"Since yesterday morning," she answered, in a choking voice painful to
hear, and gulping after each word. "We have not had a drop of water to
drink since the night before last. He is mad with thirst, for he drank
the water on the deck;" and she pointed to the man in the bottom of the
boat.
"My God!" I cried to the men, "do you hear her? They have not drunk
water for two days! For the love of God, give way!"
They bent their backs to the oars, and the boat foamed over the long
swell. The wind was astern and helped us. I did not speak again to
the poor girl; for it was cruel to make her talk, when the words
lacerated her throat as though they were pieces of burning iron.
After twenty minutes, which seemed as many hours, we reached the
vessel. The crew pressing round the gangway cheered when they saw we
had brought people from the wreck. Duckling and the skipper watched us
grimly from the poop.
"Now then, my lads," I cried, "up with this lady first. Some of you on
deck get water ready, as these people are dying of thirst."
In a few minutes, both the girl and the old man were handed over the
gangway. I cut the boat's painter adrift from the ringbolt so that we
could ship the madman without loosening his bonds, and he was hoisted
up like a bale of goods. Then four of us got out of the boat, leaving
one to drop her under the davits and hook on the falls.
At this moment a horrible scene took place.
The old man, tottering on the arms of two seamen, was being led into
the cuddy, followed by the girl, who walked unaided. The madman, in
the grasp of the big sailor named Johnson, stood near the gangway; and
as I scrambled on deck, one of the men was holding a pannikin full of
water to his face. The poor wretch was shrinking away from it, with
his eyes half out of their sockets; but suddenly tearing his arm with a
violent effort from the rope that bound him, he seized the pannikin and
bit clean through the tin; after which, throwing back his head, he
swallowed the whole draught dashed the pannikin down, his face turned
black and he fell dead on the deck.
The big sailor sprung aside with an oath, forced from him by his
terror; and from every looker-on there broke a groan. They all shrunk
away and stood staring with blanched faces. Such a piteous sight as it
was, lying doubled up, with the rope pinioning the miserable limbs, the
teeth locked, and the right arm uptossed!
"Aft here and get the quarter-boat hoisted up!" shouted Duckling,
advancing on the poop; and seeing the man dead on the deck, he added,
"Get a tarpaulin and cover him up, and let him lie on the fore-hatch."
"Shall I tell the steward to serve out grog to the men who went with
me?" I asked him.
He stared at me contemptuously, and walked away without answering.