CHAPTER V.
"They hurried us aboard a bark; Bore us some leagues to sea; where they prepared A rotten carcass of a boat, not rigg'd, Nor tackle, sail, nor mast: the very rats Instinctively had girt us--" _Tempest._
The hour that succeeded in the calm of expectation, was one of the mostdisquieting of my life. As soon as the ship was secured, and there nolonger remained anything to do, the stillness of death reigned amongus; the faculties of every man and boy appearing to be absorbed in thesingle sense of hearing--the best, and indeed the only, means we thenpossessed of judging of our situation. It was now apparent that we werenear some place or places where the surf was breaking on land; andthe hollow, not-to-be-mistaken bellowings of the element, too plainlyindicated that cavities in rocks frequently received, and as oftenrejected, the washing waters. Nor did these portentous sounds come fromone quarter only, but they seemed to surround us; now reaching ourears from the known direction of the land, now from the south, thenorth-east, and, in fact, from every direction. There were instanceswhen these moanings of the ocean sounded as if close under our stern,and then again they came from some point within a fearful proximity tothe bows.
Happily the wind was light, and the ship rode with a moderate strainon the cable, so as to relieve us from the apprehension of immediatedestruction. There was a long, heavy ground-swell rolling in from, thesouth-west, but, the lead giving us, eight fathoms, the sea did notbreak exactly where we lay; though the sullen washing that came to ourears, from time to time, gave unerring notice that it was doing so quitenear us, independently of the places where it broke upon rocks. At onetime the captain's impatience was so goading, that he had determined topull round the anchorage in a boat, in order to anticipate the approachof light; but a suggestion from Mr. Marble that he might unconsciouslypull into a roller, and capsize, induced him to wait for day.
The dawn appeared at last, after two or three of the longest hoursI remember ever to have passed. Never shall I forget the species offurious eagerness with which we gazed about us. In the first place, wegot an outline of the adjacent land; then, as light diffused itself moreand more into the atmosphere, we caught glimpses of its details. It wassoon certain we were within a cable's length of perpendicular cliffsof several hundred feet in height, into whose caverns the sea poured attimes, producing those frightful, hollow moanings, that an experiencedear can never mistake. This cliff extended for leagues in bothdirections, rendering drowning nearly inevitable to the shipwreckedmariner on that inhospitable coast. Ahead, astern, outside of us, andI might almost say all around us, became visible, one after another,detached ledges, breakers and ripples; so many proofs of the manner inwhich Providence had guided us through the hours of darkness.
By the time the sun appeared, for, happily, the day proved brightand clear, we had obtained pretty tolerable notions of the criticalsituation in which we were placed by means of the captain's theory ofcurrents. The very cape that we were to drift past, lay some ten leaguesnearly dead to windward, as the breeze then was; while to leeward, faras the eye could reach, stretched the same inhospitable, barrier of rockas that which lay on our starboard quarter and beam. Such was my firstintroduction to the island of Madagascar; a portion of the world, ofwhich, considering its position, magnitude and productions, the marinersof Christendom probably know less than of any other. At the time ofwhich I am writing, far less had been learned of this vast countrythan is known to-day, though the knowledge of even our own immediatecontemporaries is of an exceedingly limited character.
Now that the day had returned, the sun was shining on us cheerfully, andthe sea looked tranquil and assuring, the captain became more pacified.He had discretion enough to understand that time and examination wereindispensable to moving the ship with safety; and he took the wisecourse of ordering the people to get their breakfasts, before he setus at work. The hour that was thus employed forward, was passed aft inexamining the appearance of the water, and the positions of the reefsaround the ship. By the time we were through, the captain had swallowedhis cup of coffee and eaten his biscuit; and, calling away four of themost athletic oarsmen, he got into the jolly-boat, and set out on theall-important duty of discovering a channel sea-ward. The lead was keptmoving, and I shall leave the party thus employed for an hour or more,while we turn our attention in-board.
