make
out a light in one of the cottages, which would guide us to the station.
So we kept a press of sail on the boat, and looked out for the light.
The boat stood well up to her canvas, but after passing high cliffs, and
opening a channel from the sea, a sudden squall took her, and before we
had time to cast off the sheet, she was over on her beam ends. Cousin
Silas whipped out his knife and tried to cut the main-sheet, while I let
go the head-sheets, and Burkett jammed down the helm; but it was too
late--over went the boat. Our ballast, happily, consisting of
water-casks, she did not sink, though she turned bottom upwards. It was
a moment of intense horror and dismay. I felt myself under the boat,
entangled in the rigging! I had no time for thought. I felt that death
had come, far away from home and friends. The next moment I was dragged
out and placed on the keel--Cousin Silas was my preserver. Where was
poor Jerry, though? Again Silas dived, and brought him to the surface,
handing him up near me. Mr Kilby and Mr Burkett were clinging on to
the gunwale, and now they all climbed up; and there we sat, our lives
for the moment preserved, but with very grave apprehensions as to what
should become of us. Old Surley, when the boat capsized, kept swimming
round her; and when we climbed up on her bottom, be followed our
example, sitting as grave as a judge, thinking it was all right. Had we
been near inhabited shores, or in a channel frequented by vessels, we
might have had some hope of being rescued; but the schooner was the only
vessel we could expect to pass that way, and the chances of her seeing
us appeared very remote. Happily the wind fell, and there was not much
sea, or we should have been washed off our insecure hold. The current
was running very strong, and Burkett was of opinion that it would drift
us down towards the station; but it was a question whether we could
reach the place before the tide turned, and whether we should get near
enough to it to make our cries heard. These discussions occupied us for
some time, and perhaps assisted to divert our minds from the very awful
position in which we were placed. Jerry and I were sitting near each
other astride on the keel at the after-part of the boat. Cousin Silas
had climbed up over the bows, while Burkett and Kilby hung on, lying
their full length amidships.

"I say, Brand, don't you think we could manage to right the boat?" said
Burkett. "If we