nt of me, not half a mile away, I beheld the _Hispaniola_
under sail. I made sure, of course, that I should be taken, but I was so
distressed for want of water, that I scarce knew whether to be glad or
sorry at the thought; and, long before I had come to a conclusion,
surprise had taken possession of my mind, and I could do nothing but
stare and wonder.

The _Hispaniola_ was under her mainsail and two jibs, and the beautiful
white canvas shone in the sun like snow or silver. When I first sighted
her, all her sails were drawing, she was laying a course about
northwest, and I presumed the men on board were going round the island
on their way back to the anchorage. Presently she began to fetch more
and more to the westward, so that I thought they had sighted me and were
going about in chase. At last, however, she fell right into the wind's
eye, was taken dead aback, and stood there awhile helpless, with her
sails shivering.

"Clumsy fellows," said I, "they must still be drunk as owls." And I
thought how Captain Smollett would have set them skipping.

Meanwhile the schooner gradually fell off, and filled again upon another
tack, sailed swiftly for a minute or so, and brought up once more dead
in the wind's eye. Again and again was this repeated. To and fro, up and
down, north, south, east, and west, the _Hispaniola_ sailed by swoops
and dashes, and at each repetition ended as she had begun, with idly
flapping canvas. It became plain to me that nobody was steering. And, if
so, where were the men? Either they were dead drunk, or had deserted
her, I thought, and perhaps if I could get on board, I might return the
vessel to her captain.

The current was bearing coracle and schooner southward at an equal rate.
As for the latter's sailing, it was so wild and intermittent, and she
hung each time so long in irons, that she certainly gained nothing, if
she did not even lose. If I only dared to sit up and paddle, I made sure
that I could overhaul her. The scheme had an air of adventure that
inspired me, and the thought of the water breaker beside the
fore companion doubled my growing courage.

Up I got, was welcomed almost instantly by another cloud of spray, but
this time stuck to my purpose and set myself with all my strength and
caution to paddle after the unsteered _Hispaniola_. Once I shipped a sea
so heavy that I had to stop and bail, with my heart fluttering like a
bird, but gradually I got into the way of the thing and g