Part 27 (1/2)

The rest Jack and Bill had obtained while their raft was under sail enabled theour as at first; and row they did with ht depend upon their exertions

The cal, for they had expected to be wafted quickly across the Channel, and row as hard as they could, their progressfor a couple of hours or more, they found themselves apparently no nearer the shi+p ahead than they had been at first

At length hunger compelled them to lay in their oars and take some breakfast They ate a hearty one, for they had plenty of provisions; but on exa their stock of water they found that they ht run short of that necessary of life

After a short rest, Bill sprang to his feet

”It won't do to be stopping,” he observed ”If we only , and we shall be so much nearer home, and so much farther away from the French shore”

”I'm afraid that when theafter us,” said Jack ”They will be ashalish boys, and will do all they can to bring us back”

”I believe you are right, Jack,” replied Bill; ”only, as they certainly will not be able to see us from the shore, they won't knohat direction to pull, andthe coast”

”They'll guess well enough that we should have pulled to the nor'ard, and will be able to calculate by the set of the tide whereabouts to find us,” said Jack ”Wesafe as yet I wonder what that vessel to the eastward is She's a shi+p, for I can see her royals above the horizon, and she's certainly nearer than e firstto the ard, then, and will, I hope, pass inside of us, should the breeze spring up again from the same quarter,”

observed Bill ”She's probably French, or she would not be so close in with the coast”

”As to that, our cruisers stand in close enough at ti,” answered Jack

”Unless we are certain that she's English we shall be wiser to avoid her,” remarked Bill, ”so we'll pull away to the nor'ard”

”But what do you think of the shi+p out there?” asked Jack, pointing ahead

”I cannot help believing that she's English,” said Bill ”Weseen by her We shall have to pull on a good s up, she'll pretty quickly run either to the eastward or ard”

The boys, however, after all their remarks, could arrive at no conclusion They rowed and rowed, but still appeared not to have ard either to the shore or the two vessels in sight

The sun rose high above their heads and struck doith considerable force; but they cared little for the heat, though it made them apply more frequently than they otherould have done to their water-cask

Bill had more than once to warn Jack not to drink tooon, and at last Jack proposed that they should have another rest and take so ourselves, and the more we eat the better we shall be able to pull,” he said

Bill was not quite of this opinion At the sareed to Jack's proposal, as his ar very weary

They had just finished their dinner when Jack, getting up on the chest in which the ht have a better look-out, exclailanced on it There's a breeze in shore, depend on it, and it will reach us before long”

Bill juuish the sail, but he thought by the darker colour of the water to the southward that a breeze was playing over it, though it had not as yet got as far as they were They again took to their oars and pulled on Jack, however, occasionally turned round to look to the southward, for he entertained the uncomfortable idea that they were pursued

They were now, they agreed, nearer the shi+p to the northward Her lofty sails ht westerly air, which did not reach close down to the water, and had sent her along two or three knots an hour

They could see half-way down her courses, and Jack declared his belief that she was a frigate, but whether English or French he could not determine

Unless, however, they were to hoist their sail, theydiscovered, and the course she was steering would take her somewhat to the eastward of them