He had begun to shout for help, and this shouting he kept up until he was
hoarse, and he felt that it would be better to save all of his strength in
the great battle for life ahead.

No one, who has not been there, can know the utter hoplessness of being
castaway upon the great, boundless ocean with not even a plank to keep him
from a watery grave.

Jack North was brave and sanguine, but for a time he felt that it was
useless for him to try and keep up. Then the thought of home and loved
ones, with all the bright dreams and hopes of life, gave him the
resolution to fight for victory over defeat until the very last. He had
heard of sailors who had been cast away, and who had managed to keep
afloat a whole night and day. Might not he keep from drowning until
morning?

At any rate he would not give up while he had the strength to struggle
against fate.

Buoyed up with hopes which he knew were groundless, he swam on and on
through the dark expanse of waters girdling him.

When he had gone as far as he deemed prudent he would turn upon his back
and thus float upon the bosom of the great deep, borne by its ceaseless
tide he knew not whither.

Perhaps he was being carried further and further out to sea, or it might
be he was slowly approaching the shore of the southern continent.

That was the longest, most gloomy night Jack North ever knew. He saw nor