ficers had now joined us except Mr Randolph, who had
the middle watch. We were all watching the strangers together. Now, as
we sank down into the hollow, the masses of spray which blew off from
the huge sea uprising between us and them, hid them from our sight.
Some differed with the captain as to the size of the largest ship. One
or two thought that she was an Indiaman. However, she was still so
distant, and in the grey dawn so misty-looking and indistinct, that it
was difficult to decide the question. The captain himself was not
certain. "However, we shall soon be able to settle the matter," he
observed, as the _Barbara_, now on the summit of a mountain billow, was
about to glide down the steep incline. Down, down, we went--it seemed
that we should never be able to climb the opposite height. We were all
looking out for the strangers, expecting to settle the disputed point.
"Where are they?" burst from the lips of all of us. "Where, where?" We
looked, we rubbed our eyes--no sail was in sight. "I knew it would be
so," said Stubbs, in a tone in which I perceived a thrill of horror.
O'Carroll asserted that he had caught sight of the masts of a ship as if
sinking beneath the waves.

"Very likely," observed Stubbs, "that was of the ship he was sending to
the bottom,--the other was the _Dutchman_, and you don't see her now."

"No, no, they were craft carrying human beings, and they have foundered
without a chance of one man out of the many hundreds on board being
saved!" exclaimed the captain.

Stubbs shook his head as if he doubted it. We careered on towards the
spot where the ships had gone down, for that real ships had been there
no doubt could be entertained. A strict look-out was kept for anything
that might still be floating to prove that we had not been deceived by
some phantom forms. Those on the look-out forward reported an object
ahead. "A boat! a boat!" shouted one of them. "No boat could live in
such a sea," observed the captain. He was right. As we approached, we
saw a grating, to which a human being was clinging. It was, when first
seen, on the starboard bow, and it was, alas! evident that we should
leave him at too great a distance even to heave a rope to which he might
clutch. By his dress he appeared to be a seaman. He must have observed
our approach; but he knew well enough that we could make no attempt to
save him. He gazed at us steadily as we glided by--his countenance
seemed calm