So far from being alarmed at my situation, I felt happy. I was in
a frail bark; but I had within it all that I cared for in this world. I
sailed I knew not where, but Rosina was in my company; I felt the
uncertainty of our fate, but was more than compensated by the certainty
of possession. The wind rose, the sea ran high, and curled in
threatening foam; we darted with rapidity before it; and steering with
one arm, while Rosina was clasped in the other, I delighted in our
romantic situation; and, pleased with the excitement which it created, I
was blind to the danger which we encountered.
For six days we ran before the wind, when an accumulation of clouds upon
the southern horizon indicated that we should have a change. I had no
compass in the boat, but had steered by the sun during the day, and by
the stars during the night. I now considered myself well to the
southward, and determined upon running eastward, that I might gain the
African shore; but the gale was too strong to permit me to bring the
broadside of my small bark to the wind, and I was compelled to continue
my course in a southerly direction.
For the first time, a sensation of alarm came over me: we had but two
days' more sustenance, and Rosina was worn out by constant exposure. I
myself felt the necessity of repose: it was with difficulty that I could
keep my eyelids raised; every minute Nature imperiously demanded her
rights, and I nodded at the helm.
I was in a melancholy reverie, when I thought that I perceived, as the
clouds on the horizon occasionally opened, something that had the
appearance of the summit of a precipice.
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