my poor wife!" he cried, "I shall never see you more."

The tears were rolling down Ben Block's weatherbeaten face as he went up
to the captain and took him by the hand.

"Never fear, sir," said he; "the Almighty can save her."

"Thank you, Ben, for saying that," replied the captain; "but the ship
won't float long. My wife may indeed be saved, but we are sure to be
lost."

"I don't know that," cried Ben, trying to look cheerful. "When you sent
me down below, sir, to look for a mast and sail, I observed that the
water in the hold had ceased rising. If we can only keep her afloat a
little longer, we may manage to make another raft." The captain smiled
sadly and shook his head, and Davy, who had been standing beside him all
the time, felt his heart sink again.

To add to the horror of the scene, night came on, and the water was so
high in the cabin that the captain and men who had been left in the
wreck had to try to sleep on the wet decks the best way they could.
Next morning the wind was still blowing pretty hard, and they now saw
that they were drawing near to a wild shore, where there seemed to be
many large rocks in the water near the beach. The crew of the _Fair
Nancy_ looked anxiously towards the land, hoping to see people there who
might help them when the ship struck on the rocks; but they saw no one.
In about an hour afterwards the ship struck, and the shock was so great
that Davy's heart seemed to leap into his throat. The shore was lined
with great dark cliffs and precipices, at the foot of which the waves
roared furiously. While the men stood looking helplessly at the land
another wave lifted the ship, carried her forward a long way, and dashed
her down on the rocks, where she stuck fast, with a sharp rock quite
through her hull, and the water foaming round her. What made their
situation more dreadful was, that a great deal of snow had fallen during
the night. It covered the decks of the ship, and made the land look
cold and dreary.

"We must swim for it now," said the captain, as he looked sorrowfully at
the boiling surf and immense waves which swept over the rocks, and
bursting like thunder on the cliffs, were flung back upon the ship in
spray.

"No one can swim in such a surf as that," said one of the sailors
gloomily.

"Surf" is the name given to the white foam which is formed by the waves
when they dash upon the shore. It is very difficult, sometimes quite
impossible, to swim in the s