ever, did not utter his thoughts aloud. Indeed, unless he had
spoken at the top of his voice he could not have been heard even by the
man nearest him, while all his attention was required in steering the
boat.

The crew had still some distance to pull, and their progress against the
heavy seas was but slow. At length dawn began to break, and the wreck
rose clearly before them. She was a large ship. The foremast had gone
by the board, but the main and mizzen-masts, though the topmasts had
been carried away, were still standing.

With cool daring they pulled under her stern. To their surprise, no one
hailed them--not a living soul did they see on the deck.

As a sea which swept round her lifted the boat, Adam, followed by his
son Ben and another man, sprang on board. A sad spectacle met their
sight. The sea had made a clean sweep over the fore part of the ship,
carrying away the topgallant, forecastle, and bulwarks, and, indeed,
everything which had offered it resistance, but the foremast still hung
by the rigging, in which were entangled the bodies of three or four men
who had either been crushed as it fell or drowned by the waves washing
over them. The long-boat on the booms had also been washed away--
indeed, not a boat remained. The guns, too, of which, though evidently
a merchantman, she had apparently carried several, had broken adrift and
been carried overboard, with the exception of the aftermost one, which
lay overturned, and now held fast a human being, and, as her dress
proved her to be a woman. The complexion of the poor creature was dark,
and the costume she wore showed Adam that she was from the far-off East.
Ben lifted her hand; it fell on the deck as he let it go; it was
evident that no help could be of use to her. Her distorted countenance
exhibited the agonies she must have suffered.

"She must have been holding on to the gun," observed Adam, "when it
capsized; and if I read the tale aright, she was standing there calling
to those in the boats to come back for her as they were shoving off. If
the boats had not been lowered, we should have seen some of the wreck of
them hanging to the davits. See, the falls are gone on both sides."

Having made a rapid survey of the deck, Adam looked seaward.

"We have no time to lose," he said, "for the sky looks dirty to
windward, and we shall have the gale down on us again before long, I
suspect. We must first, though, make a search below, for maybe