ight of the rising sun tinted the cirrus
clouds above with a rosy hue.

I was quite tired from the effects of the gale, and the morning watch is
always a cheerless one. The steward had coffee ready, however, and after
a good drink I felt better, and got out the glass to see if I could make
out the _Sovereign_. We had been drifting all night, so that in the
mid-watch Trunnell wore ship and stood up for her to keep in sight. There
she lay, about three miles away off our port beam. Her topsail was the
only canvas she had set, and she was so low in the water that I could not
see her deck amidships at that distance. All except a little of her high
poop appeared to be under, or so low that it was invisible. I wondered
why her captain had not put off sooner, and I knew that as soon as
Thompson came on deck he would be in a fury at his having waited so long.
There was not a breath of air now, so we were certain to be in company
for several hours at least.

While I looked over the expanse of heaving ocean I saw a black spot
between the ships. In a moment I made out a boat rising and falling,
propelled by four oars, and headed for us. Sometimes she would disappear
behind a high lump of sea and then she would be on top, and I made out
she was coming along right handily.

As she drew nearer I made her out to be full of men. She came up under
our mizzen channels and hailed. Half the watch was bending over the side
looking at her, and one man threw a line. This was seized, and the next
moment her crew came clambering over the rail.

Jenks, the old sailor who had come over in the boat with me the day
before, was on deck to receive his shipmates. The old fellow's face
wrinkled with amusement at the sight of his worn-out countrymen until it
looked like the slack of a bellows. There was an unholy twinkle in his
eye as he greeted them.

On the boarding of the officer of the boat, a tall Englishman who was the
ship's mate, the man Jenks stopped his pleasantry at the tired crew's
expense, but it was too late. He was ordered into the boat, with three
other men who were fresh, to be sent away for the remaining men on the
ship. Then the officer mounted the poop just as Captain Thompson emerged
from below.

The officer bowed and touched his hat deferentially, but the skipper
stood looking at him out of his glinting eyes, while his nose worked
and twitched.

"Don't seem to be in much of a hurry, hey?" said our captain, with
his drawl.