Chapter 46 - Page 2

their sufferings in sleep.

After a time I fell into a restless, dreamy doze. I was neither
asleep nor awake. How long I remained in that state of stupor I
could hardly say, but at length a strange sensation half brought
me to myself. Was I dreaming, or was there not really some
unaccustomed odour floating in the air? My nostrils became
distended, and I could scarcely suppress a cry of astonishment;
but some instinct kept me quiet, and I laid myself down again
with the puzzled sensation sometimes experienced when we have
forgotten a word or name. Only a few minutes, however, had
elapsed before another still more savoury puff induced me to take
several long inhalations. Suddenly, the truth seemed to dash
across my mind. "Surely," I muttered to myself "this must be
cooked meat that I can smell."

Again and again I sniffed and became more convinced than ever
that my senses were not deceiving me. But from what part of the
raft could the smell proceed? I rose to my knees, and having
satisfied myself that the odour came from the front, I crept
stealthily as a cat under the sails and between the spars in that
direction. Following the promptings of my scent, rather than my
vision, like a bloodhound in the track of his prey, I searched
everywhere I could, now finding, now losing, the smell according
to my change of position, or the dropping of the wind. At length
I got the true scent; once for all, so that I could go straight
to the object for which I was in search.

Approaching the starboard angle of the raft, I came to the
conclusion that the smell that had thus keenly excited my
cravings was the smell of smoked bacon; the membranes of my
tongue almost bristled with the intenseness of my longing.

Crawling along a little farther, under a thick roll of sail-
cloth, I was not long in securing my prize. Forcing my arm below
the roll, I felt my hand in contact with something wrapped up in
paper. I clutched it up, and carried it off to a place where I
could examine it by the help of the light of the moon that had
now made its appearance above the horizon. I almost shrieked for
joy. It was a piece of bacon. True, it did not weigh many
ounces, but small as it was it would suffice to alleviate the
pangs of hunger for one day at least. I was just on the point of
raising it to my mouth, when a hand was laid upon my arm. It was
only by a most determined effort that I kept myself from
screaming out one instant more, and I found myself face to face
with Hobart.

In a moment I understood all. Plainly this rascal Hobart had
saved some provision from the wreck, upon which he had been
subsisting ever since. The steward had provided for himself,
whilst all around him were dying of