"Considering the breeze we have got, I should say five or six knots an
hour," he answered.
"Beg pardon, sir," said Ben, who overheard him; "you forget, I dare say,
that this raft does not sail like a boat. I suspect that we don't get
much more than three or four knots out of her."
"I believe you are right, Ben," answered Boxall. "In that case, it will
take us an hour or so more than I calculated on to gain the shore.
However, it may be to our advantage, for it will be far safer to land
when it is calm than with so strong a breeze as is now blowing. At all
events, unless the wind changes, we shall reach the shore at last."
Another hour went by. According to Boxall's predictions, the weather
was improving. The dark clouds which had obscured the sky cleared away,
and the stars shone forth brightly as before; still the wind did not
decrease, and the seas kept tumbling, foaming, and hissing around us as
before. More than once we looked astern, thinking it possible that the
large raft might be again within sight; but no sign of her could be
seen. By degrees we had got accustomed to the tossing and the
occasional breaking of the seas over us, and even had we expected to
perform a much longer voyage we should not have complained; indeed, it
now seems surprising to me how little concerned we all appeared to be.
We were running much as we had been doing for the last three hours, when
Ben exclaimed, "Land! land!"--and directly afterwards, "Breakers ahead!"
We all looked out under the sail at what appeared to be the dark outline
of a hilly country,--it seemed strange that we had not seen it before,--
while the intervening line of white foaming breakers stretched out
parallel with the coast, and threatened our destruction before we could
reach it.
"Do you see any opening through which we may pass, Ben?" asked Boxall.
"No, sir; none at all," answered Ben. "All we can do is to hold fast to
the raft, and pray that we may be earned through the breakers."
"Had we not better lower the sail, then, and keep the raft off till
daylight?" I asked.
"We may lower the sail; but all the strength we possess could not keep
us out of the breakers," answered Boxall. "We had better do as Ben
suggests--stand on, and hope to be carried safe through them. Hold
fast, all of you!" cried Boxall; "here we are close upon them."
As he spoke, we saw the waters hissing and foaming and dancing up to a
prodigious height, as it appeared, directly before us, while the land
rose still more distinctly behind them. The next instant we were in
their midst.
"Hold fast! hold fast!" again shouted Boxall, "and we shall be carried
safely through."
The breakers did not appear so high as they had done a little way off,
and we all had hopes that Boxall's predictions would prove correct. But
we had not much time for thinking; my head whirled and I felt giddy as I
looked at the tumbling, foaming waters surrounding us. The raft lifted
on the top of a sea, and came down with a fearful crash on a rock; and I
felt myself torn from the grasp I had of the raft, and carried far away
from it. I looked for my companions, and distinguished Halliday
struggling near me. Striking out, I caught hold of him and urged him to
endeavour to reach the shore, which appeared at no great distance before
us. I then shouted to the rest of my companions, and was thankful to
hear Boxall's voice.
"Strike out ahead; we have not far to swim," he answered, and presently
he was close up to us. Neither Ben nor Jose, however, replied to our
shouts; but self-preservation compelled us to try and make the best of
our way to the shore, without attempting to look for them.
We had not struck out far when I felt my feet touch something. For an
instant the horrid thought occurred to me that it might be a shark; but
I retained my presence of mind,--and directly afterwards, greatly to my
astonishment, I felt my feet touching the ground. I told my companions;
and soon we all found ourselves standing, with the water scarcely up to
our armpits. Still, though we distinctly saw the shore, it appeared to
be a long way off. We now stopped to look around us. Not far-off, on
one side, rose a rock to a considerable height, as it seemed, above the
water. Believing that we were on a sand-bank, and that we might
possibly have to swim a considerable distance, we agreed to make for the
rock and rest on it till daylight. Holding each other's hands, we
accordingly waded on, when suddenly we found that we had reached the
rock,--on which we without difficulty climbed. The upper part of it,
which was much lower than we expected, was perfectly dry; showing that
the sea, in moderate weather, did not break over it. Boxall was of
opinion that we had struck on a reef which extended parallel with the
coast, and broke the force of the waves, and that we were in an
intervening lagoon,--so that should it be now low water, which he
thought probable, we could have no difficulty in reaching the shore.
We again shouted to Ben and Jose, but no reply came; and fearing that
they must have been lost, we gave up calling to them and sat down.
The wind fell soon afterwards, and wet through as we were, by sheltering
ourselves in a crevice of the rock we did not suffer much from the cold.
After waiting for some time, we found that the tide was ebbing.
"If we wait till the morning we shall have high-water again; and in my
opinion we shall be wise to try and get on shore at once," said Boxall.
Halliday and I agreed with him; for, our strength being restored, we
were anxious to find ourselves safe on dry ground. We could not,
however, fail to grieve for the loss of Ben, who had been so faithful to
us; and also for his companion, Jose, who seemed a truly honest fellow.
"Now," said Boxall, "let us start."
"We are ready," answered Halliday; and he and I following Boxall's
example by slipping off the rock, found ourselves in water scarcely up
to our middle and once more began to wade towards the shore.