p? I asked
myself.

We were far away from land, and hours, perhaps days, might go by before
the mast was seen, and only our dead bodies would be found. We had no
food, no fresh water; night was coming on. I did not tell my thoughts
to Jim, nor did he say what was passing in his mind; but we tried to
cheer each other up. For an instant the clouds broke asunder in the
west, and the sun, just as he sank below the horizon, bursting forth,
shed a bright glow over the foaming ocean.

"He'll not be long down," cried Jim, "and he'll warm us on t'other side
when he rises."

Jim's remark did me good. We had cause to hope for the best. The
squall which had carried away the brig's masts was the last of the gale.
The wind rapidly fell, and the sea went down, so that in a short time
we could keep ourselves almost entirely out of the water. The mast
became more quiet. Had we not lashed ourselves to it when we fell
asleep as we both did now and then, we might have dropped off. We
talked as much as we could, both to keep up our spirits and to prevent
ourselves from dozing. Thus the night passed. It seemed long enough,
but not so long as I expected. I must have closed my eyes when I heard
Jim shout, "A sail! A sail!" and opening them I saw a large ship under
all sail about a couple of miles away, standing on a course which we
hoped would bring her near us.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

JIM AND I CARRIED OFF AGAINST OUR WILL.

"Shall we be seen, Jim, think you?" I asked, after we had gazed at the
ship some minutes without speaking.

"Ain't quite certain," answered Jim, in a sad voice; "if I thought so, I
could sing for joy, that I could, but the ship's a long way off, and
maybe she'll haul closer to the wind and pass us by."

"Oh, Jim! Let us pray that she'll not do that," I exclaimed. "She's
standing, as far as I can make out, directly towards us, and why should
we fancy that we are to be deserted? Cheer up, Jim! Cheer up!"

"That's what I'm trying to do," said Jim. "Still we must not make too
certain. If she doesn't pick us up another vessel may. We are in the
track of ships going up and down Channel, and that's one comfort."

Jim did not say this all at once, for he stopped sometimes to take a
look at the stranger, and every now and then a sea washed up and made us
close our mouths. Still the seas were every instant growing less and
less, and we at last unlashed ourselves that we might move about a
little a