ne was as difficult
for us as for any other handful of mankind. Like many benefactors of
humanity, the cook took himself too seriously, and reaped the reward of
irreverence. We were not un-ungrateful, however. He remained heroic. His
saying--the saying of his life--became proverbial in the mouth of men as
are the sayings of conquerors or sages. Later, whenever one of us was
puzzled by a task and advised to relinquish it, he would express his
determination to persevere and to succeed by the words:--"As long as she
swims I will cook!"

The hot drink helped us through the bleak hours that precede the dawn.
The sky low by the horizon took on the delicate tints of pink and yellow
like the inside of a rare shell. And higher, where it glowed with a
pearly sheen, a small black cloud appeared, like a forgotten fragment of
the night set in a border of dazzling gold. The beams of light skipped
on the crests of waves. The eyes of men turned to the eastward. The
sunlight flooded their weary faces. They were giving themselves up to
fatigue as though they had done for ever with their work. On Singleton's
black oilskin coat the dried salt glistened like hoar frost. He hung
on by the wheel, with open and lifeless eyes. Captain Allistoun,
unblinking, faced the rising sun. His lips stirred, opened for the first
time in twenty-four hours, and with a fresh firm voice he cried, "Wear
ship!"

The commanding sharp tones made all these torpid men start like a sudden
flick of a whip. Then again, motionless where they lay, the force of
habit made some of them repeat the order in hardly audible murmurs.
Captain Allistoun glanced down at his crew, and several, with fumbling
fingers and hopeless movements, tried to cast themselves adrift. He
repeated impatiently, "Wear ship. Now then, Mr. Baker, get the men
along. What's the matter with them?"--"Wear ship. Do you hear there?--Wear
ship!" thundered out the boatswain suddenly. His voice seemed to
break through a deadly spell. Men began to stir and crawl.--"I want the
fore-top-mast staysail run up smartly," said the master, very loudly;
"if you can't manage it standing up you must do it lying down--that's
all. Bear a hand!"--"Come along! Let's give the old girl a chance," urged
the boatswain.--"Aye! aye! Wear ship!" exclaimed quavering voices. The
forecastle men, with reluctant faces, prepared to go forward. Mr. Baker
pushed ahead, grunting, on all fours to show the way, and they followed
him over th