out; for, on sending out two bonds to search for it, they soon returned with intelligence that they had found a large pond of fresh water within a quarter of a mile of the tent.
It must not be imagined that because the course of events had prevented me from dwelling on our anything but enviable condition, that it had not been a subject of great uneasiness to me. During the whole of that day—and it appeared awfully long—we had been on the look-out for assistance from the brig. I had kept my glass almost constantly to my eye in the hope of seeing some one out in search of us. At last, towards afternoon, I saw a dark speck which rounded the western extremity of Montserrat, and for some time I thought it was coming towards us. It eventually turned out to be a boat. I was on tip-toe of excitement, and we tried all sorts of devices to make the colours fly, so as to attract their attention. At last they got so near that I could make out that it was the brig’s pinnace, and that she was constantly cruising about in search of us, and we shouted with all our might; but it was a most ridiculous thing, for the boat was at least five miles from us, and therefore we were only shouting to the winds.
It is not easy for me to express the joy we experienced as the boat seemed to near us; but it will be still less easy to depict our consternation when we saw her suddenly bear up and return to Montserrat. Gradually she vanished from our sight, and the feeling we experienced as we saw her disappear was dreadful. Not that we were in any danger of starvation, or any of those extreme miseries which shipwrecked mariners often are exposed to, for we had plenty of water, and we could always make a meal of boobies, though their flesh is rather tough and fishy, or, following the tactics of the frigate-bird, make them disgorge
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as soon as they land, and thereby get a good meal of fish. But it was the suspense and inconvenience. In short, no one who had not been placed in a similar situation could have any idea of the fretful inquietude I experienced when I saw what, to us, appeared our last chance vanishing from our view.
The shades of evening again closed around us; not a craft of any description had passed the island during the day. When night came, and no assistance was to be expected, a thought struck me which I instantly acted on. Collecting all the debris of the boat, I set fire to it in the hope that it might attract attention and bring us succour. The wood being well-seasoned and saturated with pitch and tar blazed up into such a huge volume of flame that I felt sure it could not only be seen at Montserrat, but also at Guadaloupe. The higher the flames rose, the higher rose our spirits, and I only wondered none of us had thought of this device before. I walked about on the brow of the cliff in the greatest perturbation of mind, listening for any sound that would indicate succour; but none came, and we all sat down to our frugal suppers with feelings of great despondency.
Just as we were thinking of turning in for the night, and as the last expiring embers of the fire were slowly dying out, we heard—or rather thought we heard—a shout; at first faint, as it were the booming of the sea, but which momentarily became louder and nearer. And then, to our joy and satisfaction, there suddenly shot up a bright blue flame, in the glare of which we could perceive two boats coming to our rescue. Any one who has seen a blue light burnt at sea can imagine the unearthly appearance which objects have when seen in its blue spectral flare. Simultaneously, as if it had been one man, we sent forth such a shout of welcome as made the vaults of heaven