Their feet and legs were sore and sodden by long immersion in the brine, and their whole bodies were rendered stiff and weary by the wet ropes which lashed them to the taffrail--a means of security which they dared not unloose or relinquish for a moment.
Ere long they were in a species of delirium.
Hunger brought its own fantastic and exciting suggestions of well-cooked viands, of hearty homely dishes, steaming and savoury, roasts and stews, puddings and pies; but thirst, agonising thirst, suggested ideas of cool rivers, amid which snows were dissolving; of lonely mountain tarns, where the brown trout sported under the broad-leaved water-docks, and where the wild bird swam; of glassy meres, of crystal rills, that murmured under old oak trees, or shady drooping willows, with dark green sprays, and water-lilies that dipped therein; of iced champagne, that effervesced in crystal goblets; of sparkling hock and seltzer-water; of jolly London stout, all brown, with its creamy froth; of every impossible luxury that they had not, and never more might feel upon their cracked lips and dry, hard, arid tongues!
A dead bird!--it was a huge albatross, with wings outspread--floated slowly past them on the glassy oil-like sea, thus indicating a current that ran eastward.
They were all too weak to attempt to swim for it; so, wolfishly, with haggard eyes and longing appetites they watched the wretched carrion for hours, until it floated out of sight.
Then three nautilus shells, with purple sails outspread, passed near them, and, to Morley's excited vision, they seemed like large Roman galleys, or fairy barges; at a vast distance--such craft as he had read of in legends of the Rhine, in fairy tales, and knightly ballads.
And now came Mother Carey's chickens, hopping and tripping about the wreck, and on the ripples round it--merrily and happily, like brown sparrows in a farmyard at home.
About the setting of the sun, they were roused from their listlessness by the sudden apparition of a large vessel, barque-rigged--that is, with the fore and mainmasts of a ship and a mizzen like a schooner's mainmast, with a long spanker-boom--bearing down towards them.
There was a fine breeze blowing; she had all her canvas set, and ran on a taut bowline.