Marble beckoned me aft, as soon as Captain Robbins was in the boat,apparently with a desire to say something in private. I understood themeaning of his eye, and followed him down into the steerage, where allthat was left of the ship's water was now stowed, that on deck havingbeen already used. The mate had a certain consciousness about him thatinduced great caution, and he would not open his lips until he hadrummaged about below some time, affecting to look for a set of blocksthat might be wanted for some purpose or other, on deck. When thishad lasted a little time, he turned short round to me, and let out thesecret of the whole manoeuvre.
"I'll tell you what, Master Miles," he said, making a sign with a fingerto be cautious, "I look upon this ship's berth as worse than that of acity scavenger. We've plenty of water all round us, and plenty of rocks,too. If we knew the way back, there is no wind to carry us through it,among these bloody currents, and there's no harm in getting ready forthe worst. So do you get Neb and the gentleman"--Rupert was generallythus styled in the ship--"and clear away the launch first. Geteverything out of it that don't belong there; after which, do you putthese breakers in, and wait for further orders. Make no fuss, puttingall upon orders, and leave the rest to me."
I complied, of course, and in a few minutes the launch was clear. Whilebusy, however, Mr. Kite came past, and desired to know "what are you atthere?" I told him 'twas Mr. Marble's orders, and the latter gave hisown explanation of the matter.
"The launch may be wanted," he said, "for I've no notion that jolly-boatwill do to go out as far as we shall find it necessary to sound. So I amabout to ballast the launch, and get her sails ready; there's no use inmincing matters in such a berth as this."
Kite approved of the idea, and even went so far as to suggest that itmight be well enough to get the launch into the water at once, by way ofsaving time. The proposition was too agreeable to be rejected, and, toown the truth, all hands went to work to get up the tackles with a will,as it is called. In half an hour the boat was floating alongsidethe ship. Some said she would certainly be wanted to carry out thestream-anchor, if for nothing else; others observed that half a dozenboats would not be enough to find all the channel we wanted; whileMarble kept his eye, though always in an underhand way, on his mainobject. The breakers we got in and stowed, filled with _fresh_ water, byway of ballast. The masts were stepped, the oars were put on board,and a spare compass was passed dawn, lest the ship might be lost in thethick weather, of which there was so much, just in that quarter of theworld. All this wars said and done so quietly, that nobody took thealarm; and when the mate called out, in a loud voice, "Miles, pass abread-bag filled and some cold grub into that launch--the men may behungry before they get back," no one seemed to think more was meant thanwas thus openly expressed. I had my private orders, however, and managedto get quite a hundred-weight of good cabin biscuit into the launch,while the cook was directed to fill his coppers with pork. I got some ofthe latter _raw_ into the boat, too; _raw_ pork being food that sailorsin no manner disdain. They say it eats like chestnuts.
In the mean time, the captain was busy in his exploring expedition, onthe return from which he appeared to think he was better rewarded thanhas certainly fallen to the lot of others employed on another expeditionwhich bears the same name. He was absent near two hours, and, whenhe got back, it was to renew his theory of what Mr. Marble called his"bloody currents."
"I've got behind the curtain, Mr. Marble," commenced Captain Robbins,before he was fairly alongside of the ship again, whereupon Marblemuttered "ay! ay! you've got behind the rocks, too!" "It's all owing toan eddy that is made in-shore by the main current, and we have stretcheda _leetle_ too far in."
 
; Even I thought to myself, what would have become of us had we stretcheda _leetle_ further in! The captain, however, seemed satisfied that hecould carry the ship out, and, as this was all we wanted, no one wasdisposed to be very critical. A word was said about the launch, whichthe mate had ordered to be dropped astern, out of the way, and theexplanation seemed to mystify the captain. In the meanwhile, the porkwas boiling furiously in the coppers.
All hands were now called to get the anchor up. Rupert and I went aloftto loosen sails, and we staid there until the royals were mast-headed.In a very few minutes the cable was up and down, and then came thecritical part of the whole affair. The wind was still very light, andit was a question whether the ship could be carried past a reef of rocksthat now began to show itself above water, and on which the long, heavyrollers, that came undulating from the south-western Atlantic, brokewith a sullen violence that betrayed how powerful was the ocean, evenin its moments of slumbering peacefulness. The rising and falling of itssurface was like that of some monster's chest, as he respired heavily insleep.
