hunger?"
+
+"Yes; Miss Herbey, I do," I replied in a hard, cold tone.
+
+"How long do you suppose we have to live?" she asked again.
+
+"I cannot say; perhaps we shall linger on longer than we imagine."
+
+"The strongest constitutions suffer the most, do they not?" she said.
+
+"Yes; but they have one consolation; they die the soonest;" I replied
+coldly.
+
+Had every spark of humanity died out of my breast that I thus brought
+the girl face to face with the terrible truth without a word of hope
+or comfort? The eyes of Andre and his father, dilated with hunger, were
+fixed upon me, and I saw reproach and astonishment written in their
+faces.
+
+Afterwards, when we were quite alone, Miss Herbey asked me if I would
+grant her a favour.
+
+"Certainly, Miss Herbey; anything you like to ask," I replied; and this
+time my manner was kinder and more genial.
+
+"Mr. Kazallon," she said, "I am weaker than you, and shall probably die
+first. Promise me that, if I do, you will throw my body into the sea."
+
+"Oh, Miss Herbey," I began, "it was very wrong of me to speak to you as
+I did!"
+
+"No, no," she replied, half smiling; "you were quite right. But it is
+a weakness of mine; I don't mind what they do with me as long as I am
+alive, but when I am dead--" she stopped and shuddered. "Oh, promise me
+that you will throw me into, the sea!"
+
+I gave her the melancholy promise, which she acknowledged by pressing my
+hand feebly with her emaciated fingers.
+
+Another night passed away. At times my sufferings were so intense that
+cries of agony involuntarily escaped my lips; then I became calmer, and
+sank into a kind of lethargy. When I awoke, I was surprised to find my
+companions still alive.
+
+The one of our party who seems to bear his privations the best is Hobart
+the steward, a man with whom hitherto I have had very little to do. He
+is small, with a fawning expression remarkable for its indecision, and
+has a smile which is incessantly playing round his lips; he goes about
+with his eyes half-closed, as though he wished to conceal his thoughts,
+and there is something altogether false and hypocritical about his whole
+demeanour. I cannot say that he bears his privations without a murmur,
+for he sighs and moans incessantly; but, with it all, I cannot but
+think that there is a want of genuineness in his manner, and that the
+privation has not really told upon him as much as it has upon the rest
+of us. I have my suspicions about the man, and intend to watch him
+carefully. To-day, the 6th, M. Letourneur drew me aside to the stern of
+the raft, saying that he had a secret to communicate, but that he wished
+neither to be seen nor heard speaking to me. I withdrew with him to
+the larboard corner of the raft; and, as it was growing dusk, nobody
+observed what we were doing.
+
+"Mr. Kazallon," M. Letourneur began in a low voice, "Andre is dying of
+hunger: he is growing weaker and weaker, and oh! I cannot, will not see
+him die!"
+
+He spoke passionately, almost fiercely, and I fully understood his
+feelings. Taking his hand, I tried to reassure him.
+
+"We will not despair yet," I said, "perhaps some passing ship--"
+
+"Ship!" he cried impatiently, "don't try to console me with empty
+commonplaces; you know as well as I do that there is no chance of
+falling in with a passing ship." Then, breaking off suddenly, he
+asked,--"How long is it since my son and all of you have had anything to
+eat?"
+
+Astonished at his question, I replied that it was now four days since
+the biscuit had failed.
+
+"Four days," he repeated; "well, then, it is eight since I have tasted
+anything. I have been saving my share for my son."
+
+Tears rushed to my eyes; for a few moments I was unable to speak, and
+could only once more grasp his hand in silence.
+
+"What do you want me to do?" I asked at length.
+
+"Hush! not so loud; some one will hear us," he said, lowering his voice,
+"I want you to offer it to Andre as though it came from yourself. He
+would not accept it from me; he would think I had been depriving myself
+for him. Let me implore you to do me this service and for your trouble,"
+and here he gently stroked my hand, "for your trouble you shall have a
+morsel for yourself."
+
+I trembled like a child as I listened to the poor father's words, and
+my heart was ready to burst when I felt a tiny piece of biscuit slipped
+into my hand.
+
+"Give it him," M. Letourneur went on under his breath, "give it him; but
+do not let any one see you; the monsters would murder you if they knew
+it. This is only for to-day; I will give you some more to-morrow."
+
+The poor fellow did not trust me, and well he might not, for I had the
+greatest difficulty to withstand the temptation to carry the biscuit to
+my mouth, But I resisted the impulse, and those alone who have suffered
+like me can know what the effort was.
+
+Night came on with the rapidity peculiar to these low latitudes, and I
+glided gently up to Andre and slipped the piece of biscuit into his hand
+as "a present from myself." The young man clutched at it eagerly.
+
+"But my father?" he said inquiringly.
+
+I assured him that his father and I had each had our share, and that he
+must eat this now, and, perhaps, I should be able to bring him some more
+another time. Andre asked no more questions, and eagerly devoured the
+morsel of food.
+
+So this evening at least, notwithstanding M. Letourneur's offer, I have
+tasted nothing.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+JANUARY 7th.--During the last few days since the wind has freshened, the
+salt water constantly dashing over the raft has terribly punished the
+feet and legs of some of the sailors. Owen, whom the boatswain ever
+since the revolt kept bound to the mast, is in a deplorable state, and
+at our request has been released from his restraint. Sandon and Burke
+are also suffering from the severe smarting caused in this way, and
+it is only owing to our more sheltered position on the aft-part of the
+raft, that we have not; all shared the same inconvenience.
+
+Today the boatswain, maddened by starvation, laid hands upon everything
+that met his voracious eyes, and I could hear the grating of his teeth
+as he gnawed at fragments of sails and bits of wood, instinctively
+endeavouring to fill his stomach by putting the mucus' into circulation
+at length, by dint of an eager search, he came upon a piece of leather
+hanging to one of the spars that supported the platform. He snatched
+it off and devoured it greedily, and as it was animal matter, it really
+seemed as though the absorption of the substance afforded him some
+temporary relief. Instantly we all followed his example; a leather hat,
+the rims of caps, in short, anything that contained any animal matter
+at all, were gnawed and sucked with the utmost avidity. Never shall I
+forget the scene. We were no longer human, the impulses and instincts of
+brute beasts seemed to actuate our every movement.
+
+For a moment the pangs of hunger were somewhat allayed; but some of us
+revolted against the loathsome food, and were seized either with
+violent nausea or absolute sickness. I must be pardoned for giving these
+distressing details, but how otherwise can I depict the misery, moral
+and physical, which we are enduring? And with it all, I dare not venture
+to hope that we have reached the climax of our sufferings.
+
+The conduct of Hobart during the scene that I have just described has
+only served to confirm my previous suspicions of him. He took no part
+in the almost fiendish energy with which we gnawed at our scraps of
+leather, and although by his conduct and perpetual groanings, he might
+be considered to be dying of inanition, yet to me he has the appearance
+of being singularly exempt from the tortures which we are all enduring.
+But whether the hypocrite is being sustained, by some secret store of
+food, I have been unable to discover.
+
+Whenever the breeze drops the heat is overpowering; but although our
+allowance of water is very meagre, at present the pangs of hunger far
+exceed the pain of thirst. It has often been remarked that extreme
+thirst is far less endurable than extreme hunger. Is it possible that
+still greater agonies are in store for us? I cannot, dare not, believe
+it. Fortunately, the broken barrel still contains a few pints of water,
+and the other one has not yet been opened. But I am glad to say that
+notwithstanding our diminished numbers, and in spite of some opposition,
+the captain has thought right to reduce the daily allowance to half a
+pint for each person. As for the brandy, of which there is only a quart
+now left, it has been stowed away safely in the stern of the raft.
+
+This evening has ended the sufferings of another of our companions,
+making our number now only fourteen. My attentions and Miss Herbey's
+nursing could do nothing for Lieutenant Walter, and about half-past
+seven he expired in my arms.
+
+Before he died, in a few broken words he thanked Miss Herbey and myself
+for the kindness we had shown him. A crumpled letter fell from his hand,
+and in a voice that was scarcely audible from weakness, he said,--
+
+"It is my mother's letter: the last I had from her--she was expecting me
+home; but she will never see me more. Oh, put it to my lips--let me kiss
+it before I die. Mother! mother! Oh my God!"
+
+I placed the letter in his cold hand, and raised it to his lips; his eye
+lighted for a moment; we heard the faint sound of a kiss, and all was
+over!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+JANUARY 8th.--All night I remained by the side of the poor fellow's
+corpse, and several times Miss Herbey joined me in my mournful watch.
+
+Before daylight dawned the body was quite cold, and as I knew there must
+be no delay in throwing it overboard, I asked Curtis to assist me in
+the sad office. The body was frightfully emaciated, and I had every hope
+that it would not float.
+
+As soon as it was quite light, taking every precaution that no one
+should see what we were about, Curtis and I proceeded to our melancholy
+task. We took a few articles from the lieutenant's pockets, which we
+purposed, if either of us should survive, to remit to his mother. But as
+we wrapped him in his tattered garments that would have to suffice for
+his winding-sheet, I started back with a thrill of horror. The right
+foot had gone, leaving the leg a bleeding stump!
+
+No doubt that, overcome by fatigue, I must have fallen asleep for
+an interval during the night, and some one had taken advantage of my
+slumber to mutilate the corpse. But who could have been guilty of so
+foul a deed! Curtis looked around with anger flashing In his eye; but
+all seemed as usual, and the silence was only broken by a few groans of
+agony.
+
+But there was no time to be lost; perhaps we were already observed, and
+more horrible scenes might be likely to occur. Curtis said a few short
+prayers, and we cast the body into the sea. It sank immediately.
+
+"They are feeding the sharks well, and no mistake," said a voice behind
+me.
+
+I turned round quickly, and found that it was Jynxstrop who had spoken.
