danger of an overwhelming sea breaking on
board us. We got the hatches, however, battened down, and kept a
look-out, ready to catch hold of the stanchions or stump of the
mainmast, to save ourselves, should we see it coming.

As soon as the pumps had been manned, Mr Harvey himself went below,
accompanied by Dick and another hand, carrying a lantern to try and
ascertain where the water was coming in, with the greatest rapidity.

It appeared to me that he was a long time absent. He said nothing when
he at last came up, by which I guessed that he had been unable to
discover the leak. "As long as there is life there's hope, lads," he
said: "we must labour on to the last;" and he took the place of a man
who had knocked off at the pumps. He worked away as hard as any man on
board. After some time I begged that I might relieve him, and he went
and secured himself to a stanchion on the weather side. I at last was
obliged to cry "Spell ho!" and let another man take my place.

I had just got up to where Mr Harvey was seated on deck, and having
taken hold of the same stanchion, remarked that the brig remained
hove-to better than I should have expected.

"Yes," he observed; "the foremast is stepped much further aft than in
English vessels, but I wish that we had been able to get up preventer
stays; it would have made the mast more secure."

Scarcely had he uttered the words than a tremendous sea came rolling up
and burst over the vessel.

"Hold on for your lives, lads!" shouted Mr Harvey.

Down came the sea, sweeping over the deck. I thought the brig would
never rise again. At the same instant I heard a loud crash. Covered as
I was with water, I could, however, see nothing for several seconds; I
supposed, indeed, that the brig was sinking. I thought of my wife, my
uncle and aunt, and our cosy little home at Southsea, and of many an
event in my life. The water roared in my ears, mingled with fearful
shrieks. Chaos seemed round me. Minutes, almost hours, seemed to go
by, and I continued to hear the roar of the seas, the crashing of
timbers, and the cries of my fellow-men.

It must have been only a few seconds when the brig rose once more, and
looking along the deck I saw that our remaining mast had gone as had the
bowsprit, while, besides Mr Harvey, I could distinguish but one man
alone on the deck, holding on to the stump of the mainmast. At first I
thought that Mr Harvey might have been killed, but he was only