that probably a search for her would be
instituted along the course which she might be expected to steer, but I
was already several miles from that course, and hourly drifting farther
from it. The question of importance to me was whether the search would
extend over a sufficiently wide area to take me in.

The remainder of that day passed uneventfully for me; I could do nothing
beyond what I have already indicated; no craft of any description hove
in sight; and toward sunset the pangs of hunger began to manifest
themselves. I watched the sea until night closed down; and then, when
it became so dark that further watching was useless, I crept in under
the fore deck among the raffle and turned in upon such a bed as I had
been able to prepare for myself during the day, in anticipation of the
possibility that I might be obliged to pass the night aboard the junk.

As might be supposed, under the circumstances, the earlier part of the
night at least was full of discomfort for me; but somewhere along in the
small hours I dropped off to sleep, and eventually slept soundly, to be
awakened by the noise of steam blowing off, close at hand. I started
up, listened for a moment to assure myself that the sound was not an
illusion, and, satisfied that it was real, scrambled up on the junk's
deck, to be greeted with the sight of several ships of war close at
hand. A single glance sufficed to assure me that my troubles were at an
end; for the ships in sight were those of Admiral Kamimura's squadron,
the _Idzumi_ being hove-to at less than a cable's length distant, in the
very act of lowering a boat. There were several officers on her bridge,
and she was close enough to enable me to see that they were all
scrutinising the junk through their glasses; I therefore waved to them,
and was waved to in reply. A few minutes later the boat, in charge of a
lieutenant, dashed smartly alongside and the officer scrambled nimbly up
the junk's low side.

I think he had not recognised me until then, although we knew each other
very well. He gazed at me dubiously for a moment, then his hand shot
out to grasp mine as he exclaimed:

"Hillo! my dear Swinburne, what does this mean; what are you doing here?
And are you all alone?"

I answered his question by informing him, in as few words as possible,
of what had happened to the ill-fated _Kinshiu Maru_, and then we got
down into the boat and pulled across to the _Idzumi_, where Kamimura and
his off