He stood with his finger raised in the attitude of one listening intently, his eyes fixed on the face of the old sailor.
“It is the sound of breakers,” said the seaman.
“Breakers on the lee-quarter!” cried the look-out at this instant, his hoarse voice sounding ominously across the night.
“Breakers on the lee-beam!” answered another.
“Breakers on the lee-bow!” echoed a third.
All eyes peered immediately into the darkness. A long line of foam was plainly visible, skirting quite round the horizon to leeward.
“God have mercy on our souls!” I involuntarily ejaculated.
The captain sprung to the wheel, his eye flashing, his whole frame dilated—for he had taken a sudden and desperate resolution. He saw that, if no effort was made, we should be among the breakers in twenty minutes; but if the mainsail could be set, and made to hold for half an hour, we might yet escape. There were nine chances to one that the sail would split the instant it was spread, and in a less terrible emergency he would have shrunk from the experiment; but it was now our only hope.
“Keep her to it!” he shouted; “keep her well up. All hands to set the main-course!”
Fortunately we were strong-handed, so that it would not be necessary to carry the tack to the windlass, notwithstanding the gale. A portion of the crew sprung to man this important rope; the remainder hurried up the rigging, almost disappearing in the gloom overhead.
In less than a minute the huge sail fell from the yard, like a gigantic puff of white smoke blown from the top. It struggled and whipped terribly, but the good ropes held fast.
“Brace up the yard—haul out the bowline!” thundered the captain.
The men ran off with the line, and the immense sheet came to its place.
This was the critical moment. The ship feeling the additional propulsion, made a headlong plunge. I held my breath. I expected nothing less than to see the heavy duck blown from the yard like a gossamer; but the strong fabric held fast, though straining awfully.
“She comes up, don’t she?” interrogated the captain of the man at the helm.
“If she holds for half an hour,” ejaculated the captain, “we may yet be saved.”
On rushed the noble ship, seeming to know how much depended on her. She met the billows, she rose above them, she struggled perseveringly forward. In five minutes the breakers were visibly receding.