ope's-end when down it
thundered upon the deck, completely burying and overwhelming the
schooner fore and aft, filling her decks to the rail, and sweeping
forward with such irresistible power that my arms were almost torn from
my sockets as I held on for dear life to the rope I had grasped. I had
heard a crash even above the howling of the gale and the rush of water
as I was swept off my feet, and I made up my mind that the schooner was
doomed; nothing, I thought, could withstand the rush and power of so
tremendous a body of water as that which had swept over the ship; and if
she ever rose again I was quite prepared to find that everything above
the level of the decks had been carried away, and that the hull was full
of water and ready to founder beneath the next sea which might strike
us.

At length, half drowned, I once more found my feet and got my head above
water. Either there was a little more light in the sky or my eyes had
become accustomed in a measure to the gloom, or perhaps it was the
phosphorescence of the sea which helped us, at all events there was
light enough from some source to enable me to see that the schooner had
relieved herself from the mountain of water which had overwhelmed her,
and was still afloat. My first glance was aft, and I must confess that
I was as surprised as I was pleased to see that Tompion and the helmsman
were still on board, and that the wheel was intact. The bulwarks,
however, excepting some ten feet or so on each quarter, were gone
throughout the whole length of the ship, so far as I could see. The
sky-light was smashed to atoms, leaving a great yawning hole in the
deck; the boats had disappeared from the booms, and I could see no sign
of anyone moving about on the forecastle.

As I stood, bewildered and trying to recover my scattered senses,
Tompion made his way along the deck to _me_.

"Are you all right, sir?" he asked.

"Yes--that is, I believe so, Tompion. Are you?"

"All right and tight, sir, thank God!" answered the gunner. "But I'm
afraid it's a bad job with the hands for'ard, sir. I don't see anybody
moving about--yes, there is--there's one man--or two. I'll see if I
can't reach the fo'c's'le and find out the extent of the damage. And,
if there's hands enough left to do it, we _must_ get some canvas on the
ship at once, as you said, sir. Another such job as that last'd finish
us. As it is the ship must be nearly half full of water. We must get
some p