Chapter Nine.
A Calm.—The canoe floats motionless on the ocean.—Many of our number appear to be dying for want of water.—I fear chiefly for Maud, when a sail is seen, and, with a rising breeze, she approaches.—We are received on board the “True Love,” and kindly treated by Captain Hudson and his wife.
The canoe still floated motionless on the calm ocean, which shone like a sheet of burnished gold. Maud and I lay in each other’s arms, expecting thus to die. Still we could whisper together, and talk of the glories of that heaven we hoped soon to reach. Abela sat like a mother watching over us, but she too was sinking. Of the heathen crew several appeared to be dying, if they were not already dead; but others, who had listened to the Word of Life, gathered round us that they might hear the instruction which Abela, as long as she had the power of speech, afforded them. Young Tofa bore up bravely, and Mr Norton struggled wonderfully with his sufferings. He occasionally rose to his feet and gazed around, as if he still hoped help would come ere it was too late. Another day I felt sure must terminate the existence of most of those on board.
I closed my eyes, feeling a faintness coming over me, when I was aroused by Mr Norton’s voice. I saw him standing up, with his arms outstretched, and his dim eye lighted up.
“A sail! a sail!” he exclaimed. “She is bringing up the breeze—she is standing this way.”
This announcement gave me a strength I did not believe that I possessed—I raised Maud in my arms. “We shall be saved, dearest; our prayers have been heard,” I whispered. She opened her eyes, and seemed to comprehend me.
“We must make a signal, or the vessel may pass us,” said Mr Norton. “Can you direct the natives to assist me? The broken spars, if lashed together, will answer for a flagstaff.”
I explained what the young Englishman required, and Tofa and a few others, although scarcely able to lift themselves from the deck, secured the spars, and fastened them together as he desired. A piece of matting answered for a flag, and the flagstaff was held up on the deck.
How eagerly we watched the distant sail.
“She looks like a whaler, and if so, a bright look-out is certain to be kept on board,” observed Mr Norton.