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twg_000012579500 | enough, anyhow," remarked Massey. "Ay, an' he's good enough for anything," said Nellie, with enthusiasm. "You should see the kind way he speaks to poor Ian when he comes to see him--which is pretty much every day. He handles him, too, so tenderly-- just like his mother; but he won't give him medicine or advice, for it ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579501 | be thought fair by the ship's doctor. No more it would, I suppose." "D'ee know what's the matter wi' him?" asked Mitford, who had joined the group. "Not I," returned Massey. "It seems more like gineral weakness than anything else." "I can tell you," said a voice close to them. The voice was that of Tomlin, who, althoug... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579502 | passenger, was fond of visiting and fraternising with the people of the fore-cabin. "He got himself severely wounded some time ago when protecting a poor slave-girl from her owner, and he's now slowly recovering. He is taking a long voyage for his health. The girl, it seems, had run away from her owner, and had nearly ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579503 | of course, being on British soil, she would be free--" "God bless the British soil!" interrupted little Mrs Mitford, in a tone of enthusiasm which caused a laugh all round; but that did not prevent some of the bystanders from responding with a hearty "Amen!" "I agree with you, Mrs Mitford," said Tomlin; "but the owner ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579504 | did not think as you and I do. The girl was a quadroon--that is, nearly, if not altogether, white. She was also very beautiful. Well, the owner--a coarse brute--with two followers, overtook the runaway slave near a lonely roadside tavern--I forget the name of the place--but Dr Hayward happened to have arrived there jus... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579505 | horse was standing at the door, and he was inside, talking with the landlord, when he heard a loud shriek outside. Running out, he found the girl struggling wildly in the hands of her captors. Of course, he demanded an explanation, though he saw clearly enough how matters stood. "`She's my slave,' said the owner, haugh... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579506 | have condescended even with that much explanation if he had not seen that the landlord sympathised with the doctor. "This was enough, however, for Hayward, who is a man of few words and swift action. He was unarmed, but carried a heavy-handled whip, with this he instantly felled the slave-owner and one of his men to th... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579507 | had time to wink, but the third man drew a pistol, and, pointing it straight at the doctor's head, would have blown out his brains if the landlord had not turned the weapon aside and tripped the man up. Before he could recover Hayward had swung the girl on his horse, leaped into the saddle, and dashed off at full | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579508 | speed. He did not draw rein till he carried her over the frontier into Canada, and had placed her beyond the reach of her enemies." "Brayvo! the doctor," exclaimed Slag, heartily. "Then he found," continued Tomlin, "that he had been wounded in the chest by the ball that was meant for his head, but made light of the wou... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579509 | it was found to be serious. The ball was still in him, and had to be extracted, after which he recovered slowly. The romantic part of it is, however, that he fell in love with Eva--that was the girl's name--and she with him, and they were married--" "Ah, poor thing," said Mitford; "then she died, and he married again?"... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579510 | at all," returned Tomlin, "she did not die, and he did not marry again." "How--what then about that splendid wife that he's got in the after-cabin _now_?" asked Mitford. "That's her. That's Eva, the quadroon. She's not only as white as Mrs Massey or Mrs Mitford there, but she's been educated and brought up as a lady an... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579511 | besides having the spirit of a _real_ lady, which many a born one hasn't got at all." There were many fore-cabin passengers who "crossed the line" that night in order to hear the gallant American lecture, but chiefly to see the beautiful lady who had been so romantically rescued from slavery. "Not a drop of black blood... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579512 | was Mrs Mitford's verdict after the lecture was over. "An' what if there was?" demanded Slag, in a tone of indignation. "D'ee think that white blood is worth more than black blood in the eyes o' the Almighty as made 'em both?" The lecture itself was highly appreciated, being on a subject which Bob and Joe had already m... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579513 | to the steerage passengers. And the lecturer not only treated it well, but was himself such a fine, lion-like, yet soft-voiced fellow that his audience were quite charmed. Soon the _Lapwing_ was gliding through the warm waters of the equatorial seas, and those of the passengers who had never visited such regions before... