tion or log-line to mark accurately the distance run, we could
only guess at the rate we made. Mr Griffiths, however, was a good
navigator, and was pretty certain that he was correct. We had, we
fancied, plenty of food, but from the first he put us all on an
allowance of water.

While the sea remained smooth he also made us change our places
constantly, and by the doctor's advice he ordered one at a time to stand
up and move his arms and legs about to prevent them from becoming stiff.
He also encouraged us to spin yarns and sing songs; indeed, he did
everything in his power to keep us in good spirits.

After the first day of our landing we had not touched any of the
biscuits we had brought with us. These we now husbanded with great care
in case our other provisions should run short or spoil, which the doctor
feared might be the case. We were much indebted to him for the
precautions taken, as Mr Griffiths carried out all his suggestions.

We had a whole week of fine weather, and we could favourably compare our
lot with that of many poor fellows who had to voyage in open boats in
the Pacific, exposed to storms, and often with a scant allowance of food
and water. The wind was generally from the northward, and when it fell
calm we took to our oars. Mr Griffiths told us that we had a distance
of between seven and eight hundred miles to run, as far as he could
calculate, and that if the fine weather continued we might hope to reach
Guam in ten days or a fortnight.

We had got on so well that we began to fancy that we should have no
difficulties to encounter. We were, of course, constantly on the
look-out for vessels. At length we sighted a sail, but she was standing
away from us. We steered after her for some distance, but before
nightfall her topgallant sails sank beneath the horizon, and we again
kept on our course.

"I wonder whether that craft out there is the _Intrepid_," said Jim to
me.

"Little chance of that," I remarked. "If she escaped shipwreck, or has
not been severely damaged, she would have come to look for us long
before we left the island."

"Perhaps the skipper fancied that we were lost, and didn't think it
worth while to come and look for us," said Jim.

Four days after this, according to Mr Griffiths's calculations, we were
in the latitude of Guam, but to the eastward of the island. Brown,
however, was of opinion that we had run farther to the south, and that
if we stood east we should