e difficulty to the quarter-deck, in order to
ascertain the condition of things, for he was not aware of the havoc
which the lightning had made among his shipmates.

[Illustration: THE WRECK OF THE WALDO. Page 28.]

A flash of the electric fluid streamed along the mass of black clouds at
this instant, and disclosed to him the situation of his companions. He
was shocked by the sight, and even his strong frame was shaken by the
fearful scene which for an instant only was visible to him. He
recognized the captain, but he seemed to be dead. Next to him was the
passenger, who was getting upon his feet again, apparently not much
injured by the bolt. Not another of the six men who lay on the
quarter-deck moved, or exhibited any signs of life. The mate,--in whose
mind the situation of each of his unfortunate shipmates was fixed in
such a way that he could not have forgotten the scene if he had lived to
be a hundred years old,--went to each man, but could discover no
indications of vitality in them. He was thinking of saving his own life,
but it was awful, and terribly repulsive to his sense of humanity to
consider the idea of abandoning the vessel while these men, who might be
only stunned by the shock lay on her deck.

"What's to be done, Mr. Carboy?" asked the passenger, when another flash
revealed to him the presence of the mate; "we shall be on the rock in
another moment."

"We have two boats, but we can't get them into the water in this
weather. It blows harder and harder," replied the mate.

The passenger said no more, but, guided by the vivid lightning, he
rushed down the companion-way into the cabin of the brig; but in another
moment he returned with a small, but heavy package in his hand. When the
mate went aft, Harvey Barth visited the galley, and took from the box
his diary, still carefully envelloped in the oil-cloth. This book was
the repository of the few valuables he possessed, but whether it was for
the diary, or the treasures it contained, that he was so anxious to save
it at that trying moment, we may not know. He stuffed the book inside of
his guernsey shirt, which he buttoned tightly over it. Then he crawled
to the quarter-deck by holding on at the bulwarks; and here all the
survivors of the tempest and the lightning met, as the passenger came up
from the cabin.

The brig rose and fell on the savage waves, and still dashed madly on
towards the rocks. She lay broadside to the hurricane, so that her
pro