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579514 | dolphins, sharks, and especially flying-fish. "I _don't_ believe in 'em," said Mrs Mitford to Mrs Massey one day as they stood looking over the side of the ship. "I do believe in 'em," said Mrs Massey, "because my Bob says he has seen 'em." Not long after this double assertion of opinion there was a sudden cry that fly... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579515 | to be seen alongside, and Mrs Mitford actually beheld them with her own eyes leap out of the sea, skim over the waves a short distance, and then drop into the water again; still she was incredulous! "Flyin'" she exclaimed, "nothin' of the sort; they only made a long jump out o' the water, an' wriggled their tails as th... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579516 | went; at least they wriggled something, for I couldn't be rightly sure they _'ad_ tails to wriggle, any more than wings--never 'avin' seen 'em except in pictures, which is mostly lies. Indeed!" "Look-out!" exclaimed Slag at the moment, for a couple of fish flew over the bulwarks just then, and fell on deck almost at Mr... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579517 | saw them there floundering about, wings and all, she felt constrained to give in. "Well, well," she said, raising her hands and eyes to heaven, as though she addressed her remarks chiefly to celestial ears, "did ever mortal see the likes? Fish wi' wings an' no feathers! I'll believe _anything_ after that!" Peggy Mitfor... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579518 | be the last woman--to say nothing of man--who has thus bounded from the depths of scepticism to the heights of credulity. STORY ONE, . Dr Hayward, who had given great satisfaction with his lecture, possessed so much urbanity and power of anecdote and song, that he soon became a general favourite alike with steerage and... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579519 | Terrence O'Connor, the assistant steward, went aft and whispered to him that Ian Stuart, the sick boy, wanted very much to see him. "I think he's dying, sor," said Terrence, in a low tone. "Has the doctor seen him this morning?" asked Hayward, as he rose quickly and hurried forward. "He's seed him twice, sor," said Ter... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579520 | he shook his head as he left him." It was evident that the steerage passengers felt death to be hovering over them, for they were unusually silent, and those who were in the fore-cabin at the time Hayward passed, cast solemn glances at him as he descended and went to the berth of the poor boy. It was a comparatively | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579521 | large berth, and, being at the time on the weather side of the ship, had the port open to admit fresh air. "My poor boy, do you suffer much?" said the doctor, in soothing tones, as he sat down beside Ian, and took his hand. It was obvious that Ian suffered, for an expression of weariness and pain sat on | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579522 | his emaciated countenance, but on the appearance of Hayward the expression gave place to a glad smile on a face which was naturally refined and intellectual. "Oh, thank you--thanks--" said Ian, in a low hesitating voice, for he was almost too far gone to speak. "There, don't speak, dear boy," said the doctor, gently. "... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579523 | about our last conversation. Shall I read to you?" "No--no. Jesus is speaking--to me. His words are crowding on me. No need for--reading when He speaks; `Come--unto Me--I will _never_-- leave--'" His breath suddenly failed him, and he ceased to speak, but the glad look in his large eyes showed that the flow of Divine w... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579524 | ceased. "Mother--father," he said, after a short pause, "don't cry. You'll soon join me. Don't let them cry, Dr Hayward. The parting won't be for long." The Doctor made no reply, for at that moment the unmistakable signs of dissolution began to overspread the pinched features, and in a few minutes it became known throu... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579525 | of Terrors" had been there in the guise of an Angel of Light to pluck a little flower and transplant it into the garden of God. Hayward tried to impress this fact on the bereaved parents, but they would not be comforted. They were a lowly couple, who could not see far in advance of them, even in regard to | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579526 | things terrestrial. The last words of their child seemed to have more weight than the comfort offered by the doctor. "Cheer up, David," said the poor wife, grasping her husband's hand, and striving to check her sobs, "Ian said truth, it won't be long afore we jine him, the dear, dear boy." But even as she uttered the w... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579527 | cheer her own heart failed her, and she again gave way to uncontrollable grief, while her husband, dazed and motionless, sat gazing at the face of the dead. The funeral and its surroundings was as sad as the death. Everything was done to shroud the terrible reality. The poor remains were tenderly laid in a black deal c... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579528 | to the port side of the ship by kind and loving hands. A young Wesleyan minister, who had been an unfailing comforter and help to the family all through the boy's illness, gave a brief but very impressive address to those who stood around, and offered up an earnest prayer; but nothing could blind the mourners, especial... