ship, she could not
possibly sail away from us so long as the calm lasted. But when the
calm had continued for twenty-four hours, during which we pulled
continuously to the eastward, relieving each other at frequent
intervals, this reflection almost ceased to afford us any comfort, for
we found that short commons and hard work together were exhausting our
strength with such alarming rapidity that, unless we sighted the hoped-
for sail pretty speedily, we should have no strength left with which to
pull to her. And when another twelve hours had passed over our heads,
and another cloudless, breathless, blazing morning had dawned upon us,
the men with one accord laid in their oars, protesting their utter
inability to any longer keep up the exhausting work of pulling the boat
I argued with, entreated, and threatened them alternately, without
avail; they turned a deaf ear to me, and lay down in the bottom of the
boat, where they almost instantly fell into a restless, troubled sleep.
All, that is to say, except Dumaresq, who recognised as clearly as I did
the vital necessity for us to push onward as speedily as possible; after
discussing the situation for a while, therefore, we threw over a couple
of oars, and, placing the boat compass between my feet where I could see
it, paddled wearily and painfully onward until noon, when we ceased,
that I might have an opportunity to take an observation for the
determination of our latitude. While I was still engaged upon this
operation the men awoke; and as soon as I had ascertained our latitude
we went to dinner; if dinner that could be called which consisted of a
small cube of raw meat, measuring about an inch each way, and as much
tepid, fetid water as would half-fill the neck of a rum-bottle that had
been broken off from the body to serve as a measure.

After dinner the men again stretched themselves out, either in the
bottom of the boat or on the thwarts, and once more sought surcease of
suffering in sleep; and again Dumaresq and I threw out our oars and
toiled at them until sunset. But it was cruel work, and nothing short
of such urgent necessity as ours would have induced me to do it. Then
the men awoke again, apparently somewhat refreshed by their day's rest,
and we went to supper. The fact that Dumaresq and I had been working at
the oars all through the scorching day, while they had been sleeping,
seemed to awaken a sense of shame in some of them; and after supper they
too