cipal grief was that I
should never be able to tell my old companions on shore about the
mysteries I should see.

"These, no doubt, were singular fancies to occupy a man's mind in such
extremity--and I have often thought since that the revolutions of the boat
around the pool might have rendered me a little light-headed.

"There was another circumstance which tended to restore my
self-possession, and this was the cessation of the wind, which could not
reach us in our present situation--for as you saw yourself, the belt of
surf is considerably lower than the general bed of the ocean, and this
latter now towered above us, a high, black, mountainous ridge.

"If you have never been at sea in a heavy gale, you can form no idea of
the confusion of mind occasioned by the wind and spray together. They
blind, deafen, and strangle you, and take away all power of action or
reflection. But we were now, in a great measure, rid of these annoyances;
just as death-condemned felons in prison are allowed petty indulgences,
forbidden them while their doom is yet uncertain.

"How often we made the circuit of the belt it is impossible to say. We
careered round and round for perhaps an hour, flying rather than floating,
getting gradually more and more into the middle of the surge, and then
nearer and nearer to its horrible inner edge.

"All this time I had never let go of the ring-bolt. My brother was at the
stern, holding on to a small empty water cask which had been securely
lashed under the coop of the counter, and was the only thing on deck that
had not been swept overboard when the gale first took us.

"As we approached the brink of the pit, he let go his hold upon this and
made for the ring, from which in the agony of his terror he endeavored to
force my hands, as it was not large enough to afford us both a secure
grasp. I never felt deeper grief than when I saw him attempt this act,
although I knew he was a madman when he did it--a raving maniac through
sheer fright.

"I did not care, however, to contest the point with him. I knew it could
make no difference whether either of us held on at all; so I let him have
the bolt, and went astern to the cask.

"This there was no great difficulty in doing, for the smack flew round
steadily enough, and upon an even keel--only swaying to and fro with the
immense sweeps and swelters of the whirl. Scarcely had I secured myself in
my new position when we gave a wild lurch to starboard and rus