, and the ship had
righted once more. The water was baled out with every vessel on which
the men could lay their hands; and this weary work was continued all
through the cold dark night, yet when the morning broke hours behind its
time, as it seemed to the despairing sailors, the water in the hold was
scarcely three inches lower.

The only hope for the crew lay in taking at once to their boats. There
were two boats belonging to the ship--the pinnace and the skiff; the
first was a long boat, but the skiff, which was considered the safer of
the two, would hold but a smaller number.

The master called the men round him on the deck, and told them his
decision. "Now, men," said he, "you shall choose your boat; there stands
the notary, Nicolo di Michiel, with his ink-horn and parchment; he shall
write down the names of all who would fain sail in the skiff."

"Master, there are forty-five for the skiff," said Nicolo, slowly
reckoning the long list of written names; "forty-five, and the skiff,
saith Christoforo Fioravanti, holds but twenty-one."

"Draw lots, men, we are brothers now in trouble, and none shall have
advantage over the other."

The lots were drawn, and then the master proceeded to divide between the
two crews the stores of the fast-sinking ship. Bread, cheese, bacon,
tallow and oil, and a little wine, as much as she could carry, were
given to the crew of the skiff, while the master, with forty-six men,
stored in the pinnace what remained on board, and one by one the men
passed over the ship's side, and the boats dropped off into the wide
sea.

It was calm, the terrible wind had sunk down, and the keen wintry sky
was clear once more, but yet the prospect before them was enough to
trouble the bravest heart.

They were adrift in the bitter cold in open boats, but ill-supplied for
a long voyage, and were, as they believed, five hundred miles from the
nearest shore. All night a heavy mist hung over them, and when it was
dispersed by the morning sun the crew of the pinnace looked round in
vain for their companions,--the skiff was nowhere to be seen.

Six days had passed, and all hope of seeing their companion boat had
grown faint, when another storm arose, and the pinnace, heavily laden,
shipped so much water over the sides that all feared she would sink.

"Mens' lives before wines and spices! precious and costly though they
be," said the master; "we must lighten the boat of all, save a little
needful food an