+
+As the boatswain now approached, I asked him whether he thought it
+possible that any of the wretched men could have taken the dead man's
+foot.
+
+"Oh yes, I dare say," he replied, in a significant tone "and perhaps
+they thought they were right."
+
+"Right! what do you mean?" I exclaimed.
+
+"Well, sir," he said coldly, "isn't it better to eat a dead man than a
+living one?"
+
+I was at a loss to comprehend him, and, turning away, laid myself down
+at the end of the raft.
+
+Towards eleven o'clock, a most suspicious incident occurred. The
+boatswain, who had cast his lines early in the morning, caught three
+large cod, each more than thirty inches long, of the species which, when
+dried, is known by the name of stock-fish. Scarcely had he hauled them
+on board, when the sailors made a dash at them, and it was with the
+utmost difficulty that Curtis, Falsten, and myself could restore order,
+so that we might divide the fish into equal portions. Three cod were not
+much amongst fourteen starving persons, but, small as the quantity was,
+it was allotted in strictly equal shares. Most of us devoured the food
+raw, almost I might say, alive; only Curtis, Andre and Miss Herbey
+having the patience to wait until their allowance had been boiled at a
+fire which they made with a few scraps of wood. For myself, I confess
+that I swallowed my portion of fish just as it was,--raw and bleeding.
+M. Letourneur followed my example; the poor man devoured his food like
+a famished wolf, and it is only a wonder to me how, after his lengthened
+fast, he came to be alive at all.
+
+The boatswain's delight at his success was, excessive, and amounted
+almost to delirium. I went up to him, and encouraged him to repeat his
+attempt.
+
+"Oh, yes," he said; "I'll try again. I'll try again."
+
+"And why not try at once," I asked.
+
+"Not now," he said evasively; "the night is the best time for catching
+large fish. Besides, I must manage to get some bait, for we have been
+improvident enough not to save a single scrap."
+
+"But you have succeeded once without bait; why may you not succeed
+again?"
+
+"Oh! I had some very good bait last night," he said. I stared at him in
+amazement. He steadily returned my gaze, but said nothing.
+
+"Have you none left?" at last I asked.
+
+"Yes!" he almost whispered and left me without another word.
+
+Our meal, meagre as it had been, served to rally our shattered energies;
+our hopes were slightly raised; there was no reason why the boatswain
+should not have the same good luck again.
+
+One evidence of the degree to which our spirits were revived was that
+our minds were no longer fixed upon the miserable present and hopeless
+future, but we began to recall and discuss the past; and M. Letourneur,
+Andre Mr. Falsten, and I held a long conversation with the captain
+about the various incidents of our eventful voyage, speaking of our lost
+companions, of the fire, of the stranding of the ship, of our sojourn
+on Ham Rock, of the springing of the leak, of our terrible voyage in the
+top-masts, of the construction of the raft, and of the storm. All these
+things seemed to have happened so long ago, and yet we were living
+still. Living, did I say? Ay, if such an existence as ours could be
+called a life, fourteen of us were living still. Who would be the next
+to go? We should then be thirteen.
+
+"An unlucky number!" said Andre with a mournful smile.
+
+During the night the boatswain cast his lines from the stern of the
+raft, and, unwilling to trust them to any one else, remained watching
+them himself. In the morning I went to ascertain what success had
+attended his patience. It was scarcely light, and with eager eyes he was
+peering down into the water. He had neither seen nor heard me coming.
+
+"Well, boatswain!" I said, touching him on the shoulder.
+
+He turned round quickly.
+
+"Those villainous sharks have eaten every morsel of my bait," he said,
+in a desponding voice.
+
+"And you have no more left?" I asked.
+
+"No more," he said. Then grasping my arm he added, "and that only shows
+me that it is no good doing things by halves."
+
+The truth flashed upon me at once, and I laid my hand upon his mouth.
+Poor Walter!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+JANUARY 9th and 10th.--On the 9th the wind dropped, and there was a dead
+calm; not a ripple disturbed the surface of the long undulations as
+they rose and fell beneath us; and if it were not for the slight current
+which is carrying us we know not whither, the raft would be absolutely
+stationary.
+
+The heat was intolerable; our thirst more intolerable still; and now it
+was that for the first time I fully realized how the insufficiency of
+drink could cause torture more unendurable than the pangs of hunger.
+Mouth, throat, pharynx, all alike were parched and dry, every gland
+becoming hard as horn under the action of the hot air we breathed. At
+my urgent solicitation the captain was for once induced to double our
+allowance of water; and this relaxation of the ordinary rule enabled us
+to attempt to slake our thirst four times in the day, instead of only
+twice. I use the word "attempt" advisedly; for the water at the bottom
+of the barrel, though kept covered by a sail, became so warm that it was
+perfectly flat and unrefreshing.
+
+It was a most trying day, and the sailors relapsed into a condition of
+deep despondency. The moon was nearly full, but when she rose the breeze
+did not return. Continuance of high temperature in daytime is a sure
+proof that we have been carried far to the south, and here, on this
+illimitable ocean, we have long ceased even to look for land; it might
+almost seem as though this globe of ours had veritably become a liquid
+sphere!
+
+To-day we are still becalmed, and the temperature is as high as ever.
+The air is heated like a furnace, and the sun scorches like fire. The
+torments of famine are all forgotten: our thoughts are concentrated with
+fevered expectation upon the longed-for moment when Curtis shall dole
+out the scanty measure of lukewarm water that makes up our ration. O for
+one good draught, even if it should exhaust the whole supply! At least,
+it seems as if we then could die in peace!
+
+About noon we were startled by sharp cries of agony, and looking round I
+saw Owen writhing in the most horrible convulsions. I went towards him,
+for, detestable as his conduct had been, common humanity prompted me to
+see whether I could afford him any relief. But before I reached him, a
+shout from Flaypole arrested my attention.
+
+The man was up in the mast, and with great excitement pointing to the
+east.
+
+"A ship! A ship!" he cried.
+
+In an instant all were on their feet. Even Owen stopped his cries
+and stood erect. It was quite true that in the direction indicated by
+Flaypole there was a white speck visible upon the horizon. But did it
+move? Would the sailors with their keen vision pronounce it to be a
+sail? A silence the most profound fell upon us all. I glanced at Curtis
+as he stood with folded arms intently gazing at the distant point. His
+brow was furrowed, and he contracted every feature, as with half-closed
+eyes, he concentrated his power of vision upon that one faint spot in
+the far-off horizon.
+
+But at length he dropped his arms and shook his head. I looked again,
+but the spot was no longer there. If it were a ship, that ship had
+disappeared; but probably it had been a mere reflection, or, more likely
+still, only the crest of some curling wave.
+
+A deep dejection followed this phantom ray of hope. All returned to
+their accustomed places. Curtis alone remained motionless, but his eye
+no longer scanned the distant view.
+
+Owen now began to shriek more wildly than ever. He presented truly a
+most melancholy sight; he writhed with the most hideous contortions,
+and had all the appearance of suffering from tetanus. His throat was
+contracted by repeated spasms, his tongue was parched, his body swollen,
+and his pulse, though feeble, was rapid and irregular. The poor wretch's
+symptoms were precisely such as to lead us to suspect that he had
+taken some corrosive poison. Of course it was quite out of our power
+to administer any antidote; all that we could devise was to make him
+swallow something that might act as an emetic. I asked Curtis for a
+little of the lukewarm water. As the contents of the broken barrel were
+now exhausted, the captain, in order to comply with my request, was
+about to tap the other barrel, when Owen started suddenly to his knees,
+and with a wild, unearthly shriek, exclaimed,--
+
+"No! no! no! of that water I will not touch a drop."
+
+I supposed he did not understand what we were going to do, and
+endeavoured to explain; but all in vain; he persisted in refusing to
+taste the water in the second barrel. I then tried to induce vomiting
+by tickling his uvula, and he brought off some bluish secretion from his
+stomach, the character of which confirmed our previous suspicions--that
+he had been poisoned by oxide of copper. We now felt convinced that
+any efforts on our part to save him would be of no avail. The vomiting,
+however, had for the time relieved him, and he was able to speak.
+
+Curtis and I both implored him to let us know what he had taken to bring
+about consequences so serious. His reply fell upon us as a startling
+blow.
+
+The ill fated wretch had stolen several pints of water from the barrel
+that had been untouched, and that water had poisoned him!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+JANUARY 11th to 14th.--Owen's convulsions returned with increased
+violence, and in the course of the night he expired in terrible agony.
+His body was thrown overboard almost directly; it had decomposed so
+rapidly that the flesh had not even consistency enough for any fragments
+of it to be reserved for the boatswain to use to bait his lines. A
+plague the man had been to us in his life; in his death he was now of no
+service!
+
+And now, perhaps, still more than ever, did the horror of our situation
+stare us in the face. There was no doubt that the poisoned barrel had
+at some time or other contained copperas; but what strange fatality had
+converted it into a water-cask, or what fatality, stranger still, had
+caused it to be brought on board the raft, was a problem that none could
+solve. Little, however, did it matter now: the fact was evident; the
+barrel was poisoned, and of water we had not a drop.
+
+One and all, we fell into the gloomiest silence. We were too irritable
+to bear the sound of each other's voices; and it did not require a
+word, a mere look or gesture was enough, to provoke us to anger that was
+little short of madness. How it was that we did not all become raving
+maniacs, I cannot tell.
+
+Throughout the 12th no drain of moisture crossed our lips, and not
+a cloud arose to warrant the expectation of a passing shower; in
+the shade, if shade it might be called, the thermometer would have
+registered at least 100deg., and, perhaps, considerably more.
+
+No change next day. The salt water began to chafe my legs, but although
+the smarting was at times severe, it was an inconvenience to which I
+gave little heed; others who had suffered from the same trouble had
+become no worse. Oh! if this water that surrounds us could be reduced to
+vapour or to ice! its particles of salt extracted, it would be available
+for drink. But no! we have no appliances, and we must suffer on.
