fairly, but scarce well enough, unaided, to get
through that surf yonder."

The men, seeing that what appeared to be certain destruction stared
them in the face, now shook hands all round; and then, commending
their souls to God, sat down and waited for the shock.

When it came, it was tremendous. The masts snapped at the board,
like rotten sticks. The vessel shivered from stem to stern and,
drawing back for an instant, was again cast down with terrible
force; and, as if struck by lightning, parted amidships, and then
seemed to fall all to pieces, like a house of cards.

Ned and Gerald were standing, hand in hand, when the vessel struck;
and as she went to pieces, and they were precipitated into the
water, Ned still kept close to his friend, swimming side by side
with him. They soon neared the edge of the line where the waves
broke upon the rocks. Then Ned shouted to Gerald to coast along,
outside the broken water; for that there was no landing there, with
life. For upwards of an hour they swam on, outside the line of
surf. The sea, although tremendously high, did not break till it
touched a certain point, and the lads rose and fell over the great
billows. They had stripped off the greater portion of their
clothing, before the ship struck; and in the warm water had no
sensation of chill, and had nothing to fight against, but fatigue.

When they were in the hollow of the waves their position was easy
enough, and they could make each other hear, by shouting loudly.
When, however, they were on the crest of one of the mountainous
waves, it was a hard struggle for life. The wind blew with such
fury, taking the top of the water off in sheets, and scattering it
in fine spray, that the boys were nearly drowned; although they
kept their back to the wind, and held their breath as if diving,
except when necessary to make a gasp for air.

Gerald became weak and tired, at the end of the hour; but Ned kept
up his courage, and aided him by swimming by his side, and letting
Gerald put his hand upon his shoulder, every time that they were in
the hollows of the waves, so that he got a complete rest at these
periods.

At last, Ned thought he saw a passage between two of the big rocks,
through which it might be possible, he thought, that they might
swim, and so avoid the certain death which seemed to await them at
every other spot.

The passage was about 40 feet wide, and it was no easy matter to
calculate upon striking this, in