f, and the
Captain fell on his knees, moaning, "Mercy, mercy, O Lord, have mercy
on us!"

A dazzling streak of lightning showed the white outlines of the reef
and the next moment a wave mountain high washed the vessel upon it.

CHAPTER XI.

Stranded.

When the ship stranded on the reef all on board were thrown from their
feet, and the anguishing cries of the shipwrecked mingled with the
creaking of the vessel and the roaring of the waves. The two boys
found themselves in utter darkness in a corner of the cabin. Willy,
the first to recover himself sufficiently to speak, said:

"Oh, Peppo, are you alive?"

"I thought the ship was sinking and that we were drowning. Oh, if we
had only all repented and atoned," groaned Peppo.

"Hear your people calling," said Willy.

"They are not baptized and will go to hell. Shall we not try to
baptize them? Come, quickly, let us try. If I could only find the
door--here it is. Come, come."

Willy wished to make the effort with his little friend acting as
interpreter and preacher, but scarcely had he and Peppo groped their
way out of the cabin before they found themselves caught in a crowd of
human beings, who screaming and howling at the top of their lungs, were
making their way from the steerage into which the water was streaming.
The prow of the ship had struck the reef and was high above the water
while great waves washed over the stern. All were crowding up the
narrow gangway and soon with three hundred Chinaman on deck there was
not an inch of space not covered with water which was unoccupied. In
their fear of death they climbed what was left of the rigging and hung
there like monkeys calling upon Buddha and all the heathen gods for
help and giving utterance to wild, maniacal shrieks. The boys would
have been pushed overboard in this panic had it not been that they fell
in with the Captain and helmsman who protected them as best they could.

"Tell your people," cried Green to Peppo, "that there is no need of
this frightful, insane howling. We are so securely lodged that we
cannot possibly sink, and the wreck will hold together until morning.
Five minutes ago when I saw that we were going to strike the reef, I
wouldn't have given a pipeful of tobacco for all our lives." And the
Captain said to Willy in a more friendly manner than he had ever
spoken: "You prayed well, my little man."

"Will the first officer also be good to me?" asked Willy, happy to
rec