Even the captain hesitated about letting go his hold of the bottom, withso strong a set of the water to leeward, and in so light a breeze.There was a sort of bight on our starboard bow, however, and Mr. Marblesuggested it might be well to sound in that direction, as the waterappeared smooth and deep. To him it looked as if there were really aneddy in-shore, which might hawse the ship up to windward six or eighttimes her length, and thus more than meet the loss that must infalliblyoccur in first casting her head to seaward. The captain admitted thejustice of this suggestion, and I was one of those who were told to goin the jolly-boat on this occasion. We pulled in towards the cliffs, andhad not gone fifty yards before we struck an eddy, sure enough, whichwas quite as strong as the current in which the ship lay. This wasa great advantage, and so much the more, because the water was ofsufficient depth, quite up to the edge of the reef which formed thebight, and thus produced the change in the direction of the set.There was plenty of room, too, to handle the ship in, and, all thingsconsidered, the discovery was extremely fortunate. In the bottom of thebight we should have gone ashore the previous night, had not our earsbeen so much better than our noses.
As soon as certain of the facts, the captain pulled back to the ship,and gladdened the hearts of all on board with the tidings. We now mannedthe handspikes cheerily, and began to heave. I shall never forget theimpression made on me by the rapid drift of the ship, as soon as theanchor was off the bottom, and her bows were cast in-shore, in orderto fill the sails. The land was so near that I noted this drift by therocks, and my heart was fairly in my mouth for a few seconds. But theJohn worked beautifully, and soon gathered way. Her bows did not notstrike the eddy, however, until we got fearful evidence of the strengthof the true current, which had set us down nearly as low as the reefoutside, to windward of which it was indispensable for us to pass.Marble saw all this, and he whispered me to tell the cook to pass thepork into the launch at once--hot to mind whether it were particularlywell done, or not. I obeyed, and had to tend the fore-sheet myself, formy pains, when the order was given to "ready about."
The eddy proved a true friend, but it did not carry us up much higherthan the place where we had anchored, when it became necessary totack. This was done in season, on account of our ignorance of all thesoundings, and we had soon got the John's head off-shore again. Drawinga short distance ahead, the main-top-sail was thrown aback, and the shipallowed to drift. In proper time, it was filled, and we got round oncemore, looking into the bight. The manoeuvre was repeated, and thisbrought us up fairly under the lee of the reef, and just in the positionwe desired to be. It was a nervous instant, I make no doubt, whenCaptain Robbins determined to trust the ship in the true current, andrun the gauntlet of the rocks. The passage across which we had to steer,before we could possibly weather the nearest reef was about a cable'slength in width, and the wind would barely let us lay high enoughto take it at right-angles. Then the air was so light, that I almostdespaired of our doing anything.
Captain Robbins put the ship into the current with great judgment. Shewas kept a rap-full until near the edge of the eddy, and then her helmwas put nearly down, all at once. But for the current's acting, in onedirection, on her starboard bow, and the eddy's pressing, in the other,on the larboard quarter, the vessel would have been taken aback; butthese counteracting forces brought her handsomely on her course again,and that in a way to prevent her falling an inch to leeward.
Now came the trial. The ship was kept a rap-full, and she went steadilyacross the passage, favoured, perhaps, by a little more breeze than hadblown most of the morning. Still, our leeward set was fearful, and, aswe approached the reef, I gave all up. Marble screwed his lips together,and his eyes never turned from the weather-leeches of the sails.Everybody appeared to me to be holding his breath, as the ship rose onthe long ground-swells, sending slowly ahead the whole time. We passedthe nearest point of the rocks on one of the rounded risings of thewater, just touching lightly as we glided by the visible danger. Theblow was light, and gave little cause for alarm. Captain Robbins nowcaught Mr. Marble by the hand, and was in the very act of heartilyshaking it, when the ship came down very much in the manner that a manunexpectedly lights on a stone, when he has no idea of having anythingwithin two or three yards of his feet. The blow was tremendous, throwinghalf the crew down; at the same instant, all three of the topmasts wentto leeward.