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579529 | the harsh fact that the remains were about to be consigned to a never resting grave, and that they were going through the form rather than the reality of burial, while, as if to emphasise this fact, the back fin of a great shark was seen to cut the calm water not far astern. It followed the ship until the | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579530 | hollow plunge was heard, and the weighted coffin sank into the unknown depths of the sea. An impression that never faded quite away was made that day on some of the more thoughtful and sensitive natures in the ship. And who can say that even amongst the thoughtless and the depraved no effect was produced! God's power i... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579531 | exerted in visibly effective processes. Seeds of life may have been sown by that death, which shall grow and flourish in eternity. Certain it is that some of the reckless were solemnised for a time, and that the young Wesleyan was held in higher esteem throughout the ship from that day forward. Some of the passengers, ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579532 | to forget all about the death, and relapsed into their usual frames of mind. Among these was Ned Jarring. For several days after the funeral he kept sober, and it was observed that the Wesleyan minister tried to get into conversation with him several times, but he resisted the good man's efforts, and, when one of his c... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579533 | that he, "seemed to be hand and glove wi' the parson now," Black Ned swung angrily round, took to drinking again, and, as is usually the case in such circumstances, became worse than before. Thus the little world of ship-board went on from day to day, gradually settling down into little coteries as like-minded men and ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579534 | each other out. Gradually, also, the various qualities of the people began to be recognised, and in a few weeks--as in the greater world--each man and woman was more or less correctly gauged according to worth. The courageous and the timid, the sensible and the vain, the weak and the strong, the self-sacrificing and th... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579535 | their appropriate positions, subject to the moderate confusion resulting from favouritism, abused power, and other forms of sin. It was observable also that here, as elsewhere, all the coteries commented with considerable freedom on each other, and that each coterie esteemed itself unquestionably the best of the lot, a... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579536 | exception, namely in the case of the worst or lowest coterie, which, so far from claiming to be the best, openly proclaimed itself the worst, gloried in its shame, and said that, "it didn't care a button," or words, even more expressive, to the same effect. Ned Jarring belonged to this last class. He was probably the w... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579537 | it. One night an incident occurred which tested severely some of the qualities of every one on board. It was sometime after midnight when the dead silence of the slumbering ship was broken by perhaps the most appalling of all sounds at sea--the cry of "Fire!" Smoke had been discovered somewhere near the fore-cabin. For... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579538 | up at the time to speak with the officer of the watch on deck. At the first cry he ran to the spot pointed out, telling the officer to call all hands and rig the pumps, and especially to keep order among the passengers. The first man who leaped from profound slumber into wide-awake activity was Dr Hayward. Having just | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579539 | lain down to sleep on a locker, as he expected to be called in the night to watch beside a friend who was ill, he was already dressed, and would have been among the first at the scene of the fire, but for an interruption. At the moment he was bounding up the companion-ladder, a young man of feeble character--who | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579540 | would have been repudiated by the sex, had he been born a woman--sprang down the same ladder in abject terror. He went straight into the bosom of the ascending doctor, and they both went with a crash to the bottom. Although somewhat stunned, Hayward was able to jump up and again make for the region of the fire, where h... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579541 | found most of the men and male passengers working with hose and buckets in the midst of dire confusion. Fortunately the seat of the conflagration was soon discovered; and, owing much to the cool energy of the captain and officers, the fire was put out. It was about a week after this thrilling event that Mrs Massey was ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579542 | forecastle talking with Peggy Mitford. A smart breeze was blowing-- just enough to fill all the sails and carry the ship swiftly on her course, without causing much of a sea. The moon shone fitfully through a mass of drifting clouds, mingling its pallid light with the wondrous phosphoric sheen of the tropical seas. Mrs... