ee if they could do anything to save us. We were very near the
shore, but the breakers and the boiling surf were so violent between
us and the land that whoever took to the water was sure to be dashed
in pieces. So everybody clung to the ship, waiting for the captain to
contrive some way to get us to the shore."

"And what did he do?" asked Phonny.

"He first got a long line and a cask, and he fastened the end of the
long line to the cask, and then threw the cask overboard. The other
end of the line was kept on board the ship. The cask was tossed about
upon the waves, every successive surge driving it in nearer and nearer
to the shore, until at last it was thrown up high upon the rocks. The
men upon the shore ran to seize it, but before they could get hold of
it the receding wave carried it back again among the breakers, where
it was tossed about as if it had been a feather, and overwhelmed with
the spray. Presently away it went again up upon the shore, and the men
again attempted to seize it. This was repeated two or three times. At
last they succeeded in grasping hold of it, and they ran up with it
upon the rocks, out of the reach of the seas.

"The captain then made signs to the men to pull the line in toward the
shore. He was obliged to use signs, because the roaring and thundering
of the seas made such a noise that nothing could be heard. The sailors
had before this, under the captain's direction, fastened a much
stronger line--a small cable, in fact--to the end of the line which
had been attached to the barrel. Thus, by pulling upon the smaller
line, the men drew one end of the cable to the shore. The other end
remained on board the ship, while the middle of it lay tossing among
the breakers between the ship and the shore.

"The seamen then carried that part of the cable which was on shipboard
up to the masthead, while the men on shore made their end fast to a
very strong post which they set in the ground. The seamen drew the
cable as tight as they could, and fastened their end very strongly to
the masthead. Thus the line of the cable passed in a gentle slope from
the top of the mast to the land, high above all the surges and spray.
The captain then rigged what he called a sling, which was a sort of
loop of ropes that a person could be put into and made to slide down
in it on the cable to the shore. A great many of the passengers were
afraid to go in this way, but they were still more afraid to remain on
board