He seemed very much surprised to find no one aboard besides myself.
Alas! I never saw Peter Jensen again, nor the forty Malays and the two women.

Jensen _may_ have escaped; he may even have lived to read these lines; God only knows what was the fate of the unfortunate fleet of pearl- fishers.

Priggish and uncharitable people may ejaculate: "The reward of cupidity!" But I say, "judge not, lest ye also be judged." As the morning had now become beautifully fine, I thought I might attempt to get out some spare sails.

I obtained what I wanted from the fo'c'sle, and after a good deal of work managed to "bend" a mainsail and staysail.
Being without compass or chart, however, I knew not where I was, nor could I decide what course to take in order to reach land.

I had a vague idea that the seas in those regions were studded with innumerable little islands and sandbanks known only to the pearl-fishers, and it seemed inevitable that I must run aground somewhere or get stranded upon a coral reef after I had slipped the cable.
However, I did not see what advantage was to be gained by remaining where I was, so I fixed from the stern a couple of long sweeps, or steering oars, twenty-six feet long, and made them answer the purpose of a rudder.
These arrangements occupied me two or three days, and then, when everything was completed to my satisfaction, and the ship was in sailing trim, I gave the _Veielland_ her freedom.