land are we, do you think?" said I.

"I only hope that we are still to the eastward, but at all events I
believe we are well away to the northward of the islands."

"I hope so," I answered. "But look, captain, what huge and unbroken
seas come rolling in from the west; if we are not to the northward, it
is my opinion that we have got the islands under our lee, and if this
gale is to continue, I would rather have them anywhere else than there."

"So would I, young man; but I have made this trip pretty often, and I
don't think that I can be so far out in my calculation," was the answer.

All I could say was that I hoped that I was wrong and he was right, as,
whichever was the case, there was nothing we could do till the weather
moderated. On we drove. I did not like the look of things. When night
came on I did not turn in, but sat down below out of the cold, ready to
spring on deck in a moment. I had fastened my money in a belt round my
waist, and kept my shoes ready to kick off, and my jacket loose to throw
easily aside. I was certain that the vessel would be wrecked. I felt
no fear for my own life, though I remembered my rash oath and what had
occurred so often before, and the gloomy weather had indeed increased
the conviction that I was under a sort of curse, and that I should have
no rest till it was fulfilled. I am just saying what I then thought. I
cannot even now be surprised at the idea gaining such powerful
possession of my mind, while everything that had happened to me had
tended to strengthen it.

Night came on. Pitchy darkness surrounded the storm-driven little
smack. The cry of "Breakers! breakers!" and piercing shrieks made me
spring on deck. At that moment the vessel struck. The foaming seas
came hissing and roaring up after her. We were among a dark mass of
rocks; no fabric formed by human hands could have withstood the violence
of those terrific waves. I held on to the last moment, while the huge
foaming seas washed over my head, almost drowning me, as I clung to the
wreck. Then I felt the deck quiver and shake, and the stout beams and
timbers were wrenched and torn asunder under my feet, and I was hurled
onward among the broken fragments by a roaring sea, which must have
well-nigh completed the destruction of the craft. I lost all
consciousness.

My last thought had been that at length the angry sea was about to claim
me as a victim. There was a hissing, roaring sound in my ears; I