You will manage better
than I could. And--and, Walter, I'm afraid--afraid that I--that they
wouldn't wake for me."

I thought I saw what was the matter with the lad; he feared that his
mother and sister were dead, and shrank from converting that fear into
certainty. I therefore surrendered the steering oar to him, and,
drawing a small quantity of water from the almost empty cask, crept in
under the deck, where I found the four women lying, each by herself, as
far apart from the others as possible, all of them apparently dead. Yet
although the place smelt close and stuffy enough, I could detect no
trace of the taint which, in a hot climate, so quickly betrays the
presence of death, and with renewed hope I proceeded to my task.

I happened to turn to Miss Anthea first, and although the light in there
was too subdued to enable me to distinguish very clearly the ravages
wrought by slow starvation, the ease with which I, feeble as I was,
raised her poor emaciated form into a semi-sitting posture was eloquent
enough. She lay, with closed eyes, quite inanimate in my arms; but upon
bending over her I thought I could detect that she still breathed,
although I was by no means certain. I dipped my finger in the pannikin
of water which I had brought with me, and moistened her dry, cracked
lips, repeating the operation two or three times. Presently I
distinctly heard her sigh, and saw that she was making a feeble effort
to lick her lips, whereupon I held the pannikin to them and allowed a
little water to trickle into her mouth. This she endeavoured to
swallow, but the effort was so painful as to extort a low groan from
her. Then she opened her eyes and looked about her vacantly, as though
she did not recognise her surroundings; but when she found me bending
over her she smiled faintly--a smile which strangely gladdened my heart.

"You are feeling better?" I whispered. "Try to swallow a little more
of this water; but hold it in your mouth for a moment or two first, then
I will give you more. Listen: there is land in sight, a most lovely
island embowered in richest verdure, where I am sure we shall be able to
get all the food we need. It is quite near, so near that we shall be
there in about two hours from now. Surely you can hold out two hours
longer if I give you enough water to quench your thirst?"

She smiled again. "Land, do you say?" she whispered. "Land--and food?
Oh, yes, I am sure I can; the mere thought of