ers had parted. A cry rose from many of the sturdy
men on the top. Over bent the mast. Now it swayed on one side, now on
the other, and then with a crash down it sunk into the boiling ocean. I
thought that I had been holding on securely, but at that instant a sea
swept by, catching the end to which I clung. I felt myself torn from my
grasp, and was carried far away off amid the seething waters.

CHAPTER TEN.

A DESERT ISLAND IS REACHED.

As I was washed away from the mainmast a cry from Oliver reached my
ears. I knew by this that he too had been carried off by the sea. I
sprang towards him. "I will save him or perish!" I thought, "as I did
once before." He had not been idle since his first accident, and had
done his best to become a swimmer. He kept up boldly. I urged him to
try and recover the mast, but when we looked round we could discover it
on neither side. Now I felt myself carried to the summit of a sea, to
be hurled over again on the other side. I had little hope of escape,
but still I resolved to struggle to the last. Oliver swam bravely by my
side, but I knew from the exertions he was making that he could not long
continue them.

"Oh, I am sinking! I am sinking!" he cried out suddenly. I caught him
by the collar. At that instant, as I put out my hand, I felt it grasp a
hard object. It was a large spar. I threw myself on it, dragging
Oliver with me. With great difficulty I hauled him on to it, but so
violent was the agitation of the sea that we could scarcely retain our
hold. It seemed to me that we were driving onwards, carried perhaps by
some current, but that might have been fancy. Again and again I looked
out, in the hopes of seeing the mast. Every instant I feared that
Oliver would again be washed off, but the foaming sea around and the
dark sky above was all I could discern. I put out my hand, and caught
hold of a rope which was secured to the spar. The end of this I passed
round Oliver's body, fastening myself with another portion. Still,
though I kept my head well out of water, the sea was so continually
breaking over us that we were almost drowned, even though clinging to
the spar. I do not pretend that I thought of much at the moment but my
own safety and that of my companion, but the thoughts of my old friend,
Dick Tarbox, and Roger Trew, as well as indeed of the other men, did
come across my mind. I felt very sad, for I was afraid that they had
been washed off, a