seamen worked away without saying
a word beyond what was absolutely necessary. Jack Nobs behaved very
well, but cried in sympathy when Auguste was scolded. The latter always
blubbered on till his father ceased speaking. I could not help
remarking what I have described, notwithstanding the fearful danger we
were running. The sky was of an almost inky hue, while the sea was of
the colour of lead, frosted over with the driving spray torn off from
the summits of the tossing seas by the fury of the wind. Our stump of a
mast, as well as our sail, had been well secured, though I dreaded every
instant to see the ring-bolts, to which the ropes had been made fast,
dragged out of the sides, and the rotten boat torn to pieces.

Thus on we flew, right into the Indian Ocean, though in what direction
we could only guess, for our compass, like everything belonging to the
craft, was defective. Intending only to make a coasting trip, we had no
chart, except one of the island from which we were now being driven
rapidly away. To be in a gale of wind on board a stout ship in the open
sea, is a fine thing once in one's life, but to have to sit in a rotten
boat, with a hurricane driving her, one knows not where, across the
ocean, is a very different matter. Our only prospect of saving our
lives, humanly speaking, was to keep the boat dead before the wind; a
moment's careless steering might have caused our destruction.

We were all so busy in pumping or baling that we had no time to watch
each other's countenances, or we might have seen alarm and anxiety
depicted on them as the rising seas came following up astern,
threatening to engulf us. I felt for the young brother who was with me,
so lighthearted and merry, and yet so little prepared for the eternity
into which any moment we might be plunged. After fervent inward prayer,
my own mind was comforted, so much so that I was able to speak earnest
words, not only to my young brother, but to the others. Trundle and
Jack looked very serious, but rather bewildered, as if they could not
comprehend what was said.

Such is, I fear, too often the case under such circumstances. I
remembered how, a few days before, I had seen Mason praying at a time of
the utmost extremity, and I urged my companions to pray for themselves.
Jacotot was the only person who seemed averse to listen to the word of
truth. Though he had raged and pulled his hair with grief at the injury
done to his vessel, he cou