I at once felt much
warmer, and I took half a glassful with some water and drank it
with the oatcake and cold bacon that I ate.
Going on deck again, I felt much more comfortable; but the spirits
that had warmed my vitals soon had an effect upon me that I had not
counted upon. My eyesight became hazy, and I felt terribly
sleepy--so sleepy that I could not remain at the helm for fear of
falling into a slumber at my post. So I tied up the tiller, and,
for the rest of the night, walked the deck, only altering the
schooner's course when I thought that she was being driven too far
from the spot where the boat had put off.
All the night through I peered over the dark sea, and at intervals
raised my voice, in the faint hope of coming across the boat. But
for all the lookout that I kept, never a boat could I see; and for
all my shouting, never a response to my cries could I hear.
Whatever had become of the skipper--whether he had been picked up
or was drowned--the mate and Jerry were gone, and I, the youngest
of the crew, was left alone on the Falcon to bring her back to
port, if haply I was not taken by her across the dreary waste of
ocean to some terrible and unknown destiny.
Chapter XXXI. An Arctic Waif.
When the dim light of dawn fell upon the sea I looked over the gray
waters through the telescope.
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