No time was there then for prayer or homily.

The body was simply rolled up in a blanket taken from his own bed, lashed tight at the head and foot with a piece of rope. To the ankles were lashed four of the shot with which the rascals on deck had favoured them; and, opening one of the large windows next the rudder-case, they permitted the body to drop gently, feet foremost, into the pale-green water that seethed under the counter.

It could be seen sinking slowly far down into the depths of the morning sea, where it vanished; but not soon enough to elude the keen instinct of some Cape pigeons and albatrosses, which gathered, with ravening beaks and flapping wings, about the place where the corpse went down, and where but a few spreading ripples appeared upon the trough of the rolling waves.

By her frothy wake astern, the Hermione seemed to be going through the water at the rate of six knots an hour, for the breeze was fresh and steady.

Some cold beef from the locker of poor Joe, and a glass of brandy-and-water, were served round for breakfast; and none spoke, though all thought of how they would fare when the last drop of water in the cabin was gone!

So passed the noon.

The ill-fated ship still ran north-eastward, increasing hourly, as Captain Phillips said, her chances of being overhauled by some homeward-bound ship—a chance on which their hopes of succour mainly depended now.



END OF VOL. II.



CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, CRYSTAL PALACE