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579543 | companion with a long-winded and irrelevant, though well-meant, yarn about things in general and nothing in particular; and Nellie, who was the personification of considerate patience, had seated herself on the starboard rail to listen to and comment on her lucubrations. "Yes, as I was sayin', Nellie," remarked Peggy, ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579544 | variety of weak little expressions crossed her pretty face, "I never could abide the sea. It always makes me sick, an' when it doesn't make me sick, it makes me nervish. Not that I'm given to bein' nervish; an', if I was, it wouldn't matter much, for the sea would take it out o' me, whether or not. That's always | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579545 | the way--if it's not one thing, it's sure to be another. Don't you think so, Nellie? My John says 'e thinks so--though it isn't to be thought much of what _'e_ says, dear man, for 'e's got a way of sayin' things when 'e don't mean 'em--you understand?" "Well, I don't quite understand," answered Mrs Massey, cutting in a... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579546 | point with a laugh, "but I'm quite sure it's better to say things when you don't mean them, than to mean things when you don't say them!" "Perhaps you're right, Nellie," rejoined Mrs Mitford, with a mild nod of assent; "I've sometimes thought on these things when I've 'ad one o' my sick 'eadaches, which prevents me fro... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579547 | almost; an', bless you, you'd wonder what strange idears comes over me at such times. Did you ever try to think things with a sick 'eadache, Nellie?" With a laugh, and a bright look, Mrs Massey replied that she had never been in a position to try that curious experiment, never having had a headache of any kind in her | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579548 | life. While she was speaking, a broad-backed wave caused the ship to roll rather heavily to starboard, and Mrs Massey, losing her balance, fell into the sea. Sedate and strong-minded though she was, Nellie could not help shrieking as she went over; but the shriek given by Mrs Mitford was tenfold more piercing. It was o... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579549 | description. Its effect was to thrill the heart of every one who heard it. But Peggy did more than shriek. Springing on the rail like an antelope, she would have plunged overboard to the rescue of her friend, regardless of her own inability to swim, and of everything else, had not a seaman, who chanced to be listening ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579550 | conversation--caught her with a vice-like grip. "Hold on, Peggy!" he cried. But Peggy shrieked and struggled, thus preventing the poor fellow from attempting a rescue, while shouts and cries of "man overboard" rang through the ship from stem to stern, until it became known that it was a woman. Then the cries redoubled.... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579551 | strong but calm voice of the captain was heard to give orders to lower a boat and port the helm--"hard a-port." But, alas! for poor Nellie that night if her life had depended on shouters, strugglers, shriekers, or boatmen. At the moment the accident happened two men chanced to be standing on the starboard side of the s... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579552 | quarter-deck, the other on the forecastle. Both men were ready of resource and prompt in action, invaluable qualities anywhere, but especially at sea! The instant the cry arose each sprang to and cut adrift a life-buoy. Each knew that the person overboard might fail to see or catch a buoy in the comparative darkness. H... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579553 | to see Nellie fall over, at once followed her with the life-buoy in his arms. Ignorant of this act the man near the stern saw something struggling in the water as the ship flew past. Without an instant's hesitation he also plunged into the sea with a life-buoy in his grasp. The faint light failed to reveal who had thus | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579554 | boldly plunged to the rescue, but the act had been observed both at bow and stern, and a cheer of hope went up as the ship came up to the wind, topsails were backed, and the boat was dropped into the water. Twenty minutes elapsed before there was any sign of the boat returning, during which time the ship's bell | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579555 | was rung continually. It may be better imagined than described the state of poor Bob Massey, who had been asleep on a locker in the fore-cabin when the accident occurred, and who had to be forcibly prevented, at first, from jumping into the sea when he heard that it was Nellie who was overboard. At last oars were heard... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579556 | the distance. "Stop that bell! boat ahoy!" shouted the captain. "Ship aho-o-oy!" came faintly back on the breeze, while every voice was hushed and ear strained to listen, "All right! all saved!" A loud "Thank the Lord!" burst from our coxswain's heaving chest, and a wild ringing cheer leaped upwards alike from passenge... