Chapter 5

  "They hurried us aboard a bark;
  Bore us some leagues to sea; where they prepared
  A rotten carcass of a boat, not rigg'd,
  Nor tackle, sail, nor mast: the very rats
  Instinctively had girt us--"
  _Tempest._

The hour that succeeded in the calm of expectation, was one of the
most disquieting of my life. As soon as the ship was secured, and
there no longer remained anything to do, the stillness of death
reigned among us; the faculties of every man and boy appearing to be
absorbed in the single sense of hearing--the best, and indeed the
only, means we then possessed of judging of our situation. It was now
apparent that we were near some place or places where the surf was
breaking on land; and the hollow, not-to-be-mistaken bellowings of the
element, too plainly indicated that cavities in rocks frequently
received, and as often rejected, the washing waters. Nor did these
portentous sounds come from one quarter only, but they seemed to
surround us; now reaching our ears from the known direction of the
land, now from the south, the north-east, and, in fact, from every
direction. There were instances when these moanings of the ocean
sounded as if close under our stern, and then again they came from
some point within a fearful proximity to the bows.

Happily the wind was light, and the ship rode with a moderate strain
on the cable, so as to relieve us from the apprehension of immediate
destruction. There was a long, heavy ground-swell rolling in from, the
south-west, but, the lead giving us, eight fathoms, the sea did not
break exactly where we lay; though the sullen washing that came to our
ears, from time to time, gave unerring notice that it was doing so
quite near us, independently of the places where it broke upon
rocks. At one time the captain's impatience was so goading, that he
had determined to pull round the anchorage in a boat, in order to
anticipate the approach of light; but a suggestion from Mr. Marble
that he might unconsciously pull into a roller, and capsize, induced
him to wait for day.

The dawn appeared at last, after two or three of the longest hours I
remember ever to have passed. Never shall I forget the species of
furious eagerness with which we gazed about us. In the first place, we
got an outline of the adjacent land; then, as light diffused itself
more and more into the atmosphere, we caught glimpses of its
details. It was soon certain we were within a cable's length of
perpendicular cliffs of several hundred feet in height, into whose
caverns the sea poured at times, producing those frightful, hollow
moanings, that an experienced ear can never mistake. This cliff
extended for leagues in both directions, rendering drowning nearly
inevitable to the shipwrecked mariner on that inhospitable
coast. Ahead, astern, outside of us, and I might almost say all around
us, became visible, one after another, detached ledges, breakers and
ripples; so many proofs of the manner in which Providence had guided
us through the hours of darkness.

By the time the sun appeared, for, happily, the day proved bright and
clear, we had obtained pretty tolerable notions of the critical
situation in which we were placed by means of the captain's theory of
currents. The very cape that we were to drift past, lay some ten
leagues nearly dead to windward, as the breeze then was; while to
leeward, far as the eye could reach, stretched the same inhospitable,
barrier of rock as that which lay on our starboard quarter and beam.
Such was my first introduction to the island of Madagascar; a portion
of the world, of which, considering its position, magnitude and
productions, the mariners of Christendom probably know less than of
any other. At the time of which I am writing, far less had been
learned of this vast country than is known to-day, though the
knowledge of even our own immediate contemporaries is of an
exceedingly limited character.

Now that the day had returned, the sun was shining on us cheerfully,
and the sea looked tranquil and assuring, the captain became more
pacified. He had discretion enough to understand that time and
examination were indispensable to moving the ship with safety; and he
took the wise course of ordering the people to get their breakfasts,
before he set us at work. The hour that was thus employed forward, was
passed aft in examining the appearance of the water, and the positions
of the reefs around the ship. By the time we were through, the captain
had swallowed his cup of coffee and eaten his biscuit; and, calling
away four of the most athletic oarsmen, he got into the jolly-boat,
and set out on the all-important duty of discovering a channel
sea-ward. The lead was kept moving, and I shall leave the party thus
employed for an hour or more, while we turn our attention in-board.

