CHAPTER II.--A WEARY TIME.
Yes, it was indeed a weary time that succeeded the alarming news brought one morning to Captain Talbot. For when the steward went to draw water from a cask, he found the wooden tap leaking, and naturally endeavoured to send it home a little. At the very moment he did so the whole collapsed, and the remains of the ant-eaten staves floated away in dust or little else.
All the other casks were found to be in the same condition, so that the mariners had nothing now to fall back upon except a kind of artificial rain-water well, which they had found on the surface of a rock, and this was most carefully covered over to prevent its evaporation by the rays of the sun.
What a terrible outlook! And no signs were there of further rain, not even the tiniest cloud.
Well might they pray for rain now as did the prophet of old, for if it fell not soon, sad indeed must be the fate of all.
The captain and first mate now held a consultation, and that night it was decided that they should endeavour to build a boat of some kind, and therein sail for the distant mainland.
Pity it was they had not thought of this sooner, for in two hours after the decision had been arrived at, another circular storm arose. Such storms in the Indian Ocean are not infrequent, and terrible they are while they rage.
Rain fell at first and at the latter part of it, otherwise it was a burning hot wind, that caused one to choke and gasp for breath. Nostrils and lips became dry, the mouth parched, and the eyes were like coals of fire beneath their lids.
On this occasion the sea rose higher than it had done before.
A huge ocean bore, that could be seen even in the uncertain light of the stars, came roaring on towards the rocks, and the spray dashed high over the camp.