derfully, I
could not help hoping that further means would be sent us for preserving
our lives.

"We must trust in God," I answered. "It is a happy thing for you and
me, Bill, that we are ready to go into His presence, knowing that He
will receive us as loved children."

"Ah, yes, Master Charley, that's what I have been thinking," said Bill.
"I knew you were on the yard, and the moment I was in the water I prayed
that He would save you as well as me, and you see He has done so."

We, however, could talk but little; indeed, what we said was uttered in
disjointed sentences; for the foaming sea kept tossing the log on which
we sat up and down, so that we could with difficulty hold on to it. The
sea-birds kept wildly screaming over our heads, while nothing could be
seen around us but the foaming, troubled waters. In vain we looked out
for the ship. Evening was coming on, and the gloom increased. Had it
not been for the rope, we could not have maintained our hold of the log.
Each time after a sea had swept over us I looked up, hoping to discover
the ship, but she was nowhere visible, and even had she been near, the
increased darkness would have shut her out from our sight.

Hour after hour passed by, and, faint and exhausted, I felt that I could
not hold on much longer. Poor Bill seemed in even a worse condition. I
could hear his voice every now and then, amid the roaring of the waters,
uttering a prayer, and I joined him in my heart. At last I fell into a
state of almost insensibility, and I knew not how the hours went by.
Again I aroused myself, and it seemed to me that the night must have
well-nigh passed by. At length the roaring sound of the waters
increased: it was that of a heavy surf breaking on the shore. Daylight
appeared. As the log rose to the summit of the sea, I caught sight of a
rocky coast close at hand. In a few minutes more the log might be cast
on it, but the danger we ran was greater than ever, for if turned over
and over by the surf, we might be crushed beneath it. I cast off the
lashings which bound me, holding on instead tightly to the ropes, and
urging Bill to do the same. He did not appear to comprehend me. I
stretched out my hand to assist him, and had just succeeded in casting
loose the rope which held him, when a foaming sea took me, and I was
carried forward in its embrace towards the shore. What happened to my
companion I could not see, for I lost all consciousness. Confused