anchor--her
last hope of safety.

"It must be done," said the captain with a sigh, to the first
lieutenant. "Order the carpenter to cut away the foremast."

The carpenter and his crew were prepared for what they had suspected was
inevitable. Their axes gleamed as the lightning flashed vividly around
them. The crew stood by to cut away the rigging with axes and knives.
Down came the mast with crash to port, and floated quickly by towards
the shore. The next few minutes were passed with intense anxiety by
every one on board.

"Does she hold on, Mr Gale?" the captain asked of the first lieutenant.

"She still drags, sir," was the ominous reply.

"The other masts must go," cried the captain.

The order was quickly executed. The mainmast fell to starboard,
followed by the mizen-mast, and the late gallant-looking ship floated a
dismantled hulk amid the foaming waves. But the sacrifice was in vain;
scarcely had the masts gone than the last cable parted, and the gallant
ship drifted onwards towards the threatening shore. Still Captain
Hartland was not a man to yield while a possibility remained of saving
his ship and the lives of those entrusted to him. The corvette carried
aft two heavy guns for throwing shells. Some spare hempen cables were
got up from below, and made fast to them; when hove overboard they
checked her way. Daylight at length came, and revealed her terrific
position. High cliffs, and dark, rugged, wild rocks, over which the sea
broke in masses of foam, appeared on every side. Pale and anxious the
crew stood at their stations. The wind roared, the cold was bitter. A
startling terror-inspiring cry was heard. "The last cable has parted!"
The three midshipmen shook hands; they believed that they were soon to
be separated, never to meet again in this world. On--on, with heavy
plunges, amid the foaming waters, the doomed ship hurried to meet her
fate.

CHAPTER THREE.

AMONGST THE GREEKS.

Onward drove the sloop of war with the three midshipmen on board to
certain destruction. "Heave the guns overboard!" cried Captain
Hartland, on the discovery that the last cable had parted. Severe
indeed was the pang it caused him to give the order. As the ship
rolled, first the starboard, and then the guns on the other side, were
cut loose and allowed to run through the ports. With sullen plunges
they disappeared in the foaming seas.

"There go all our teeth," cried Paddy Adair, who even at th