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579557 | many an eye that was more intimate with cold spray, for a noble deed and a life saved have always the effect of stirring the deepest enthusiasm of mankind. A few minutes more and three dripping figures came up the gangway. First came Nellie herself; dishevelled and pale, but strong and hearty nevertheless, as might be ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579558 | and a lifeboat coxswain's wife! She naturally fell into, or was caught up by, her husband's arms, and was carried off to the cabin. Following her came two somewhat exhausted men. The cheer that greeted them was not unmingled with surprise. "The best an' the worst men i' the ship!" gasped Joe Slag, amid laughter and hea... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579559 | probably right, for it was the young Wesleyan minister and Ned Jarring who had effected this gallant rescue. The performance of a good action has undoubtedly a tendency to elevate, as the perpetration of a bad one has to demoralise. From that day forward Black Ned felt that he had acquired a certain character which mig... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579560 | Without absolutely saying that he became a better man in consequence, we do assert that he became more respectable to look at, and drank less! Thus the voyage progressed until the good ship _Lapwing_ sailed in among some of the innumerable islands of the Southern seas. STORY ONE, . Darkness, whether physical, mental, o... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579561 | that man has had to contend with since the fall. At all events, the physical and mental forms of it were the cause of the good ship _Lapwing_ sailing one night straight to destruction. It happened thus. A pretty stiff breeze, amounting almost to half a gale, was blowing on the night in question, and the emigrant ship w... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579562 | before it under close-reefed topsails. For some days previously the weather had been "dirty," and the captain had found it impossible to obtain an observation, so that he was in the dark as to the exact part of the ocean, in which he was sailing. In an open sea this is not of serious moment, but when one is nearing | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579563 | land, or in the neighbourhood of islands, it becomes cause for much anxiety. To make matters worse, the ship had been blown considerably out of her course, and, worst of all, the night was so intensely dark that it was not possible to see more than a few yards beyond the flying jibboom. The captain and mate, with sever... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579564 | the men, stood on the forecastle peering anxiously out into the darkness. "I don't like the look o' things at all," muttered the captain to the chief mate. "Perhaps it would be well, sir, to lay-to till daylight," suggested the mate. Whether the captain agreed with his chief officer or not was never known, for just the... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579565 | was heard which sent a thrill to the bravest heart on board. "Breakers ahead!" cried the look-out, as in duty bound, but he was instantly contradicted by the mate, who shouted that they were on the starboard beam, while another voice roared that they were on the port-bow. The helm was instantly put hard a-port, and imm... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579566 | was given "hard a-starboard," for it was discovered that the sound of breakers came from both sides of the vessel. They were, obviously, either running in a narrow strait between two islands, or into a bay. In the first case the danger was imminent, in the second case, destruction was almost inevitable. "Clear the anch... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579567 | go!" cried the captain, in loud sharp tones, for he felt that there was no room to turn and retreat. The order was also given to take in all sail. But before either order could be obeyed, a cry of terror burst from many throats, for right in front of them there suddenly loomed out of the darkness an object | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579568 | like a great black cloud, which rose high above and seemed about to fall upon them. There was no mistaking its nature, however, for by that time the roar of the breakers right ahead told but too plainly that they were rushing straight upon a high perpendicular cliff. At this moment the vessel struck a rock. It was only... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579569 | slight touch at the stern, nevertheless it tore the rudder away, so that the intention of the captain to put about and take his chance of striking on the rocks to starboard was frustrated. "Let go," he shouted, in this extremity. Quick as lightning the anchor went to the bottom but with such way on the ship, the sudden... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579570 | snapped the chain, and the _Lapwing_ rushed upon her doom, while cries of terror and despair arose from the passengers, who had by that time crowded on deck. To the surprise of the captain, and those who were capable of intelligent observation, the ship did not immediately strike again, but sailed straight on as if rig... