The Pirate Island | Page 4

a fisherman in
winter and a yachtsman in summer, as indeed were most of the crew of
the Seamew on this eventful night. Many a hard-fought match had Bill
sailed in, and more than one flying fifty had he proudly steered, a
winner, past the flag-ship; but his companions agreed, as they crouched
shivering under the bulwarks, that he never handled a craft better or
more boldly than he did the Seamew on that night. One good stretch to
the eastward, until the "Middle" light bore well upon their weather
quarter, and the helm was put down; the smack tacked handsomely,
though she shipped a sea and filled her deck to the gunwale in the
operation, and then away she rushed on the other tack, with the light
bearing well upon the lee bow.
In less than an hour from the time of starting the light ship was reached;
and as the smack, luffing into the wind, shaved close under the vessel's

stern with all her canvas ashiver, Bill's stentorian voice pealed out--
"Middle, ahoy! where a way's the wrack?"
"About a mile and half to the nor'ard, on the weather side of the
Gunfleet. Fancy she must have broke up, can't make her out now. Wish
ye good luck," was the reply.
"Thank'ee," roared back Bill. "Ease up main and jib-sheets, boys, and
stand clear for a jibe."
Round swept the little Seamew, and in another moment, with the wind
on her starboard quarter, she was darting almost with the speed of her
namesake, along the weather edge of the shoal, upon her errand of
mercy.
All eyes were now keenly directed ahead and on the lee bow, anxiously
watching for some indication of the whereabouts of the wreck, and in a
few minutes the welcome cry was simultaneously raised by three or
four of the watchers, "There she is!"
"Ay, there she is; sure enough!" responded old Bill from his post at the
tiller, he having like the rest caught a momentary glimpse under the
foot of the main-sail of a shapeless object which had revealed itself for
a single instant in the midst of the whirl of boiling breakers, only to be
lost sight of again as the leaping waves hurled themselves once more
furiously down upon their helpless prey.
As the smack rapidly approached the scene of the disaster the wreck
was made out to be that of a large ship, with only the stump of her
main- mast standing. She was already fast settling down in the sand, the
forepart of the hull being completely submerged, while the sea swept
incessantly over the stern, which, with its full poop, formed the sole
refuge of the hapless crew.
"Now, boys," remarked old Bill when they had approached closely
enough to perceive the desperate situation of those on the wreck. "Now,
boys, whatever we're going to do has got to be done smart; the tide's

rising fast, and in another hour there won't be enough of yon ship left to
light a fire wi'. Are yer all ready wi' the anchor?"
"Ay, ay; all ready," was the prompt response.
The helm was put down, and the smack plunged round head to wind,
her sails flapping furiously as the wind was spilled out of them. There
was no need for orders; the men all knew exactly what to do, and did it
precisely at the right moment. Jib and main-sail were hauled down and
secured in less time than it takes to describe it; and then, as the little
vessel lost her "way," the heavy anchor--carried expressly for occasions
like the present--was let go, and the cable veered cautiously out so that
the full strain might not be brought to bear upon it too suddenly. Old
Bill, meanwhile, stood aft by the taffrail with the lead- line in his hand,
anxiously noting the shoaling water as the smack drifted sternward
toward the wreck.
"Hold on, for'ard," he shouted at last, when the little Seamew had
driven so far in upon the sand that there was little more than a foot of
water beneath her keel when she sank into the trough of the sea. "Now
lay aft here, all hands, and let's see if we can get a rope aboard of 'em."
The smack was now fairly among the breakers, which came thundering
down upon the shoal with indescribable fury, boiling and foaming and
tumbling round the little vessel in a perfect chaos of confusion, and
falling on board her in such vast volumes that had everything not been
securely battened down beforehand she must inevitably have been
swamped in a few minutes. As for her crew, every man of them worked
with the end of a line firmly lashed round his waist, so that in the
extremely likely event