Becker awoke first--it was broad daylight. "Where is Willis?" he
cried, on getting up.

"Holloa!" exclaimed Fritz, running towards the magazine, "the canoe
has disappeared!"

In an instant all were on their feet.

"Some one of you has fallen asleep then," said Becker to his children;
"for when the pilot watched I watched with him, and never lost sight
of him for a moment."

"I am the culprit," said Ernest; "and if any mischief arises out of
this imprudence, I shall never forgive myself. But who could have
dreamt of any one being foolhardy enough to attempt the rescue of a
ship in a nutshell that scarcely holds two persons?"

"I pray Heaven that your sleepy-headedness may not result in the loss
of human life! You see, my son, that there is no amount of duty, be it
ever so trifling in importance, that can be neglected with impunity.
It is the concurrent devotion of each, and the sacrifices of one for
another, that constitutes and secures the mutual security. Society on
a small, as on a large scale, is a chain of which each individual is a
link, and when one fails the whole is broken."

"I will go after him," said Ernest.

"Fritz and I will go with you," added Frank.