50 Clinging for Life.

till the last. He saw the crew take to the boats,
and leave him. When the vessel was at
length broken in pieces by the fury of the
waves, he clung to a spar, and so kept himself
afloat in the surging water. At first he had
some hope that one of the boats might yet be

 

near enough to see him, and might return on
purpose to take him in; but, as hour after hour
went by, this hope departed. Still, although he
despaired of saving his life, he clung to the
spar from an instinct of self-preservation. For
a day and night he floated there, when, by great
good luck, a French merchant vessel passed and
‘picked him up.