Marble beckoned me aft, as soon as Captain Robbins was in the boat,
apparently with a desire to say something in private. I understood the
meaning of his eye, and followed him down into the steerage, where all
that was left of the ship's water was now stowed, that on deck having
been already used. The mate had a certain consciousness about him that
induced great caution, and he would not open his lips until he had
rummaged about below some time, affecting to look for a set of blocks
that might be wanted for some purpose or other, on deck. When this had
lasted a little time, he turned short round to me, and let out the
secret of the whole manoeuvre.

"I'll tell you what, Master Miles," he said, making a sign with a
finger to be cautious, "I look upon this ship's berth as worse than
that of a city scavenger. We've plenty of water all round us, and
plenty of rocks, too. If we knew the way back, there is no wind to
carry us through it, among these bloody currents, and there's no harm
in getting ready for the worst. So do you get Neb and the
gentleman"--Rupert was generally thus styled in the ship--"and clear
away the launch first. Get everything out of it that don't belong
there; after which, do you put these breakers in, and wait for further
orders. Make no fuss, putting all upon orders, and leave the rest to
me."

I complied, of course, and in a few minutes the launch was
clear. While busy, however, Mr. Kite came past, and desired to know
"what are you at there?" I told him 'twas Mr. Marble's orders, and the
latter gave his own explanation of the matter.

"The launch may be wanted," he said, "for I've no notion that
jolly-boat will do to go out as far as we shall find it necessary to
sound. So I am about to ballast the launch, and get her sails ready;
there's no use in mincing matters in such a berth as this."

Kite approved of the idea, and even went so far as to suggest that it
might be well enough to get the launch into the water at once, by way
of saving time. The proposition was too agreeable to be rejected, and,
to own the truth, all hands went to work to get up the tackles with a
will, as it is called. In half an hour the boat was floating
alongside the ship. Some said she would certainly be wanted to carry
out the stream-anchor, if for nothing else; others observed that half
a dozen boats would not be enough to find all the channel we wanted;
while Marble kept his eye, though always in an underhand way, on his
main object. The breakers we got in and stowed, filled with
_fresh_ water, by way of ballast. The masts were stepped, the
oars were put on board, and a spare compass was passed dawn, lest the
ship might be lost in the thick weather, of which there was so much,
just in that quarter of the world. All this wars said and done so
quietly, that nobody took the alarm; and when the mate called out, in
a loud voice, "Miles, pass a bread-bag filled and some cold grub into
that launch--the men may be hungry before they get back," no one
seemed to think more was meant than was thus openly expressed. I had
my private orders, however, and managed to get quite a hundred-weight
of good cabin biscuit into the launch, while the cook was directed to
fill his coppers with pork. I got some of the latter _raw_ into
the boat, too; _raw_ pork being food that sailors in no manner
disdain. They say it eats like chestnuts.

In the mean time, the captain was busy in his exploring expedition, on
the return from which he appeared to think he was better rewarded than
has certainly fallen to the lot of others employed on another
expedition which bears the same name. He was absent near two hours,
and, when he got back, it was to renew his theory of what Mr. Marble
called his "bloody currents."

"I've got behind the curtain, Mr. Marble," commenced Captain Robbins,
before he was fairly alongside of the ship again, whereupon Marble
muttered "ay! ay! you've got behind the rocks, too!" "It's all owing
to an eddy that is made in-shore by the main current, and we have
stretched a _leetle_ too far in."

Even I thought to myself, what would have become of us had we
stretched a _leetle_ further in! The captain, however, seemed
satisfied that he could carry the ship out, and, as this was all we
wanted, no one was disposed to be very critical. A word was said about
the launch, which the mate had ordered to be dropped astern, out of
the way, and the explanation seemed to mystify the captain. In the
meanwhile, the pork was boiling furiously in the coppers.

All hands were now called to get the anchor up. Rupert and I went
aloft to loosen sails, and we staid there until the royals were
mast-headed. In a very few minutes the cable was up and down, and then
came the critical part of the whole affair. The wind was still very
light, and it was a question whether the ship could be carried past a
reef of rocks that now began to show itself above water, and on which
the long, heavy rollers, that came undulating from the south-western
Atlantic, broke with a sullen violence that betrayed how powerful was
the ocean, even in its moments of slumbering peacefulness. The rising
and falling of its surface was like that of some monster's chest, as
he respired heavily in sleep.