+
+At the risk of being devoured by the sharks, the boatswain and two
+sailors took a morning bath, and as their plunge seemed to refresh them,
+I and three of my companions resolved to follow their example. We had
+never learnt to swim, and had to be fastened to the end of a rope and
+lowered into the water; while Curtis during the half-hour of our bath,
+kept a sharp look-out to give warning of any danger from approaching
+sharks. No recommendation, however, on our part, nor any representation
+of the benefit we felt we had derived, could induce Miss Herbey to allay
+her sufferings in the same way.
+
+At about eleven o'clock, the captain came up to me, and whispered in my
+ear,--
+
+"Don't say a word, Mr. Kazallon; I do not want to raise false hopes, but
+I think I see a ship."
+
+It was as well that the captain had warned me; otherwise, I should
+have raised an involuntary shout of joy; as it was, I had the greatest
+difficulty in restraining my expressions of delight.
+
+"Look behind to larboard," he continued in an undertone.
+
+Affecting an indifference which I was far from feeling, I cast an
+anxious glance to that quarter of the horizon of which he spoke, and
+there, although mine is not a nautical eye, I could plainly distinguish
+the outline of a ship under sail.
+
+Almost at the same moment the boatswain who happened to be looking in
+the same direction, raised the cry, "Ship ahoy!"
+
+Whether it was that no one believed it, or whether all energies were
+exhausted, certain it is that the announcement produced none of
+the effects that might have been expected. Not a soul exhibited the
+slightest emotion, and it was only when the boatswain had several times
+sung out his tidings that all eyes turned to the horizon. There, most
+undeniably, was the ship, and the question rose at once to the minds of
+all, and to the lips of many, "Would she see us?"
+
+The sailors immediately began discussing the build of the vessel, and
+made all sorts of conjectures as to the direction she was taking. Curtis
+was far more deliberate in his judgment. After examining her attentively
+for some time, he said, "She is a brig running close upon the wind, on
+the starboard tack, If she keeps her course for a couple of hours, she
+will come right athwart our track."
+
+A couple of hours! The words sounded to our ears like a couple of
+centuries. The ship might change her course at any moment; closely
+trimmed as she was, it was very probable that she was only tacking about
+to catch the wind, in which case, as soon as she felt a breeze, she
+would resume her larboard tack and make away again. On the other hand,
+if she were really sailing with the wind, she would come nearer to us,
+and there would be good ground for hope.
+
+Meantime, no exertion must be spared, and no means left untried, to make
+our position known. The brig was about twelve miles to the east of us,
+so that it was out of the question to think of any cries of ours being
+overheard; but Curtis gave directions that every possible signal should
+be made. We had no fire-arms by which we could attract attention, and
+nothing else occurred to us beyond hoisting a flag of distress. Miss
+Herbey's red shawl, as being of a colour most distinguishable against
+the background of sea and sky, was run up to the mast-head, and was
+caught by the light breeze that just then was ruffling the surface of
+the water. As a drowning man clutches at a straw, so our hearts bounded
+with hope every time that our poor flag fluttered in the wind.
+
+For an hour our feelings alternated between hope and despair. The ship
+was evidently making her way in the direction of the raft, but every
+now and then she seemed to stop, and then our hearts would almost stand
+still with agony lest she was going to put about. She carried all
+her canvas, even to her royals and stay-sails, but her hull was only
+partially visible above the horizon.
+
+How slowly she advanced! The breeze was very, very feeble, and perhaps
+soon it would drop altogether! We felt that we would give years of our
+life to know the result of the coming hour!
+
+At half-past twelve the captain and the boatswain considered that the
+brig was about nine miles away; she had, therefore, gained only three
+miles in an hour and a half, and it was doubtful whether the light
+breeze that had been passing over our heads had reached her at all. I
+fancied, too, that her sails were no longer filled, but were hanging
+loose against her masts. Turning to the direction of the wind I tried to
+make out some chance of a rising breeze; but no, the waves were calm and
+torpid, and the little puff of air that had aroused our hopes had died
+away across the sea.
+
+I stood aft with M. Letourneur, Andre and Miss Herbey, and our glances
+perpetually wandered from the distant ship to our captain's face. Curtis
+stood leaning against the mast, with the boatswain by his side; their
+eyes seemed never for a moment to cease to watch the brig, but their
+countenances clearly expressed the varying emotions that passed through
+their minds. Not a word was uttered, nor was the silence broken, until
+the carpenter exclaimed, in accents of despair,--
+
+"She's putting about!"
+
+All started up: some to their knees, others to their feet, The boatswain
+dropped a frightful oath. The ship was still nine miles away, and at
+such a distance it was impossible for our signal to be seen; our
+tiny raft, a mere speck upon the waters, would be lost in the intense
+irradiation of the sunbeams. If only we could be seen, no doubt all
+would be well; no captain would have the barbarous inhumanity to leave
+us to our fate; but there had been no chance; only too well we knew that
+we had not been within the range of sight.
+
+"My friends," said Curtis, "we must make a fire; it is our last and only
+chance."
+
+Some planks were quickly loosened and thrown into a heap upon the fore
+part of the raft. They were damp and troublesome to light; but the very
+dampness made the smoke more dense, and ere long a tall column of dusky
+fumes was rising straight upwards in the air. If darkness should come
+on before the brig was completely out of view, the flames we hoped might
+still be visible. But the hours passed on; the fire died out; and yet no
+signs of help.
+
+The temper of resignation now deserted me entirely; faith, hope,
+confidence--all vanished from my mind, and like the boatswain, I swore
+long and loudly. A gentle hand was laid upon my arm, and turning round I
+saw Miss Herbey with her finger pointing to the sky. I could stand it
+no longer, but gliding underneath the tent I hid my face in my hands and
+wept aloud.
+
+Meanwhile the brig had altered her tack, and was moving slowly to the
+east. Three hours later and the keenest eye could not have discerned her
+top-sails above the horizon.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+JANUARY 15th.--After this further shattering of our excited hopes death
+alone now stares us in the face; slow and lingering as that death may
+be, sooner or later it must inevitably come.
+
+To-day some clouds that rose in the west have brought us a few puffs
+of wind; and in spite of our prostration, we appreciate the moderation,
+slight as it is, in the temperature. To my parched throat the air seemed
+a little less trying but it is now seven days since the boatswain took
+his haul of fish, and during that period we have eaten nothing even
+Andre Letourneur finished yesterday the last morsel of the biscuit which
+his sorrowful and self-denying father had entrusted to my charge.
+
+Jynxstrop the negro has broken loose from his confinement, but Curtis has
+taken no measures for putting him again under restraint. It is not to be
+apprehended that the miserable fellow and his accomplices, weakened as
+they are by their protracted fast, will attempt to do us any mischief
+now.
+
+Some huge sharks made their appearance to-day, cleaving the water
+rapidly with their great black fins. The monsters came close up to the
+edge of the raft, and Flaypole, who was leaning over, narrowly escaped
+having his arm snapped off by one of them. I could not help regarding
+them as living sepulchres, which ere long might swallow up our miserable
+carcasses; yet, withal, I profess that my feelings were rather those of
+fascination than of horror.
+
+The boatswain, who stood with clenched teeth and dilated eye, regarded
+these sharks from quite another point of view. He thought about
+devouring the sharks, not about the sharks devouring him; and if he
+could succeed in catching one, I doubt if one of us would reject the
+tough and untempting flesh. He determined to make the attempt, and as
+he had no whirl which he could fasten to his rope he set to work to
+find something that might serve as a substitute. Curtis and Dowlas
+were consulted, and after a short conversation, during which they kept
+throwing bits of rope and spars into the water in order to entice the
+sharks to remain by the raft, Dowlas went and fetched his carpenter's
+tool, which is at once a hatchet and a hammer. Of this he proposed to
+make the whirl of which they were in need, under the hope that either
+the sharp edge of the adze or the pointed extremity opposite would stick
+firmly into the jaws of any shark that might swallow it. The wooden
+handle of the hammer was secured to the rope, which, in its turn, was
+tightly fastened to the raft.
+
+With eager, almost breathless, excitement we stood watching the
+preparations, at the same time using every means in our power to
+attract the attention of the sharks. As soon as the whirl was ready the
+boatswain began to think about bait; and, talking rapidly to himself,
+ransacked every corner of the raft, as though he expected to find some
+dead body coming opportunely to sight. But his search ended in nothing;
+and the only plan that suggested itself was again to have recourse to
+Miss Herbey's red shawl, of which a fragment was wrapped round the
+head of the hammer. After testing the strength of his line, and
+reassuring-himself that it was fastened firmly both to the hammer and to
+the raft, the boatswain lowered it into the water.
+
+The sea was quite transparent, and any object was clearly visible to
+a depth of two hundred feet below the surface. Leaning over the low
+parapet of the raft we looked on in breathless silence, as the scarlet
+rag, distinct as it was against the blue mass of water, made its slow
+descent. But one by one the sharks seemed to disappear, They could not,
+however, have gone far away, and it was not likely that anything in the
+shape of bait dropped near them would long escape their keen voracity.
+
+Suddenly, without speaking, the boatswain raised his hand and pointed to
+a dark mass skimming along the surface of the water, and making straight
+in our direction. It was a shark, certainly not less than twelve feet
+long. As soon as the creature was about four fathoms from the raft, the
+boatswain gently drew in his line until the whirl was in such a position
+that the shark must cross right over it; at the same time he shook the
+line a little, that he might give the whirl the appearance, if he could,
+of being something alive and moving. As the creature came near, my heart
+beat violently; I could see its eyes flashing above the waves; and its
+gaping jaws, as it turned half over on its back, exhibited long rows of
+pointed teeth.
+
+I know not who it was, but some one at that moment uttered an
+involuntary cry of horror. The shark came to a standstill, turned about,
+and escaped quite out of sight. The boatswain was pale with anger.
