At length the night wore away, and the dawn broke upon the desolate sea.
Presently the sun came up, for which at first we were thankful, for we
were chilled to the bone, but soon its heat grew intolerable, since we
had neither food nor water in the boat, and already we were parched with
thirst. But now the wind had fallen to a steady breeze, and with the
help of the oars and a blanket, we contrived to fashion a sail that drew
us through the water at a good speed. But the ocean was vast, and we
did not know whither we were sailing, and every hour the agony of thirst
pressed us more closely. Towards mid-day a child died suddenly and was
thrown into the sea, and some three hours later the mother filled a
bailing bowl and drank deep of the bitter water. For a while it seemed
to assuage her thirst, then suddenly a madness took her, and springing
up she cast herself overboard and sank. Before the sun, glowing like a
red-hot ball, had sunk beneath the horizon, the priest and I were the
only ones in that company who could sit upright--the rest lay upon the
bottom of the boat heaped one on another like dying fish groaning in
their misery. Night fell at last and brought us some relief from our
sufferings, for the air grew cooler. But the rain we prayed for did
not fall, and so great was the heat that, when the sun rose again in a
cloudless sky, we knew, if no help reached us, that it must be the last
which we should see.
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