clenched and he shook it at the cylinder that had fallen from the table.

"Ye viperous, lying thing!" he cried, and ran from the cabin to the
deck.

A single glance told all: two of the ship's giant spars had gone by the
board; entangled in her own wreckage, the vessel thumped and pounded
with ominous violence against some sunken reef. The full scope of the
plight of the once noble ship was plainly made manifest. Though thick
streams of scud sped across the sky, the southern moon at the moment
looked down between two dark rivulets, and cast its silvery glow like a
lime-light, over the spectacle. Captain Macpherson groaned.

"Mr. O'Brien!" he called loudly.

"Aye, aye, sir."

"How long do you give her?"

"Half an hour, sir."

The master shook his head. "She'll nae last that long." And holding to a
stanchion, he seemed like a man in a dream.

"Any orders, sir?" asked the chief mate.

Captain Macpherson recovered himself; his tone became once more quick
and incisive. "Ye're right; I'm gone daffy. We'll get this business over
in a decorous and decent manner. And, Mr. O'Brien--lest I have nae time
to speak of it later--should ye get ashore, and ever find yourself in
the neighborhood o' Piccadilly, be so gude as to drop into the admiralty
office and say Captain Macpherson sends his compliments, and--to the
diel with their charts!"

"I'll not forget, sir!" A number of orders followed.

As the chief mate disappeared to execute the commands he had received,
the harsh noises of the breaking ship, the seething of the sea about
her, the flapping of canvas, like helpless broken wings, was
supplemented by a babel of new and terrifying sounds, the screaming and
cursing of the convicts below, their blasphemous shrieking to be let
out! To this turmoil and uproar were added the frantic appeals and
inquiries of the passengers who, more or less dressed, had hurried to
the deck and who were now speaking to the master of the ill-starred
vessel. He answered them briefly: what could be done, would be done.

"It's a question of the boats, I suppose?" Sir Charles, one of the
calmest of the ship's cabin party, asked quickly.

"In ten minutes they'll be ready for the launching with nae lack of
water and provision. Get plenty of wraps and greatcoats. It'll be a bit
disagreeable, nae doubt, out yon in the wee craft!"

"Wee craft!" The voice of the governor's lady--she was clinging to her
husband's arm--rose shrilly. "You surely are