right from its
fastenings, and afterward cut the other ropes which held me. Upon
attempting, however, to move from my position, I found that my legs
failed me altogether, and that I could not get up; neither could I
move my right arm in any direction. Upon mentioning this to Parker, he
advised me to lie quiet for a few minutes, holding on to the windlass
with my left hand, so as to allow time for the blood to circulate. Doing
this, the numbness presently began to die away so that I could move
first one of my legs, and then the other, and, shortly afterward I
regained the partial use of my right arm. I now crawled with great
caution toward Parker, without getting on my legs, and soon cut loose
all the lashings about him, when, after a short delay, he also recovered
the partial use of his limbs. We now lost no time in getting loose the
rope from Peters. It had cut a deep gash through the waistband of his
woollen pantaloons, and through two shirts, and made its way into his
groin, from which the blood flowed out copiously as we removed the
cordage. No sooner had we removed it, however, than he spoke, and seemed
to experience instant relief--being able to move with much greater ease
than either Parker or myself--this was no doubt owing to the discharge
of blood.

We had little hopes that Augustus would recover, as he evinced no signs
of life; but, upon getting to him, we discovered that he had merely
swooned from the loss of blood, the bandages we had placed around his
wounded arm having been torn off by the water; none of the ropes which
held him to the windlass were drawn sufficiently tight to occasion his
death. Having relieved him from the fastenings, and got him clear of
the broken wood about the windlass, we secured him in a dry place to
windward, with his head somewhat lower than his body, and all three of
us busied ourselves in chafing his limbs. In about half an hour he came
to himself, although it was not until the next morning that he gave
signs of recognizing any of us, or had sufficient strength to speak. By
the time we had thus got clear of our lashings it was quite dark, and it
began to cloud up, so that we were again in the greatest agony lest it
should come on to blow hard, in which event nothing could have saved us
from perishing, exhausted as we were. By good fortune it continued very
moderate during the night, the sea subsiding every minute, which gave
us great hopes of ultimate preservation. A gentle b