lashes of lightning, the mate and Wallbridge cut
away the braces and other rigging which encumbered the waist, and
impeded the launching of the whale-boat. In a few moments it was all
clear. Harvey Barth, aware of his own weakness, had already seated
himself in the boat, which was ready, and almost floated on the deck
when the heavy seas rolled over it.

"Into the boat!" called the mate, as he stood at the bow of it. "Take an
oar, Mr. Wallbridge."

The passenger obeyed the order. Enough of the bulwarks had been cut away
to allow the passage of the boat. Mr. Carboy waited till a heavy billow
swept over the deck of the brig, and then pushed her off into the
boiling waves, leaping over the bow, as it cleared the vessel.

"Give way!" he shouted, as the whale-boat was swept away from the brig.
"Keep her right before it."

But the mate was not satisfied with the efforts of Burns, the seaman,
and took the oar from his hand.

Half buried in the whelming tide, the whale-boat dashed through the
waves towards the high cliffs of the rocky island. She had scarcely left
the brig before it broke in two in the middle; the foremast toppled over
into the water, and the after portion disappeared in the waves, as they
were lighted up by the repeated flashes from the dark clouds.

"We shall be dashed in pieces on the rocks!" exclaimed the mate, as he
turned his gaze from the remaining portion of the Waldo to the lofty
cliffs on the island.

"No; there is a beach under the rocks," replied Wallbridge. "I know the
place very well. Let her go ahead, and we must take our chances in the
surf."

"If there is a beach we shall do very well," replied the mate, pulling
vigorously at his oar to keep the boat before the wind; for he knew
that, if she fell off into the trough of the sea, she would be instantly
swamped.

But the distance was short between the ledge and the shore, and in a
moment more the boat struck heavily upon the gravelly beach, which was,
at this time of tide, not more than ten feet wide, and the waves already
rolled over it against the perpendicular rocks. With one consent, the
four men leaped from the boat into the surf. The mate carried the
painter on shore with him, and endeavored to swing around the boat,
which had come stern foremost to the beach. Burns imprudently moved out
into the surf to assist him, when the undertow from a heavy wave swept
him far out into the angry sea. In the mean time, Wallbridge and Harvey
B