ellying
and collapsing alternately for a minute, and then the rushing wind swept
over them in a hurricane.

The _Caroline_ received the blast like a stout and buoyant ship as she
was, yielding to its impulse until her side lay nearly incumbent on the
element; and then, as if the fearful fabric were conscious of its
jeopardy, it seemed to lift its reclining masts again, struggling to work
its way through the water.

"Keep the helm a-weather! Jam it a-weather, for your life!" shouted
Wilder, amid the roar of the gust.

The veteran seaman at the wheel obeyed the order with steadiness, but in
vain did he keep his eyes on the margin of his head sail, to watch the
manner in which the ship would obey its power. Twice more, in as many
moments, the giddy masts fell towards the horizon, waving as often
gracefully upward, and then they yielded to the mighty pressure of the
wind, until the whole machine lay prostrate on the water.

"Be cool!" said Wilder, seizing the bewildered Earing by the arm, as the
latter rushed madly up the steep of the deck; "it is our duty to be calm;
bring hither an axe."

Quick as the thought which gave the order, the admonished mate complied,
jumping into the mizzen-channels of the ship, to execute with his own
hands the mandate that he knew must follow.

"Shall I cut?" he demanded, with uplifted arms, and in a voice that
atoned for his momentary confusion, by its steadiness and force.

"Hold!--Does the ship mind her helm at all?"

"Not an inch, sir."

"Then cut," Wilder clearly and calmly added.

A single blow sufficed for the discharge of this important duty.
Extended to the utmost powers of endurance, by the vast weight it upheld,
the lanyard struck by Earing no sooner parted, than each of its fellows
snapped in succession, leaving the mast dependent on its wood for the
support of all the ponderous and complicated hamper it upheld. The
cracking of the spar came next; and the whole fell, like a tree that had
been snapped at its foundation.

"Does she fall off?" called Wilder, to the observant seaman at the wheel.

"She yielded a little, sir; but this new squall is bringing her up again."

"Shall I cut?" shouted Earing from the main-rigging, whither he had
leaped, like a tiger who had bounded on his prey.

"Cut."

A louder and more imposing crash succeeded this order, though not before
several heavy blows had been struck into the massive mast itself. As
before, the sea received th