tached and hove against the rock. At length a sea heavier than
any of the preceding ones came roaring in. It struck the wreck. High
over it the foaming waters rushed, the spray from it almost blinding
Hemming and his companions, far above it as they stood. A piercing
shriek reached their ears, the squall passed by. They looked towards
the spot where the brig had been. Not a particle was to be seen hanging
together. Not one of those clinging to it escaped. This catastrophe
appeared to have no effect on the other Spaniards. Even when a sea came
and washed away several of those who had remained on the lower rock, the
rest went on quarrelling and shouting and shrieking as before.
Sometimes, without any apparent reason, a wretched man would throw
himself off the rock, when he was soon swept out of sight by the
retiring sea. Some rolled off helplessly drunk into the water, and were
washed away. Hemming and his companions would have helped them had they
been able, but their own countrymen would not allow the English to
interfere, and they were compelled to desist. They felt, indeed, all
the time, that those who held their own lives so cheap were not likely
to pay any respect to theirs. While watching with painful interest the
scenes which have been described, they observed a cask drifting towards
the rock. The Spaniards saw it also. Adair, with Needham and three
other men, hurried down to secure it. The Spaniards rushed to the spot
at the same moment, and two of them, in their eagerness to obtain the
coveted prize, for they of course believed it to contain spirits, fell
headlong into a surging sea, which, sweeping out again, carried them
both far away. Adair meantime got hold of the cask, and was in triumph
bearing it up the rock, when the Spaniards surrounded him, and, though
Dick and the other men fought most desperately, succeeded in carrying it
off. The effect of the fresh supply of fire-water was most disastrous.
The Spaniards became almost raving mad, and, excited to fury by the
opposition they had encountered from the English, now drawing their
knives, advanced once more in a body towards them. Some even of the
Spanish officers joined them, others, however, stood surrounding their
captain, but seemed inclined to take no part in the fray.

"Are you going to see us murdered before your eyes, gentlemen?"
exclaimed Hemming with indignation. "If they murder us they will murder
you, depend on that." The ap