f. I drank
dipper after dipper of water, until my raging thirst was quenched, and
then stripped off my clothes, wrung them out, and spread them to dry in
the wind while I rubbed my body dry with my hands, employing a
considerable amount of exertion, in order to restore warmth to my
cramped limbs. In this effort I was at length successful; and my next
business was to search the other end of the junk, in the vague hope that
I might find something in the way of food; but there was none; therefore
I had to go hungry. I had a bucket, however, and with this I bailed the
hooker practically dry, as much to pass the time and keep myself warm,
as for any other reason. Then, having done everything that I could
think of, all that remained for me was to wait as patiently as might be
for something to come along and rescue me.

My position was by no means an enviable one. I had no food; but, for
the moment, that did not greatly matter, since the smart of my wound had
made me feverish, and I had no appetite. On the other hand, I suffered
from an incessant thirst, which even the copious draughts of water in
which I frequently indulged did little to allay. The weather was
overcast, and there was a thin mist lying upon the surface of the grey
sea which circumscribed my view to a radius of less than a mile, and the
air was keenly raw. I recognised that it was necessary to keep myself
constantly active, to counteract the effect of the chilly atmosphere,
and this I did, bustling about, overhauling the raffle in the junk, and
executing a good deal of utterly useless work, which I varied from time
to time by taking long spells of watching, in the hope of sighting some
craft to which I might signal for assistance. Also I repeatedly bathed
my head in sea water, which did a little toward reducing the feeling of
feverishness from which I was suffering.

Toward the afternoon the conditions became more favourable. The clouds
broke, the sun came out and took the feeling of rawness out of the air,
so that I no longer suffered from the cold, and the mist melted away,
affording me a clear view to the horizon. But the sea was bare; there
was not even so much as a blur of steamer's smoke staining the sky in
any direction; and I began to wonder how long it might be before I
should be picked up, or whether indeed I should be picked up at all. I
knew, of course, that the non-arrival of the _Kinshiu_ at Gensan would
give rise to speculation, and