A HARD STRUGGLE 219 



As for Bernardo, he had now been nearly thirty hours without 

 food ; indeed, to be accurate, he had been fifty hours without food, 

 thirty of them in the launch, for we had started work on a matd. 

 If we could have made him hear, he might have attached a line 

 to the life-buoy and floated her off, and we could have sent him 

 back supplies. 



We had made certain of another night of discomfort, so we 

 gathered another big pile of firewood. Cattle's leg, that he had 

 strained on the previous day, was giving him much pain. But 

 when the sun was already dipping behind the summits of the 

 Cordillera the storm began to lull. We had little hope that 

 Bernardo could stand out much longer against starvation, so after 

 half an hour, as the seas were going down, we thought it well to 

 try and get off to the launch. 



We went down to the beach, and, after much hailing, roused 

 the Swede. By signs I told him to come in as close as he dared, 

 which meant to within twenty or twenty-five yards of the shingle. 

 This time he got her in a better position, and we stripped and 

 waded in with the wood. It took us about forty journeys, and the 

 water was abominably cold. I do not think two men ever worked 

 much harder during the time we were at it, so before very long we 

 were on board with everything. 



Fearing to remain near the shore we got up steam, and with 

 exceeding thankfulness bade good-bye to that inhospitable beach. 

 I asked Bernardo how much longer he thought he could have held 

 out. He said two days, and, in fact, appeared to think he had 

 been better off with the blankets and his pipe and the warmth of 

 the fore-hatch than we with food on shore. First and last he was 

 a fine fellow, patient, quiet and hard-working. As to his being 

 better ofT than Cattle and myself, that was a matter of individual 

 taste, I suppose. As a rule, indeed, the average man will, as far 

 as my experience goes, sacrifice his food to his bed nearly every 

 time, especially when the wind is blowing out of the snows. 



Evening soon settled down into night, and we ran on by star- 

 light to our next anchorage, an almost land-locked bay, where we 

 made merry on the remains of the ostrich. I also discovered some 

 flour in the afterhold which had been overlooked, enough to make 