+
+"The first man who speaks," he said, "I will kill him on the spot."
+
+Again he applied himself to his task. The whirl again was lowered, this
+time to the depth of twenty fathoms, but for half an hour or more not a
+shark could be distinguished; but as the waters far below seemed somehow
+to be troubled I could not help believing that some of the brutes at
+least were still there.
+
+All at once, with a violent jerk, the cord was wrested from the
+boatswain's hands; firmly attached, however, as it was to the raft, it
+was not lost. The bait had been seized by a shark, and the iron had made
+good its hold upon the creature's flesh.
+
+"Now, then, my lads," cried the boatswain, "haul away!"
+
+Passengers and sailors, one and all, put forth what strength they had
+to drag the rope, but so violent were the creature's struggles that
+it required all our efforts (and it is needless to say that they were
+willing enough) to bring it to the surface, At length, after exertions
+that almost exhausted us, the water became agitated by the violent
+flappings of the tail and fins; and looking down I saw the huge carcase
+of the shark writhing convulsively amidst waves that were stained with
+blood.
+
+"Steady! steady!" said the boatswain, as the head appeared above.
+
+The whirl had passed right through the jaw into the middle of the
+throat; so that no struggle on the part of the animal could possibly
+release it. Dowlas seized his hatchet, ready to despatch the brute the
+moment if should be landed on the raft. A short sharp snap was heard.
+The shark had closed its jaws, and bitten through the wooden handle of
+the hammer. Another moment and it had turned round and was completely
+gone.
+
+A howl of despair burst from all our lips. All the labour and the
+patience, all had been in vain. Dowlas made a few more unsuccessful
+attempts, but as the whirl was lost, and they had no means of replacing
+it, there was no further room for hope. They did, indeed, lower some
+cords twisted into running knots, but (as might have been expected)
+these only slipped over, without holding, the slimy bodies of the
+sharks. As a last resource the boatswain allowed his naked leg to
+hang over the side of the raft; the monsters, however, were proof even
+against this attraction.
+
+Reduced once again to a gloomy despondency, all turned to their places,
+to await the end that cannot now be long deferred.
+
+Just as I moved away I heard the boatswain say to Curtis,--
+
+"Captain, when shall we draw lots?"
+
+The captain made no reply.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+JANUARY 16th.--If the crew of any passing vessel had caught sight of us
+as we lay still and inanimate upon our sail-cloth, they would scarcely,
+at first sight, have hesitated to pronounce us dead.
+
+My sufferings were terrible; tongue, lips, and throat were so parched
+and swollen that if food had been at hand I question whether I could
+have swallowed it. So exasperated were the feelings of us all, however,
+that we glanced at each other with looks as savage as though we were
+about to slaughter and without delay eat up one another.
+
+The heat was aggravated by the atmosphere being somewhat stormy. Heavy
+vapours gathered on the horizon, and there was a look as if it were
+raining all around. Longing eyes and gasping mouths turned involuntarily
+towards the clouds, and M. Letourneur, on bended knee, was raising his
+hands, as it might be in supplication to the relentless skies.
+
+It was eleven o'clock in the morning. I listened for distant rumblings
+which might announce an approaching storm, but although the vapours had
+obstructed the sun's rays, they no longer presented the appearance
+of being charged with electricity. Thus our prognostications ended in
+disappointment; the clouds, which in the early morning had been marked
+by the distinctness of their outline, had melted one into another and
+assumed an uniform dull grey tint; in fact, we were enveloped in an
+ordinary fog. But was it not still possible that this fog might turn to
+rain?
+
+Happily this hope was destined to be realized; for in a very short time,
+Dowlas, with a shout of delight, declared that rain was actually coming;
+and sure enough, not half a mile from the raft, the dark parallel
+streaks against the sky testified that there at least the rain was
+falling. I fancied I could see the drops rebounding from the surface of
+the water. The wind was fresh and bringing the cloud right on towards
+us, yet we could not suppress our trepidation lest it; should exhaust
+itself before it reached us.
+
+But no: very soon large heavy drops began to fall, and the storm-cloud,
+passing over our heads, was outpouring its contents upon us. The shower,
+however, was very transient; already a bright streak of light along
+the horizon marked the limit of the cloud and warned us that we must be
+quick to make the most of what it had to give us. Curtis had placed the
+broken barrel in the position that was most exposed, and every sail was
+spread out to the fullest extent our dimensions would allow.
+
+We all laid ourselves down flat upon our backs and kept our mouths wide
+open. The rain splashed into my face, wetted my lips, and trickled down
+my throat. Never can I describe the ecstasy with which I imbibed that
+renovating moisture. The parched and swollen glands relaxed, I breathed
+afresh, and my whole being seemed revived with a strange and requickened
+life.
+
+The rain lasted about twenty minutes, when the cloud, still only half
+exhausted, passed quite away from over us.
+
+We grasped each other's hands as we rose from the platform on which
+we had been lying, and mutual congratulations, mingled with gratitude,
+poured forth from our long silent lips. Hope, however evanescent it
+might be, for the moment had returned, and we yielded to the expectation
+that, ere long, other and more abundant clouds might come and replenish
+our store.
+
+The next consideration was how to preserve and economize what little had
+been collected by the barrel, or imbibed by the outspread sails. It was
+found that only a few pints of rain-water had fallen into the barrel
+to this small quantity the sailors were about to add what they could
+by wringing out the saturated sails, when Curtis made them desist from
+their intention.
+
+"Stop, stop!" he said, "we must wait a moment; we must see whether this
+water from the sails is drinkable."
+
+I looked at him in amazement. Why should not this be as drinkable as the
+other? He squeezed a few drops out of one of the folds of a sail into
+the tin pot, and put it to his lips. To my surprise, he rejected it
+immediately, and upon tasting it for myself I found it not merely
+brackish, but briny as the sea itself. The fact was that the canvas
+had been so long exposed to the action of the waves, that it had become
+thoroughly impregnated by salt, which of course was taken up again by
+the water that fell upon it. Disappointed we were; but with several
+pints of water in our possession, we were not only contented for the
+present, but sanguine in our prospect for the future.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+JANUARY 17th.--As a natural consequence of the alleviation of our
+thirst, the pangs of hunger returned more violently than ever. Although
+we had no bait, and even if we had we could not use it for want of
+a whirl, we could not help asking whether no possible means could
+be devised for securing one out of the many sharks that were still
+perpetually swarming about the raft. Armed with knives, like the Indians
+in the pearl fisheries, was it not practicable to attack the monsters in
+their own element? Curtis expressed his willingness personally to make
+the attempt, but so numerous were the sharks that we would not for one
+moment hear of his risking his life in a venture of which the danger was
+as great as the success was doubtful.
+
+By plunging into the sea, or by gnawing at a piece of metal, we could
+always, or at least often, do something that cheated us into believing
+that we were mitigating the pains of thirst; but with hunger it was
+different. The prospect, too, of rain seemed hopeful, whilst for getting
+food there appeared no chance; and, as we knew that nothing could
+compensate for the lack of nutritive matter, we were soon all cast down
+again. Shocking to confess, it would be untrue to deny that we surveyed
+each other with the eye of an eager longing; and I need hardly explain
+to what a degree of savageness the one idea that haunted us had reduced
+our feelings.
+
+Ever since the storm-cloud brought us the too transient shower the
+sky has been tolerably clear, and although at that time the wind had
+slightly freshened, it has since dropped, and the sail hangs idly
+against our mast. Except for the trifling relief it brings by modifying
+the temperature we care little now for any breeze. Ignorant as we are as
+to what quarter of the Atlantic we have been carried by the currents, it
+matters very little to us from what direction the wind may blow if
+only it would bring, in rain or dew, the moisture of which we are so
+dreadfully in need.
+
+The moon was entering her last quarter, so that it was dark till nearly
+midnight, and the stars were misty, not glowing with that lustre which
+is so often characteristic of cool nights. Half frantic with that sense
+of hunger which invariably returns with redoubled vigour at the close of
+every day, I threw myself, in a kind of frenzy, upon a bundle of sails
+that was lying on the starboard of the raft, and leaning over, I tried
+to get some measure of relief by inhaling the moist coolness that rarely
+fails to circulate just above the water. My brain was haunted by the
+most horrible nightmares; not that I suppose I was in any way more
+distressed than my companions, who were lying in their usual places,
+vainly endeavouring to forget their sufferings in sleep.
+
+After a time I fell into a restless, dreamy doze. I was neither asleep
+nor awake. How long I remained in that state of stupor I could hardly
+say, but at length a strange sensation half brought me to myself. Was
+I dreaming, or was there not really some unaccustomed odour floating in
+the air? My nostrils became distended, and I could scarcely suppress a
+cry of astonishment; but some instinct kept me quiet, and I laid myself
+down again with the puzzled sensation sometimes experienced when we
+have forgotten a word or name. Only a few minutes, however, had elapsed
+before another still more savoury puff induced me to take several
+long inhalations. Suddenly, the truth seemed to dash across my mind.
+"Surely," I muttered to myself "this must be cooked meat that I can
+smell."
+
+Again and again I sniffed and became more convinced than ever that my
+senses were not deceiving me. But from what part of the raft could the
+smell proceed? I rose to my knees, and having satisfied myself that the
+odour came from the front, I crept stealthily as a cat under the sails
+and between the spars in that direction. Following the promptings of
+my scent, rather than my vision, like a bloodhound in the track of his
+prey, I searched everywhere I could, now finding, now losing, the smell
+according to my change of position, or the dropping of the wind. At
+length I got the true scent; once for all, so that I could go straight
+to the object for which I was in search.
+
+Approaching the starboard angle of the raft, I came to the conclusion
+that the smell that had thus keenly excited my cravings was the smell
+of smoked bacon; the membranes of my tongue almost bristled with the
+intenseness of my longing.
