Part 8 (1/2)
”Rocket? Well, yes, she may, but I doubt whether we could see it at this distance”
”Then she is very far-away?”
”Very, ht”
”And suppose we have lost sight of her altogether, sir--what then?”
”What then? Oh, don't let's calculate upon things that are barely possible Captains in Her Majesty's service are too particular about their juniors and shi+p's company to leave a boat's crew in the lurch”
”Yes, but Captain Maitland ain, sir”
”Coe you ought to be hopeful, and setthe worst”
”Who's going to be hopeful,” muttered Tom Fillot to the er aboard? Strikes me that we're in for a spell o' bad luck, mates”
”What's that?” cried the lieutenant
”Only having a bit of a grumble, your honour, about our luck,” said theas if it was ti to eat and drink
That's all, sir”
The man's oar dipped steadily as he spoke, and after that there was a dead silence on board The last drop of water had been swabbed up and squeezed overboard, and the exercise had helped to dry the ress was kept up, and after fighting back a heavy, drowsy feeling, Mark sat watching the setting stars away straight before him in the direction in which the _Nautilus_ had disappeared Twenty tiht would never end, and in spite of his officer's cheering utterances, his spirits sank very low, as he wondered whether it would not have been better if the boat's head had been turned, so that they ht have rowed due east, to make the land froan to sink lower, and the sky to grow of a darker slaty colour, while the regular beat of the men's oars sounded distant--then very softly--and then ceased altogether, or so it appeared to Mark Vandean, who suddenly opened his eyes with a start, and gazed wonderingly about hiold
”Have I been to sleep, sir?” he cried apologetically
”Yes, my lad; sound asleep for hours”
”And the shi+p, sir--can you see the _Nautilus_?”
”No, my lad,” said the lieutenant, in a voice which he tried to make cheerful, but whose tones spoke of the deep despondency in his breast
”She is not in sight yet”
The lanced sharply at the heavy, saddened countenances of the hts, that they were far-away on the wide ocean in an open boat without food or water, exhausted by a long night's rowing, and in an hour the torrid sun would be beating down upon their heads
Hunger--thirst--heat--all three to fight; but there was a worse enemy still--despair, as a torrent of recollections flashed through the lad's brain, and he felt that unless the _Nautilus_ hove in sight, their position was less to be envied than that of the poor negro lying dead beneath the flat which hid his face froht
CHAPTER SEVEN
A TERRIBLE TASK
Hunger at first--a sharp, grinding sensation of hunger attacked Mark Vandean; but as the sun rose higher this was forgotten in the intense thirst For the heat rapidly grew scorching, and then, as Mark thought, burning, and saving the flag in the stern-sheets there was not a scrap of anything that could be used for an awning
Every eye was strained ard in search of the returning _Nautilus_, but in the clear n of her; and as the sun rose higher, the distance becarew more dense as the hours went on, till it was impossible to see aof the at the power of the rays of the sun
”We shall never be able to see the shi+p, Mr Russell,” said Mark towardsslowly and falling upon the sain?”
”Sure to, lad you have spoken