d to lift like a thick curtain to let in the
light of day. I looked round towards the land; I could distinguish its
dim outline through the darkness which still hung over it. This
convinced me that the mast must have drifted much nearer than when I
first got hold of it. This fact, however, tended to increase my anxiety
for the fate of the smack. What if she has been driven on the rocks,
and, as would probably be the case, all on board have perished! "Oh,
why, why was not I allowed to remain with my dear wife, to perish with
her, or to be the means of saving her!" I exclaimed, in the agony of my
spirit. The intensity of my feelings almost overcame me. As daylight
increased, I saw that the summer gale had considerably lessened, and
every minute the wind seemed to be going down. I could now clearly make
out the shore, the yellow sands, with their fringe of dark rocks, over
which the surf was breaking with almost unabated fury. "What chance of
escaping with my life will there be, if I am drifted in among those wild
rocks?" I thought to myself. Now there could be no doubt that I was
drifting, and rapidly too, towards the shore. With an anxious, piercing
gaze, I looked round to the southward to see if I could discover any
signs of the smack, half dreading to find her driven in among the rocks,
yet still praying and hoping that she might be riding safely at anchor
behind some sheltering reef, or within some little harbour on the coast.
Not a sign of her could I discover. I looked seaward. Two or three
sails were seen, rising and falling in the offing, but too far off to
allow me to hope that she could be one of them. On drove the mast; its
course was altered, and it was evidently drifting along shore to the
southward. I judged that I was not more than three or four hundred
fathoms from the breakers. I discovered that by climbing a little
further on the mast, I could stand upright without its turning over with
me. Finding this, I untied a silk handkerchief I had about my neck, and
waved it around my head. I continued waving, hoping that some one would
see my signal. I waited anxiously, looking along the shore. At so
early an hour few people were out. At last the head of a man appeared
above a sand-hill. I waved more vehemently, and shouted, forgetting
that my voice could not be heard above the roar of the breakers. Soon I
saw him standing on the top of the hill, and looking through a spy-glass
at me, and