"[...] "Let us leap into the sea," cried Fritz, "and swim to the shore." "Very well for you," replied Ernest, "who can swim; but we should be all drowned. Would it not be better to construct a raft and go all together?" "That might do," added I, "if we were strong enough for such a work, and if a raft was not always so dangerous a conveyance. But away, boys, look about you, and seek for anything that may be useful to us." We all dispersed to different parts of the vessel. For my own part I went to the provision-room, to look after the casks of water and other[...]".