Even the captain hesitated about letting go his hold of the bottom,
with so strong a set of the water to leeward, and in so light a
breeze. There was a sort of bight on our starboard bow, however, and
Mr. Marble suggested it might be well to sound in that direction, as
the water appeared smooth and deep. To him it looked as if there were
really an eddy in-shore, which might hawse the ship up to windward six
or eight times her length, and thus more than meet the loss that must
infallibly occur in first casting her head to seaward. The captain
admitted the justice of this suggestion, and I was one of those who
were told to go in the jolly-boat on this occasion. We pulled in
towards the cliffs, and had not gone fifty yards before we struck an
eddy, sure enough, which was quite as strong as the current in which
the ship lay. This was a great advantage, and so much the more,
because the water was of sufficient depth, quite up to the edge of the
reef which formed the bight, and thus produced the change in the
direction of the set. There was plenty of room, too, to handle the
ship in, and, all things considered, the discovery was extremely
fortunate. In the bottom of the bight we should have gone ashore the
previous night, had not our ears been so much better than our noses.

As soon as certain of the facts, the captain pulled back to the ship,
and gladdened the hearts of all on board with the tidings. We now
manned the handspikes cheerily, and began to heave. I shall never
forget the impression made on me by the rapid drift of the ship, as
soon as the anchor was off the bottom, and her bows were cast
in-shore, in order to fill the sails. The land was so near that I
noted this drift by the rocks, and my heart was fairly in my mouth for
a few seconds. But the John worked beautifully, and soon gathered
way. Her bows did not not strike the eddy, however, until we got
fearful evidence of the strength of the true current, which had set us
down nearly as low as the reef outside, to windward of which it was
indispensable for us to pass. Marble saw all this, and he whispered
me to tell the cook to pass the pork into the launch at once--hot to
mind whether it were particularly well done, or not. I obeyed, and had
to tend the fore-sheet myself, for my pains, when the order was given
to "ready about."

The eddy proved a true friend, but it did not carry us up much higher
than the place where we had anchored, when it became necessary to
tack. This was done in season, on account of our ignorance of all the
soundings, and we had soon got the John's head off-shore
again. Drawing a short distance ahead, the main-top-sail was thrown
aback, and the ship allowed to drift. In proper time, it was filled,
and we got round once more, looking into the bight. The manoeuvre was
repeated, and this brought us up fairly under the lee of the reef, and
just in the position we desired to be. It was a nervous instant, I
make no doubt, when Captain Robbins determined to trust the ship in
the true current, and run the gauntlet of the rocks. The passage
across which we had to steer, before we could possibly weather the
nearest reef was about a cable's length in width, and the wind would
barely let us lay high enough to take it at right-angles. Then the air
was so light, that I almost despaired of our doing anything.

Captain Robbins put the ship into the current with great judgment. She
was kept a rap-full until near the edge of the eddy, and then her helm
was put nearly down, all at once. But for the current's acting, in one
direction, on her starboard bow, and the eddy's pressing, in the
other, on the larboard quarter, the vessel would have been taken
aback; but these counteracting forces brought her handsomely on her
course again, and that in a way to prevent her falling an inch to
leeward.

Now came the trial. The ship was kept a rap-full, and she went
steadily across the passage, favoured, perhaps, by a little more
breeze than had blown most of the morning. Still, our leeward set was
fearful, and, as we approached the reef, I gave all up. Marble screwed
his lips together, and his eyes never turned from the weather-leeches
of the sails. Everybody appeared to me to be holding his breath, as
the ship rose on the long ground-swells, sending slowly ahead the
whole time. We passed the nearest point of the rocks on one of the
rounded risings of the water, just touching lightly as we glided by
the visible danger. The blow was light, and gave little cause for
alarm. Captain Robbins now caught Mr. Marble by the hand, and was in
the very act of heartily shaking it, when the ship came down very much
in the manner that a man unexpectedly lights on a stone, when he has
no idea of having anything within two or three yards of his feet. The
blow was tremendous, throwing half the crew down; at the same instant,
all three of the topmasts went to leeward.

