ul
stood up and gave them good cheer, practically assuming command, and
assuring them that every soul should be saved. At last, after drifting
helplessly for fourteen days, at midnight they heard the sound of
breakers on some unknown shore. The {466} sailors sounded and found
twenty fathoms, then again and found fifteen. Then, fearing to be cast
on a rocky shore, they put out four anchors from the stern and waited
for the day. Their situation was still desperate, the rain was falling
in sheets, and in the pauses of the storm they could hear the roar of
the surf. Some of the sailors now attempted to desert the ship. On the
pretense of getting out another anchor by the bow, they let down the
small boat into the sea. Paul discovered the move and warned the
centurion, saying that they must not leave the ship. The centurion
promptly cut the rope which held the boat and it drifted away in the
darkness. Toward morning Paul moved about among the men inspiring them
with courage. He insisted that all hands should take some food, and with
better spirit they further lightened the almost foundering ship by
throwing out some of the grain. When day broke they found themselves at
the entrance of a bay with a sandy shore. They decided then to beach the
ship at once. They cast off the anchors, hoisted the sail, and let her
drive to the shore, where the bow stuck fast in the sand, but the stern
began to break up. The soldiers wished to kill the prisoners, but the
centurion forbade, commanding every man to save himself. Some swam
ashore, some came in on pieces of wreckage, and the whole ship's company
was saved.

They found that they had drifted upon the island of
Malta, a little speck in the Mediterranean, missing which
they must have perished. Here they stayed three months.
Then they sailed on the ship "The Twin Brothers," and,
touching at _Syracuse_ and _Rhegium_, they reached _Puteoli_,
the harbor of entry for _Rome_.

{467}{468}

[Illustration]
MALTA

The island of Malta, on which Paul was shipwrecked, played, in later
days, a most important part in the history of the Mediterranean. It
was occupied by the famous knights of Malta who, for many years, kept
it as a Christian stronghold against the Turks. In 1568 the famous
siege began, which lasted for 20 years, conducted by the great sultan
Solyman in person. He was finally obliged to retreat, defeated with
terrible loss. The island is held at present by England