we had done so the skipper informed us that, in view of the great
difference in the sailing powers of the several boats, he withdrew his
prohibition as to parting company, and that from that moment each boat
would be at liberty to do the best that she could for herself. And it
appeared to me that this was a most sensible decision to arrive at,
since, taking into account the long distance to be traversed, the
determination to regulate the progress of the entire squadron by that of
the slowest boat must necessarily entail a very serious lengthening of
the period of exposure and privation for those in the faster boats.
Sail was accordingly made by the long-boat and ourselves; and when
darkness closed down upon the scene, the gig was leading by about half a
mile, the long-boat coming next, and the remainder stringing out astern,
at distances varying from three-quarters of a mile to twice as far.

It must not be supposed that, on this first day in the boats, the
novelty of our situation caused us to feel indifferent to the
possibility of a sail heaving in sight; on the contrary, one man in each
boat was told off for the especial purpose of keeping a look-out; and I,
for one, felt it to be a serious misfortune that up to nightfall nothing
had been sighted; for, to tell the whole truth, I regarded the
possibility of our reaching either Corvo or the Canaries as mighty
problematical, trusting for our eventual rescue very much more to the
chance of our falling in with a ship and being picked up.

About eight bells of the second dog-watch the wind, which had been
gradually freshening all day, freshened still more, piping up
occasionally in so squally a fashion that I deemed it prudent to again
haul down a reef; and by midnight it had become necessary to take in a
second reef, the sky having clouded over, with a thick and rather dirty
look to windward, while the wind came along in such heavy puffs that,
staunch boat as was the gig, we had our work cut out at times to keep
her lee gunwale above water. Moreover, a short, steep, choppy sea had
been raised that proved very trying to us, the boat driving her sharp
stem viciously into it, and throwing frequent heavy showers of spray
over herself, that not only drenched us all to the skin, but also
necessitated the continuous use of the baler. Fortunately, we were not
very greatly crowded; so that, despite the weight of our party and that
of our provisions and water, the boat was fairl