d and the
waves: many small boats that had been dragged from their moorings or off
the beaches; and some larger boats that belonged to fishermen; and some
of the fishermen's huts that had stood in a row on a beach; and a part
of a house that had been built too near the water; and logs and boards
from the wharves and all kinds of drifting stuff. It was almost high
tide now, and the wind was stronger than ever. None of the men had had
any breakfast, but they didn't think of that.

"About the height of it, now," said the mate to Captain Jacob. They
could hear each other speak where they were standing, in a place that
was sheltered by the building. "Not so bad here, in the lee of the
office. And the wind'll go down as the tide turns, I'm thinking."

[Illustration: "THEY SAW ALL SORTS OF THINGS GOING UP THE RIVER"]

Captain Jacob nodded. He was watching the _Industry_ pitching in the
great seas that were coming up the river.

"She ought to have more chain out," he said anxiously. "I wish we could
have given her more chain. It's a terrible strain."

"If a man was to go out to her," began the mate, slowly, "he might be
able to give her more. He could shin up those warps----"

"Don't think of it!" said Captain Jacob. "Don't think of it!"

As he spoke, the ship's bow lifted to a great sea, there was a dull
sound that was scarcely heard, and she began to drift, slowly, at first,
until she was broadside to the wind. The anchor chain had broken; but
the great ropes that were fastened to the wharf still held her by the
stern. Then she drifted faster, in toward the wharves. There was a sound
like the report of a small cannon; then another and another. The great
ropes that had held her to the wharf had snapped like thread.

"Well," said Captain Jacob, "now I wonder where she'll bring up. We
can't do anything."

So they watched her drifting in to the wharf where the railway was,
where they pulled ships up out of the water to mend them. And Captain
Jonathan was coming down to the office just as the _Industry_ broke
adrift, and he saw that she would come ashore at the railway. So he
stopped there and waited for her to come. They had there a sort of
cradle, that runs down into the water on rails; and a ship fits into the
cradle and is drawn up out of the water to be mended. And Captain
Jonathan thought of that, and he thought that it wouldn't do any harm to
lower the cradle and see if the _Industry_ wouldn't happen to fit into
i