eck, tore up the tarpaulin and
another hatch, and poured down into the hold, followed by another and
another; and as I clung to one of the masts, blinded and shaking with
the water, I could feel that in those two minutes all our two days' work
had been undone.

"God help us!" I groaned, for I felt that I had done wrong in opening
the hatches; but there was no time for repining. Directly the waves had
passed on, rushing out at the sides, where they had torn away the
bulwarks, I ran to the mouth of the hold, for I felt that Mr Vallance
and the poor fellow with him must have been drowned.

I shouted--once, twice, and then there was a groan; when, seizing hold
of the tackle that we had used to hoist the pillars, I was lowered down,
and began to swim in the rushing water that was surging from side to
side, when I felt myself clutched by a drowning man, and holding on to
him, we were dragged up together.

But I did not want the despairing look Mrs Vallance gave me to make me
go down again, and this time I was washed up against something, which I
seized; but there seemed no life in it when we were hauled up, for the
poor fellow did not move, and it was pitiful to see the way in which his
poor wife clung to him.

Another sea coming on board, it was all we could do to keep from being
swept off; and as the water seemed to leap and plunge down the hatch
with a hollow roar, a chill came over me again, colder than that brought
on by the bitter weather. I was so worn out that I could hardly stir;
but it seemed that if I did not move, no one else would; so shouting to
one or two to help me, I crawled forward, and got the hatches on again,
just as another wave washed over us; but before the next came, with my
marlinespike I had contrived to nail down the tarpaulin once more, in
the hope that, though waterlogged, we might float a little longer.

It seemed strange, but after a little provision had been served round, I
began to be hopeful once more, telling myself that, after all, water was
not worse than iron, and that if we lived to the next day, we might get
clear of our new enemy without taking off the hatches.

We had hard work, though, with Mr Vallance, who lay for hours without
seeming to show a sign of life; but towards morning, from the low
sobbing murmur I heard close by me, and the gentle tones of a man's
voice, I knew that they must have brought him round. You see, I was at
the wheel then, for it had come round to my