"And the frigate?" I asked.

"The frigate?" replied Conseil, turning on his back;
"I think that master had better not count too much on her."

"You think so?"

"I say that, at the time I threw myself into the sea, I heard the men
at the wheel say, `The screw and the rudder are broken.'

"Broken?"

"Yes, broken by the monster's teeth. It is the only injury
the Abraham Lincoln has sustained. But it is a bad look-out for us--
she no longer answers her helm."

"Then we are lost!"

"Perhaps so," calmly answered Conseil. "However, we have still several
hours before us, and one can do a good deal in some hours."

Conseil's imperturbable coolness set me up again.
I swam more vigorously; but, cramped by my clothes, which stuck
to me like a leaden weight, I felt great difficulty in bearing up.
Conseil saw this.

"Will master let me make a slit?" said he; and, slipping an open knife
under my clothes, he ripped them up from top to bottom very rapidly.
Then he cleverly slipped them off me, while I swam for both of us.

Then I did the same for Conseil, and we continued to swim near
to each other.

Nevertheless, our situation was no less terrible.
Perhaps our disappearance had not been noticed; and, if it
had been, the frigate could not tack, being without its helm.
Conseil argued on this supposition, and laid his plans accordingly.
This quiet boy was perfectly self-possessed. We then decided that,
as our only chance of safety was being picked up by the Abraham
Lincoln's boats, we ought to manage so as to wait for them
as long as possible. I resolved then to husband our strength,
so that both should not be exhausted at the same time;
and this is how we managed: while one of us lay on our back,
quite still, with arms crossed, and legs stretched out,
the other would swim and push the other on in front.
This towing business did not last more than ten minutes each;
and relieving each other thus, we could swim on for some hours,
perhaps till day-break. Poor chance! but hope is so firmly
rooted in the heart of man! Moreover, there were two of us.
Indeed I declare (though it may seem improbable)
if I sought to destroy all hope--if I wished to despair,
I could not.

The collision of the frigate with the cetacean had
occurred about eleven o'clock in the evening before.
I reckoned then we should have eight hours to swim before sunrise,
an operation quite practicable if we relieved each other.
The sea, very calm, was in our favour. Sometimes I tried
to pierce the intense darkness that was only dispelled
by the phosphorescence caused by our movements.
I watched the luminous waves that broke over my hand,
whose mirror-like surface was spotted with silvery rings.
One might have said that we were in a bath of quicksilver.

Near one o'clock in the morning, I was seized with dreadful fatigue.
My limbs stiffened under the strain of violent cramp. Conseil was
obliged to keep me up, and our preservation devolved on him alone.
I heard the poor boy pant; his breathing became short and hurried.
I found that he could not keep up much longer.

"Leave me! leave me!" I said to him.

"Leave my master? Never!" replied he. "I would drown first."

Just then the moon appeared through the fringes of a
thick cloud that the wind was driving to the east.
The surface of the sea glittered with its rays.
This kindly light reanimated us. My head got better again.
I looked at all points of the horizon. I saw the frigate!
She was five miles from us, and looked like a dark mass,
hardly discernible. But no boats!

I would have cried out. But what good would it have been at such a distance!
My swollen lips could utter no sounds. Conseil could articulate some words,
and I heard him repeat at intervals, "Help! help!"

Our movements were suspended for an instant; we listened.
It might be only a singing in the ear, but it seemed to me
as if a cry answered the cry from Conseil.

"Did you hear?" I murmured.

"Yes! Yes!"

And Conseil gave one more despairing cry.

This time there was no mistake! A human voice responded to ours!
Was it the voice of another unfortunate creature, abandoned in the middle
of the ocean, some other victim of the shock sustained by the vessel?
Or rather was it a boat from the frigate, that was hailing us in the darkness?


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