eration was being performed great crashes
were heard, followed by loud shouts and screams, as vessel after
vessel drove ashore to the right or left of them. But Jack and his
friend, who consulted together, agreed that by no possibility could
these be aided, as it was only just at the point where the wreck lay
that the rocks at the foot of the cliff were high enough to be above
all but exceptionally high waves, and any one adventuring many yards
either to the right or left would have been dashed to pieces against
the cliff by the first wave.
The midshipmen were the last to leave the ship. Dick had in vain
begged his messmate to go up in one of the preceding batches, as the
last pair would necessarily be deprived of the assistance from the
lower rope, which had so materially aided the rest. Jack, however,
refused to hear of it. When the slings came down to them for the last
time, they put them on, and stood on the wreck watching till a great
wave came. When it had passed, they slipped down the side of the ship
by a rope, and hurried over the rocks till immediately under the spar,
whose position was indicated by a lantern held there. Then, in answer
to their shout, the rope tightened, and they again swung in the air.
The wind blew no more fiercely than before; indeed, it was scarce
possible it could do so; but they were now both utterly exhausted.
During the hour and a half which they had stood upon the remains of
the wreck, they had been, every minute or two, deluged with water.
Sometimes, indeed, the sea had swept clean over them, and had it not
been that they had lashed themselves with ropes, they must have been
swept away.
Every great wave had swept away some plank or beam of the wreck, and
when they left it, scarce a fragment of the deck remained attached to
the rudder-post. Terrible was the buffeting they received as they
ascended, and time after time they were dashed with immense force
against the face of the cliff.
To Jack the noise and confusion seemed to increase. A strange singing
sounded in his ears, and as the slings reached the top, and a burst of
cheering broke from the seamen there, all consciousness left him.
The officer in command of the party was himself at the spot; he and
many others having made their way down, when the news spread that a
rescue was being attempted. Dick, too, was unable to stand, and both
were carried by the sailors to the top of the slope. Here a cup of
strong rum-and-wate
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