+
+Crawling along a little farther, under a thick roll of sail-cloth, I was
+not long in securing my prize. Forcing my arm below the roll, I felt my
+hand in contact with something wrapped up in paper. I clutched it up,
+and carried it off to a place where I could examine it by the help
+of the light of the moon that had now made its appearance above the
+horizon. I almost shrieked for joy. It was a piece of bacon. True,
+it did not weigh many ounces, but small as it was it would suffice to
+alleviate the pangs of hunger for one day at least. I was just on the
+point of raising it to my mouth, when a hand was laid upon my arm. It
+was only by a most determined effort that I kept myself from screaming
+out one instant more, and I found myself face to face with Hobart.
+
+In a moment I understood all. Plainly this rascal Hobart had saved some
+provision from the wreck, upon which he had been subsisting ever since.
+The steward had provided for himself, whilst all around him were dying
+of starvation. Detestable wretch! This accounts for the inconsistency of
+his well-to-do looks and his pitiable groans. Vile hypocrite!
+
+Yet why, it struck me, should I complain? Was not I reaping the benefit
+of that secret store that he, for himself, had saved?
+
+But Hobart had no idea of allowing me the peaceable possession of what
+he held to be his own. He made a dash at the fragment of bacon, and
+seemed determined to wrest it from my grasp. We struggled with each
+other, but although our wrestling was very violent, it was very
+noiseless. We were both of us aware that it was absolutely necessary
+that not one of those on board should know anything at all about
+the prize for which we were contending. Nor was my own determination
+lessened by hearing him groan out that it was his last, his only morsel.
+"His!" I thought; "it shall be mine now!"
+
+And still careful that no noise of commotion should arise, I threw him
+on his back, and grasping his throat so that it gurgled again, I held
+him down until, in rapid mouthfuls, I had swallowed up the last scrap of
+the food for which we had fought so hard.
+
+I released my prisoner, and quietly crept back to my own quarters.
+
+And not a soul is aware that I have broken my fast!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+JANUARY 18th.--After this excitement I awaited the approach of day with
+a strange anxiety. My conscience told me that Hobart had the right to
+denounce me in the presence of all my fellow-passengers; yet my alarm
+was vain. The idea of my proceedings being exposed by him was quite
+absurd; in a moment he would himself be murdered without pity by the
+crew, if it should be revealed that, unknown to them, he had been living
+on some private store which, by clandestine cunning, he had reserved.
+But, in spite of my anxiety, I had a longing for day to come.
+
+The bit of food that I had thus stolen was very small; but small as it
+was it had alleviated my hunger, and I was now tortured with remorse,
+because I had not shared the meagre morsel with my fellow-sufferers.
+Miss Herbey, Andre, his father, all had been forgotten, and from the
+bottom of my heart I repented of my cruel selfishness.
+
+Meantime the moon rose high in the heavens, and the first streaks of
+dawn appeared. There is no twilight in these low latitudes, and the
+full daylight came well nigh at once. I had not closed my eyes since my
+encounter with the steward, and ever since the first blush of day I had
+laboured under the impression that I could see some unusual dark mass
+half way up the mast. But although it again and again caught my eye, it
+hardly roused my curiosity, and I did not rise from the bundle of sails
+on which I was lying to ascertain what it really was. But no sooner did
+the rays of the sun fall full upon it than I saw at once that it was
+the body of a man, attached to a rope, and swinging to and fro with the
+motion of the raft.
+
+A horrible presentiment carried me to the foot of the mast, and, just
+as I had guessed, Hobart had hanged himself. I could not for a moment;
+doubt that it was I myself that had impelled him to the suicide. A cry
+of horror had scarcely escaped my lips, when my fellow-passengers were
+at my side, and the rope was cut. Then came the sailors. And what was it
+that made the group gather so eagerly around the body? Was it a humane
+desire to see whether any spark of life remained? No, indeed; the corpse
+was cold, and the limbs were rigid; there was no chance that animation
+should be restored. What then was it that kept them lingering so close
+around? It was only too apparent what they were about to do.
+
+But I did not, could not, look. I refused to take part in the horrible
+repast that was proposed. Neither would Miss Herbey, Andre nor his
+father, consent to alleviate their pangs of hunger by such revolting
+means. I know nothing for certain as to what Curtis did, and I did not
+venture to inquire; but of the others,--Falsten, Dowlas, the boatswain,
+and all the rest,--I know that, to assuage their cravings, they
+consented to reduce themselves to the level of beasts of prey; they were
+transformed from human beings into ravenous brutes.
+
+The four of us who sickened at the idea of partaking of the horrid
+meal withdrew to the seclusion of our tent; it was bad enough to hear;
+without witnessing the appalling operation. But, in truth, I had the
+greatest difficulty in the world in preventing Andre from rushing out
+upon the cannibals, and snatching the odious food from their clutches.
+I represented to him the hopelessness of his attempt, and tried to
+reconcile him by telling him that if they liked the food they had a
+right to it. Hobart had not been murdered; he had died by his own hand;
+and, after all, as the boatswain had once remarked to me, "it was better
+to eat a dead man than a live one."
+
+Do what I would, however, I could not quiet Andre's feeling of
+abhorrence; in his disgust and loathing he seemed for the time to have
+quite forgotten his own sufferings.
+
+Meanwhile, there was no concealing the truth that we were ourselves
+dying of starvation, whilst our eight companions would probably, by
+their loathsome diet, escape that frightful destiny. Owing to his secret
+hoard of provisions Hobart had been by far the strongest amongst us; he
+had been supported, so that no organic disease had affected his tissues,
+and really might be said to be in good health when his chagrin drove him
+to his desperate suicide. But what was I thinking of! whither were
+my meditations carrying me away? was it not coming to pass that the
+cannibals were rousing my envy instead of exciting my horror?
+
+Very shortly after this I heard Dowlas talking about the possibility
+of obtaining salt by evaporating sea-water in the sun; "and then," he
+added, "we can salt down the rest."
+
+The boatswain assented to what the carpenter had said, and probably the
+suggestion was adopted.
+
+Silence, the most profound, now reigns upon the raft. I presume that
+nearly all have gone to sleep. One thing I do know, that they are no
+longer hungry!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+
+JANUARY 19th.--All through the day the sky remained unclouded and
+the heat intense; and night came on without bringing much sensible
+moderation in the temperature. I was unable to get any sleep, and,
+towards morning, was disturbed by hearing an angry clamour going on
+outside the tent; it aroused M. Letourneur, Andre and Miss Herbey,
+as much as myself, and we were anxious to ascertain the cause of the
+tumult.
+
+The boatswain, Dowlas, and all the sailors were storming at each other
+in frightful rage; and Curtis, who had come forward from the stern, was
+vainly endeavouring to pacify them.
+
+"But who has done it? we must know who has done it," said Dowlas,
+scowling with vindictive passion on the group around him.
+
+"There's a thief," howled out the boatswain, "and he shall be found!
+Let's know who has taken it."
+
+"I haven't taken it!" "Nor I!" "Nor I!" cried the sailors one after
+another.
+
+And then they set to work again to ransack every quarter of the raft;
+they rolled every spar aside, they overturned everything on board,
+and only grew more and more incensed with anger as their search proved
+fruitless.
+
+"Can YOU tell us," said the boatswain, coming up to me, "who is the
+thief?"
+
+"Thief!" I replied. "I don't know what you mean."
+
+And while we were speaking the others all came up together, and told me
+that they had looked everywhere else, and that they were going now to
+search the tent.
+
+"Shame!" I said. "You ought to allow those whom you know to be dying of
+hunger at least to die in peace. There is not one of us who has left the
+tent all night. Why suspect us?"
+
+"Now just look here, Mr. Kazallon," said the boatswain, in a voice which
+he was endeavouring to calm down into moderation, "we are not accusing
+you of anything; we know well enough you, and all the rest of you, had
+a right to your shares as much as anybody; but that isn't it. It's all
+gone somewhere, every bit."
+
+"Yes," said Sandon gruffly; "it's all gone somewheres, and we are a
+going to search the tent."
+
+Resistance was useless, and Miss Herbey, M. Letourneur, and Andre were
+all turned out.
+
+I confess I was very fearful. I had a strong suspicion that for the sake
+of his son, for whom he was ready to venture anything, M. Letourneur
+had committed the theft; in that case I knew that nothing would have
+prevented the infuriated men from tearing the devoted father to pieces.
+I beckoned to Curtis for protection, and he came and stood beside me. He
+said nothing, but waited with his hands in his pockets, and I think I am
+not mistaken in my belief that there was some sort of a weapon in each.
+
+To my great relief the search was ineffectual. There was no doubt that
+the carcase of the suicide had been thrown overboard, and the rage of
+the disappointed cannibals knew no bounds.
+
+Yet who had ventured to do the deed! I looked at M. Letourneur and Miss
+Herbey; but their countenances at once betrayed their ignorance. Andre
+turned his face away, and his eyes did not meet my own. Probably it is
+he; but, if it be, I wonder whether he has reckoned up the consequences
+of so rash an act.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX.
+
+JANUARY 20th to 22nd.--For the day or two after the horrible repast of
+the 18th those who had partaken of it appeared to suffer comparatively
+little either from hunger or thirst; but for the four of us who had
+tasted nothing, the agony of suffering grew more and more intense. It
+was enough to make us repine over the loss of the provision that had so
+mysteriously gone; and if any one of us should die, I doubt whether the
+survivors would a second time resist the temptation to assuage their
+pangs by tasting human flesh.
+
+Before long, all the cravings of hunger began to return to the sailors,
+and I could see their eyes greedily glancing upon us, starved as they
+knew us to be, as though they were reckoning our hours, and already were
+preparing to consume us as their prey.
+
+As is always the case with shipwrecked men, we were tormented by thirst
+far more than by hunger; and if, in the height of our sufferings, we had
+been offered our choice between a few drops of water and a few crumbs
+of biscuit, I do not doubt that we should, without exception, have
+preferred to take the water.