One has some difficulty in giving a reader accurate notions of the
confusion of so awful a scene. The motion of the vessel was arrested
suddenly, as it might be by a wall, and the whole fabric seemed to be
shaken to dissolution. The very next roller that came in, which would
have undulated in towards the land but for us, meeting with so large a
body in its way, piled up and broke upon our decks, covering
everything with water. At the same time, the hull lifted, and, aided
by wind, sea and current, it set still further on the reef, thumping
in a way to break strong iron bolts, like so many sticks of
sealing-wax, and cracking the solid live-oak of the floor-timbers as
if they were made of willow. The captain stood aghast! For one moment
despair was painfully depicted in his countenance; then he recovered
his self-possession and seamanship. He gave the order to stand by to
carry out to windward the stream-anchor in the launch, and to send a
kedge to haul out by, in the jolly-boat. Marble answered with the
usual "ay, ay, sir!" but before he sent us into the boats, he ventured
to suggest that the ship had bilged already. He had heard timbers
crack, about which he thought there could be no mistake. The pumps
were sounded, and the ship had seven feet water in her hold. This had
made in about ten minutes. Still the captain would not give up. He
ordered us to commence throwing the teas overboard, in order to
ascertain, if possible, the extent of the injury. A place was broken
out in the wake of the main-hatch, and a passage was opened down into
the lower-hold, where we met the water. In the mean time, a South-Sea
man we had picked up at Canton, dove down under the lee of the bilge
of the ship. He soon came back and reported that a piece of sharp rock
had gone quite through the planks. Everything tending to corroborate
this, the captain called a council of all hands on the quarter-deck,
to consult as to further measures.

A merchantman has no claim on the services of her crew after she is
hopelessly wrecked. The last have a lien in law, on the ship and
cargo, for their wages; and it is justly determined that when this
security fails, the claim for services ends. It followed, of course,
that as soon as the John was given over, we were all our own masters;
and hence the necessity for bringing even Neb into the consultation.
With a vessel of war it would have been different. In such a case, the
United States pays for the service, ship or no ship, wreck or no
wreck; and the seaman serves out his term of enlistment, be this
longer or shorter. Military discipline continues under all
circumstances.

Captain Robbins could hardly speak when we gathered round him on the
forecastle, the seas breaking over the quarter-deck in a way to render
that sanctuary a very uncomfortable berth. As soon as he could command
himself, he told us that the ship was hopelessly lost. How it had
happened, he could not very well explain himself, though he ascribed
it to the fact that the currents did not run in the direction in
which, according to all sound reasoning, they ought to run. This part
of the speech was not perfectly lucid, though, as I understood our
unfortunate captain, the laws of nature, owing to some inexplicable
influence, had departed, in some way or other, from their ordinary
workings, expressly to wreck the John. If this were not the meaning of
what he said, I did not understand this part of the address.

The captain was much more explicit after he got out of the current. He
told us that the island of Bourbon was only about four hundred miles
from where we then were, and he thought it possible to go that
distance, find some small craft, and come back, and still save part of
the cargo, the sails, anchors, &c. &c. We might make such a trip of it
as would give us all a lift, in the way of salvage, that might prove
some compensation for our other losses. This sounded well, and it had
at least the effect to give us some present object for our exertions;
it also made the danger we all ran of losing our lives, less
apparent. To land on the island of Madagascar, in that day, was out of
the question. The people were then believed to be far less civilized
than in truth they were, and had a particularly bad character among
mariners. Nothing remained, therefore, but to rig the boats, and make
immediate dispositions for our departure.

Now it was that we found the advantage of the preparations already
made. Little remained to be done, and that which was done, was much
better done than if we had waited until the wreck was half full of
water, and the seas were combing in upon her. The captain took charge
of the launch, putting Mr. Marble, Rupert, Neb, myself and the cook,
into the jolly-boat, with orders to keep as close as possible to
himself. Both boats had sails, and both were so arranged as to row in
calms, or head-winds. We took in rather more than our share of
provisions and water, having two skillful caterers in the chief-mate
and cook; and, having obtained a compass, quadrant, and a chart, for
our portion of the indispensables, all hands were ready for a start,
in about two hours after the ship had struck.

