Jules Verne

“ Kear, who was lying prostrate at her feet, asked what we thought ought to be done.
"We can do nothing but stay where we are," I replied.
"No," said Andre, "this is our best refuge; I hope you are not afraid."
"Not for myself," said the young girl quietly, "only for those to whom life is precious."
At a quarter to eight we heard the boatswain calling to the sailors in the bows. ”

“ Dead against us! Then, thought I, the wind had shifted to the southwest, and my last night's forebodings had been correct.
When daylight at length appeared, I found the wind, al though not blowing actually from the southwest, had veered round to the northwest, a change which was equally disastrous to us, inasmuch as it was carrying us away from land. ”

“ Kear has not been informed of her husband's disappearance. The unhappy lady is wasting away with a fever for which we are powerless to supply a remedy, for the medicine-chest was lost when the ship began to sink. Nevertheless, I do not think we have anything to regret on that score, feeling, as I do, that in a case like Mrs. Kear's, drugs would be of no avail. ”