Fritz, as well as his brothers, now slept soundly. Throughout the night my wife and I maintained our prayerful watch, dreading at every fresh sound some fatal change in the position of the wreck.
At length the faint dawn of day appeared, the long weary night was over, and with thankful hearts we perceived that the gale had begun to moderate; blue sky was seen above us, and the lovely hues of sunrise adorned the eastern horizon.
I aroused the boys, and we assembled on the remaining portion of the deck, when they, to their surprise, discovered that no one else was on board.
`Hallo, papa! What has become of everybody? Are the sailors gone? Have they taken away the boats? Oh, papa! why did they leave us behind? What can we do by ourselves!'
`My good children,' I replied, `we must not despair, although we seem deserted. See how those on whose skill and good faith we depended have left us cruelly to our fate in the hour of danger. God will never do so. He has not forsaken us, and we will trust Him still. Only let us bestir ourselves, and each cheerily do his best. Who has anything to propose?'
`The sea will soon be calm enough for swimming,' said Fritz.
`And that would be all very fine for you,' exclaimed Ernest, `for you can swim, but think of mother and the rest of us! Why not build a raft and all get on shore together?'
`We should find it difficult, I think, to make a raft that would carry us safe to shore. However, we must contrive something, and first let each try to procure what will be of most use to us.'
Away we all went to see what was to be found, I myself proceeding to examine, as of greatest consequence, the supplies of provisions and fresh water within our reach.
My wife took her youngest son, Franz, to help her to attend to the unfortunate animals on board, who were in a pitiful plight, having been neglected for several days.