forgotten while striving to reach this nearer haven of refuge.

No sooner, however, had I mounted the hencoop, which floated nearly a
foot above the surface, even with my weight on it--for it was a big
piece of woodwork, with plenty of timber in it, and as light as a cork--
than I felt a faint current of air blowing in my face from a direction
quite opposite to that of the drift of the waves, the tops of which now
began to curl and break off.

"Hullo, the wind has changed!" I sang out to Mr Macdougall, as he
looked up at me to hear my report; and then, glancing round, there I saw
the _Esmeralda_, with her yards squared, approaching us rapidly, the
breeze having caught her up long before it reached us.

I could have shouted aloud for joy.

"Cheer up, Mr Macdougall!" I said, repressing my emotion as much as it
lay in my power. "The ship is making for us, and we'll be on board
again in a brace of shakes."

"Nae, ye're jookin', laddie!" he cried despairingly. "She'll never
reach us 'fore dark."

"Aye, but she will, though," I replied, as she was nearing us so fast
that I could now see her hull, which had before been invisible; and,
almost as I spoke the words, she rose higher and higher, until I could
make out an object at the mast-head like a man on the look-out for us
and signalling, for I could see his arms move.

"Hurrah! she's coming up fast now!" I cried, to convince Mr
Macdougall; when, seeing my excitement, he at last believed the good
news, the effect on him being to cause him to burst into a passion of
tears, of which I took no notice, leaving him to recover himself.

Presently, I could not only perceive the _Esmeralda_, but a boat also
ahead, to which the man I had noticed in the foretop was making motions.

"We're all right now, Mr Macdougall," I said.

"I thought they wouldn't desert us! They have launched a boat, and it
is pulling towards us now. Let us give them a hail; raise your voice,
sir--one, two, three--now then. Boat ahoy!"

The mate did not help the chorus much, his voice being too weak as yet,
and his lungs probably half full of salt water; but still, he joined in
my shout, although those in the boat were too far off to hear it.

"We must hail them again," I said, "or else they'll pass to windward of
us. Come, Mr Macdougall, one more shout!"

This time our feeble cry was heard; and a hearty cheer was borne back
down on the breeze to us, in response, the men in the boat pullin