lluminated the scene around him.
This island and these perilous rocks were dead to leeward of the Waldo,
and hardly a mile distant. With the aid of the staysail Captain 'Siah
hoped--and only hoped--that he should be able to work his vessel out of
the range of these dangers. But before the staysail could be set, and
before the fore-topsail could be furled, a violent squall struck the
brig. The fore-topsail was blown out of the hands of the four seamen who
had gone aloft to secure it. So great was the fury of the tempest that
in an instant the well-worn sail was torn into ribbons, and great pieces
of it were blown away, like little white clouds played upon by the
lightning. Worse than this, two of the men on the topsail-yard were
wrenched from their hold on the spar, and hurled into the darkness
beneath them, one falling into foaming waters, and the other striking
senseless upon the deck.

Vainly, for a time, the mate, with four men to help him, struggled to
set the staysail, upon which depended the safety of the brig from the
savage rocks to leeward of her. At last they succeeded stimulated by the
hoarse shouts of Captain 'Siah on the quarter-deck, though not till one
of the four men had been struck insensible on the deck by the fierce
blows of the sheet-block. The sail was hauled out finally by the
exertions of the mate. The helmsman met her at the wheel, and the Waldo
heeled over till the water poured in over her lee bulwarks. At this
moment, the staysail, too flimsy from age to stand the strain upon it,
was blown out of the bolt-ropes, with an explosion like a cannon, and
went off like a misty cloud into the darkness. The hour of doom seemed
to have overtaken the Waldo; but in spite of the misfortunes that
overwhelmed her, Captain 'Siah did not abandon hope, or relax his
exertions to save the vessel.

"Set the fore-topmast staysail!" hoarsely yelled the captain. "Send four
hands aft to set the spanker!"

Captain 'Siah did not know, when he gave this order, that three of his
nine hands had been disabled, and the mate sent only three men aft, one
of whom told the captain of the accident. But the passenger was as
zealous and willing as even the mate. In order to save his canvas, the
captain ordered the spanker to be balance-reefed. The stops were taken
off, and the master assisted in the work with his own hands.

"Jam your helm hard down!" he cried to the man at the wheel. "If we can
get her head up to the wind, we m