narrow berth, and stowed themselves away as well
as space would allow. They had reason to be thankful that they had
escaped the perils to which they had been exposed for so many nights on
the raft; and though their sleeping-place was very close and dark, it
had the advantage of being dry. They were very quickly fast asleep, in
spite of all the rolling and pitching of the vessel, as she dashed
forward across the stormy ocean. There was no danger of their being
pitched out. In spite of the groaning of the bulkheads, the whistling
of the wind through the rigging, the loud dash of the seas against the
vessel, and the numerous other loud wild sounds which are heard during a
gale at sea, the boys slept on till a gleam of daylight found its way
down to their narrow berth.

"_Mangez, mangez, mes amis_!" said a voice, which was recognised as that
of their kind friend of the previous evening. He had come, it appeared,
to summon them to breakfast, for the crew were employed below in
discussing that meal. Once on their feet, the boys found themselves
perfectly ready to join their French friends, and to do ample justice to
the food placed before them.

"If it were not for the dignity of the thing we should not be so badly
off, after all," said Harry; "but really I cannot quite get over the
skipper not treating us as officers, as he should have done."

The Frenchmen greeted them with kind smiles, and soon again reconciled
them to their wretched fate.

The gale now increased to a regular hurricane. The schooner ran before
it under a close-reefed fore-topsail, but even then the seas followed so
rapidly that there appeared great probability of their breaking on
board. Both officers and men either remained below, or, when necessity
compelled them to be on deck, kept close to the bulwarks, that they
might have something to catch hold of should an accident occur. Under
these circumstances no work was expected to be done; the boys were
therefore allowed to do just as they pleased. They wisely kept forward
among their friends the seamen. They had observed a boy about their own
age eyeing them occasionally as he passed sometimes with a dish from the
cook's caboose, or with various messages with which he seemed to be
generally employed; yet he had not hitherto spoken to them.

"I like his looks," said David; "I can't help fancying that he wants to
be friendly. Next time he passes us I will say something to him; or
see, I've g