We never knows when we may be passin' within
sight of some poor unfortunate, perishin' of hunger and thirst, and
prayin' to be sighted and picked up!'"

"Well," said I, "I am afraid it is all up with us, so far as that barque
is concerned. Nevertheless, we will stick to her as long as she remains
in sight. Another hand may be sent aloft aboard her before she
disappears; or the wind may drop--although I confess I see no sign of it
at present. And in any case it is comforting, in a way, to know that we
are in the track of the south-bound ships; we are certain to sight
others within the next day or two, and it will be pretty poor luck if we
cannot intercept one or another of them."

But although I spoke so confidently I am afraid that I was not very
successful in cheering up my companions in misfortune. This second
disappointment was producing its effect upon them; they were becoming
depressed and pessimistic; and although they all agreed that the proper
thing to do was to hang on to the distant barque, in the hope of
eventually attracting the attention of somebody aboard her, I could see
that we were all fully convinced that the attempt would result in
failure.

And so it did. We chased that barque until the sun set and the shades
of night hid her from our sight; and although about mid-afternoon we got
so close to her that her lower yards showed above the horizon when she
lifted on the swell, and kept the telescope bearing upon her all the
time, no more hands were sent aloft, and as the afternoon progressed she
steadily drew away from us again, until when at length we lost sight of
her in the gathering darkness only her royals and the upper halves of
her topgallantsails were showing above the horizon. And all this time
so absorbed were we in the chase that we were scarcely conscious of the
fact that the wind was steadily freshening every minute, the result
being that, when at length we were compelled to abandon the hope of
being seen and picked up, we suddenly awoke to the fact that it was
blowing quite a strong breeze, and that it had kicked up such a high,
steep sea that it was no longer possible for us to round-to and ride to
a sea anchor as we had done on the night but one before. We were
therefore obliged to scud before the wind all night under whole canvas,
to avoid being pooped and swamped by the breaking seas that
remorselessly chased us.

That was a harassing, anxious night for all hands of us, for by