ne. I
was very doubtful as to what was my duty. I might, by allowing a boat
to be lowered, sacrifice the lives of the officer and crew, who would, I
was very certain, at all events volunteer to man her. It was a moment
of intense anxiety. I instantly, however, wore the ship round; and
while we stood towards the spot, as far as we could guess, where the
poor fellow had fallen, the thoughts I have mentioned passed through my
mind. The sad loss of the gallant Lieutenant Gore and a whole boat's
crew a short time before, about the same locality, was present to my
thoughts. To add to the chances of our not finding the man, it was now
growing rapidly dusk. As we reached the spot, every eye on board was
straining through the gloom to discern the object of our search, but
neither Miles nor the life-buoy were to be seen. Still, I could not
bring myself to leave him to one of the most dreadful of fates. He was
a good swimmer, and those who knew him best asserted that he would swim
to the last. For my part, I almost hoped that the poor fellow had been
stunned, and would thus have sunk at once, and been saved the agony of
despair he must be feeling were he still alive. Of one thing I felt
sure, from the course we had steered, that we were close to the spot
where he had fallen. Anxiously we waited,--minute after minute passed
by,--still no sound was heard; not a speck could be seen to indicate his
position. At least half an hour had passed by. The strongest man alive
could not support himself in such a sea as this for so long, I feared.
Miles must long before this have sunk, unless he could have got hold of
the life-buoy, and of that I had no hope. I looked at my watch by the
light of the binnacle lamp. `It is hopeless,' I thought; `we must give
the poor fellow up.' When I had come to this melancholy resolve, I
issued the orders for wearing ship in a somewhat louder voice than
usual, as under the circumstances was natural, to stifle my own
feelings. Just then I thought I heard a human voice borne down upon the
gale. I listened; it was, I feared, but the effect of imagination; yet
I waited a moment. Again the voice struck my ear, and this time several
of the ship's company heard it. `There he is, sir! There he is away to
windward!' exclaimed several voices; and then in return they uttered a
loud hearty cheer, to keep up the spirits of the poor fellow. Now came
the most trying moment; I must decide whether I would