bin furnishings, and leaning against one another for
support.

In vain Mahoney strove to get the men to take turns in watching aloft
from the mizzenmast for any chance vessel. The icy gale was too much for
them, and they preferred the shelter of the cabin. O'Brien, the boy, who
was only fifteen, took turns with Mahoney on the freezing perch. It was
the boy, at three in the afternoon, who called down that he had sighted
a sail. This did bring them from the cabin, and they crowded the poop
rail and weather mizzen shrouds as they watched the strange ship. But
its course did not lie near, and when it disappeared below the skyline,
they returned shivering to the cabin, not one offering to relieve the
watch at the mast head.

By the end of the second day, Mahoney and O'Brien gave up their attempt,
and thereafter the vessel drifted in the gale uncared for and without a
lookout. There were thirteen alive, and for seventy-two hours they stood
knee-deep in the sloshing water on the cabin floor, half-frozen, without
food, and with but three bottles of wine shared among them. All food and
fresh water were below, and there was no getting at such supplies in
the water-logged condition of the wreck. As the days went by, no food
whatever passed their lips. Fresh water, in small quantities, they were
able to obtain by holding a cover of a tureen under the saddle of the
mizzenmast. But the rain fell infrequently, and they were hard put. When
it rained, they also soaked their handkerchiefs, squeezing them out into
their mouths or into their shoes. As the wind and sea went down, they
were even able to mop the exposed portions of the deck that were free
from brine and so add to their water supply. But food they had none, and
no way of getting it, though sea-birds flew repeatedly overhead.

In the calm weather that followed the gale, after having remained on
their feet for ninety-six hours, they were able to find dry planks in
the cabin on which to lie. But the long hours of standing in the salt
water had caused sores to form on their legs. These sores were extremely
painful. The slightest contact or scrape caused severe anguish, and in
their weak condition and crowded situation they were continually hurting
one another in this manner. Not a man could move about without being
followed by volleys of abuse, curses, and groans. So great was their
misery that the strong oppressed the weak, shoving them aside from
the dry planks to shift for th