clear of
the water. For an instant it hung suspended, ten feet above the surface.
Then, with a mighty splash, it dropped back, right amid the herring. The
glittering school dispersed in a thousand directions, and the monster
moved slowly off to the south.

"Biggest whale I ever saw," observed Jim. "Fully seventy feet long!
Well, he's had one good meal. Wish we could say the same! Hungry, old
man?"

"Yes; but more thirsty."

"Stick to it! Somebody's likely to show up at any time to-morrow and
take us off."

"But if they don't--"

"We'll have to hang on till they do."

Percy could hardly stand upright. His joints ached. His eyelids sagged
heavily for want of sleep. He would have given anything if he could have
lain down. But that was impossible. Something of his father's
doggedness enabled him to set his teeth and stand clinging to the bails.

Their plight was bad enough, but it might have been much worse. Percy
shivered a bit as he looked at the wallowing dory and the breaker beyond
it.

The buoy could not drift. It could not founder. It afforded them a safe
refuge from wind and sea; but it could not give them food or drink.

Particularly drink. Every atom in Percy's body, every corpuscle in his
blood, seemed to be crying out for water. It did not seem as if he could
endure it. He was almost desperate enough to quench his thirst from the
sea. But, no! Men who did that went crazy. He moistened his dry lips
with his tongue. If only he could have had a full dipper from the spring
behind the camp! And he had turned up his nose because it was brackish!

"Wish I had some of Filippo's hot biscuits!" said Jim. "I can taste 'em
now."

"Don't, Jim! It makes me feel worse. How long can a man stand it without
eating and drinking?"

"There was a fisherman out of Bass Harbor, last October, who went in a
power-boat to Clay Bank after hake. His engine played out and he got
blown off by a northwester. For over five days he didn't have a thing to
eat or drink. Then he got back to Mount Desert Rock. That's the longest
I ever heard of."

Five days! And they had not yet gone two. Percy became silent again.

The night dragged painfully. With mortal slowness the Great Bear circled
the Pole Star. Jim was acquainted with the principal constellations, and
he ran them over for Percy's benefit. Gradually, however, their
conversation lagged. You cannot feel much interest in astronomy when
your eyes feel as if they were being press