hich every
instant rose higher and higher. We soon also discovered that we could
make no head against them, and that, by attempting to do so, we should
only weary ourselves in vain.

"We must put the boat about, and run before it," said Mr Trevett.
"Hoist the lug--haul aft the sheet!" It was done, and away we flew,
careering over the fast-rising seas through the pitchy darkness of
night!

"Where are we going to?" was the question. Still no other course
remained for us to follow. To attempt to head the heavy seas now rising
was impossible. No one spoke--a fear of coming evil settled down on our
hearts. Darker and darker grew the night--the clouds seemed to come
down from the sky and settle close over our heads, meeting the troubled
wildly-leaping waves.

On we flew--the seas, as they curled and hissed up alongside of us,
tumbling over the gunwale, and making it necessary for all hands to
continue baling. Our only hope was that the ship might run before the
gale and overtake us; but then we remembered that she probably had a
whale alongside, and that the captain would not like to desert it as
long as he could hold on. All hope, therefore, of help from man
deserted us.

On we went--death every instant threatening us--a death amid that dark,
wild, troubled, storm-tossed ocean! At length the fierce roar of the
wind and sea seemed to increase. We looked out before us into the
darkness. "Breakers!--breakers ahead!" we shouted. A thrill of horror
ran through our veins. In another moment we should be dashed to a
thousand fragments among the wild rocks over which they so fiercely
broke. To attempt to haul off in such a sea would have consigned us to
an equally certain fate. The imminence of the danger seemed to sharpen
our vision. A mass of foam, which seemed to leap high up into the dark
sky, lay before us. Not a moment could a boat live attempting to pass
through it. On both sides we turned our anxious gaze, to discover if
any spot existed where the sea broke with less violence. Almost
simultaneously we shouted, "A passage on the starboard-bow!"

There appeared, if our eyes deceived us not, a dark space where the line
of huge breakers was divided. We were rushing headlong to destruction.
Not an instant was to be lost. The helm was put to port. We rose on
the crest of a vast rolling sea. Down it came, thundering on the rocks
on either side of us, throwing over them heavy showers of spray,
sufficient