WRECK OF THE SCHOONER. 119

away from the corvette by to-morrow morning,
and then you can come on deck if you like,’ he
observed.

As J lay in my berth the dreadful scenes I had
witnessed came constantly before my sight, and I
kept alternately hoping that Paul might have been
saved, and fearing that he was lost. For a long
time too it seemed I could not go to sleep. The
vessel also was pitching heavily, the sea dashed
against her sides, and I could hear the roaring and
whistling of the wind in her rigging; it was evi-
dently blowing very hard. At last I dropped off
tosleep. Iwas awakened by a loud crash, and the
fearful shrieks and cries which arose from the hold.

No longer heeding my friend’s caution, slipping
on my clothes, I rushed on deck. The schooner’s
masts had gone by the board, and she lay helpless
on the foaming ocean. The crew were shouting
and swearing as they endeavoured to cut away
the masts, which were battering against her sides,
while ever and anon a heavy sea striking her,
swept over her deck, and from the shrieks which
came up out of the waters a short distance away
to leeward, I had little doubt that several of the
people had been washed overboard. Fearing that