south of the spot where Bainbridge had sent us
adrift!

And then our thoughts turned to the longboat, and we began to ask
ourselves and each other how she had fared. We were still afloat, it is
true, but only because of our long-continued and almost superhuman
exertions, while our boat was an exceptionally good one and by no means
overloaded. How it would be with our consort, overcrowded with
helpless, terror-stricken women and children, and perilously deep in the
water, we scarcely dared to think; for, with the recollection of what we
had recently passed through still vivid in our minds, we had little
difficulty in conjuring up a very graphic picture of what would be the
state of affairs aboard the longboat under the same circumstances. Of
course there was the possibility that, more fortunate than ourselves,
she had been seen and her party rescued by a passing ship; but, failing
that, we felt that we dared not entertain the slightest hope that she
still survived. No good end, however, was to be served by speculating
upon the possibilities of disaster to our friends. We therefore
proceeded to get a meal as soon as we had straightened up matters as far
as was possible; and while we ate and drank we discussed the important
question of what we should do next. Our recent experiences had been of
such a character as to convince us that our prospects of reaching Rio
before our stock of provisions should be consumed--if ever--were
exceedingly slight. On the other hand, we had already had ocular
demonstration of the fact that we were not far from the track of
south-bound craft; we therefore eventually arrived unanimously at the
conclusion that, taking all things into consideration, the best thing we
could do was to cruise to the northward, in the hope that within the
next few days we should be fortunate enough to fall in with some vessel
the skipper of which would be humane enough to pick us up and perhaps
land us at the nearest port.

It was so near sunset before the sea moderated sufficiently to enable us
again to make sail that we ultimately determined to remain as we were,
riding to our sea anchor all night, in order that all hands might have
the opportunity to secure a good night's rest before resuming our battle
with wind and sea. For after all, now that we had definitely abandoned
the idea of attempting to make Rio, or indeed any part of the South
American coast, it did not greatly matter whether we were under w