is determined
to have us, cost what it may. See, there goes his fore-to-gallant
sail clear out of the belt ropes. Heaven send he may carry away a
few more of sails, for he is overhauling us altogether too fast for
my liking."

"There goes a gun," said Aphiz.

"Ay, fire away, my hearties," said Selim, "you lose a little with
every recoil of that gun, and you can't reach us with anything that
carries powder in the Sultan's navy--I know your points."

"That shot struck a mile astern of us," said Aphiz.

"Yes, and at the present rate, it will take him nearly two hours to
overhaul us; but by that time, if the gale goes on increasing in
this style, he must take in his canvass or lose his masts over the
side."

Selim was right, the fury of the gale did increase, and he soon saw
the frigate furl sail after sail for her own security, and yet she
seemed under nearly bare poles to gain slowly on the schooner, and
was now ranging within long shot distance, and commenced now and
then to fire from her bow ports. But gunner, ever uncertain on the
water, is doubly so in a gale, and nearly all her shot were thrown
away, one now and then hitting the clipper, and causing a shower of
splinters to fly into the air as though the spray had broken over
the spot.

Chance did that for the frigate which all the skill of its gunner
could not have done, and a shot aimed at her running gear took a
slant upon the wave, and entered her side below the water line,
causing a leak that was not discovered until it was too late to
attempt its stoppage, and the schooner was slowly settling into the
sea.

In the meantime the gale had reached its height, and the frigate,
too intent on her own business, had long since ceased firing, and
had dashed by the clipper like a race-horse, with everything lashed
to the her decks and battened down. And now, when Selim discovered
the extent of the danger, and realized that ere long the schooner
must sink, he almost wished that the frigate, which had gone out of
sight far down to leeward, might be seen once more.

Already had the schooner leaked so fast as to drive the occupants
from the cabin to the quarter deck, and here, gathered in a small
group, they looked at each other in silence, for death seemed
inevitable.

"O, Selim! must we perish?" whispered his young and lovely Zillah.

"Dearest, I trust we may yet be saved. The gale will ere long
subside, and even now we are drifting towards the very coast th