will shield you through this time of trouble, and that
you shall reach the shore in safety after all. Should ill befall me I
want you to write my old mother up in York State--you know where she
lives. I have made all preparations, so that she will be provided for,
and my sister also. Do you understand me?"

"Oh! yes, sir! But I hope we may both pull through!" cried the boy,
earnestly.

"So do I, for life is sweet; but it may not be. Now, lad, about
yourself, and I am done. Remember all that I have taught you. Then you
will grow up to be a true man. And continue to search for some evidence
of your people. That mark on your arm may be of great value to you some
day. Hark! I fancied I caught the sound of the breakers just then! It is
possible that the time has come for us to part. Good bye, my boy, and
God bless you whatever betide!"

Another fierce pressure of the hand, and Captain Harley was gone.

Standing there, filled with horror and dismay, Darry caught a last
glimpse of his guardian staggering across the wet deck, and then the
gloom forever hid him from view.

The days would come, and the days would go, but always must he remember
that the last thought of the noble captain was for him.

He strained his hearing to ascertain whether the captain's fears were
well founded, and it was not long before he too could catch the awful
pounding of the seas upon the half-submerged reefs.

The helpless brigantine was drifting slowly, but surely to her fate; for
there was hardly a place along the whole American coast more dangerous
than this, which had in times past proved a graveyard for many noble
ships.

Among the tangled rigging was a broken spar, and to this Darry lashed
himself, in the faint hope that if it were swept ashore he might still
cling to life.

He awaited the impending crash with his heart cold within his breast;
for after all he was but a lad, and the strongest men might have viewed
the catastrophe with a sickening sense of dread.

Then came a fearful shock, as the brigantine was smashed down upon the
jaws of the reef by a mighty force.

After that the seas had her for a plaything, rushing completely over her
as if in derision.

Three times the boy was almost drowned by the flood that poured across
that slanting deck, and he knew that if he remained there longer his
time had surely come. It would be better to cut loose from the mast, and
trust his fortunes upon the breast of the next giant wave tha