+
+And what a mockery to our condition did it seem that all this while
+there was water, water, nothing but water, everywhere around us! Again
+and again, incapable of comprehending how powerless it was to relieve
+me, I put a few drops within my lips, but only with the invariable
+result of bringing on a most trying nausea, and rendering my thirst more
+unendurable than before.
+
+Forty-two days had passed since we quitted the sinking "Chancellor."
+There could be no hope now; all of us must die, and by the most
+deplorable of deaths. I was quite conscious that a mist was gathering
+over my brain; I felt my senses sinking into a condition of torpor; I
+made an effort, but all in vain, to master the delirium that I was aware
+was taking possession of my reason. It is out of my power to decide for
+how long I lost my consciousness; but when I came to myself I found
+that Miss Herbey had folded some wet bandages around my forehead. I am
+somewhat better; but I am weakened, mind and body, and I am conscious
+that I have not long to live.
+
+A frightful fatality occurred to-day. The scene was terrible. Jynxstrop
+the negro went raving mad. Curtis and several of the men tried their
+utmost to control him, but in spite of everything he broke loose,
+and tore up and down the raft, uttering fearful yells. He had gained
+possession of a handspike, and rushed upon us all with the ferocity
+of an infuriated tiger; how we contrived to escape mischief from his
+attacks, I know not. All at once, by one of those unaccountable impulses
+of madness, his rage turned against himself. With his teeth and nails he
+gnawed and tore away at his own flesh; dashing the blood into our faces,
+he shrieked out with a demoniacal grin, "Drink, drink!" and flinging us
+gory morsels, kept saying "Eat, eat!" In the midst of his insane shrieks
+he made a sudden pause, then dashing back again from the stern to the
+front, he made a bound and disappeared beneath the waves.
+
+Falsten, Dowlas, and the boatswain, made a rush that at least they might
+secure the body; but it was too late; all that they could see was a
+crimson circle in the water, and some huge sharks disporting themselves
+around the spot.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER L.
+
+JANUARY 23rd.--Only eleven of us now remain; and the probability is very
+great that every day must now carry off at least its one victim, and
+perhaps more. The end of the tragedy is rapidly approaching, and save
+for the chance, which is next to an impossibility, of our sighting land,
+or being picked up by a passing vessel, ere another week has elapsed not
+a single survivor of the "Chancellor" will remain.
+
+The wind freshened considerably in the night, and it is now blowing
+pretty briskly from the north-east. It has filled our sail, and
+the white foam in our wake is an indication that we are making some
+progress. The captain reckons that we must be advancing at the rate of
+about three miles an hour.
+
+Curtis and Falsten are certainly in the best condition amongst us, and
+in spite of their extreme emaciation they bear up wonderfully under
+the protracted hardships we have all endured. Words cannot describe the
+melancholy state to which poor Miss Herbey bodily is reduced; her whole
+being seems absorbed into her soul, but that soul is brave and resolute
+as ever, living in heaven rather than on earth. The boatswain, strong,
+energetic man that he was, has shrunk into a mere shadow of his former
+self, and I doubt whether any one would recognize him to be the same
+man. He keeps perpetually to one corner of the raft, his head dropped
+upon his chest, and his long, bony hands lying upon knees that project
+sharply from his worn-out trowsers. Unlike Miss Herbey, his spirit seems
+to have sunk into apathy, and it is at times difficult to believe that
+he is living at all, so motionless and statue-like does he sit.
+
+Silence continues to reign upon the raft. Not a sound, not even a groan,
+escapes our lips. We do not exchange ten words in the course of the
+day, and the few syllables that our parched tongue and swollen lips can
+pronounce are almost unintelligible. Wasted and bloodless, we are no
+longer human beings; we are spectres.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LI.
+
+JANUARY 24th.--I have inquired more than once of Curtis if he has the
+faintest idea to what quarter of the Atlantic we have drifted, and each
+time he has been unable to give me a decided answer, though from
+his general observation of the direction of the wind and currents he
+imagines that we have been carried westwards, that is to say, towards
+the land.
+
+To-day the breeze has dropped entirely, but the heavy swell is still
+upon the sea, and is an unquestionable sign that a tempest has been
+raging at no great distance. The raft labours hard against the waves,
+and Curtis, Falsten, and the boatswain, employ the little energy that
+remains to them in strengthening the joints. Why do they give themselves
+such trouble? Why not let the few frail planks part asunder, and allow
+the ocean to terminate our miserable existence? Certain it seems that
+our sufferings must have reached their utmost limit, and nothing could
+exceed the torture that we are enduring. The sky pours down upon us a
+heat like that of molten lead, and the sweat that saturates the tattered
+clothes that hang about our bodies goes far to aggravate the agonies
+of our thirst. No words of mine can describe this dire distress; these
+sufferings are beyond human estimate.
+
+Even bathing, the only means of refreshment that we possessed, has now
+become impossible, for ever since Jynxstrop's death the sharks have hung
+about the raft in shoals.
+
+To-day I tried to gain a few drops of fresh water by evaporation, but
+even with the exercise of the greatest patience, it was with the utmost
+difficulty that I obtained enough to moisten a little scrap of linen;
+and the only kettle that we had was so old and battered, that it would
+not bear the fire, so that I was obliged to give up the attempt in
+despair.
+
+Falsten is now almost exhausted, and if he survives us at all, it can
+only be for a few days. Whenever I raised my head I always failed to see
+him, but he was probably lying sheltered somewhere beneath the sails.
+Curtis was the only man who remained on his feet, but with indomitable
+pluck he continued to stand on the front of the raft, waiting, watching,
+hoping. To look at him, with his unflagging energy, almost tempted me to
+imagine that he did well to hope, but I dared nor entertain one sanguine
+thought; and there I lay, waiting, nay, longing for death.
+
+How many hours passed away thus I cannot tell, but after a time a loud
+peal of laughter burst upon my ear Some one else, then, was going mad,
+I thought; but the idea did not rouse me in the least. The laughter was
+repeated with greater vehemence, but I never raised my head. Presently I
+caught a few incoherent words.
+
+"Fields, fields, gardens and trees! Look, there's an inn under the
+trees! Quick, quick! brandy, gin, water! a guinea a drop! I'll pay for
+it! I've lots of money! lots! lots!"
+
+Poor deluded wretch! I thought again; the wealth of a nation could not
+buy a drop of water here. There was silence for a minute, when all of a
+sudden I heard the shout of "Land! land!"
+
+The words acted upon me like an electric shock, and, with a frantic
+effort, I started to my feet. No land, indeed, was visible, but
+Flaypole, laughing, singing, and gesticulating, was raging up and down
+the raft. Sight, taste and hearing--all were gone; but the cerebral
+derangement supplied their place, and in imagination the maniac was
+conversing with absent friends, inviting them into the George Inn at
+Cardiff, offering them gin, whisky, and, above all water! Stumbling at
+every step, and singing in a cracked, discordant voice, he staggered
+about amongst us like an intoxicated man. With the loss of his senses
+all his sufferings had vanished, and his thirst was appeased. It was
+hard not to wish to be a partaker of his hallucination.
+
+Dowlas, Falsten, and the boatswain, seemed to think that the unfortunate
+wretch would, like Jynxstrop, put an end to himself by leaping into the
+sea; but, determined this time to preserve the body, that it might serve
+a better purpose than merely feeding the sharks, they rose and followed
+the madman everywhere he went, keeping a strict eye upon his every
+movement.
+
+But the matter did not end as they expected. As though he were really
+intoxicated by the stimulants of which he had been raving, Flaypole at
+last sank down in a heap in a corner of the raft, where he lay lost in a
+heavy slumber.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LII.
+
+JANUARY 25th.--Last night was very misty, and for some unaccountable
+reason, one of the hottest that can be imagined. The atmosphere was
+really so stifling, that it seemed as if it only required a spark to set
+it alight. The raft was not only quite stationary, but did not even rise
+and fall with any motion of the waves.
+
+During the night I tried to count how many there were now on board,
+but I was utterly unable to collect my ideas sufficiently to make the
+enumeration. Sometimes I counted ten, sometimes twelve, and although
+I knew that eleven, since Jynxstrop was dead, was the correct number, I
+could never bring my reckoning right. Of one thing I felt quite sure,
+and that was that the number would very soon be ten. I was convinced
+that I could myself last but very little longer. All the events and
+associations of my life passed rapidly through my brain, My country, my
+friends, and my family all appeared as it were in a vision, and seemed
+as though they had come to bid me a last farewell.
+
+Towards morning I woke from my sleep, if the languid stupour into
+which I had fallen was worthy of that name. One fixed idea had taken
+possession of my brain; I would put an end to myself, and I felt a
+sort of pleasure as I gloated over the power that I had to terminate my
+sufferings. I told Curtis, with the utmost composure, of my intention,
+and he received the intelligence as calmly as it was delivered.
+
+"Of course you will do as you please," he said; "for, my own part, I
+shall not abandon my post. It is my duty to remain here, and unless
+death comes to carry me away, I shall stay where I am to the very last."
+
+The dull grey fog still hung heavily over the ocean, but the sun was
+evidently shining above the mist, and would, in course of time, dispel
+the vapour. Towards seven o'clock I fancied I heard the cries of birds
+above my head. The sound was repeated three times, and as I went up to
+the captain to ask him about it, I heard him mutter to himself,--
+
+"Birds! why, that looks as if land were not far off."
+
+But although Curtis might still cling to the hope of reaching land,
+I knew not what it was to have one sanguine thought. For me there was
+neither continent nor island; the world was one fluid sphere,
+uniform, monotonous, as in the most primitive period of its formation.
+Nevertheless it must be owned that it was with a certain amount of
+impatience that I awaited the rising of the mist, for I was anxious to
+shake off the phantom fallacies that Curtis's words had suggested to my
+mind.
