ers did so
likewise, though they were aware that it might perhaps be the last sleep
they should ever enjoy. Two persons, however, did not for a moment
retire to their berths, the commander of the ship and the colonel of the
regiment. Both felt that the lives of the people under them had been
committed to their charge. The commander remained on deck to take
advantage of any change for the better which might occur, or to guard
against any fresh accident; and the colonel, that he might go among his
men labouring at the pumps, and encourage them to persevere in their
duty. The hammocks had been piped down as usual, and most of the men
turned into them all standing. Willy Dicey had done the same, though,
weary as he was, he could not for some time go to sleep--an unusual
event in a midshipman's career. He was thinking of home and the loved
ones there, and those voyaging like himself; and when he did sleep, he
continued dreaming of, that same home, and of his brother and sisters,
now probably far distant from it. He fancied in his troubled dreams
that he saw their ship tempest-tossed. Now her masts and yards were
shattered. Onward she drove towards a rocky shore. He was there
himself; he stretched out his arms, imploring them to keep at a
distance. Still on came the ship; her destruction seemed inevitable.
Wildly he waved his arms--he shrieked loudly. A dreadful crash was
heard--the ship was split into a thousand fragments. He awoke. That
loud crash rang in his ears; he sprang from his hammock, and rushed on
deck. One of the jury-masts had gone.

Morning was breaking, the faint grey light exhibiting the destruction
which had taken place, and the wild leaden-coloured sea, which rose in
foaming billows around, now leaping here, now there, threatening
destruction to the ship. At the same moment the boatswain's whistle
sounded shrilly, calling all hands on deck. While one party was
endeavouring to secure the jury-mast which had been carried away,
another was employed in fothering a sail: this, filled with oakum, was
lowered over the bows and drawn under the keel, where it was hoped the
water rushing in would suck it into the leaks, and thus contribute to
stop them. It seemed, however, to have but little effect.

"We must try another sail," said the commander. The sail was prepared,
and, like the first, with great difficulty dragged under the ship's
bottom. The seamen employed in the work were drenched to the