I renew the contest--another stroke, accompanied by as vigorous a kick out as I can manage, with Mr Macdougall's prostrate body touching my legs; and then--I clutch hold of the thing at last--hurrah! It was a large hencoop, which used to be fixed on the starboard side of the _Esmeralda's_ poop; so I suppose some one must have pitched it overboard after me the moment I gave the alarm.
But, no matter when it was sent adrift or why, it now saved both our lives; for I don't believe I could have swum a stroke further, while as for Mr Macdougall, he was already like a man dead.
There was a piece of rope lashed round the coop, and with this I at once made the mate fast to it, raising his head well up, and shouting in his ears to revive him.
In a minute or two, he opened his eyes, and appeared more like himself, a smile spreading over his face, as if in thankfulness for escaping death.
As for me, I was as right as a trivet now that I had come across such a splendid raft; and, climbing on top, and balancing myself so as not to let it lurch over, I proceeded to look for the ship--which I had almost forgotten while striving to reach this nearer haven of refuge.
No sooner, however, had I mounted the hencoop, which floated nearly a foot above the surface, even with my weight on it--for it was a big piece of woodwork, with plenty of timber in it, and as light as a cork-- than I felt a faint current of air blowing in my face from a direction quite opposite to that of the drift of the waves, the tops of which now began to curl and break off.
"Hullo, the wind has changed!" I sang out to Mr Macdougall, as he looked up at me to hear my report; and then, glancing round, there I saw the _Esmeralda_, with her yards squared, approaching us rapidly, the breeze having caught her up long before it reached us.
I could have shouted aloud for joy.
"Cheer up, Mr Macdougall!" I said, repressing my emotion as much as it lay in my power.

"The ship is making for us, and we'll be on board again in a brace of shakes." "Nae, ye're jookin', laddie!" he cried despairingly.

"She'll never reach us 'fore dark." "Aye, but she will, though," I replied, as she was nearing us so fast that I could now see her hull, which had before been invisible; and, almost as I spoke the words, she rose higher and higher, until I could make out an object at the mast-head like a man on the look-out for us and signalling, for I could see his arms move.
"Hurrah! she's coming up fast now!" I cried, to convince Mr Macdougall; when, seeing my excitement, he at last believed the good news, the effect on him being to cause him to burst into a passion of tears, of which I took no notice, leaving him to recover himself.
Presently, I could not only perceive the _Esmeralda_, but a boat also ahead, to which the man I had noticed in the foretop was making motions.
"We're all right now, Mr Macdougall," I said.
"I thought they wouldn't desert us! They have launched a boat, and it is pulling towards us now.

Let us give them a hail; raise your voice, sir--one, two, three--now then.

Boat ahoy!" The mate did not help the chorus much, his voice being too weak as yet, and his lungs probably half full of salt water; but still, he joined in my shout, although those in the boat were too far off to hear it.
"We must hail them again," I said, "or else they'll pass to windward of us.