+
+Not till eleven o'clock did the fog begin to break, and as it rolled in
+heavy folds along the surface of the water, I could every now and then
+catch glimpses of a clear blue sky beyond. Fierce sunbeams pierced the
+cloud-rifts, scorching and burning our bodies like red-hot iron; but
+it was only above our heads that there was any sunlight to condense the
+vapour; the horizon was still quite invisible. There was no wind, and
+for half an hour longer the fog hung heavily round the raft; whilst
+Curtis, leaning against the side, strove to penetrate the obscurity. At
+length the sun burst forth in full power, and, sweeping the surface of
+the ocean, dispelled the fog, and left the horizon opened to our eyes.
+
+There, exactly as we had seen it for the last six weeks, was the circle
+that bounded sea and sky, unbroken, definite, distinct as ever! Curtis
+gazed with intensest scrutiny, but did not speak a word. I pitied him
+sincerely, for he alone of us all felt that he had not the right to put
+an end to his misery. For myself I had fully determined that if I
+lived till the following day, I would die by my own hand. Whether my
+companions were still alive, I hardly cared to know; it seemed as though
+days had passed since I had seen them.
+
+Night drew on, but I could not sleep for a moment. Towards two o'clock
+in the morning my thirst was so intense that I was unable to suppress
+loud cries of agony. Was there nothing that would serve to quench the
+fire that was burning within me? What if instead of drinking the blood
+of others I were to drink my own? It would be all unavailing, I was well
+aware, but scarcely had the thought crossed my mind, than I proceeded to
+put it into execution. I unclasped my knife, and, stripping my arm, with
+a steady thrust I opened a small vein. The blood oozed out slowly, drop
+by drop, and as I eagerly swallowed the source of my very life, I felt
+that for a moment my torments were relieved, But only for a moment; all
+energy had failed my pulses, and almost immediately the blood had ceased
+to flow.
+
+How long it seemed before the morning dawned! and when that morning came
+it brought another fog, heavy as before that again shut out the horizon.
+The fog was hot as the burning steam that issues from a boiler. It was
+to be my last day upon earth, and I felt that I would like to press the
+hand of a friend before I died. Curtis was standing near, and crawling
+up to him, I took his hand in my own. He seemed to know that I was
+taking my farewell, and with one last lingering hope he endeavoured to
+restrain me. But all in vain, my mind was finally made up.
+
+I should have like to speak once again to M. Letourneur, Andre and Miss
+Herbey, but my courage failed me. I knew that the young girl would read
+my resolution in my eyes, and that she would speak to me of duty and of
+God, and of eternity, and I dared not meet her gaze; and I would not
+run the risk of being persuaded to wait until a lingering death should
+overtake me. I returned to the back of the raft, and after making
+several efforts, I managed to get on to my feet. I cast one long look at
+the pitiless ocean and the unbroken horizon; if a sail or the outline of
+a coast bad broken on my view, I believe that I should only have deemed
+myself the victim of an illusion; but nothing of the kind appeared, and
+the sea was dreary as a desert.
+
+It was ten o'clock in the morning. The pangs of hunger and the torments
+of thirst were racking me with redoubled vigour. All instinct of
+self-preservation had left me, and I felt that the hour had come when
+I must cease to suffer. Just as I was on the point of casting myself
+headlong into the sea, a voice, which I recognized as Dowlas's; broke
+upon my ear.
+
+"Captain," he said, "we are going to draw lots."
+
+Involuntarily I paused; I did not take my plunge, but returned to my
+place upon the raft.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIII.
+
+JANUARY 26th.--All heard and understood the proposition; in fact, it had
+been in contemplation for several days, but no one had ventured to put
+the idea into words. However, it was done now; lots were to be drawn,
+and to each would be assigned his share of the body of the one ordained
+by fate to be the victim. For my own part, I profess that I was quite
+resigned for the lot to fall upon myself. I thought I heard Andre
+Letourneur beg for an exception to be made in favour of Miss Herbey, but
+the sailors raised a murmur of dissent. As there were eleven of us on
+board, there were ten chances to one in each one's favour, a proportion
+which would be diminished if Miss Herbey were excluded, so that the
+young lady was forced to take her chance among the rest.
+
+It was then half-past ten, and the boatswain, who had been roused from
+his lethargy by what the carpenter had said, insisted that the drawing
+should take place immediately. There was no reason for postponing the
+fatal lottery. There was not one of us that clung in the least to life,
+and we knew that at the worst, whoever should be doomed to die, would
+only precede the rest by a few days, or even hours. All that we desired
+was just once to slake our raging thirst and moderate our gnawing
+hunger.
+
+How all the names found their way to the bottom of a hat I cannot
+tell. Very likely Falsten wrote them upon a leaf torn from his
+memorandum-book. But be that as it may, the eleven names were there, and
+it was unanimously agreed that the last name drawn should be the victim.
+
+But who would draw the names? There was hesitation for a moment; then,
+"I will," said a voice behind me. Turning round, I beheld M. Letourneur
+standing with outstretched hand, and with his long white hair falling
+over his thin livid face that was almost sublime in its calmness. I
+divined at once the reason of this voluntary offer; I knew that it was
+the father's devotion in self-sacrifice that led him to undertake the
+office.
+
+"As soon as you please," said the boatswain, and handed him the hat.
+
+M. Letourneur proceeded to draw out the folded strips of paper one by
+one, and after reading out aloud the name upon it, handed it to its
+owner.
+
+The first name called was that of Burke, who uttered a cry of delight;
+then followed Flaypole and the boatswain. What his name really was I
+never could exactly learn. Then came Falsten, Curtis, Sandon. More
+than half had now been called, and my name had not yet been drawn. I
+calculated my remaining chance; it was still four to one in my favour.
+
+M. Letourneur continued his painful task. Since Burke's first
+exclamation of joy not a sound had escaped our lips, but all were
+listening in breathless silence. The seventh name was Miss Herbey's, but
+the young girl heard it without a start. Then came mine, yes, mine! and
+the ninth was that of Letourneur.
+
+"Which one?" asked the boatswain.
+
+"Andre," said M. Letourneur.
+
+With one cry Andre fell back senseless. Only two names now remained in
+the hat; those of Dowlas and of M. Letourneur himself.
+
+"Go on," almost roared the carpenter, surveying his partner in peril as
+though he could devour him. M. Letourneur almost had a smile upon
+his lips, as he drew forth the last paper but one, and with a firm,
+unfaltering voice, marvelous for his age, unfolded it slowly, and read
+the name of Dowlas. The carpenter gave a yell of relief as he heard the
+word.
+
+M. Letourneur took the last bit of paper from the hat, and without
+looking at it, tore it to pieces. But, unperceived by all but myself,
+one little fragment flew into a corner of the raft. I crawled towards it
+and picked it up. On one side of it was written Andr--; the rest of
+the word was torn away. M. Letourneur saw what I had done, and rushing
+towards me, snatched the paper from my hands, and flung it into the sea.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIV.
+
+JANUARY 26th.--I understood it all; the devoted father having nothing
+more to give, had given his life for his son.
+
+M. Letourneur was no longer a human being in the eyes of the famished
+creatures who were now yearning to see him sacrificed to their cravings.
+At the very sight of the victim thus provided, all the tortures of
+hunger returned with redoubled violence. With lips distended, and teeth
+displayed, they waited like a herd of carnivora until they could attack
+their prey with brutal voracity; it seemed almost doubtful whether they
+would not fall upon him while he was still alive. It seemed impossible
+that any appeal to their humanity could, at such a moment, have any
+weight; nevertheless, the appeal was made, and, incredible as it may
+seem, prevailed.
+
+Just as the boatswain was about to act the part of butcher, and Dowlas
+stood, hatchet in hand, ready to complete the barbarous work, Miss
+Herbey advanced, or rather crawled, towards them.
+
+"My friends," she pleaded, "will you not wait just one more day? If no
+land or ship is in sight to-morrow, then I suppose our poor companion
+must become your victim. But allow him one more day; in the name of
+mercy I entreat, I implore you."
+
+My heart bounded as she made her pitiful appeal. It seemed to me as
+though the noble girl had spoken with an inspiration on her lips, and I
+fancied that, perhaps, in super-natural vision she had viewed the coast
+or the ship of which she spoke; and one more day was not much to us who
+had already suffered so long, and endured so much.
+
+Curtis and Falsten agreed with me, and we all united to support Miss
+Herbey's merciful petition. The sailors did not utter a murmur, and the
+boatswain in a smothered voice said,--
+
+"Very well, we will wait till daybreak tomorrow," and threw down his
+hatchet.
+
+To-morrow, then, unless land or a sail appear, the horrible sacrifice
+will be accomplished. Stifling their sufferings by a strenuous effort,
+all returned to their places. The sailors crouched beneath the sails,
+caring nothing about scanning the ocean. Food was in store for them
+to-morrow, and that was enough for them.
+
+As soon as Andre Letourneur came to his senses, his first thought was
+for his father, and I saw him count the passengers on the raft. He
+looked puzzled; when he lost consciousness there had been only two
+names left in the hat, those of his father and the carpenter; and yet M.
+Letourneur and Dowlas were both there still. Miss Herbey went up to
+him and told him quietly that the drawing of the lots had not yet been
+finished. Andre asked no further question, but took his father's
+hand. M. Letourneur's countenance was calm and serene; he seemed to be
+conscious of nothing except that the life of his son was spared, and as
+the two sat conversing in an undertone at the back of the raft, their
+whole existence seemed bound up in each other.
+
+Meantime, I could not disabuse my mind of the impression caused by Miss
+Herbey's intervention. Something told me that help was near at hand, and
+that we were approaching the termination of our suspense and misery; the
+chimeras that were floating through my brain resolved themselves into
+realities, so that nothing appeared to me more certain than that either
+land or sail, be they miles away, would be discovered somewhere to
+leeward.
