s a fairly big boat and, floating
wrong side up and full of water, she was very sluggish, and for a long
time scarcely responded to my efforts; but I eventually succeeded, and,
with a glad heart, seized the bucket I had secured, hove it into the
boat, and climbed in after it, finding to my joy that, even with my
weight in her, the boat floated with both gunwales nearly four inches
above the surface of the water. Thus there would be no difficulty in
baling her dry; and this I at once proceeded to do, working vigorously
at the task, not only with the object of freeing the boat as speedily as
possible, but, still more, to restore my circulation and get a little
warmth into my chilled and benumbed body.

CHAPTER TWO.

THE "YORKSHIRE LASS."

By the time that I had baled the boat dry the sun was above the horizon,
the air had become quite genially warm, and my exertions had set my body
aglow, while my clothing was rapidly drying in the gentle breeze that
was blowing out from about north-west; also I discovered that I had
somehow developed a most voracious appetite.

Fortunately, I was able to regard this last circumstance with
equanimity, for the manager of the Planet Line of steamers had laid it
down as a most stringent rule that while the ships were at sea all boats
were not only to be maintained in a state of perfect preparation for
instant launching, but were also to be fully supplied with provisions
and water upon a scale proportional to their passenger-carrying
capacity, and each was also to have her full equipment of gear stowed in
her, ready for instant service. Now, the boat which I had been
fortunate enough to find--and which, by the way, seemed to be the only
one that had not been carried down with the ship--was Number 5, a craft
thirty-two feet long by eight feet beam, carvel-built, double-ended,
fitted with air-chambers fore and aft and along each side, with a keel
six inches deep to enable her to work to windward under sail. She was
yawl-rigged, pulled six oars, and her full carrying capacity was twenty-
four persons, for which number she carried provisions and water enough
to last, according to a carefully regulated scale, four days, or even
six days at a pinch. These provisions were all of the tinned variety,
and were stowed in a locker specially arranged for their reception
between the two midship thwarts. Thus there was no risk of the food
being damaged by salt water, on the one hand, or of bein