n, in order that the combustion may be stifled between the moisture
descending from above and that ascending from below. This scheme has
brought the pumps once more into requisition. At present the crew are
adequate to the task of working them, but I and some of our fellow
passengers are ready to offer our assistance whenever it shall be
necessary.

With no immediate demand upon our labour, we are thrown upon our own
resources for passing our time. Letourneur, Andre and myself, have
frequent conversations; I also devote an hour or two to my diary.
Falsten holds little communication with any of us, but remains absorbed
in his calculations, and amuses himself by tracing mechanical diagrams
with ground-plan, section, elevation, all complete. It would be a happy
inspiration if he could invent some mighty engine that could set us all
afloat again. Mr. and Mrs. Kear, too, hold themselves aloof from
their fellow passengers, and we are not sorry to be relieved from the
necessity of listening to their incessant grumbling; unfortunately,
however, they carry off Miss Herbey with them, so that we enjoy little
or nothing of the young lady's society. As for Silas Huntly, he has
become a complete nonentity; he exists, it is true, but merely, it would
seem, to vegetate.

Hobart, the steward, an obsequious, sly sort of fellow, goes through his
routine of duties just as though the vessel were pursuing her ordinary
course; and, as usual, is continually falling out with Jynxstrop, the
cook, an impudent, ill-favoured negro, who interferes with the other
sailors in a manner which, I think, ought not to be allowed.

Since it appears likely that we shall have abundance of time on our
hands, I have proposed to M. Letourneur and his son that we shall
together explore the reef on which we are stranded. It is not very
probable that we shall be able to discover much about the origin of this
strange accumulation of rock, yet the attempt will at least occupy us
for some hours, and will relieve us from the monotony of our confinement
on board. Besides, as the reef is not marked in any of the maps, I could
not but believe that it would be rendering a service to hydrography if
we were to take an accurate plan of the rocks, of which Curtis could
afterwards verify the true position by a second observation made with a
closer precision than the one he has already taken.

M. Letourneur agrees to my proposal, Curtis has promised to let us have
the boat an