thing was
that any of us had survived it. This reminded me of Tasker, and set me
wondering whether he had been as fortunate as myself, or whether that
last awful lurch had been as fatal to him as it had been to some others
among us.

Meanwhile we continued to hack away with our knives at the lanyards, and
presently, after what appeared to have been a terribly protracted
interval, but which was probably not more than a couple of minutes, the
last lanyard parted with a twang, and the next instant, with a crash
heard even through the terrific hubbub of the gale, the foremast snapped
close off by the deck and plunged, with all attached, into the boil to
leeward. Then we breathlessly waited, hoping that, thus relieved, the
ship would recover herself, and for a moment it almost seemed that she
would do so; but just at the critical moment the gale swooped down
heavier than ever, and at the same instant an extra heavy sea struck
her, and down she lay again, as though too tired to struggle further.

"It is no good, men," I cried, "she won't rise. Lay aft, and cut away
the mainmast also. It is our only chance!" And, therewith, we all
crawled along the ship's side--escaping being washed off or blown
overboard only by a series of miracles, as it seemed to me--until we
arrived at the main chains, where we had something to cling to, and
where the channel-piece partially sheltered us. Here we at once got to
work with all our energy upon the weather main lanyards, and, the man
with the axe presently joining us, in a few minutes the mainmast also
went over the side.

"Now, inboard with you, men, as smart as you like," I cried. "If she is
going to rise at all she may do so quite suddenly, in which case we run
the risk of being hove overboard if we remain here."

We all scrambled in on deck, steadying ourselves by such of the running
rigging as we could lay hold of; and we had scarcely done so when the
hull partially recovered its upright position, not quite so suddenly as
I had expected, yet with a quick righting movement that left our decks
knee-deep in water. I sprang to the companion and strove to close the
burst-open doors and so prevent any further influx of water to the
cabin; but the heavy washing sounds that came up from below told me that
my efforts were already too late to be of any service, for the cabin
seemed to be flooded to almost half the height of the companion ladder,
and the sluggish motions of the ship tol