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"The word is certainly not yet obsolete; and, by a figure, it is as certainly correct in the sense you used it." "Obsolete!" repeated the stranger in green, returning the meaning look he had just received: "Is that the name of any part of a ship? Perhaps, by figure, you mean figure-head; and, by obsolete, the long-boat!"
These would have been enough to have carried the whole crew indeed the long-boat herself would have contained all hands, or nearly. Thirty was reckoned her full complement, though, in a case of distress, forty persons might have found room in her, and she would have floated with that number, though not in a rough sea.
At that time the captain ordered the boats to be got out, while consternation enfeebled the most intrepid. The long-boat had been secured at a certain height, and she was about to be put over the ship's side, when, unhappily, the fire ran up the main-mast, and caught the tackle; the boat fell down on the guns, bottom upwards, and it was vain to think of getting her righted.
When the boats were within hailing distance, a man in the bow of the long-boat rose up. "Quarter-boat ahoy!" "Ahoy!" "How much water have you?" "None!" The word came floating over the placid moonlit water. At it the fellows in the long-boat ceased rowing, and you could see the water-drops dripping off their oars like diamonds in the moonlight. "Quarter-boat, ahoy!" shouted the fellow in the bow.
The next day he, too, went up to the owners' offices to make inquiries, and by that time full information had come in, which left it impossible that any but those who had come ashore in the long-boat could have escaped from the ship.
In his ignorance as to the true state of affairs in the country, to save Hassim from the immediate danger of his position was all that he could reasonably attempt. To that end Lingard proposed to swing out his long-boat and send her close inshore to take off Hassim and his men.
The repairs, however, were not completed, and the boat could not go to sea. The long-boat and gig then must take the whole crew; and it was agreed that twenty eight should get into the former, while the remaining twelve could be stowed in the gig.
So Robinson took his telescope, and went to the top of the hill to see if he could make out who were on board, before they landed. Hardly had he got on to the hill when he noticed a ship at anchor some distance from the shore. She looked like an English vessel, he thought, and the boat like an English long-boat. This was a wonderful sight to Robinson, but yet he was not easy in his mind.
We cast anchor within a league of this creek, and our captain sent a dozen of his men well armed in the long-boat, with vessels for water, if any could be found. I desired his leave to go with them, that I might see the country, and make what discoveries I could. When we came to land we saw no river or spring, nor any sign of inhabitants.
The fight did not last long, and presently the quarter-boat sheered off, half of the men in her cut about the head and bleeding two of them senseless. It was sundown on the following day. The long-boat lay adrift. The last drop of water had been served out eight hours before.
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