te 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 t