266 The Story of the New England Whalers 



by her; that she was a-workin' up to windward 

 to look for us, and had reached so far over our 

 track as to be out of our sight when we passed her. 

 'So/says he, * 'tain't no use to run off any further, 

 and 'tain't no use pullin' to windward, and the 

 best thing we can do is jist to lay still, and she'll 

 cruise about till she finds us/ 



"Well, we laid still for twenty-four hours longer, 

 and then our grub was very near all used up, 

 and things was a-lookin' bad for us; so we set 

 sail and concluded we'd reach back and forth on 

 a wind, and we done so ... till near six o'clock, 

 when just as we was a-goin' round one of the 

 chaps who had stood up for to git a good look 

 sings out 'Land ho!' Up we all jumped in a 

 jiffy, and there, sure enough, about two p'ints 

 on the lee bow, was a small island." 



They landed on the island at daylight the next 

 morning. It was one of the coral reefs common to 

 certain parts of the Pacific, and one not found on 

 the charts. 



"What we wanted jist then more than anythin' 

 else was somethin' for to drink. We hadn't had 

 no water for nearly twenty-four hours. You may 