+
+I imparted my convictions to M. Letourneur and his son. Andre was as
+sanguine as myself; poor boy! he little thinks what a loss there is in
+store for him tomorrow. His father listened gravely to all we said,
+and whatever he might think in his own mind, he did not give us any
+discouragement; Heaven, he said, he was sure would still spare the
+survivors of the "Chancellor," and then he lavished on his son caresses
+which he deemed to be his last.
+
+Some time afterwards, when I was alone with him, M. Letourneur whispered
+in my ear,--
+
+"Mr. Kazallon, I commend my boy to your care, and mark you, he must
+never know--"
+
+His voice was choked with tears, and he could not finish his sentence.
+
+But I was full of hope, and, without a moment's intermission, I kept my
+eyes fixed upon the unbroken horizon, Curtis, Miss Herbey, Falsten, and
+even the boatswain, were also eagerly scanning the broad expanse of sea.
+
+Night has come on; but I have still a profound conviction that through
+the darkness some ship will approach, and that at daybreak our raft will
+be observed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LV.
+
+JANUARY 27th.--I did not close my eyes all night, and was keenly alive
+to the faintest sounds, and every ripple of the water, and every murmur
+of the waves, broke distinctly on my ear. One thing I noticed and
+accepted as a happy omen; not a single shark now lingered-round the
+raft. The waning moon rose at a quarter to one, and through the feeble
+glimmer which she cast across the ocean, many and many a time I fancied
+I caught sight of the longed-for sail, lying only a few cables' lengths
+away.
+
+But when morning came, the sun rose once again upon a desert ocean, and
+my hopes began to fade. Neither ship nor shore had appeared, and as the
+shocking hour of execution drew near, my dreams of deliverance melted
+away; I shuddered in my very soul as I was brought face to face with the
+stern reality. I dared not look upon the victim, and whenever his eyes,
+so full of calmness and resignation, met my own, I turned away my
+head. I felt choked with horror, and my brain reeled as though I were
+intoxicated.
+
+It was now six o'clock, and all hope had vanished from my breast; my
+heart beat rapidly, and a cold sweat of agony broke out all over me.
+Curtis and the boatswain stood by the mast attentively scanning the
+horizon. The boatswain's countenance was terrible to look upon;
+one could see that although he would not forestall the hour, he was
+determined not to wait a moment after it arrived. As for the captain, it
+was impossible to tell what really passed within his mind; his face was
+livid, and his whole existence seemed concentrated in the exercise of
+his power of vision. The sailors were crawling about the platform, with
+their eyes gleaming, like wild beasts ready to pounce upon their devoted
+prey.
+
+I could no longer keep my place, and glided along to the front of the
+raft. The boatswain was still standing intent on his watch, but all of a
+sudden, in a voice that made me start he shouted,--
+
+"Now then, time's up!" and followed by Dowlas, Burke, Flaypole, and
+Sandon, ran to the back of the raft. As Dowlas seized the hatchet
+convulsively, Miss Herbey could not suppress a cry of terror. Andre
+started to his feet.
+
+"What are you going to do to my father?" he asked in accents choked with
+emotion.
+
+"My boy," said M. Letourneur, "the lot has fallen upon me, and I must
+die!"
+
+"Never!" shrieked Andre, throwing his arms about his father, "They shall
+kill me first. It was I who threw Hobart's body into the sea, and it is
+I who ought to die!"
+
+But the words of the unhappy youth had no other effect than to increase
+the fury of the men who were so staunchly bent upon their bloody
+purpose.
+
+"Come, come, no more fuss," said Dowlas, as he tore the young man away
+from his father's embrace.
+
+Andre fell upon his back, in which position two of the sailors held him
+down so tightly that he could not move, whilst Burke and Sandon carried
+off their victim to the front.
+
+All this had taken place much more rapidly than I have been able to
+describe it. I was transfixed with horror, and much as I wished to throw
+myself between M. Letourneur and his executioners, I seemed to be rooted
+to the spot where I was standing.
+
+Meantime the sailors had been taking off some of M. Letourneur's
+clothes, and his neck and shoulders were already bare.
+
+"Stop a moment!" he said in a tone in which was the ring of indomitable
+courage. "Stop! I don't want to deprive you of your ration; but I
+suppose you will not require to eat the whole of me today."
+
+The sailors, taken aback by his suggestion, stared at him with
+amazement.
+
+"There are ten of you," he went on. "My two arms will give you each a
+meal; cut them off for to-day, and to-morrow you shall have the rest of
+me."
+
+"Agreed!" cried Dowlas; and as M. Letourneur held out his bare arms,
+quick as lightning the carpenter raised his hatchet.
+
+Curtis and I could bear this scene no longer; whilst we were alive
+to prevent it, this butchery should not be permitted, and we rushed
+forwards simultaneously to snatch the victim from his murderers. A
+furious struggle ensued, and in the midst of the MELEE I was seized by
+one of the sailors, and hurled violently into the sea.
+
+Closing my lips, I tried to die of suffocation in the water; but in
+spite of myself, my mouth opened, and a few drops trickled down my
+throat.
+
+Merciful Heaven! the water was fresh!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVI.
+
+JANUARY 27th CONTINUED.--A change came over me as if by miracle. No
+longer had I any wish to die, and already Curtis, who had heard my
+cries, was throwing me a rope. I seized it eagerly, and was hauled up on
+to the raft, "Fresh water!" were the first words I uttered.
+
+"Fresh water?" cried Curtis, "why then, my friends, we are not far from
+land!"
+
+It was not too late; the blow had not been struck, and so the victim
+had not yet fallen. Curtis and Andre (who had regained his liberty)
+had fought with the cannibals, and it was just as they were yielding to
+overpowering numbers that my voice had made itself heard.
+
+The struggle came to an end. As soon as the words "Fresh water" had
+escaped my lips, I leaned over the side of the raft and swallowed the
+life-giving liquid in greedy draughts. Miss Herbey was the first to
+follow my example, but soon Curtis, Falsten, and all the rest were on
+their knees and drinking eagerly, The rough sailors seemed as if by a
+magic touch transformed back from ravenous beasts to human beings, and
+I saw several of them raise their hands to heaven in silent gratitude,
+Andre and his father were the last to drink.
+
+"But where are we?" I asked at length.
+
+"The land is there," said Curtis pointing towards the west.
+
+We all stared at the captain as though he were mocking us; no land was
+in sight, and the raft, just as ever, was the centre of a watery waste.
+Yet our senses had not deceived us the water we had been drinking was
+perfectly fresh.
+
+"Yes," repeated the captain, "land is certainly there, not more than
+twenty miles to leeward."
+
+"What land?" inquired the boatswain.
+
+"South America," answered Curtis, "and near the Amazon; no other river
+has a current strong enough to freshen the ocean twenty miles from
+shore!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVII.
+
+JANUARY 27th CONTINUED.--Curtis, no doubt was right The discharge from
+the mouth of the Amazon is enormously large, but we had probably drifted
+into the only spot in the Atlantic where we could find fresh water
+so far from land. Yet land, undoubtedly was there, and the breeze was
+carrying us onwards slowly but surely to our deliverance.
+
+Miss Herbey's voice was heard pouring out fervent praise to Heaven, and
+we were all glad to unite our thanksgivings with hers. Then the whole
+of us (with the exception of Andre and his father, who remained by
+themselves together at the stern) clustered in a group, and kept our
+expectant gaze upon the horizon.
+
+We had not long to wait. Before an hour had passed Curtis, leaped in
+ecstasy and raised the joyous shout of "Land ahoy!"
+
+* * * *
+
+My journal has come to a close.
+
+I have only to relate, as briefly as possible, the circumstances that
+finally brought us to our destination.
+
+A few hours after we first sighted land the raft was off Cape Magoari,
+on the Island of Marajo, and was observed by some fishermen who, with
+kind-hearted alacrity picked us up, and tended us most carefully. They
+conveyed us to Para, where we became the objects of unbounded sympathy.
+
+The raft was brought to land in lat. 0deg. 12min. N., so that since we
+abandoned the "Chancellor" we had drifted at least fifteen degrees to
+the south-west. Except for the influence of the Gulf Stream we must have
+been carried far, far to the south, and in that case we should never
+have reached the mouth of the Amazon, and must inevitably have been
+lost.
+
+Of the thirty-two souls--nine passengers, and twenty-three seamen--who
+left Charleston on board the ship, only five passengers and six seamen
+remain. Eleven of us alone survive.
+
+An official account of our rescue was drawn up by the Brazilian
+authorities. Those who signed were Miss Herbey, J. R. Kazallon, M.
+Letourneur, Andre Letourneur, Mr. Falsten, the boatswain, Dowlas, Burke,
+Flaypole, Sandon, and last, though not least,
+
+"Robert Curtis, captain."
+
+At Para we soon found facilities for continuing our homeward route. A
+vessel took us to Cayenne, where we secured a passage on board one of
+the steamers of the French Transatlantic Aspinwall line, the "Ville de
+St. Nazaire," which conveyed us to Europe.
+
+After all the dangers and privations which we have undergone together,
+it is scarcely necessary to say that there has arisen between the
+surviving passengers of the "Chancellor" a bond of friendship too
+indissoluble, I believe, for either time or circumstance to destroy;
+Curtis must ever remain the honoured and valued friend of those whose
+welfare he consulted so faithfully in their misfortunes; his conduct was
+beyond all praise.
+
+When we were fairly on our homeward way, Miss Herbey by chance intimated
+to us her intention of retiring from the world and devoting the
+remainder of her life to the care of the sick and suffering.
+
+"Then why not come and look after my son?" said M. Letourneur, adding,
+"he is an invalid, and he requires, as he deserves, the best of
+nursing."
+
+Miss Herbey, after some deliberation, consented to become a member
+of their family, and finds in M. Letourneur a father, and in Andre a
+brother. A brother, I say; but may we not hope that she may be united
+by a dearer and a closer tie, and that the noble-hearted girl may
+experience the happiness that so richly she deserves?
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Survivors of the Chancellor, by Jules Verne
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