of
spirits and the remaining stock of water; they then sat down at the
upper end of the raft with gloomy, threatening looks, and in close
consultation.

Another night closed in: Philip was full of anxiety. Again he urged
them to anchor with their money, but in vain; they ordered him away,
and he returned to the after part of the raft, upon which Amine's
secure retreat had been erected; he leant on it in deep thought and
melancholy, for he imagined that Amine was asleep.

"What disturbs you, Philip?"

"What disturbs me? The avarice and folly of these men. They will die,
rather than risk their hateful money. They have the means of saving
themselves and us, and they will not. There is weight enough in
bullion on the fore part of the raft to hold a dozen floating masses
such as this, yet they will not risk it. Cursed love of gold! it makes
men fools, madmen, villains. We have now but two days' water--doled
out as it is drop by drop. Look at their emaciated, broken down,
wasted forms, and yet see how they cling to money, which probably
they will never have occasion for, even if they gain the land. I am
distracted!"

"You suffer, Philip, you suffer from privation; but I have been
careful, I thought that this would come; I have saved both water and
biscuit--I have here four bottles;--drink, Philip, and it will relieve
you."

Philip drank; it did relieve him, for the excitement of the day had
pressed heavily on him.

"Thanks, Amine--thanks, dearest! I feel better now.--Good Heaven! are
there such fools as to value the dross of metal above one drop of
water in a time of suffering and privation such as this?"

The night closed in as before; the stars shone bright but there was no
moon, Philip had risen at midnight to relieve Krantz from the steerage
of the raft. Usually the men had lain about in every part of the raft,
but this night the majority of them remained forward. Philip was
communing with his own bitter thoughts, when he heard a scuffle
forward, and the voice of Krantz crying out to him for help. He
quitted the helm, and seizing his cutlass ran forward, where he found
Krantz down, and the men securing him. He fought his way to him, but
was himself seized and disarmed. "Cut away--cut away," was called out
by those who held him; and, in a few seconds, Philip had the misery to
behold the after part of the raft, with Amine upon it, drifted apart
from the one on which he stood. "For mercy's sake! my wife--my
Amine-