ised at, as they
doubtless considered that what they had done at the pumps was quite as
much as could be expected of them. I was not forgotten, however; for
Florence, making use of the fire that I had caused to be lighted in the
cabin-stove, prepared for me a most substantial and appetising meal,
consisting of toasted rashers of ham, cabin bread--carefully cleared of
weevils--and tea, which she actually brought on deck to me, standing by
me and tending the wheel in the cleverest fashion while I hurriedly
devoured the food! Not satisfied with doing this for me, the dear girl,
knowing that I had been on deck all the previous night, actually
proposed remaining at the wheel, in the midst of all the elemental fury,
long enough to enable me to snatch a few hours' sleep! What think you
of that, shipmates, for devotion on the part of a sweetheart? But that,
of course, was going altogether beyond the utmost that I could possibly
consent to, and, thanking her heartily for her generous solicitude, I
sent her below, with strict injunctions to turn in early and secure a
good night's rest. For--although I was careful not to hint as much to
her even in the most distant fashion--I did not at all like the way that
matters were going with us; the leak and the men's aversion to the
labour of pumping, taken together, made up a bad lookout, and I foresaw
that unless a change for the better in one respect or the other soon
took place, it would speedily come to our being obliged to take to the
boats.

Throughout the whole of that wet, wild, cheerless night I stood at the
wheel, tending the ship and helping her through the seas; and it was not
until dawn was abroad that anyone came to relieve me; when Cockney Harry
made his appearance, staggering and dodging his way aft along the
flooded decks.

"Mornin', sir," he remarked as he took over the wheel from me. "You
looks dead wore out, you do. You surely ain't been at this here muckin'
wheel the whole blessed night, have ye, sir?"

"Certainly I have," said I, "seeing that the brig had to be looked
after, and neither of you men saw fit to relieve me!"

"Well," admitted the fellow, "that's a howlin' shime, and no mistike.
The fact is that we was all dead tired with sweatin' at them infernal
pumps. I _meant_ to ha' come along and took a spell at water-grindin',
but in w'itin' for them swines to all go to sleep I went to sleep
myself, and never woke up agine until five minutes ago."

"Q