Oh! if I could but sink into the blessed oblivion of slumber! I must have managed to fall asleep, for I have just been awakened by a noise--an unusual noise, such as I have not hitherto heard on board the schooner.
Day begins to peer through the glass of my port-hole, which is turned towards the east.

I look at my watch.

It is half-past four.
The first thing I wonder is, whether the _Ebba_ has resumed her voyage.
No, I am certain she has not, either by sail, or by her motor.

The sea is as calm at sunrise as it was at sunset.

If the _Ebba_ has been going ahead while I slept, she is at any rate, stationary now.
The noise to which I referred, is caused by men hurrying to and fro on deck--by men heavily laden.