I had not realized until the sunlight came how small our boat really was.

There was some influence in the light and warmth, some hint of happier days, that made us revive memories of other voyages, when we had stout decks beneath our feet, unlimited food at our command, and pleasant cabins for our ease.

Now we clung to a battered little boat, "alone, alone--all, all alone; alone on a wide, wide sea." So low in the water were we that each succeeding swell cut off our view of the sky-line.

We were a tiny speck in the vast vista of the sea--the ocean that is open to all and merciful to none, that threatens even when it seems to yield, and that is pitiless always to weakness.

For a moment the consciousness of the forces arrayed against us would be almost overwhelming.