SHADOW OF DEATH.

The mast and sails of the boat had gone clean over the bows into the
water, and would in all probability have been lost to us but for the
fact that the shrouds still held; and, this being the case, the boat
rode to them as to a sort of floating anchor, keeping her stem-on to the
sea. Her trim was such that her bows were considerably more above water
than her stern, which may have had something to do with the fact that,
although the sea was now higher and more dangerous than ever, the water
no longer broke into her. Dumaresq and I, however, were both of opinion
that the floating mast, with the sails attached, served in some measure
as a breakwater for the seas to expend their most dangerous energies
upon, and after discussing the matter a little further it was determined
to submit our theory to the test of experiment. The shrouds were
accordingly unbent, and the mast hauled alongside, when the boat again
began to ship water; moreover, an oar over the stern at once became
necessary to keep her bows on to the sea. This experiment satisfied us
that our impression was something more than a mere fancy, and we at once
went to work to further test it. There were six oars in the boat, and
another portion of her equipment was a painter, some six fathoms in
length. We securely lashed together the whole six of the oars and the
mast, with the sails still attached, in a sort of bundle, by the middle,
using the end of the painter as a lashing, and when everything had been
made secure we veered away the painter until the whole of it was out,
and the bundle of oars and what-not was floating about five fathoms
ahead of the boat. This served as a drag, again bringing the gig's bows
on to the sea, and a comparatively short period of observation sufficed
to convince us that the arrangement did indeed serve also as an
appreciable protection to the boat. By the time that this was done the
rain had nearly ceased, and presently it cleared up to leeward,
revealing the ship once more, under double-reefed topsails, now broad on
our larboard quarter and hopelessly beyond all possibility of being
overtaken, even had we dared to resume the chase, which, after our
recent experience, and in the face of the terrible weather, none of us
dreamed of attempting.

It was a cruelly bitter disappointment to us all to reflect that we had
been so near to the possibility of rescue, and yet had missed it, and I
caught the rumbling notes