A number of the men who were scrambling forward returned
on hearing the captain sing out, but the rest held on and gained the
foretop. Seventeen of us got over the mizzentop, and with our knives
fell to hacking away at such running gear as we could come at to serve
as lashings. None of us touched the mainmast, for we all knew, now the
ship had broken her back, that that spar was doomed, and the reason why
the captain had called to the men to come aft was because he was afraid
that when the mainmast went it would drag the foremast, that rocked in
its step with every move, with it. I was next the captain in the
mizzentop, and near him was his brother, a stout-built, handsome young
fellow, twenty-two years old, as fine a specimen of the English sailor
as ever I was shipmate with. He was calling about him cheerfully,
bidding us not be down-hearted, and telling us to look sharply around
for the lifeboats. He helped several of the benumbed men to lash
themselves, saying encouraging things to them as he made them fast. As
the sun sank the wind grew more freezing, and I saw the strength of
some of the men lashed over me leaving them fast. The captain shook
hands with me, and, on the chance of my being saved, gave me some
messages to take home, too sacred to be written down, sir. He likewise
handed me his watch and chain, and I put them in my pocket. The canvas
streamed in ribbons from the yards, and the noise was like a continuous
roll of thunder overhead. It was dreadful to look down and watch the
decks ripping up, and notice how every sea that rolled over the wreck
left less of her than it found.

'The moon went quickly away--it was a young moon with little power--but
the white water and the starlight kept the night from being black, and
the frame of the vessel stood out like a sketch done in ink every time
the dark seas ran clear of her and left her visible upon the foam.
There was no talking, no calling to one another, the men hung in the
topmast rigging like corpses, and I noticed the second mate to windward
of his brother in the top, sheltering him, as best he could, poor
fellow, with his body from the wind that went through our skins like
showers of arrows. On a sudden I took it into my head to fancy that
the mizzenmast wasn't so secure as the foremast. It came into my mind
like a fright, and I called to the captain that I meant to make for the
foretop. I don't know whether he heard me or whether he made an