rigging, while the mountain seas, as they clashed with each
other, created a roar which almost overpowered the yelling voice of the
hurricane. For nearly an hour the hideous uproar continued, until, as
if wearied by its last mighty effort, the storm began evidently to
abate, although the darkness was even denser than before, while the seas
continued tumbling and rolling in so confused a manner that any attempt
to steer the ship, so as to avoid them, would have been impossible.
Daylight was looked for with anxiety by all on board, to ascertain the
fate of the corvette, the captain eagerly waiting for the moment when he
could venture to make sail, that he might stand towards her. Just as
the cold grey dawn broke over the leaden-tinted, still tumbling ocean,
the wind shifted to the southward. The light increased. The eyes of
all on deck were turned towards the spot where it was supposed the
corvette would be seen. In vain they looked. She was nowhere visible.
A groan of disappointment escaped their breasts. Jack and Adair hurried
aloft with their glasses, still in the hopes of discovering her. They
swept the whole horizon to the northward from east to west, and every
intermediate space, but not a speck on the troubled waters could they
discover which might prove to be the hull of the corvette. "Poor Alick!
poor Alick!" they both again ejaculated, and descended with sad hearts
on deck.

The captain now gave the order to make sail, and under her topsails and
courses the frigate began to force her way amid the still rolling
billows to the northward. Mr Cherry, and several of the other
officers, were speaking of the loss of the corvette as a certainty.
Jack, who could not bear the thought that Murray was indeed gone,
declared that he still had some hopes of finding her above water.

"I agree with Rogers," said the captain, joining them. "We have made
scarcely sufficient allowance for the distance the frigate has drifted
during the hurricane. Though I allow that the corvette will have had a
hard struggle for it, and that it is too probable she has foundered;
yet, as I think that there is a possibility of her being still afloat, I
intend to pass over every part of the sea to which she can have been
driven, or any boats or rafts escaping from her can have reached."

The remarks made by the captain considerably raised the spirits of Jack
and Terence. A look-out was sent to the masthead, and they themselves
frequent