possessed no ordinary amount of vitality. A few scraps of beef remained
in the cask, of which the surgeon gave him a portion. He ate it
eagerly. His continual cry, however, was for water.

As the night advanced, the sea got up, tumbling the raft fearfully
about. Mr Lawrie and Tidy dragged the boatswain to the centre of the
raft, and it was only by great exertions they held themselves and him
on. The dark, foam-crested seas came rolling up, threatening every
instant to break aboard and sweep them away. The boatswain had
sufficient consciousness to be well aware of his danger; and fearful
must have been the sensations of that bold bad man, his hands red with
the blood of his fellow-creatures, as he contemplated a speedy death and
the judgment to come. He groaned and shrieked out, yet not daring to
ask for mercy. The surgeon would thankfully have shut out those fearful
cries from his ears. Like a true man, he resolved to struggle to the
last to preserve his own life and the lives of his companions.

Thus hour after hour went slowly by, till the grey light of morning
appeared above the horizon, broken by the rising and falling seas. Mr
Lawrie found his own strength going, and Dan was in a still worse
condition. They had no food, and not a drop of water remaining, and no
land in sight. Stout-hearted as they both were, they could not help
feeling that ere long they must yield, and share the fate of those who
were already buried beneath the waves. The doctor knew, however, that
it was his duty to struggle to the last, and he did his utmost to
encourage poor Dan.

"Shure, Mr Lawrie, it's myself has no wish to become food for the
fishes, if it can be helped at all at all, and as long as I can I'll
hold fast for dear life to the planks," he said in answer to Mr
Lawrie's exhortations. "Maybe a ship will come and pick us up. Just
look out there, sir! What do you see? If my eyes don't decave me,
there is a boat; and she's pulling towards us."

Mr Lawrie looked, as Dan told him; and there, sure enough, he saw a
boat approaching the raft, but very slowly. Now she was hidden by
intervening seas, and now again she came into sight on the crest of a
wave.

"Shure, can it be the captain's boat, or one of the other boats which
have been looking for us since the ship went down?" exclaimed Dan.

On hearing the word "captain," the boatswain lifted up his head and
tried to get a glimpse of the approaching boat. "It ma