Next they hung out, piece after piece, all they could spare
of the rotten bedding, until that too was exhausted. Then they found,
in a locker of their boat, a flag of Free Cuba, which they decided not
to waste, but to hang out only when a sail appeared.
But no sail appeared, and the craft, buffeted by gales and seas,
drifted eastward, while the days became weeks, and the weeks became
months. Twice she entered the Sargasso Sea--the graveyard of
derelicts--to be blown out by friendly gales and resume her travels.
Occasional rains replenished the stock of fresh water, but the food
they found at first, with the exception of some cans of fruit, was all
that came to light; for the salt meat was leathery, and crumbled to a
salty dust on exposure to the air. After a while their stomachs
revolted at the diet of cold soup, and they ate only when hunger
compelled them.
At first they had stood watch-and-watch, but the lonely horror of the
long night vigils in the constant apprehension of instant death had
affected them alike, and they gave it up, sleeping and watching
together. They had taken care of their boat and provisioned it, ready
to lower and pull into the track of any craft that might approach.
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