ng sea. Her heart was
with the unfortunate man who lay cold and still beneath the invading
waters. She was ready to go with him to the home in the silent land.

"You hold on tight a little while, and I will go on deck, and see if I
can make out where we are," said Noddy.

"It matters little to me where we are. I shall soon be with my father,"
replied Mollie.

"Don't say that. Your father is at rest now."

"And I shall soon be at rest with him. Do you hear those terrible waves
beat against the vessel? They will break her in pieces in a few moments
more."

"Perhaps they will, and perhaps they won't. You mustn't give up, Mollie.
If I should lose you now, I shouldn't care what became of me."

"You have been very good to me, Noddy; and I hope God will bless you."

"I want to save you if I can."

"You cannot, Noddy, in this terrible storm. We are poor weak children,
and we can do nothing."

"But I am bound to work and win. I shall not give it up yet, Mollie. We
have struck upon a rock or a shoal, and the land can't be a great ways
off."

"Such an awful sea! We could never reach the land."

"We can try--can't we?"

"Where is Mr. Lincoln?"

"I don't know. I have not heard a sound but the noise of the sea since
the vessel struck. I suppose he and the rest of the men were washed
overboard."

"How horrible!"

"I don't know. They may have left in one of the boats."

"I haven't any courage, Noddy. My poor father is gone, and I don't feel
as though it made any difference what became of me."

"Don't talk so, Mollie. Save yourself for my sake, if you don't for your
own."

"What can we do?" asked she, blankly, for the situation seemed utterly
hopeless.

"I don't know; I will see," replied Noddy, as he crawled through the
aperture, and reached the deck.

A huge wave struck him as he rose upon his feet, and bore him down to
the lee side of the vessel; but he grasped the shrouds, and saved
himself from being hurled into the abyss of waters that boiled in the
fury of the storm on both sides of the stranded schooner. He ran up the
shrouds a short distance, and tried to penetrate the gloom of the night.
He could see nothing but the white froth on the waves, which beat on all
sides. There was no land to be seen ahead, as he had expected, and it
was evident that the Roebuck had struck on a shoal, at some distance
from any shore.

It was impossible to walk forward on the deck, for the savage waves that
broke over th