It was just noon when we cast off from the wreck, and stood directly
off the land. According to our calculations, the wind enabled us to
run, with a clean full, on our true course. As the boats drew out into
the ocean, we had abundant opportunities of discovering how many
dangers we had escaped; and, for my own part, I felt deeply grateful,
even then, as I was going out upon the wide Atlantic in a mere shell
of a boat, at the mercy we had experienced. No sooner were we fairly
in deep water, than the captain and mate had a dialogue on the subject
of the currents again. Notwithstanding all the difficulties his old
theory had brought him into, the former remained of opinion that the
true current set to windward, and that we should so find it as soon as
we got a little into the offing; while the mate was frank enough to
say he had been of opinion, all along, that it ran the other way. The
latter added that Bourbon was rather a small spot to steer for, and it
might be better to get into its longitude, and then find it by
meridian observations, than to make any more speculations about
matters of which we knew nothing.

The captain and Mr. Marble saw things differently, and we kept away
accordingly, when we ought to have luffed all we could. Fortunately
the weather continued moderate, or our little boat would have had a
bad time of it. We outsailed the launch with ease, and were forced to
reef in order not to part company. When the sun set, we were more than
twenty miles from the land, seeing no more of the coast, though the
mountains inland were still looming up grandly in the distance. I
confess, when night shut in upon us, and I found myself on the wide
ocean, in a boat much smaller than that with which I used to navigate
the Hudson, running every minute farther and farther into the watery
waste, I began to think of Clawbonny, and its security, and quiet
nights, and well-spread board, and comfortable beds in a way I had
never thought of either before. As for food, however, we were not
stinted; Mr. Marble setting us an example of using our teeth on the
half boiled pork, that did credit to his philosophy. To do this man
justice, he seemed to think a run of four hundred miles in a
jolly-boat no great matter, but took everything as regularly as if
still on the deck of the John. Each of us got as good a nap as our
cramped situations would allow.

The wind freshened in the morning, and the sea began to break. This
made it necessary to keep still more away, to prevent filling at
times, or to haul close up, which might have done equally well. But
the captain preferred the latter course, on account of the current. We
had ticklish work of it, in the jolly-boat, more than once that day,
and were compelled to carry a whole sail in order to keep up with the
launch, which beat us, now the wind had increased. Marble was a
terrible fellow to carry on everything, ship or boat, and we kept our
station admirably, the two boats never getting a cable's length
asunder, and running most of the time within hail of each other. As
night approached, however, a consultation was held on the subject of
keeping in company. We had now been out thirty hours, and had made
near a hundred and fifty miles, by our calculation. Luckily the wind
had got to be nearly west, and we were running ahead famously, though
it was as much as we could do to keep the jolly-boat from filling. One
hand was kept bailing most of the time, and sometimes all four of us
were busy. These matters were talked over, and the captain proposed
abandoning the jolly-boat altogether, and to take us into the launch,
though there was not much vacant space to receive us. But the mate
resisted this, answering that he thought he could take care of our
boat a while longer, at least. Accordingly, the old arrangement was
maintained, the party endeavouring to keep as near together as
possible.

