oard.' `I wonder who will have ours,' exclaimed
another of the men. `I'll lay anything Dick Handspike does his best to
get my share.' Thus the men joked and laughed as if we were not in the
middle of the Atlantic, with a fearful probability of being starved to
death. Bill Windy assured us that we should make the island by noon the
following day, whispering to me, however, that he had hopes of reaching
it by dawn, and we all made up our minds for another supperless night at
sea. I had little notion before what were the actual sensations of
thirst and hunger. I could not help thinking of your remark, Mrs
Clagget, to me a short time ago, and wished that a covey of flying-fish
would come on board. Some of the men had begun to scrape the broken
pieces of the oar, and chew the wood to stop the gnawing of hunger.
Another night, we all felt, would be very trying. The day wore on, and
though we had kept a bright look-out on either side, no sail had been
sighted. Believing that if I could get to sleep, I might better endure
the pangs of hunger, I at length threw myself down in the bottom of the
boat, and had been dozing away, though still conscious of where I was,
when I heard a shout of `Sail, ahoy!' We were all sitting up in a
moment, and saw, on the port bow, the topgallant sails of a ship rising
above the horizon. She was standing to the northward. We bore away and
rapidly neared her. As we approached, she altered her course still more
for us. We were seen, and had now every hopes of getting on board. At
length she hove to, and we were quickly alongside. She was an American
whaler, homeward bound. The captain received us with the greatest
kindness; our boat was hoisted up; and while Windy and I were
entertained in the cabin, the men were hospitably treated by the crew
forward. Although we were no longer in danger of starving, I could not
help still thinking of the grief you, my sisters, were suffering on my
account, and wishing that some aerial telegraph existed among the
wonders of nature by which I could send you a message to assure you of
my safety. Months might pass before I could find a ship to rejoin you
in New Zealand. When the captain heard of my anxiety, he promised to
keep a bright look-out for any ship bound for the Cape or the Australian
colonies, on board which he might put us. The mate and I spent most of
each day relieving each other at the mast-head, not willing to trust to
the eyes of other