e away altogether, it'll be time enough
_then_ to see what we can do with the oars."

"That's exactly the way I have been arguing with myself ever since you
called me, Bowles," returned the skipper. "It is true that we are all
suffering horribly from thirst, and in that way every moment is of value
to us; but on the other hand, everybody except our two selves is now
asleep and oblivious, for the time being, of their sufferings: let them
sleep on, say I; the toil of tugging at heavy oars, and the excitement
of knowing that a sail is at hand would only increase tenfold their
sufferings, without helping us forward a very great deal; so I think,
with you, that we had better let things remain as they are for another
hour or two; we can rouse all hands at any moment, should it seem
desirable to do so. Now, if you will take the tiller, I will just
stretch myself out on the planks here, close at hand; I could not sleep
now if the whole world were offered me to do so."

Saying which, the skipper suited the action to the word; he and the mate
continuing their chat, but carefully pitching their voices in so low a
tone that the ladies, close at hand, should not be disturbed in their
slumbers.

By and by the sky began to pale in the eastern quarter; the stars
quietly twinkled out, one by one; a bright rosy flush appeared, and then
up rolled the glorious sun above the horizon.

The wind, light all night, had been imperceptibly dying away; and when
the sun rose his bright beams flashed upon a sea whose surface was
smooth as oil. The launch lost way altogether, and refused any longer
to answer her helm.

As for the stranger, there she was, just hull-down; her snowy canvas
gleaming in the brilliant morning sunshine, and so clearly defined that
every rippling fold in the sails was distinctly visible as they flapped
against the mast to the lazy roll of the vessel over the long sleepy
swell.

"Now," said Captain Staunton, "we'll rouse the steward, make him prepare
and serve out a first-rate breakfast to all hands; and then `Hey! for a
pull to the ship.'"

This was accordingly done. The breakfast was prepared, no great matter
of a meal was it after all, though the last scrap of provisions and the
last drop of water went in its composition; and when it was ready the
cramped and hungry voyagers were roused with the good news that a sail
was in sight, and the meal placed before them.

Frugal as it was, it was a sumptuous banquet