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 gr