n to one particular vessel which staggered in the gale of that night,
but which, fortunately for those on board, was still at some distance
from the dangerous and dreaded shore.

It was the _Ocean Queen_. Mr Webster was seated in her cabin, his face
very pale, and his hands grasping the arms of the locker tightly to
prevent his being hurled to leeward. Annie sat beside him with her arms
round his waist. She was alarmed and looked anxious, but evidently
possessed more courage than her father. There was some reason for this,
however, for she did not know that Mr Webster's fortunes had got into
such a desperate case, that for the retrieving of them he depended very
much on the successful voyage of the _Ocean Queen_.

"Don't be so cast down, father," said Annie; "I heard the captain say
that we shall be in sight of land to-morrow."

"Heaven forbid," said Mr Webster. "Better to be in mid-ocean than near
land on such a night."

Annie was about to reply when the door opened, and the captain looked
in. He wore a sou'-wester, and was clad in oilcloth garments from head
to foot, which shone like black satin with the dripping spray.

"We're getting on famously," he said in a hearty tone, "the wind has
shifted round to the sou'-west, and if it holds--we shall--"

"Sprung a leak, sir!" cried the first mate in a deep excited voice as he
looked down the companion.

"What!" exclaimed the captain, rushing upon deck.

"Plank must have started, sir, there's three foot water in--"

His voice was drowned by distance and the roaring of the gale, but Mr
Webster and Annie had heard enough to fill them with alarm.

The _Ocean Queen_ had indeed sprung a leak, and so bad was it that when
all the pumps available were set a-going, they failed to reduce the
depth of water in the hold. Still, by constantly changing hands and
making strenuous exertions, they prevented it from increasing rapidly.
All that night and next day they wrought with unflagging energy at the
pumps. No man on board spared himself. The captain took his spell with
the rest. Even Mr Webster threw off his coat and went to work as if he
had been born and bred a coal-heaver. The work, however, was very
exhausting, and when land appeared no one seemed to have any heart to
welcome it except Annie and her old nurse Mrs Niven.

Towards evening of the next day the captain came up to Mr Webster, who
was seated on the cabin skylight with his head resting wearily on his