One has some difficulty in giving a reader accurate notions of theconfusion of so awful a scene. The motion of the vessel was arrestedsuddenly, as it might be by a wall, and the whole fabric seemed to beshaken to dissolution. The very next roller that came in, which wouldhave undulated in towards the land but for us, meeting with so large abody in its way, piled up and broke upon our decks, covering everythingwith water. At the same time, the hull lifted, and, aided by wind, seaand current, it set still further on the reef, thumping in a wayto break strong iron bolts, like so many sticks of sealing-wax, andcracking the solid live-oak of the floor-timbers as if they were made ofwillow. The captain stood aghast! For one moment despair was painfullydepicted in his countenance; then he recovered his self-possession andseamanship. He gave the order to stand by to carry out to windward thestream-anchor in the launch, and to send a kedge to haul out by, in thejolly-boat. Marble answered with the usual "ay, ay, sir!" but before hesent us into the boats, he ventured to suggest that the ship had bilgedalready. He had heard timbers crack, about which he thought there couldbe no mistake. The pumps were sounded, and the ship had seven feet waterin her hold. This had made in about ten minutes. Still the captain wouldnot give up. He ordered us to commence throwing the teas overboard, inorder to ascertain, if possible, the extent of the injury. A place wasbroken out in the wake of the main-hatch, and a passage was openeddown into the lower-hold, where we met the water. In the mean time, aSouth-Sea man we had picked up at Canton, dove down under the lee of thebilge of the ship. He soon came back and reported that a piece ofsharp rock had gone quite through the planks. Everything tending tocorroborate this, the captain called a council of all hands on thequarter-deck, to consult as to further measures.
A merchantman has no claim on the services of her crew after she ishopelessly wrecked. The last have a lien in law, on the ship and cargo,for their wages; and it is justly determined that when this securityfails, the claim for services ends. It followed, of course, that as soonas the John was given over, we were all our own masters; and hence thenecessity for bringing even Neb into the consultation. With a vessel ofwar it would have been different. In such a case, the United Statespays for the service, ship or no ship, wreck or no wreck; and the seamanserves out his term of enlistment, be this longer or shorter. Militarydiscipline continues under all circumstances.
Captain Robbins could hardly speak when we gathered round him on theforecastle, the seas breaking over the quarter-deck in a way to renderthat sanctuary a very uncomfortable berth. As soon as he could commandhimself, he told us that the ship was hopelessly lo
st. How it hadhappened, he could not very well explain himself, though he ascribedit to the fact that the currents did not run in the direction in which,according to all sound reasoning, they ought to run. This part of thespeech was not perfectly lucid, though, as I understood our unfortunatecaptain, the laws of nature, owing to some inexplicable influence, haddeparted, in some way or other, from their ordinary workings, expresslyto wreck the John. If this were not the meaning of what he said, I didnot understand this part of the address.
The captain was much more explicit after he got out of the current. Hetold us that the island of Bourbon was only about four hundred milesfrom where we then were, and he thought it possible to go that distance,find some small craft, and come back, and still save part of the cargo,the sails, anchors, &c. &c. We might make such a trip of it as wouldgive us all a lift, in the way of salvage, that might prove somecompensation for our other losses. This sounded well, and it had atleast the effect to give us some present object for our exertions; italso made the danger we all ran of losing our lives, less apparent. Toland on the island of Madagascar, in that day, was out of the question.The people were then believed to be far less civilized than in truththey were, and had a particularly bad character among mariners.Nothing remained, therefore, but to rig the boats, and make immediatedispositions for our departure.
Now it was that we found the advantage of the preparations already made.Little remained to be done, and that which was done, was much betterdone than if we had waited until the wreck was half full of water,and the seas were combing in upon her. The captain took charge of thelaunch, putting Mr. Marble, Rupert, Neb, myself and the cook, into thejolly-boat, with orders to keep as close as possible to himself. Bothboats had sails, and both were so arranged as to row in calms, orhead-winds. We took in rather more than our share of provisions andwater, having two skillful caterers in the chief-mate and cook; and,having obtained a compass, quadrant, and a chart, for our portion ofthe indispensables, all hands were ready for a start, in about two hoursafter the ship had struck.
