time, as sailors, sailing his father's ship, and whom he had met on the wharves whenever the vessels returned to port.
"His father had intrusted him to me, with special instructions to be careful of him, and to see that he was safely left at one of the universities in England. He was going abroad to finish his education.
"Well, the storm kept on, and, instead of diminishing, it increased. Squall after squall struck her, and though every thing was done to relieve the ship, I found that things were getting worse, and finally a leak was discovered away down in the hold. The water poured in faster than we could pump it out, and indeed we could with difficulty work the pumps at all, owing to the constant pitching of the almost ungovernable vessel. To make a long yarn short, we were floundering away, with the pumps going, the winds blowing big guns, and the waves pitching like mountains of solid granite put into motion, when the helmsman was washed from the wheel; and before another could take his place, the vessel fell into the trough of the sea, and all was wild confusion and horror.
"I maintained sufficient command, at that terrible moment, to have some of my orders obeyed. The boats were ordered to be lowered, and when one had touched the water, the crazy sailors and passengers rushed to it, and for an instant, when it was filled, it floated on the back of a huge billow, and then was swept away into the foam, and was seen no more. It had filled with water, and down it went, with its cargo of screaming and blaspheming souls.
"The next boat fared better, and I had only time to get the remainder of the passengers, two only beside the boy, and some of the sailors, into it, when the ship went down into the deep sea, with a plunge like a wild horse when he is shot.
"We escaped the pool made by the ship's going down, and, with the greatest difficulty, we got the boat properly trimmed, and though surrounded by a perfect seething of broken waves, we managed to keep upon the surface.
"We had not a mouthful of any thing to eat on board, for we had no time to secure a morsel from the stores, so sudden was the necessity to take to the boats, and so short the time to accomplish our rescue.
