ve the blue, boundless sea, and the equally boundless sky.

A despairing look replaced that transient gleam of hope, and, staggering
back behind the tarpaulin, he once more flung his body prostrate upon
the raft.

Again they lay, side by side, in perfect silence,--neither of them
asleep, but both in a sort of stupor, produced by their unspoken
despair.

CHAPTER FIVE.

FAITH.--HOPE.

How long they lay in this half-unconscious condition, neither took note.
It could not have been many minutes, for the mind under such
circumstances does not long surrender itself to a state of tranquillity.

They were at length suddenly roused from it,--not, however, by any
thought from within,--but by an object striking on their external
senses, or, rather, upon the sense of sight. Both were lying upon their
backs, with eyes open and upturned to the sky, upon which there was not
a speck of cloud to vary the monotony of its endless azure.

Its monotony, however, was at that moment varied by a number of objects
that passed swiftly across their field of vision, shining and
scintillating as if a flight of silver arrows had been shot over the
raft. The hues of blue and white were conspicuous in the bright
sunbeams, and those gay-coloured creatures, that appeared to belong to
the air, but which in reality were denizens of the great deep, were at
once recognised by the sailor.

"A shoal o' flyin'-fish," he simply remarked, and without removing from
his recumbent position.

Then at once, as if some hope had sprung up within him at seeing them
continue to fly over the raft, and so near as almost to touch the
tarpaulin, he added, starting to his feet as he spoke--

"What if I might knock one o' 'em down! Where's the handspike?"

The last interrogatory was mechanical, and put merely to fill up the
time; for as he gave utterance to it he reached towards the implement
that lay within reach of his hands, and eagerly grasping raised it
aloft.

With such a weapon it was probable that he might have succeeded in
striking down one of the winged swimmers that, pursued by the bonitos
and albacores, were still leaping over the raft. But there was a surer
weapon behind him,--in the piece of canvas spread between the upright
oars; and just as the sailor had got ready to wield his huge club, a
shining object flashed close to his eyes, whilst his ears were greeted
by a glad sound, signifying that one of the vaulting fish had struck
against th