lity of a lanyard parting, or a bolt drawing
under the tremendous strain to which they were subjected. Truly we were
driving the little ship in a most reckless fashion; and, but for the
presence of that mysterious object to windward--which was undoubtedly
the hull of a ship, to which possibly a helpless crew were clinging in
deadly peril--I would have shortened sail forthwith. But, for aught we
knew, the question of rescue or no rescue might be a matter of minutes,
or even of seconds, with the distressed ones; we therefore "carried on,"
and took our chance of everything bearing the strain.

At the expiration of the allotted half-hour the hands were called, and,
taking the wheel myself and watching for a "smooth," we proceeded to
'bout ship. This manoeuvre was successfully accomplished, though by no
means without danger, the ship, while head to wind, taking a green sea
over the bows that literally filled her decks fore and aft, washing some
of the men off their feet and compelling everybody to cling for life to
whatever they could lay hold of until the open ports partially freed
her. Strange to say, beyond the flooding of the forecastle, the
deck-house, and the galley, no damage was done; and, the next sea that
met us happening to be a moderate one, the nimble little craft was round
and away upon the other tack before another could come on board us.
Once round and fairly on the move again, upon being relieved at the
wheel I took the telescope and myself ascended to the foretop upon a
visit of inspection. Yes; there the object was, sure enough, about
three points on the lee bow, and, as the mate had said, about nine miles
distant. I tried to get a peep at her through the telescope; but, even
at the moderate elevation of the foretop, the plunging and rolling
motion of the ship was so wild that I found it most difficult. I
managed, however, to catch an occasional momentary glimpse of her; and
from what I then saw I came to the conclusion that she was a dismasted
craft, of some five hundred tons or so, floating very deep in the water,
with the sea breaking heavily and constantly over her, and that there
was a flag of some sort flying from the stump of the mizzenmast--no
doubt a signal of distress. She seemed to be a craft with a full poop,
the after-part of her standing somewhat higher out of the water than the
rest of the hull; and once or twice I caught a glimpse of what had the
appearance of a small group of people