358 TOUCH AND GO. 



hlankels, and consigned ourselves to repose. An hour or 

 two afterwards, it came on to blow liard, and what was 

 worse, to rain heavily; and having no shelter whatever, 

 we were soon in a very unenviable condition. But a still 

 greater evil threatened, for a little past dawn I was sud- 

 denly awakened from a broken slumber by heari]ig my 

 attendant exclaim, " She's gone, Sir ! she's gone ! " And 

 sure enough she was gone, for on turning my eyes sea- 

 wards, Ij to my great mortification, saw our little boat, at 

 some distance from the shore, careering helplessly on the 

 waves, which were fast driving her towards the rocks on 

 the opposite side of the bay. On these the sea was break- 

 ing heavily, and had she reached tliem she must inevitably 

 have been dashed to pieces. It appeared that though the 

 wind was otf the land, the swell had chafed the rope 

 by Avhich the boat was moored, and caused it to part. 

 The mast, with furled sail, was standing, and with the 

 exception of some trifling articles that we had taken on 

 shore, everything belonging to us, guns and stores 

 included, were on board of her. Matters did, indeed, 

 look black. Time admitted not of my reaching her by 

 swimming, which I should otherwise have attempted. As 

 kick would have it, however, there was a fisherman's hut 

 ■ — observed by us on the preceding evening — at no great 

 distance; so running thither at our best pace, we jumped 

 into the man's boat and pulled with all haste for our own, 

 which we happily succeeded in reaching as she was on the 

 point of being stranded. She had a double escape, for 

 whilst drifting across the bay in question, she slightly 

 touched, as we ourselves saw, on a sunken rock whereon 

 was much surf, and on which had she fairly struck, 

 she would certainly have been wrecked. On this very 

 rock, indeed, as the fisherman afterwards told us, a boat 

 containing seven peasant girls who were on their way to a 

 neighbouring market, was cajisized a few years previously, 



