Page:Paine--Lost ships and lonely seas.djvu/308

268 begged to be allowed to carry him to one of their own tents while he was still breathing, but the captain refused, and flourished his pistol at them; so he died where he fell.

Three boats had been saved from the wreck of the Wager, and the largest of them was the long-boat, a word that awakens memories of many an old-time romance of the sea and seems particularly to belong to "Robinson Crusoe." It was what might be called a ship's launch, and was often so heavy and capacious that vessels towed it astern on long voyages. Two months after the disaster, the Wager's people despairing of rescue, began to patch up the boats with the idea of making their way to the Spanish settlements of the mainland. The long-boat was hauled up on the beach, and the carpenter undertook the difficult task of sawing it in two and building in a section in order to make it twelve feet longer.

While this enterprise was under way, a party of