The question is, first, whether she can;
and, secondly, whether the captain is a humane man, and will do so at
his own inconvenience."
"There is but poor comfort in all that," replied Mr. Seagrave.
"It is useless holding out false hopes, sir," replied Ready; "but even
if the vessel continues her voyage, we have much to be thankful for."
"In what, Ready?"
"Why, sir, no one knew whether we were in existence or not, and
probably we never should have been searched for; but now we have made
it known, and by the ship's name on the flag they know who we are, and,
if they arrive safe in port, will not fail to communicate the
intelligence to your friends. Is not that a great deal to be thankful
for? We may not be taken off by this vessel, but we have every hope
that another will be sent out to us."
"Very true, Ready; I ought to have seen that before; but my despair and
disappointment were yesterday so great, that it almost took away my
reason."
The gale continued during the day, and showed no symptoms of abatement,
when they again retired for the night. The following day Ready was up
early, as usual, and William accompanied him to the beach.
"I don't think that it blows so hard as it did, Ready.
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