Accidents > Dangers of the deep, or, Narratives of shipwreck and adventure at sea

304 BURNING OF THE PRINCE,
afforded whatever thread was necessary;
the piece of scarlet cloth was substituted
for a sail; an oar was erected for a mast,
and a plank served for a rudder. The equip¬
ment of the boat was soon completed, not¬
withstanding the darkness of the night, at
least as well as circumstances would allow.
Yet a great difficulty remained, for wanting
charts and instruments, and being nearly 200
leagues from land, the party felt at a loss
what course to steer. Resigning themselves
to the Almighty, they offered up fervent
prayers for his direction.
At length the sail was hoisted, and a fa¬
vourable breeze soon wafted Lieutenant de la
Fond from amidst the bodies of his miserable
comrades.
Eight days and nights the adventurers ad¬
vanced without seeing land; naked and ex
posed to the scorching heat of the sun by
day, and to intense cold by night. But to
relieve the thirst which parched them, they
availed themselves of a shower of rain, falling
on the sixth, and tried to catch a little of it in
their mouths and with their hands. They
sucked the sail, which was wet with the rain,
but from being previously drenched with sea