and
we could not come out any more."

"The hatches?" said Phonny. "What are they?"

"The hatches," replied Beechnut, "are a sort of scuttle-doors that
cover over the square openings in the deck of a ship. They always have
to put them on and fasten them down in a great storm."

Just at this time the party happened to arrive at a place where two
roads met, and as there was a broad and level space of ground at the
junction, where it would be easy to turn the wagon, Beechnut said that
he thought it would be better to make that the end of their ride, and
so turn round and go home. Phonny and Madeline were quite desirous of
going a little farther, but Beechnut thought that he should be tired
by the time he reached the house again.

"But you will not have time to finish the story," said Phonny.

"Yes," replied Beechnut; "there is very little more to tell. It is
only to give an account of our shipwreck."

"Why, did you have a shipwreck?" exclaimed Phonny.

"Yes," said Beechnut. "When you have turned the wagon, I will tell you
about it."

So Phonny, taking a great sweep, turned the wagon round, and the party
set their faces toward home. The Marshal was immediately going to set
out upon a trot, but Phonny held him back by pulling upon the reins
and saying:

"Steady, Marshal! steady! You have got to walk all the way home."

"The storm drove us upon the Nova Scotia coast," said Beechnut,
resuming his story. "We did not know anything about the great danger
that we were in until just before the ship went ashore. When we got
near the shore the sailors put down all the anchors; but they would
not hold, and at length the ship struck. Then there followed a
dreadful scene of consternation and confusion. Some jumped into the
sea in their terror, and were drowned. Some cried and screamed, and
acted as if they were insane. Some were calm, and behaved rationally.
The sailors opened the hatches and let the passengers come up, and we
got into the most sheltered places that we could find about the decks
and rigging, and tied ourselves to whatever was nearest at hand. My
father opened his trunk and took out his two clock-weights, and gave
me one of them; the other he kept himself. He told me that we might as
well try to save them, though he did not suppose that we should be
able to do so.

"Pretty soon after we struck the storm seemed to abate a little. The
people of the country came down to the shore and stood upon the rocks
to s