It was just noon when we cast off from the wreck, and stood directlyoff the land. According to our calculations, the wind enabled us to run,with a clean full, on our true course. As the boats drew out into theocean, we had abundant opportunities of discovering how many dangers wehad escaped; and, for my own part, I felt deeply grateful, even then, asI was going out upon the wide Atlantic in a mere shell of a boat, at themercy we had experienced. No sooner were we fairly in deep water, thanthe captain and mate had a dialogue on the subject of the currentsagain. Notwithstanding all the difficulties his old theory had broughthim into, the former remained of opinion that the true current set towindward, and that we should so find it as soon as we got a littleinto the offing; while the mate was frank enough to say he had been ofopinion, all along, that it ran the other way. The latter added thatBourbon was rather a small spot to steer for, and it might be better toget into its longitude, and then find it by meridian observations, thanto make any more speculations about matters of which we knew nothing.
The captain and Mr. Marble saw things differently, and we kept awayaccordingly, when we ought to have luffed all we could. Fortunately theweather continued moderate, or our little boat would have had a bad timeof it. We outsailed the launch with ease, and were forced to reef inorder not to part company. When the sun set, we were more than twentymiles from the land, seeing no more of the coast, though the mountainsinland were still looming up grandly in the distance. I confess, whennight shut in upon us, and I found myself on the wide ocean, in a boatmuch smaller than that with which I used to navigate the Hudson, runningevery minute farther and farther into the watery waste, I began to thinkof Clawbonny, and its security, and quiet nights, and well-spread board,and comfortable beds in a way I had never thought of either before. Asfor food, however, we were not stinted; Mr. Marble setting us an exampleof using our teeth on the half boiled pork, that did credit to hisphilosophy. To do this man justice, he seemed to think a run of fourhundred miles in a jolly-boat no great matter, but took everything asregularly as if still on the deck of the John. Each of us got as good anap as our cramped situations would allow.
The wind freshened in the morning, and the sea began to break. This madeit necessary to keep still more away, to prevent filling at times, orto haul close up, which might have done equally well. But the captainpreferred the latter course, on account of the current. We had ticklishwork of it, in the jolly-boat, more than once that day, and werecompelled to carry a whole sail in order to keep up with the launch,which beat us, now the wind had increased. Marble was a terrible fellowto carry on everything, ship or boat, and we kept our station admirably,the two boats never getting a cable's length asunder, and running mostof the time within hail of each other. As night approached, however, aconsultation was held on the subject of keeping in company. We had nowbeen out thirty hours, and had made near a hundred and fifty miles, byour calculation. Luckily the wind had got to be nearly west, and we wererunning ahead famously, though it was as much as we could do to keep thejolly-boat from filling. One hand was kept bailing most of the time, andsometimes all four of us were busy. These matters were talked over, andthe captain proposed abandoning the jolly-boat altogether, and to takeus into the launch, though there was not much vacant space to receiveus. But the mate resisted this, answering that he thought he couldtake care of our boat a while longer, at least. Accordingly, the oldarrangement was maintained, the party endeavouring to keep as neartogether as possible.
