xclaimed, "She's parted! she's
parted!"

As they looked astern, the brig was seen broadside to the sea, driving
helplessly before the gale; while the ship, relieved from her task,
seemed to bound forward. With a heavy heart Jack ordered her to be kept
on her course; stern duty demanded that he should abandon his friend;
nothing that he could do could save the brig. Painful as it was to
watch her, he could not help looking out aft to try and ascertain her
fate. She might have been about two miles from the shore when she broke
adrift, driving before the furious gale, but a few brief minutes must
elapse ere she would be hurled on the iron-bound coast. On and on she
drove, growing dimmer and dimmer to view, shrouded by the spray which
filled the air.

"She's scarcely a mile now from the shore," observed Higson; "she's
making head-sail; they must be looking out for the least dangerous spot
on which to run her." Just as he spoke there came another furious
downpour, forming a thick veil round the ship, which shut out every
distant object, so that scarcely the outline of either lofty cliff could
be seen.

"She may bring up and cut away her masts," said Jack, with a deep sigh;
"it is her only chance."

"The holding-ground may be better than we suppose," observed Higson,
wishing to console him; "or there may be some opening up the bay which
we could not discern; he has probably surveyed it."

"I hope so," said Jack. "Who are the men who are lost overboard?" he
asked, turning his mind to his own ship's company. The crew was
mustered, and on the names of John Jackson and William Davis being
called, no reply was made. The paymaster struck them off the ship's
books, and the next day their effects were sold, and the proceeds placed
to the credit of their heirs, and all matters concerning them were
brought to a conclusion, though now and then their shipmates might
mention them with an expression of regret at their untimely fate.

The gale continued blowing as fiercely as ever, while the ship was still
forcing her way ahead, and Jack could not help confessing that the
steamer was a finer craft to command than he had ever supposed. His own
ship in safety, his thoughts again recurred to Adair. He was acquainted
with Lucy's feelings for him, and, should he have lost his life, he
thought of all the sorrow it would cost his sister. Desmond was very
unhappy, though Tom and Archie did their best to console him. The
general