ht;
and, it being calm, Arthur took the helm, while Uncle Paul lay down to
sleep.

CHAPTER FIVE.

SHIP AHOY!--RESCUED--THE KIND SKIPPER--ENTER THE ORINOCO--THE
HURRICANE--TWO MEN OVERBOARD--WRECKED ON A TREE--AN ANXIOUS QUESTION--A
CURIOUS SCENE--WE OBTAIN FOOD--QUACKO, OUR NEW FRIEND.

Uncle Paul had charged Arthur and me to call him should there be the
slightest change in the weather. The wind, however, continued very
light, and the boat glided forward, as well as we could judge, steering
by the stars, towards the point we desired to gain. I kept my eyes
about me as long as they would consent to remain open, though it was
often a difficult task.

Several times I was nodding, when Arthur aroused me with his voice. It
must have been about midnight, when, looking astern, I saw a dark
shadowy form gliding over the surface of the ocean. I rubbed my eyes,
supposing it to be a thing of the imagination; but there it was, not
many cable-lengths off, coming up towards us.

"See! see, Arthur! What can that be?" I cried out.

"A sloop or a small schooner!" he exclaimed.

We at once called up Uncle Paul.

"Can she be a vessel sent in chase of us?" I asked.

"No fear of that. It could never have been supposed that we had got so
far south; and they would not know in which direction to look for us,"
he answered.

Still I could not help having some doubts on the subject.

"We will hail the stranger, and learn what she is," said Uncle Paul; so,
uniting our voices, we shouted out, "Ship ahoy! ship ahoy!"

A voice replied, in Dutch; and my father, who understood the language,
at once cried out,--"Heave to, for the love of Heaven, and receive us on
board!"

"Ya, ya," was the answer; "we will be up with you presently."

In a few minutes we were alongside the stranger, a small Dutch
trading-sloop. As soon as we were all on board our boat was dropped
astern, and sail was made. Her skipper, Mynheer Jan van Dunk, gave us a
kind reception, exhibiting the greatest sympathy when he heard of the
sufferings we had endured, and seeming especially moved at hearing of
those Marian had gone through.

"I have one little maid just like her," he said, taking her in his arms.
"She must go into my berth and sleep while we get supper ready. Poor
little dear, she has had no food for so many days."

"Thank you, I am not so very hungry," said Marian; "but I am very
thirsty."

"Well, well, then, we will get you some tea read