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579571 | Still onward it went, and as it did so there settled around them a darkness so profound that no one could see even an inch before his eyes. Then at last the ill-fated vessel struck, but not with her hull, as might have been expected. High up above them a terrific crash was heard. "God help us," exclaimed the captain, | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579572 | "we've sailed straight into a cave!" That he was right soon became evident, for immediately after the crashing of the topmasts against the roof of the cave, a shower of small stones and several large fragments fell on the deck with a rattle like that of musketry. Some of the people were struck and injured, though not s... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579573 | the shower. "Get down below, all of you!" cried the captain, himself taking shelter under the companion hatchway. But the order was needless, for the danger was so obvious that every one sought the shelter of the cabins without delay. The situation was not only terrible but exceedingly singular, as well as trying, for ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579574 | down on the deck it would have been sheer madness to have attempted to do anything aboveboard, and to sit idle in the cabins with almost certain death staring them in the face, was a severe test of endurance. From the motion of the vessel several facts could be deduced. Although the scraping and crashing of the masts o... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579575 | eloquently of destruction going on in that direction, the heaving of the ship, and her striking occasionally on either side, proved that there was deep water below her. That they were not progressing into an interminable cavern was made evident by the frequent plunging of the shattered bowsprit against the inner end of... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579576 | reeling backwards, as it were, every time she struck, besides shattering the bowsprit. That the cave, also, was open to the full force of the sea was only too severely proved by the rush of the billows into it, and the frequent and severe shocks to which they were in consequence subjected. These shocks had extinguished... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579577 | was only by the aid of a few candles that they were delivered from sitting in absolute darkness. In these awful circumstances the young Wesleyan proved that, besides the courage that he had already shown in facing danger on a sudden emergency, he also possessed that far higher courage which can face the slow and appare... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579578 | with equanimity and self-possession. Moreover, he proved that the Word of God and prayer are the true resources of man in such extremities. Calling those who were willing, around him, he led them in prayer, and then quieted the timid among them, as well as comforted all, not by reading, but by quoting appropriate passa... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579579 | was profoundly versed. "D'ee know when it'll be low water, sir?" asked Joe Slag of the captain, when the ship gave one of her upward heaves and rasped her timbers again on the sides of the cave. "Not for three hours yet, but it's falling. I expect there will be less sea on in a short time. If the ship | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579580 | holds together we may yet be saved." There was a murmured "thank God" at these words. Then Bob Massey expressed some fear that there might be a danger of striking the rocks underneath before low water. "I wish it was the risin' tide," he said, and the words took his mind back, like a flash of lightning, to the time | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579581 | when he used them in a very different sense. Then all was peace, hope, sunshine, and his bride was sitting like a good angel beside him, with a sweet smile on her fair face. Now, something like darkness visible, showed him his poor wife-- still beside him, thank God--but clinging to his arm with looks of terror amounti... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579582 | despair. "What a contrast!" he thought, and for the first time a feeling of rebellion arose in his mind. "There's no use o' sittin' here to be drowned like rats," he cried, starting up. "I'll go on deck an' take a cast o' the lead, an' see what chances we have." "No, you won't, Bob," cried Nellie, throwing her arms | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579583 | firmly round him. "There's big stones falling all about the deck yet. Don't you hear them?" As if to corroborate her words, a piece of rock nearly half a ton in weight fell on the sky-light at that moment, crashed completely through it, through the table below, and even sank into the cabin floor. Fortunately, no one wa... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579584 | Slag had a narrow escape, but that worthy was not easily intimidated. He rose up, and, saying that, "it was as well to be killed on deck doin' somethin' as in the cabin doin' nothin'," was about to ascend the ladder when Dr Hayward suddenly entered, all wet and dishevelled, and with blood trickling down his face. "No u... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579585 | up just now, Joe," he said, as he sat down beside his wife, and permitted her to tie a kerchief round his head. "Only a slight wound, Eva, got while taking soundings. I find that there are sixteen fathoms of water under us, and, although I couldn't see my hand held up before my face, I managed to make out | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579586 | by the flash of a match, which burned for a moment before being blown out, that the sides of the cave are quite perpendicular, not the smallest ledge to stand on. The tide, however, is ebbing fast, and the water in the cave calming, so that if no bad leak has been made by all this thumping we may yet | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579587 | be saved. Our only chance is to stick to the ship." While he was speaking the vessel again surged violently against one side of the cave, and another of the huge masses of rock that were brought down by the swaying masts came crashing on the deck. "There is no bad leak as yet," said the captain, re-entering the cabin, | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579588 | which he had quitted for the purpose of sounding the well. "If we can keep afloat for an hour or two we may be able to use the boats. Just now it would be useless to attempt launching them." Although the captain's words were not particularly reassuring, his confident tone and manner infused hope, and comforted the peop... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579589 | of the male passengers even volunteered to face the shower of stones, if need be, and lend a hand in launching the boats, when the time for doing so arrived. These boats, three in number, were lying bottom up on deck, and to reach them involved the risk of death to whoever should attempt it. They were therefore compell... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579590 | wait. It is difficult to form even a slight conception of the horrors of that night. For several hours they sat in the after-cabin, and the ship surged and plunged in the wildly-heaving water, striking the sides continually, while rocks fell at intervals on the deck, thus adding to the noise of wind and waves as they r... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579591 | deafening noise in the black cavern. Each moment it seemed as if the ship must have her planks stove in and be sunk, but she was a new vessel and strong. Of course she leaked considerably, but when the tide went down the sea calmed a little, the rocks ceased falling from the roof, and they were enabled to rig | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579592 | the pumps and work them vigorously. The boats, meanwhile, were cast loose and got ready to launch at the first glimmer of daylight! Fortunately, they had received no serious injury from the falling rocks. Oh, how they longed and prayed for the day! It came at last, a gleam so faint that it showed nothing of their surro... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579593 | outline of the cavern's great mouth. "Shall we launch the boats now, sir?" asked the first mate, who was becoming anxious, because the carpenter had just reported that the water in the hold was increasing dangerously in spite of the pumps. "Not yet--not yet," returned the captain, hurriedly. "We must have more light fi... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579594 | be fatal. I'm afraid of the rising tide." "Afraid of the rising tide!" Again the words struck strangely on Bob Massey's ears as he stood wiping the perspiration from his brow after a long spell at the pumps--and once more carried him back to the sunlit sands of Old England. Soon the increase of water in the hold was so | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579595 | great that the getting out of the boats could no longer be delayed. The first launched was a small one. It was lowered over the stern by means of the studding-sail boom, with a block and whip, which kept it from dropping too quickly into the water. Massey and his friend Slag, being recognised as expert boatmen in tryin... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579596 | were sent in it, with two of the crew, to run out a line and drop an anchor in the sea outside, so that the heavier boats might be hauled out thereby. Two hundred and fifty fathoms of rope were given them--more than sufficient for the purpose. On getting outside, Bob and his friend, according to custom as lifeboat men, | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579597 | kept a sharp look-out on everything around them, and the feeble daylight enabled them to see that the black cliff which had, as it were, swallowed up the _Lapwing_, was full six hundred feet high and a sheer precipice, in some places overhanging at the top, and without the symptom of a break as far as the eye could rea... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579598 | in either direction. "A black look-out, Joe," muttered Massey, as he assisted his comrade to heave the anchor over the side. "Ay, Bob, an' the worst of it is that the tide's risin'. A boat can live here as long as that ridge o' rocks keeps off the seas, but in an hour or so it'll be rollin' in as | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012579599 | bad as ever." "I knows it, Joe, an' the more need to look sharp." Returning to the ship, our coxswain made his report, and recommended urgent haste. But the captain required no urging, for by that time the ship's main deck was level with the water, and the seas were making a clean breach over the stern. The passengers ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
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