About midnight it began to blow in squalls, and two or three times wefound it necessary to take in our sails, our oars, and pull the boathead to sea, in order to prevent her swamping. The consequence was,that we lost sight of the launch, and, though we always kept away toour course as soon as the puffs would allow, when the sun rose we sawnothing of our late companions. I have sometimes thought Mr. Marbleparted company on purpose, though he seemed much concerned next morningwhen he had ascertained the launch was nowhere to be seen. After lookingabout for an hour, and the wind moderating, we made sail close on thewind; a direction that would soon have taken us away from the launch,had the latter been close alongside when we first took it. We made goodprogress all this day, and at evening, having now been out fifty-fourhours, we supposed ourselves to be rather more than half-way on the roadto our haven. It fell calm in the night, and the next morning we got thewind right aft. This gave us a famous shove, for we sometimes made sixand seven knots in the hour. The fair wind lasted thirty hours, duringwhich time we must have made more than a hundred and fifty miles, itfalling nearly calm about an hour before dawn, on the morning of thefourth day out. Everybody was anxious to see the horizon that morning,and every eye was turned to the east, with intense expectation, as thesun rose. It was in vain; there was not the least sign of land visible.Marble looked sadly disappointed, but he endeavoured to cheer us up withthe hope of seeing the island shortly. We were then heading due east,with a very light breeze from the north-west. I happened to stand up inthe boat, on a thwart, and, turning my face to the southward, I caught aglimpse of something that seemed like a hummock of land in that quarter.I saw it but for an instant; but, whatever it was, I saw it plainenough. Mr. Marble now got on the thwart, and looked in vain to catchthe same object. He said there was no land in that quarter--could benone--and resumed his seat to steer to the eastward, a little north. Icould not be easy, however, but remained on the thwart until theboat lifted on a swell higher than common, and then I saw the brown,hazy-looking spot on the margin of the ocean again. My protestationsnow became so earnest, that Marble consented to stand for an hour inthe direction I pointed out to him. "One hour, boy, I will grant you,to shut your mouth," the mate said, taking out his watch, "and that youneed lay nothing to my door hereafter." To make the most of this hour, Igot my companions at the oars, and we all pulled with hearty good-will.So much importance did I attach to every fathom of distance made, thatwe did not rise from our seats until the mate told us to stop rowing,for the hour was up. As for hi
mself, he had not risen either, but keptlooking behind him to the eastward, still hoping to see land somewherein that quarter.
My heart beat violently as I got upon the thwart, but there lay my hazyobject, now never dipping at all. I shouted "land ho!" Marble jumpedup on a thwart, too and no longer disputed my word. It was land, headmitted, and it must be the island of Bourbon, which we had passed tothe northward, and must soon have given a hopelessly wide berth. We wentto the oars again with renewed life, and soon made the boat spin. Allthat day we kept rowing, until about five in the afternoon, when wefound ourselves within a few leagues of the island of Bourbon, wherewe were met by a fresh breeze from the southward, and were compelled tomake sail. The wind was dead on end, and we made stretches under the leeof the island, going about as we found the sea getting to be too heavyfor us, as was invariably the case whenever we got too far east or west.In a word, a lee was fast becoming necessary. By ten, we were within amile of the shore, but saw no place where we thought it safe to attempta landing in the dark; a long, heavy sea setting in round both sides ofthe island, though the water did not break much where we remained. Atlength the wind got to be so heavy, that we could not carry even oursail double-reefed, and we kept two oars pulling lightly in, relievingeach other every hour. By daylight it blew tremendously, and glad enoughwere we to find a little cove where it was possible to get ashore. I hadthen never felt so grateful to Providence as I did when I got my feet on_terra-firma_.
We remained on the island a week, hoping to see the launch and her crew;but neither appeared. Then we got a passage to the Isle of France, onarriving at which place we found the late gale was considered to havebeen very serious. There was no American consul in the island, atthat time; and Mr. Marble, totally without credit or means, found itimpossible to obtain a craft of any sort to go to the wreck in. We werewithout money, too, and, a homeward-bound Calcutta vessel coming in, wejoined her to work our passages home, Mr. Marble as dickey, and the restof us in the forecastle. This vessel was called the Tigris, and belongedto Philadelphia. She was considered one of the best ships out ofAmerica, and her master had a high reputation for seamanship andactivity. He was a little man of the name of Digges, and was underthirty at the time I first knew him. He took us on board purely out ofa national feeling, for his ship was strong-handed without us, havingthirty-two souls, all told, when he received us five. We afterwardslearned that letters sent after the ship had induced Captain Digges toget five additional hands in Calcutta, in order to be able to meet thepicaroons that were then beginning to plunder American vessels, evenon their own coast, under the pretence of their having violated certainregulations made by the two great belligerents of the day, in Europe.This was just the commencement of the _quasi_ war which broke out a fewweeks later with France.
