,
and who remain. All efforts to still the angry tumult that now arose
among the excited troops was in vain, and the little island whose
rock-covered surface, lifted for ages above that boiling flood, where
wave contended with wave, and had never before been pressed by the
foot of man, now became a scene of strife and confusion.

In the midst of the crowd who could thus strive with each other in the
very presence of death, lay Stewart, senseless and covered with the
blood that flowed plentifully from his wounds. All believed him to be
dying, and only a few cared to trouble themselves about the noble
young officer, to whose disinterested daring the whole crew owed their
lives. His strong constitution, however, soon triumphed over his
temporary exhaustion, and he awoke to consciousness, just when the
oaths and outcries of the striving soldiers was at the loudest. Slowly
and painfully he arose on his stiffened limbs, and supported on the
arm of one of his own men from whom he learned the cause of the
tumult, he approached and commanded silence. This in the presence of
his superior officers was out of place, but distinction was at an end,
and beloved as he was by all the soldiers, the command was obeyed at
once. "My friends," he began, "death, inevitable death awaits us all
alike, both on the other rock and here where the angry waves beat over
us, if we do not soon obtain help. Our only hope for deliverance is by
means of the boat, through which we may, perhaps, obtain it from the
land, which cannot be very distant. Let the officers and sailors then
go over to the other rock, where there is more room than on this, and
the surf being less violent and itself nearer to the coast, they can
better venture to seek the help, without which we must all perish. We
will remain here in peace together, awaiting the issue whatever it
be; I will not leave you, but am ready to share every danger, and as I
was the first to spring into the foaming sea, to try what could be
done for the salvation of all, so I will be the very last to leave
this rock."

His words were answered by a cheer; the true heroic spirit which
breathed from his words--the magnanimity of his whole proceedings
since the first moment of the common danger, flashed upon the memories
of these rude men, and wrought an instant change. The soldiers calmed
and encouraged, no longer objected to the departure of the officers
and sailors for the other rock, and the boat at once be