The Pirate Island | Page 5

of his being washed overboard his comrades
might have the means of hauling him on board again.
Nor wore these the only dangers to which the adventurers were exposed.
There was the possibility that the cable, stout as it was, might part at
any moment, and in such a case their fate would be sealed, for nothing
could then prevent the smack from being dashed to pieces on the sands.
Yet all these dangers were cheerfully faced by these men from a pure

desire to serve their fellow-creatures, and without the slightest hope of
reward, for they knew at the very outset that there would not be much
hope of salvage, with a vessel on the sands in such a terrible gale.
The wreck was now directly astern of the smack, and only about one
hundred feet distant, so that she could be distinctly seen, as it
fortunately happened that the sky had been steadily clearing for the last
quarter of an hour, allowing the moon to peep out unobscured now and
then through an occasional break in the clouds. By the increasing light
the smack's crew were not only enabled to note the exact position of the
wreck, but they could also see that a considerable number of people
were clustered upon the poop of the half-submerged hull, some of them
being women and children. The poor souls were all watching with the
most intense anxiety the movements of those on board the smack, and
if anything had been needed to stimulate the exertions of her crew it
would have been abundantly found in the sight of those poor helpless
mothers and their little ones clinging there to the shattered wreck in the
bitter winter midnight, exposed to the full fury of the pitiless storm.
A light heaving-line was quickly cleared away, and one end bent to a
rope becket securely spliced to a small keg, which was then thrown
overboard and allowed to drift down toward the wreck, the line being
veered freely away at the same time.
The crew of the wreck, anxiously watching the motions of those on
board the smack, at once comprehended the object of this manoeuvre,
and, as the keg drifted down toward them, made ready to secure it. But
the set of the tide, the wash of the sea, or some other unexplained
circumstance caused it to deviate so far from its intended course that it
passed at a considerable distance astern of the wreck, notwithstanding
the utmost endeavours of those on board to secure it; in consequence of
which it had to be hauled on board the smack again, and thus valuable
time was lost. The smack's helm was at once shifted, and the tide, aided
by the wind, gave her so strong a sheer in the required direction that it
was hoped a repetition of the mischance would be impossible. The keg
was again thrown overboard, the line once more veered away.
Buoyantly it drifted down toward the wreck, now buried in the hissing

foam-crest of a mighty breaker, and anon riding lightly in the liquid
valley behind it. All eyes were intently fixed upon it, impatiently
watching its slow and somewhat erratic movements, when the smack
seemed to leap suddenly skyward, rearing up like a startled courser, and
heeling violently over on her beam-ends at the same moment; there was
a terrific thud forward, accompanied by a violent crashing sound, and
the Seamew's crew had barely time to grasp the cleat or belaying-pin
nearest at hand when a foaming deluge of water hissed and swirled past
and over them, the breaker of which it formed a part sweeping from
under the smack down toward the wreck in an unbroken wall of green
water, capped with a white and ominously curling crest. The roller
broke just as it reached the wreck, expending its full force upon her
already shattered hull; the black mass was seen to heel almost
completely over in the midst of the wildly tossing foam, there was a
dull report, almost like that of a gun, a piercing shriek, which rose
clearly above the howling of the gale and the babel of the maddened
waters, and when the wreck again became visible it was seen that she
had broken in two amidships, the bow lying bottom-upward some sixty
feet farther in upon the sand, while the stern, which retained its former
position, had been robbed of nearly half its living freight. And, to make
matters worse, the floating keg had once more missed its mark.
This repeated failure was disheartening. The tide was rising rapidly;
every minute was worth a human life, and it began to look as though, in
spite of all effort, the poor souls clinging to the wreck would be swept
into eternity before the Seamew's