"But you will think I am never going to begin.
"It is a story I once read. I do not know that I can tell it you in the same words, nor do I know where I read it, but I am sure you will like it," she said.
"There was once a large vessel. She was making a long voyage, and there were a great many people on board.
"She had been driven out of her course by long stress of bad weather, and, unable to reach the port where they usually took in water, the people began to be very short of it.
"At first they were reduced to a very small quantity, but as the days passed on they had less and less, and at last every drop of fresh water was gone.
"Oh, how desolate and sad were those poor forlorn people! Oh, the terrible pangs which that thirst gave them!
"They stood on deck straining their eyes for the sight of land, or for a friendly ship which might give them a little, till they should reach the port.
"Worse and worse got that thirst, and as the sun's rays poured down upon them, they would many of them have exchanged their misery for death, if they could have chosen.
"At last a sail came in sight. They made signals of distress, and then waited in agony to see if they would be attended to.
"Yes; the steamer altered her course and came slowly—oh, so slowly it seemed!—towards them.