“Unless some sort of a sea monster boarded us in the night, I don’t see how the food and water could disappear,” said Tom.
“There’s no sea monsters that could do such a thing,” declared Joe, knowing Tom was only joking. “And yet—well, we’ll have to get along with less, that’s all.”
They were down now to almost the limit of human endurance in the allowance of food and water. All but Jackie—he had nearly all he asked for.
Half a week passed. Their sufferings had increased from day to day with the heat of the sun. Their lips and tongues began to swell and get black from lack of sufficient water, and their stomachs gnawed constantly from hunger. They were days of suffering indeed.
Their eyes were strained from looking for a sail, or a sight of land. They were weak and feverish. By dousing their bodies with sea water some of the pangs of thirst were lessened, but the matter of food could not be remedied.
Tom watched Mr. Skeel narrowly and it seemed that the professor did not suffer as did the others. Yet he did not appear to have any secret store of food or water. Indeed in a small boat it was difficult to imagine where he could hide it. Yet Tom was suspicious.
It was one cloudy night when our hero made his important discovery. It was his trick at the helm, and he had put Jackie to sleep, and moved aft to take the rude steering sweep. Professor Skeel’s position was well forward, in the bow, and the two sailors, worn out by their suffering and hardships, were lying amidships.
Tom began to feel light-headed. He imagined he saw land ahead in the darkness—a ship coming to their rescue—a ship filled with ice water and good things to eat. He imagined he heard his father and mother calling to him.
“Come, this won’t do!” he exclaimed, half aloud. “I must keep a better grip on myself. Maybe we’ll be rescued to-morrow.”
He stretched himself, and tried not to think of cool water and tables piled with food. And yet the more he tried to stop it, the more often did visions of great glass pitchers filled with ice water come before him. That day they had had only a single tin cup full of water each—one cup full for the whole hot day!