Charles laughed. "I must not disappoint you, then, Mrs Clagget," he said. "But were I to give you more than the outline of my adventures, I should have to spin you too long a yarn; so you must excuse me if I somewhat curtail my story. Soon after we shoved off from the ship, we saw the lifebuoy, and Tom Bowline, the man who had fallen overboard, clinging to it, and driving away to leeward. We followed, and not without difficulty got him at last on board. We then attempted to secure the buoy, and while so doing, a heavy sea broke over us, and nearly swamped the boat. She had, we found, so slight a hold of the water that she drifted away even faster than the lifebuoy. One of the oars had been broken, and another was carried away while we were trying to haul in the lifebuoy. We thus in vain attempted to pull back to the ship, and found ourselves every instant increasing our distance from her. Sometimes, as we sank into the trough of the sea, she was hidden from our sight, and we knew, consequently, that we could not be seen from her deck; besides this, from the colour of the boat, when we were on the crest of the sea, we were well aware that she could scarcely be distinguished from the foaming water around. At length we saw the yards swung round, and then we knew that we must have been given up for lost. To reach her was impossible. You may fancy, my dear sisters, how acutely I felt for you, knowing the grief my supposed loss must cause you. That, indeed, was the hardest thing to bear. Our hopes revived when we saw the ship wear round, and stand back again nearly across the spot where Tom had fallen overboard; but she kept too far to windward. Though we could not row with any effect, we determined to try and sail. Happily, Jack Ivyleaf and Tom Loftus had in the morning been reclining at their ease in the boat to smoke their cigars, and, to make themselves comfortable, had thrown in some rugs and blankets. With these we devised some sails, the broken oar was fitted as a bowsprit, and two other oars were stepped as masts. Some of the emigrants had, fortunately for us, also left a child's mattress in the boat. This, split open, formed a jib and fore-staysail We had a coil of rope, with which we fitted the stays and sheets. Our sails answered better than we expected; but we found that we could not lie sufficiently close to the wind to get up to the ship. Our disappointment was great when we saw her again standing on her course. Night was approaching, and we were by this time some five miles away; still, while the light lasted, we could clearly trace the rise and fall of her bowsprit with the swell of the sea. Bill Windy, however, did his best to keep up our spirits. `Never fear, lads,' he exclaimed, `we are slipping along at a good rate through the water, and we shall not be so very far astern of the old ship after all; perhaps at daylight, when the sea goes down, as it is doing fast,