sed over to
the lee side of the deck, and steadying himself by the companion, bent
down and said in a low voice to his superior--

"After all, cap'n, Tom's about right; the old barkie 'll go down under
our feet unless we can get her in somewheres pretty soon."

Captain Turnbull, with his hands resting on his knees, and his
extinguished pipe placed bowl downwards between his teeth, regarded his
mate with the blank astonishment we may imagine in one who believes he
at last actually sees a genuine ghost, and finally gasped in sepulchral
tones--

"Are you the cap'n of this ship?"

The mate knew that, after this, there was nothing more to be said, so he
walked forward to the pumps, and, by voice and example, strove to
animate the men to more earnest efforts.

Another hour passed. The pumps were again sounded; and now it became
evident that the leak was rapidly gaining. The general opinion of the
men was that the labouring of the brig in the short sea had strained her
so seriously as to open more or less all her seams, or that a butt had
started. They pumped away for another hour; and then, feeling pretty
well fagged out, and finding on trial that the leak gained upon them
with increased rapidity, they left the pumps, and began to clear away
the boats. The mate made a strong effort to persuade them to return to
their duty, but, being himself by that time convinced of the
impossibility of saving the ship, he was unsuccessful. Seeing this, he,
too, retired below, and hastily bundling together his own traps and
those of the skipper, brought them on deck and placed them in the stern-
sheets of the longboat. The men had by this time brought their bags and
chests on deck; and finding that the brig had meanwhile settled so deep
in the water that her deck was awash, they lost no time in getting their
belongings, as well as a bag or two of bread and a couple of breakers of
water, into the boat. The _Betsy Jane_ was then hove-to; and as she was
rolling far too heavily to render it possible to hoist the boat out, the
men proceeded to knock the brig's bulwarks away on the lee side, with
the intention of launching her off the deck. This task they at last
accomplished, aided materially therein by the sea, which by this time
was washing heavily across the deck. The crew then passed into her one
by one--Bob among the rest--and made their final preparations for
leaving the devoted brig.

Seeing that all was ready the mate then