s. Two men were
at the helm--lashed fast. Toennes looked up into the rigging and out to
windward; then suddenly he cried, with the full force of his lungs:--

"Look out for breakers!"

Toennes himself helped at the wheel; but the vessel only half answered
the helm. The greater portion of the sea struck the bow, the quarter,
and the bulwarks and stanchions amidship, so that they creaked and
groaned. One of the men at the helm had grasped Toennes, who would
otherwise have been swept into the lee scupper. When the ship had
righted from the terrible blow, the captain stood on the deck in his
oilcloth suit.

"Are any men missing?" cried he, through the howling of the wind and
the roaring of the water streaming fore and aft, unable to escape
quickly enough through the scuppers.

The storm raged with undiminished fury. The crew--and amongst them
Prussian, who had been promoted to be ship's-dog--by-and-by dived
forward through the seething salt water and the fragments of wreck
that covered the deck.

Now it was that the second mate was missing.

The captain looked at Toennes, and then out on the wild sea. He
scarcely glanced at the crushed long-boat; even if a boat could have
been launched, it would have been too late. Toennes and his skipper
were fearless men, who took things as they were. If any help could
have been given, they would have given it. But their eyes sought
vainly for any dark speck amidst the foaming waves--and it was
necessary to care for themselves, the vessel and the crew.

"God save his soul!" murmured Captain Spang.

Toennes passed his hand across his brow, and went to his duty. Evening
set in; the wind increased rather than decreased.

"She is taking in water," said the captain, who had sounded the
pumps.

Toennes assented.

"We must change her course," said the captain. "She pitches too
heavily in this sea."

The bark was held up to the wind as closely as possible. The pumps
were worked steadily, but often got out of order on account of the
china-clay, which mixed with the water down in the hold.

It was plain that the vessel grew heavier and heavier; her movements
in climbing a wave were more and more dead.

During the night a cry arose: again one of the crew was washed
overboard.

It was a long night and a wet one, as Toennes had predicted. Several
times the skipper dived clown into the cabin--Tonnes knew perfectly
well what for, but he said nothing. Few words were spoken on board t