1900] Last Days on the Wreck 359 



perhaps at one's impiety at seeking to set foot on it, and for the attitude 

 I have taken of having complained or his dereliction of his duty and 

 neglect of the World and Man. Towards morning just in front of us 

 stood the Scorpion, for the sky was clear, and it reminded me of many 

 things. It was then that Miss Lawrence used the words that I have 

 recorded. This is the worst night that we have passed, and there seems 

 little left to hope. 



" 12th March, — Our fourth day on the reef, which is whiter than 

 ever with foam — the wind stronger and the waves higher. The cabins 

 aft are flooded, and the people are leaving them, and crowding on to 

 the bridge. Nevertheless there is a more cheerful feeling, for at eight 

 o'clock a vessel approached which was recognized as one of the 

 Khedivial Line Steamers, the Misr, evidently sent out to look for us. 

 We could not, however, communicate with her, as there is no system 

 of signalling on board, and the sea is far too big for them to launch a 

 boat; they have therefore gone back in the direction of Tor, waiting 

 we suppose for the wind to moderate. This gives us something to 

 hope for, and all agree that the gale cannot last much longer, and that 

 the ship is too fast on the reef to be in immediate danger — only that 

 the pilgrims are in straits for water, and I hear that a woman and child 

 have died. The stewards, meanwhile (for the government of the 

 vessel and the administration of the supplies are abominable) are 

 selling soda at exorbitant prices to the richer people. We dare not 

 give away our water yet, as it would be drunk up at once, but we give 

 oranges. Personally I have not drunk a tumbler of water in the last 

 three days and have eaten nothing but half-a-dozen oranges. The 

 morphia I have taken does away with both thirst and hunger, there is 

 much dampness too in the air, and the pilgrims I think suffer much 

 less from thirst itself than the thought of it, knowing there is no water. 

 Most of them come from the northern countries where water abounds, 

 and the thought of being without it frightens them, as it does not 

 frighten the Arabs. They make very little complaint, however, con- 

 sidering how hardly they are treated. I go on writing my journal and 

 reading and dozing between times. The sun is shining brilliantly, and 

 we are not so uncomfortable for the waves do not reach us, and the 

 spray here and on the forecastle is not very wetting. It is at night 

 that the gloomy thoughts come. 



" There is a Greek boatswain or second officer who tells me that he 

 has been eight times wrecked, and twice in this same Chibinc. If 

 I get safe on shore this time,' he said, ' I go to sea no more. I sell 

 oranges for a living, it is better.' He is certainly right. They have 

 finished two rafts, or rather punts, unseaworthy looking craft, which 

 I should be loath to embark in. The thought of the Red Sea sharks 



