CHAPTER XXVIII
MRS. KEAR SUCCUMBS TO FEVER
DECEMBER 6 continued.—The Chancellor no longer maintained her equilibrium; we felt that she was gradually going down, and her hull was probably breaking up. The maintop was already only ten feet above water, while the bowsprit, with the exception of the extreme end, that rose obliquely from the waves, was entirely covered.
The Chancellor’s last day, we felt, had come.
Fortunately the raft was all but finished, and unless Curtis preferred to wait till morning, we should be able to embark in the evening.
The raft is a very solid structure. The spars that form the framework are crossed one above another and lashed together with stout ropes, so that the whole pile rises a couple of feet above the water. The upper platform is constructed from the
