"
"Will you promise to save me if the vessel is wrecked?" exclaimed
Dillon, catching at the first sounds of friendly interest that had
reached his ears since he had been recaptured; "Oh! If you will, I can
secure your future ease, yes, wealth, for the remainder of your days!"
"Your promises have been too ill kept afore this, for the peace of your
soul," returned the cockswain, without bitterness, though sternly; "but
it is not in me to strike even a whale that is already spouting blood."
The intercessions of Dillon were interrupted by a dreadful cry, that
arose among the men forward, and which sounded with increased horror,
amid the roarings of the tempest. The schooner rose on the breast of a
wave at the same instant, and, falling off with her broadside to the
sea, she drove in towards the cliffs, like a bubble on the rapids of a
cataract.
"Our ground-tackle has parted," said Tom, with his resigned patience of
manner undisturbed; "she shall die as easy as man can make her!"--While
he yet spoke, he seized the tiller, and gave to the vessel such a
direction as would be most likely to cause her to strike the rocks with
her bows foremost.
There was, for one moment, an expression of exquisite anguish betrayed
in the dark countenance of Barnstable; but, at the next, it passed away,
and he spoke cheerfully to his men:
"Be steady, my lads, be calm; there is yet a hope of life for
_you_--our light draught will let us run in close to the cliffs,
and it is still falling water--see your boats clear, and be steady.
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