"Stand by, to clear away a boat!" shouted Wilder, without pausing to
think of the impossibility of one's swimming, or of effecting the least
good, in so violent a tornado.
But the amazed and confounded seamen who remained needed no instruction
in this matter. Not a man moved, nor was the smallest symptom of
obedience given. The mariners looked wildly around them, each
endeavouring to trace in the dusky countenance of some shipmate his
opinion of the extent of the evil; but not a mouth opened among them all.
"It is too late--it is too late!" murmured Wilder; "human skill and human
efforts could not save them!"
"Sail, ho!" Knighthead shouted in a voice that was teeming with
superstitious awe.
"Let him come on," returned his young commander, bitterly; "the mischief
is ready done to his hands!"
"Should this be a true ship, it is our duty to the owners and the
passengers to speak her, if a man can make his voice heard in this
tempest," the second mate continued, pointing, through the haze, at the
dim object that was certainly at hand.
"Speak her!--passengers!" muttered Wilder, involuntarily repeating his
words. "No; any thing is better than speaking her.
Pages:
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213