Stimson had described to him with a clear sky, one half of his causes of anxiety would be removed. But the wind was not a clear one, and he felt that no time was to be lost.

It required great nerve to approach a coast like that of Cape Horn in such weather. As the schooner got nearer to the real cape, the sight of the seas tumbling in and breaking on its ragged rock, and the hollow roaring sound they made, actually became terrific. To add to the awe inspired in the breast of even the most callous-minded man on board, came a doubt whether the schooner could weather a certain point of rock, the western extremity of the island, after she had got so far into a bight as to render waring questionable, if not impossible. Every one now looked grave and anxious. Should the schooner go ashore in such a place, a single minute would suffice to break her to pieces, and not a soul could expect to be saved. Roswell was exceedingly anxious, though he remained cool.

“The tides and 1oeddies about these rocks, and in so high a latitude, sweep a vessel like chips," he said to his chief mate. "We have been set in here by an eddy, and

a terrible place it is."

"All depends on our gears holding on, sir," was the answer. "Just watch the point ahead, Captain Gardiner ; though we are not actually to 12leeward of it, see with what a drift we have drawn upon it. The manner in which these seas roll in from the sou'-west is terrific! No craft can go to windward against them."

This remark of Hazard's was very just. The seas that came down upon the cape resembled a rolling 13prairie in their outline. A single wave would extend a quarter of a mile from trough to trough, and as it passed beneath the schooner, lifting her high in the air, it really seemed

as if the glancing water would sweep her away in its force. But human art had found the means to counteract even this imposing display of the power of nature. The little schooner rode over the billows like a duck, and when she sank between two of them, it was merely to rise again on a new summit, and breast the gale gallantly. It was the current that menaced the greatest danger; for that, unseen except in its fruits, was clearly setting the little craft to leeward, and bodily towards the rocks. By this time our adventurers were so near the land, that they almost gave up hope itself. 14Cape Hatteras and its muchtalked-of dangers seemed a place of refuge compared to that in which our navigators now found themselves. Could the deepest bellowings of ten thousand bulls be united in a common roar, the noise would not have equalled that of the hollow sound which issued from the sea as it went into some cavern of the rocks. Then the spray filled the air like driving rain, and there were minutes when the cape, though so frightfully near, was hid from view by the vapour.

At this precise moment the Sea Lion was less than a quarter of a mile to the windward of the point she was struggling to weather, and towards which she was driving with a treble impetus; that of the wind, acting on her sails, and pressing her ahead at the rate of fully five 16knots; that of the eddy or current, and that of the rolling waters. No man spoke, for each person felt that the 17crisis was one in which silence was a sort of homage to the Deity. Some prayed privately, and all gazed on the low rocky point that it was indispensable to pass in order to avoid destruction. There was one favourable circumstance the water was known to be deep quite close to the iron-bound coast; and it was seldom that any danger existed that was not visible to the eye.

Roswell Gardiner took his station between the 18knightheads, beckoning to Stimson to come near him. At the same time, Hazard himself went to the helm.

"Do you remember this place?

master of the old seaman.

" asked the young

"This is the spot, sir; and if we can round the rocky

point ahead, I will take you to a safe anchorage. Our drift is awful, or we are in an eddy-tide here, sir."

"It is the eddy," answered Roswell, calmly; "though our drift is not trifling. This is getting frightfully near to that point."

"Hold on, sir-it's our only chance; hold on, and we may rub and go."

66

If we rub, we are lost; that is certain enough. Should we get by this first point, there is another, a short

distance beyond it, which must certainly fetch us up, I fear. See, it opens more as we draw ahead."

Stimson saw the new danger, and fully 19appreciated it. He did not speak, however; for, to own the truth, he now abandoned all hope, and being a piously inclined person, he was privately addressing himself to God. Every man on board was fully aware of the character of this new danger; and all seemed to forget that of the nearest point of rock, towards which they were now bounding with 20 portentous speed. That point might be passedthere was a little hope there; but as to the point a quarter of a mile beyond, with the leeward set of the schooner, the most ignorant hand on board saw how unlikely it was that they should get by it.

1

9

sterile, barren, unfruitful. 2 schooner, a ship with two masts, and distinguished from other kinds of vessels by the arrangement of its sails. 3 mainsail, the principal sail of a ship. foresail, the principal sail on the fore-mast. 5 bonnet, an extra piece attached to the foot of a sail. jib, the very foremost sail of a ship. 'callous, not caring; indifferent. bight, a bend; a small inlet between two points of land. waring, veering; tacking, or turning the vessel in another direction. 10 eddy, a current running contrary to the main stream. 11 gears, tackling; apparatus for lowering or raising the sail-yards. 12 lee-ward, that side towards which the wind blows. 13 prairie, see App. 14 Cape Hatteras, a bold headland on the east coast of the United States. 15 treble impetus, threefold force. 16 knot, the one hundred and twentieth part of a nautical mile. Five knots would be rather more than 250 feet. crisis, a time when a great change may be expected, either for good or for evil. 18 knight-heads, two pieces of timber forming part of the machinery of a ship. 19 appreciate, to know the value or the nature of anything. 20 portentous, foreshowing evil; dreadful.

13

AN imposing silence prevailed in the schooner as she came abreast of the first rock. Roswell fastened his eyes on objects ahead, to note the rate of his leeward set, and with a seaman's quickness he noted the first change.

"She feels the 'under-tow, Stephen,” he said, in a voice so compressed as to seem to come out of the depths of his chest," and is breasting up to windward."

"What means that sudden 2luff, sir? Mr. Hazard must keep a good full, or we shall have no chance."

Gardiner looked aft, and saw that the mate was bearing the helm well up, as if he met with much resistance. The truth then flashed upon him, and he shouted out, "All's well, boys! God be praised! We have caught the ebbtide under our lee-bow!"

These few words explained the reason of the change. Instead of setting to leeward, the schooner was now meeting a powerful tide of some four or five knots, which 3hawsed her up to windward with irresistible force. As if conscious of the danger she was in, the tight little craft receded from the rocks as she shot ahead, and rounded that second point, which, a minute before, had appeared to be placed there purposely to destroy her. It was handsomely doubled, at the safe distance of a hundred fathoms.

In ten minutes after striking the tide, the schooner opened the passage fairly, and was kept away to enter it. Notwithstanding it blew so heavily, the rate of sailing, by the land, did not exceed five knots. This was owing to the great strength of the tide, which rises and falls thirty