out to be the dismasted hull of a ship that was either water-logged, or
upon the point of foundering.

"Deck ahoy!" he hailed, in approved fashion; "d'ye see that dismasted
craft out there on the lee bow?"

"Ay, Jim," growled the carpenter, "I've seen her this hour an' more. Ye
may come down an' get on wi' your work, my lad; you'll get a good enough
view of her from the deck afore long."

At eight bells the carpenter went below and called Leslie, who had been
lying down in his cabin, and at the same time reported the sighting of
the wreck, which was by this time clearly visible from the deck, except
when hidden from time to time by an intervening mound of swell. Knowing
exactly where to look, Leslie caught sight of her immediately over the
lee cathead, the instant that he stepped out on deck. She was by this
time about half a mile distant, and clearly distinguishable as a craft
of some six hundred tons register. She was submerged almost to her
covering-board, and the whole of her bulwarks being gone between her
topgallant forecastle and long full poop, the sea was making a clean
breach right over her main deck, leaving little to be seen above water
but a short length of her bows and about three times as much of her
stern. Seen through the powerful lenses of the brig's telescope, Leslie
made out that she had once been a full-rigged ship, and from the little
that showed above water he judged her to be American-built. Her three
masts were gone by the board, also her jib-booms, which were snapped
close off by the bowsprit end. There was no sign of any floating
wreckage alongside her, from which Leslie was led to surmise that her
masts must have been cut away; a circumstance that, in its turn, pointed
to the conclusion that she had been hove over on her beam-ends--probably
by a sudden squall--and had refused to right again. But what had become
of the crew? A glance at the craft's davits answered that question.
There were no boats to be seen, while the davit-tackles were overhauled
and the blocks in the water. This clearly pointed to the fact that the
boats had been lowered; the presumption therefore was that the crew had
abandoned the craft, fearing that she was about to founder.
Nevertheless, the weather being fine, and the condition of the sea such
that the craft could be boarded without much danger or difficulty,
Leslie determined to give her an overhaul; and accordingly the brig,
having by this time arrived