About midnight it began to blow in squalls, and two or three times we
found it necessary to take in our sails, our oars, and pull the boat
head to sea, in order to prevent her swamping. The consequence was,
that we lost sight of the launch, and, though we always kept away to
our course as soon as the puffs would allow, when the sun rose we saw
nothing of our late companions. I have sometimes thought Mr. Marble
parted company on purpose, though he seemed much concerned next
morning when he had ascertained the launch was nowhere to be
seen. After looking about for an hour, and the wind moderating, we
made sail close on the wind; a direction that would soon have taken us
away from the launch, had the latter been close alongside when we
first took it. We made good progress all this day, and at evening,
having now been out fifty-four hours, we supposed ourselves to be
rather more than half-way on the road to our haven. It fell calm in
the night, and the next morning we got the wind right aft. This gave
us a famous shove, for we sometimes made six and seven knots in the
hour. The fair wind lasted thirty hours, during which time we must
have made more than a hundred and fifty miles, it falling nearly calm
about an hour before dawn, on the morning of the fourth day
out. Everybody was anxious to see the horizon that morning, and every
eye was turned to the east, with intense expectation, as the sun
rose. It was in vain; there was not the least sign of land
visible. Marble looked sadly disappointed, but he endeavoured to cheer
us up with the hope of seeing the island shortly. We were then heading
due east, with a very light breeze from the north-west. I happened to
stand up in the boat, on a thwart, and, turning my face to the
southward, I caught a glimpse of something that seemed like a hummock
of land in that quarter. I saw it but for an instant; but, whatever it
was, I saw it plain enough. Mr. Marble now got on the thwart, and
looked in vain to catch the same object. He said there was no land in
that quarter--could be none--and resumed his seat to steer to the
eastward, a little north. I could not be easy, however, but remained
on the thwart until the boat lifted on a swell higher than common, and
then I saw the brown, hazy-looking spot on the margin of the ocean
again. My protestations now became so earnest, that Marble consented
to stand for an hour in the direction I pointed out to him. "One hour,
boy, I will grant you, to shut your mouth," the mate said, taking out
his watch, "and that you need lay nothing to my door hereafter." To
make the most of this hour, I got my companions at the oars, and we
all pulled with hearty good-will. So much importance did I attach to
every fathom of distance made, that we did not rise from our seats
until the mate told us to stop rowing, for the hour was up. As for
himself, he had not risen either, but kept looking behind him to the
eastward, still hoping to see land somewhere in that quarter.

My heart beat violently as I got upon the thwart, but there lay my
hazy object, now never dipping at all. I shouted "land ho!" Marble
jumped up on a thwart, too and no longer disputed my word. It was
land, he admitted, and it must be the island of Bourbon, which we had
passed to the northward, and must soon have given a hopelessly wide
berth. We went to the oars again with renewed life, and soon made the
boat spin. All that day we kept rowing, until about five in the
afternoon, when we found ourselves within a few leagues of the island
of Bourbon, where we were met by a fresh breeze from the southward,
and were compelled to make sail. The wind was dead on end, and we made
stretches under the lee of the island, going about as we found the sea
getting to be too heavy for us, as was invariably the case whenever we
got too far east or west. In a word, a lee was fast becoming
necessary. By ten, we were within a mile of the shore, but saw no
place where we thought it safe to attempt a landing in the dark; a
long, heavy sea setting in round both sides of the island, though the
water did not break much where we remained. At length the wind got to
be so heavy, that we could not carry even our sail double-reefed, and
we kept two oars pulling lightly in, relieving each other every
hour. By daylight it blew tremendously, and glad enough were we to
find a little cove where it was possible to get ashore. I had then
never felt so grateful to Providence as I did when I got my feet on
_terra-firma_.

We remained on the island a week, hoping to see the launch and her
crew; but neither appeared. Then we got a passage to the Isle of
France, on arriving at which place we found the late gale was
considered to have been very serious. There was no American consul in
the island, at that time; and Mr. Marble, totally without credit or
means, found it impossible to obtain a craft of any sort to go to the
wreck in. We were without money, too, and, a homeward-bound Calcutta
vessel coming in, we joined her to work our passages home, Mr. Marble
as dickey, and the rest of us in the forecastle. This vessel was
called the Tigris, and belonged to Philadelphia. She was considered
one of the best ships out of America, and her master had a high
reputation for seamanship and activity. He was a little man of the
name of Digges, and was under thirty at the time I first knew him. He
took us on board purely out of a national feeling, for his ship was
strong-handed without us, having thirty-two souls, all told, when he
received us five. We afterwards learned that letters sent after the
ship had induced Captain Digges to get five additional hands in
Calcutta, in order to be able to meet the picaroons that were then
beginning to plunder American vessels, even on their own coast, under
the pretence of their having violated certain regulations made by the
two great belligerents of the day, in Europe. This was just the
commencement of the _quasi_ war which broke out a few weeks later
with France.

