with clearness. Even Jack Windy, who
was the strongest, could scarcely stand upright on the raft.

"Oh! Pauvres garcons! Vite! Vite!"

Mr Collinson understood the words. It showed him that the men in the
boat could feel for their sufferings. They were soon lifted into it,
with the few articles which they had brought with them, and the boat
then quickly pulled towards the ship. They were hoisted on board, for
they could not help themselves. Mr Collinson was allowed to rest on a
gun-carriage, near the gangway, while the rest of the party were left
standing or leaning against the bulwarks. Bill and Tommy sunk down from
weakness on the deck. The French seamen, however, immediately brought
them up a jug of water, of which they eagerly drank.

"Well, this is sweet and nice!" said Bill, as he took the cup from his
mouth.

The water, though not over-cool, greatly revived them all; and the
Frenchmen stood by smiling, till they had emptied the contents of the
jug. At length, a tall, stout man, with a very dark complexion, but
who, by the uniform he wore, appeared to be an officer, came up to them.

"Who are you?" he demanded in a somewhat rough voice. "But I need not
ask that: I see, by your dress, that you are of the English marine. But
where did you come from? How did you get on the raft?"

Mr Collinson briefly replied that they had been wrecked, and finding a
brig which had been deserted by her crew, they had got on board her; but
she had afterwards sunk, leaving them floating on the raft.

"What vessel was she?--Oh yes, I understand," observed the officer; and
then, turning to the men, he asked, "To what ship do you belong?"

"The _Lilly_, sir," said Jack, without hesitation.

"The _Lilly_? Why, that's the corvette we fell in with last week, away
to the westward. You said she was wrecked," he added, turning to Mr
Collinson, and speaking in somewhat broken English, though sufficiently
clear to make his meaning understood.

"I said that we were wrecked," replied Mr Collinson. "I did not say
that our own ship was wrecked."

"In what vessel, then, were you cast away?" asked the officer.

"In a prize we had taken," answered Mr Collinson. "We were ordered to
bring her round to Jamaica; but, being caught in a hurricane, we were
driven on a reef in the neighbourhood of the Tortugas."

"I thought so!" exclaimed the officer, with an oath. "She was our
consort. You would have had a harder matter to tak