Of all these hostile symptoms, however, I then knew little and caredless. Even Mr. Marble had never heard of them and we five joined theTigris merely to get passages home, without entertaining second thoughtsof running any risk, further than the ordinary dangers of the seas.
The Tigris sailed the day we joined her, which was the third after wereached Mauritius, and just fifteen days after we had left the wreck. Wewent to sea with the wind at the southward, and had a good run offthe island, making more than a hundred miles that afternoon and in thecourse of the night. Next morning, early, I had the watch, and an orderwas given to set top-gallant studding-sails. Rupert and I had got intothe same watch on board this vessel, and we both went aloft to reeve thegear. I had taken up the end of the halyards, and had reeved them, andhad overhauled the end down, when, in raising my head, I saw two smalllug-sails on the ocean, broad on our weather-bow, which I recognised inan instant for those of the John's launch. I cannot express the feelingthat came over me at that sight. I yelled, rather than shouted, "Sailho!" and then, pushing in, I caught hold of a royal-backstay, and was ondeck in an instant. I believe I made frantic gestures to windward, forMr. Marble, who had the watch, had to shake me sharply before I couldlet the fact be known.
As soon as Marble comprehended me, and got the bearings of the boat, hehauled down all the studding-sails, braced sharp up on a wind, set themainsail, and then sent down a report to Captain Digges for orders. Ournew commander was a humane man, and having been told our whole story, hedid not hesitate about confirming all that had been done. As the peoplein the launch had made out the ship some time before I saw the boat, thelatter was running down upon us, and, in about an hour, the tiny sailswere descried from the deck. In less than an hour after this, ourmainyard swung round, throwing the topsail aback, and the well-knownlaunch of the John rounded-to close under our lee; a rope was thrown,and the boat was hauled alongside.
Everybody in the Tigris was shocked when we came to get a look at thecondition of the strangers. One man, a powerful negro, lay dead inthe bottom of the boat; the body having been kept for a dreadfulalternative, in the event of his companions falling in with no otherrelief. Three more of the men were nearly gone, and had to be whipped onboard as so many lifeless bales of goods. Captain Robbins and Kite, bothathletic, active men, resembled spectres, their eyes standing out oftheir heads as if thrust from their sockets by some internal foe; andwhen we spoke to them, they all seemed unable to answer. It was notfasting, or want of food, that had reduced them to this state, so muchas want of water. It is true, they had no more bread left than wouldkeep body and soul together for a few hours longer; but of water theyhad tasted not a drop for seventy odd hours! It appeared that, duringthe gale, they had been compelled to empty the breakers to lighten theboat, reserving only one for their immediate wants. By some mistake,the one reserved was nearly half-empty at the time; and Captain Robbinsbelieved himself then so near Bourbon, as not to go on an allowanceuntil it was too late. In this condition had they been searching for theisland quite ten days, passing it, but never hitting it. The winds hadnot favoured them, and, the last few days, the weather had been such asto admit of no observation. Consequently, they had been as much out oftheir reckoning in their latitude, as in their longitude.
A gleam of intelligence, and I thought of pleasure, shot athwart thecountenance of Captain Robbins, as I helped him over the Tigris's side.He saw I was safe. He tottered as he walked, and leaned heavily on mefor support. I was about to lead him aft, but his eye caught sight of ascuttlebutt, and the tin-pot on its head. Thither he went, and stretchedout a trembling hand to the vessel. I gave him the pot as it was, withabout a wine-glass of water in it This he swallowed at a gulp, and thentottered forward for more. By this time Captain Digges joined us, andgave the proper directions how to proceed. All the sufferers hadwater in small quantities given them, and it is wonderful with whatexpressions of delight they received the grateful beverage. As soon asthey understood the necessity of keeping it as long as possible in theirmouths, and on their tongues, before swallowing it, a little did them agreat deal of good. After this, we gave them some coffee, the breakfastbeing ready, and then a little ship's biscuit soaked in wine. By suchmeans every man was saved, though it was near a month before all werethemselves again. As for Captain Robbins and Kite, they were enabled toattend to duty by the end of a week, though nothing more was exacted ofthem than they chose to perform.