o late to try anything especially as the barque was
going yard-arm under. Dark fell, and Joe heard moaning and gibbering
once more. The captain was creeping along the deck, "saying something
about Madd-ray," as Joe put it. "It was him as was mad," the smacksman
said, with an attempt at humour. "He made a try to stick me, and I felt
something sting my arm like a pin going in."

That was true. The maddened drunkard made a staggering attempt to stab
Glenn, and then, with a yell, he poised on the rail and jumped into the
sea.

That was really about enough for one Christmas Day, and Joe's nerve was
all gone.

The cold seemed to grip his blood, for he had taken little good
nourishment; the vessel was helpless, and there was no shelter from the
flying rivers of water that came over. Joe felt that strange, hard pain
across the brows that seizes a man who has been long sleepless, and he
could have dozed off had it not been for the continual breaking of the
seas. He saw the Esperanza's lights, and he wished that the boat could
have been sent, if it were only to give him a little company. The
rolling of the barque was awful at two in the morning, and, at last, one
violent kick parted the mizen rigging on the starboard side. Then came
one vast roll, and a ponderous rush of water, and with a tearing crash,
the mast went over the side.

Joe edged his way forward, and once more spoke to the gang in the
forecastle. By dint of signs he made them understand that he wanted a
hatchet, and he also contrived to let them know that they must go down
unless the port rigging was severed. For a wonder he got what he wanted,
and he laboured until his elbows were numbed before the bumping, rolling
mast was clear.

Four hours till daylight, and wind and sea getting worse. Something must
be done, or the strained ship would go for a certainty; it only wanted
one unlucky sea to settle her. But what could one man do? If two of the
sodden ruffians forrad would only come up, then something might be done;
but one tired sailor was of little use. Glenn resolved to make one more
appeal to the Spaniards, for he had a bright plan in his head, and he
needed no more than the aid of two men to carry it out. A spare mainyard
was lashed out on deck, and Joe had noticed it with the seaman's quick
eye when he came on board. If he could only get hold of a spare topsail
he could save the vessel, and he was ready to go on his knees to the men
if they would show him