er and redder, and struck terror into the more superstitious
of the crew.

Even Cooper, whose heart was stout, leaned over the bulwarks and eyed the
red stream, gushing into the sea from the lee scuppers, and said aloud,
"Ay, bleed to death, ye bitch! We shan't be long behind ye."

Hazel inquired, and found the ship had a quantity of dye-wood among her
cargo. He told the men this, and tried to keep up their hearts by his
words and his example.

He succeeded with some; but others shook their heads. And by and by, even
while he was working double tides for them as well as for himself,
ominous murmurs met his ear. "Parson aboard!" "Man aboard, with t'other
world in his face!" And there were sinister glances to match.

He told this, with some alarm, to Welch and Cooper. They promised to
stand by him; and Welch told him it was all the mate's doings; he had
gone among the men and poisoned them.

The wounded vessel, with her ever-beating heart, had run three hundred
miles on the new tack. She had almost ceased to bleed; but what was as
bad, or worse, small fragments of her cargo and stores came up with the
water, and their miscellaneous character showed how deeply the sea had
now penetrated.

This, and their great fatigue, began to demoralize the sailors. The pumps
and buckets were still plied, but it was no longer with the uniform
manner of brave and hopeful men. Some stuck doggedly to their work, but
others got flurried and ran from one thing to another. Now and then a man
would stop and burst out crying; then to work again in a desperate way.
One or two lost heart altogether, and had to be driven. Finally, one or
two succumbed under the unremitting labor. Despair crept over others.
Their features began to change, so much so that several countenances were
hardly recognizable, and each, looking in the other's troubled face, saw
his own fate pictured there.

Six feet water in the hold!

The captain, who had been sober beyond his time, now got dead drunk.

The mate took the command. On hearing this, Welch and Cooper left the
pumps. Wylie ordered them back. They refused, and coolly lighted their
pipes. A violent altercation took place, which was brought to a close by
Welch.

"It is no use pumping the ship," said he. "She is doomed. D'ye think we
are blind, my mate and me? You got the long-boat ready for yourself
before ever the leak was sprung. Now get the cutter ready for my mate and
me."

At these simple words Wy