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 d