nother cross sea providentially
rolled up to leeward, and sent him and Jerry close up to the bulwarks.
There they were grasped by the crew, and when the ship rolled over again
to the other side, they were hauled on board safe and sound. Two other
men remained in the water. They turned their faces with straining
eyeballs imploringly towards the ship, which was drifting from them. In
vain they shrieked out; no one could help them. A foaming, hissing sea
rose between us and them. Far, far away the unhappy men were carried,
and when the ship rose again to the summit of a wave, they were nowhere
to be seen. I felt then how mercifully I had been preserved, and
grateful to Him who had thought fit to save me, while, for his own
inscrutable ends, he had allowed others to be taken. Jerry, I know, had
the same thoughts and feelings, though I fear their impression soon
faded, but not away altogether. Its traces, however faint, were
permanently left on our minds, and I believe that they have often since
had a powerful influence on us. I hope, also, as we grow older, that we
may often recur to them instead of endeavouring to drive them away.
Joyful as Captain Frankland was at recovering his son, he felt much the
loss of his two men; for he truly was the father of his crew, and they
knew and gladly acknowledged it. This was the secret of the influence
he had over them. The ship still lay to, but the gale increased.
Suddenly there was a loud report, like a clap of thunder. The
fore-top-sail, close-reefed as it was, had blown out of the bolt-ropes,
and the shreds fluttered in streamers from the yards. Away it flew,
lashing the yard with fury, and coiling itself into thick twists of
rope. The wind unfortunately caught the bow, and bringing her right
round, exposed her broadside to the sea. The instant the accident
happened, the mates, with some of the crew, had rushed forward, and
loosing the fore-stay-sail, were hoisting it just as a big sea came
roaring towards us. It was half way up at the moment the sea reached
us. "Hoist away, my lads!" was the general cry. The ship felt its
effects; springing forward, she seemed to dash through the sea, which,
however, broke in a deluge over us. Her head came round, and away she
flew before the storm. Before, however, the fore-stay-sail was up it
was blown clean away, and the ship dashed on under bare poles to the
westward, leaving our two poor shipmates in their watery tomb far