For Treasure Bound | Page 2

get the hands out of her, if so be as it please God to let any
on 'em come ashore alive."
The vessel had, as Grummet remarked, altered her course; running off
rapidly before the wind, and consequently towards the land; and those
who knew nothing about nautical matters would have supposed that her
commander had at length given up the contest, and was about to run her
on shore.
But we knew better. The vessel had merely been kept away in order to
wear her; staying in such a tremendous gale and sea being utterly out of
the question. And as we watched we saw her come slowly to the wind
on the opposite tack; her yards were braced sharp up, her sheets
flattened in, and once more the battle for life was resumed against the
hostile elements.
But it was evident that the noble ship's career was ended. The operation
of wearing had brought her into fearful proximity with the land; and
though she carried reefed mainsail and foresail under close- reefed
topsails, and fore and main topmast staysails, it was evident that she
was driving to leeward at a frightful rate, and that the period of her
existence must now be measured in minutes.
"Now, lads! bear a hand!" shouted Grummet, "and let's signal her to run
in here. The beach is steeper here than anywhere within the next three
or four mile; and if he happens to come in on the back of a sea, he'll run
up pretty near high and dry; and we may get some of the poor souls
ashore alive, and cheat Davy Jones out of the best part of his bargain
this bout, anyway."
A large red bandana handkerchief was produced and seized to the end
of a boat-hook; this extempore flag and staff Grummet took in his hand,

and, proceeding to the summit of the beach, commenced waving it to
and fro, to attract the attention of the people on board the doomed ship.
She was now so close that we could see the two men at her wheel, and
a man, whom we supposed to be the master, standing by the mizen
rigging.
Just abaft the mainmast, and huddled together under the shelter of the
weather bulwarks, we could see some seven or eight more of her crew,
and others were doubtless cowering elsewhere out of sight.
Grummet waved his flag energetically from the crest of the beach, and
the coastguardmen busied themselves in making such slight
preparations as were in their power to assist the crew in escaping from
the wreck. Several coils of line had been brought down to the beach;
one man, who announced himself to be a good swimmer, had secured
an end of the smallest of these to his waist; he now stood prepared to
divest himself of all his superfluous clothing at a moment's notice, and
to attempt the hazardous experiment of rushing into the boiling surf, to
drag out any poor unfortunate whom he might be able to reach. Others
were engaged in various ways in preparing themselves to render what
assistance was in their power, when a cry from Grummet announced
that the crisis had arrived; on looking up we saw that the stranger's
fore-topmast had gone in the cap; and now hung to leeward, with the
topsail and topmast staysail thrashing to ribbons; the latter threatening
at every jerk to take the bowsprit out of the ship. The foresail was also
split from head to foot; and, even as we looked, the overstrained canvas
gave way, and, fluttering for a moment in the furious gale, parted from
the bolt- ropes, and came flying like a shred of cloud to leeward.
The ship, thus deprived of her head-sail, luffed into the wind; and the
moment that the rest of her canvas shook, away it came also, leaving
her helpless and unmanageable, with the sea sweeping her deck fore
and aft.
"Now stand by, men," shouted Grummet, "and each one do his best for
the poor souls; for they were never nearer to death's door than they will
be in another two minutes. If he had run her stem on to the beach they
might have stood a chance; but I fear it is all over with them now, for

she'll come ashore broadside-on, and all on us knows what that means."
Fortunately, the catastrophe had happened immediately to windward of
that part of the beach on which we stood; a spot, as Grummet had
observed, where the shipwrecked crew would have a better chance of
reaching the shore alive than they would have had if stranded on any
other part of it for some miles on either side; but the loss of their sails
had rendered the prospect of their escape considerably less