So fared it now with ourselves. We had been in the water some two or
three hours, and the night had come upon us. We had said farewell for
the hundredth time, and had resigned ourselves to meet the end; indeed I
was myself battling with a drowsiness from which it was only too probable
that I should never wake; when suddenly, Arowhena touched me on the
shoulder, and pointed to a light and to a dark mass which was bearing
right upon us. A cry for help--loud and clear and shrill--broke forth
from both of us at once; and in another five minutes we were carried by
kind and tender hands on to the deck of an Italian vessel.
CHAPTER XXIX: CONCLUSION
The ship was the _Principe Umberto_, bound from Callao to Genoa; she had
carried a number of emigrants to Rio, had gone thence to Callao, where
she had taken in a cargo of guano, and was now on her way home. The
captain was a certain Giovanni Gianni, a native of Sestri; he has kindly
allowed me to refer to him in case the truth of my story should be
disputed; but I grieve to say that I suffered him to mislead himself in
some important particulars. I should add that when we were picked up we
were a thousand miles from land.
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