hey were
both secure.

"Sleep on, lads! sleep on!" he muttered. "He who reigns above can alone
tell whether or not this is the last night you will spend on earth. I
liked not the look of the sky when the sun went down, and before many
hours have passed this frail raft may be tossing on an ocean of foaming
seas." The old man was silent, but he did not sleep. Often he prayed.
He thought over many things of his past life, as men under such
circumstances are apt to do. Happy are those who have not to reflect on
crimes committed, injuries done to others too late to remedy! and still
more fearful must be the thoughts of those who are not trusting to the
perfect and complete sacrifice offered on Calvary--whose sins have not
been washed away in the blood of the Lamb. The old man knew in whom he
trusted, and no bitterness entered his thoughts. The hours passed on;
stars became obscured; clouds were seen chasing each other across the
dark sky, slowly at first, then more and more rapidly; the raft began to
rock, scarcely perceptibly, then gently, then with more and more
movement, but the boys slept on; accustomed to spend their time on the
heaving wave, they did not feel the motion. At length a grey cold light
began gradually to steal over the foam-covered ocean. The boys still
slept on. The old man alone was awake on the raft. He lifted himself
up, and bent forward as if in prayer. Thus he remained for some time.
At length David, less accustomed to the sea than Harry, awoke from the
motion of the raft. The exclamation to which he gave utterance aroused
his companion; David quickly started to his feet, and gazed anxiously
around the horizon. The two frigates had disappeared. No sail was in
sight; nothing was to be seen but the heavy leaden-coloured waves, while
the clouds seemed to come closely down on all sides. The raft drove
quickly on before the storm.

"In what direction are we going?" asked David.

"To the south-west, I have an idea," answered Harry; "but I should not
mind that, if I thought we were likely to fall in with the two
frigates."

"Trust in God, my lads," said old Jefferies.

He spoke truly; for already the raft gave signs of breaking up, from the
violence to which it had been exposed. The old man and the two boys did
all they could to secure it more strongly by such ropes as they still
had to spare, but it was difficult and dangerous to move from their
positions. The seas followed rapidly,