Of all these hostile symptoms, however, I then knew little and cared
less. Even Mr. Marble had never heard of them and we five joined the
Tigris merely to get passages home, without entertaining second
thoughts of running any risk, further than the ordinary dangers of the
seas.

The Tigris sailed the day we joined her, which was the third after we
reached Mauritius, and just fifteen days after we had left the
wreck. We went to sea with the wind at the southward, and had a good
run off the island, making more than a hundred miles that afternoon
and in the course of the night. Next morning, early, I had the watch,
and an order was given to set top-gallant studding-sails. Rupert and I
had got into the same watch on board this vessel, and we both went
aloft to reeve the gear. I had taken up the end of the halyards, and
had reeved them, and had overhauled the end down, when, in raising my
head, I saw two small lug-sails on the ocean, broad on our
weather-bow, which I recognised in an instant for those of the John's
launch. I cannot express the feeling that came over me at that sight.
I yelled, rather than shouted, "Sail ho!" and then, pushing in, I
caught hold of a royal-backstay, and was on deck in an instant. I
believe I made frantic gestures to windward, for Mr. Marble, who had
the watch, had to shake me sharply before I could let the fact be
known.

As soon as Marble comprehended me, and got the bearings of the boat,
he hauled down all the studding-sails, braced sharp up on a wind, set
the mainsail, and then sent down a report to Captain Digges for
orders. Our new commander was a humane man, and having been told our
whole story, he did not hesitate about confirming all that had been
done. As the people in the launch had made out the ship some time
before I saw the boat, the latter was running down upon us, and, in
about an hour, the tiny sails were descried from the deck. In less
than an hour after this, our mainyard swung round, throwing the
topsail aback, and the well-known launch of the John rounded-to close
under our lee; a rope was thrown, and the boat was hauled alongside.

Everybody in the Tigris was shocked when we came to get a look at the
condition of the strangers. One man, a powerful negro, lay dead in the
bottom of the boat; the body having been kept for a dreadful
alternative, in the event of his companions falling in with no other
relief. Three more of the men were nearly gone, and had to be whipped
on board as so many lifeless bales of goods. Captain Robbins and Kite,
both athletic, active men, resembled spectres, their eyes standing out
of their heads as if thrust from their sockets by some internal foe;
and when we spoke to them, they all seemed unable to answer. It was
not fasting, or want of food, that had reduced them to this state, so
much as want of water. It is true, they had no more bread left than
would keep body and soul together for a few hours longer; but of water
they had tasted not a drop for seventy odd hours! It appeared that,
during the gale, they had been compelled to empty the breakers to
lighten the boat, reserving only one for their immediate wants. By
some mistake, the one reserved was nearly half-empty at the time; and
Captain Robbins believed himself then so near Bourbon, as not to go on
an allowance until it was too late. In this condition had they been
searching for the island quite ten days, passing it, but never hitting
it. The winds had not favoured them, and, the last few days, the
weather had been such as to admit of no observation. Consequently,
they had been as much out of their reckoning in their latitude, as in
their longitude.

A gleam of intelligence, and I thought of pleasure, shot athwart the
countenance of Captain Robbins, as I helped him over the Tigris's
side. He saw I was safe. He tottered as he walked, and leaned heavily
on me for support. I was about to lead him aft, but his eye caught
sight of a scuttlebutt, and the tin-pot on its head. Thither he went,
and stretched out a trembling hand to the vessel. I gave him the pot
as it was, with about a wine-glass of water in it This he swallowed at
a gulp, and then tottered forward for more. By this time Captain
Digges joined us, and gave the proper directions how to proceed. All
the sufferers had water in small quantities given them, and it is
wonderful with what expressions of delight they received the grateful
beverage. As soon as they understood the necessity of keeping it as
long as possible in their mouths, and on their tongues, before
swallowing it, a little did them a great deal of good. After this, we
gave them some coffee, the breakfast being ready, and then a little
ship's biscuit soaked in wine. By such means every man was saved,
though it was near a month before all were themselves again. As for
Captain Robbins and Kite, they were enabled to attend to duty by the
end of a week, though nothing more was exacted of them than they chose
to perform.