V.
The Vessel still to seaward
Came drifting down the bay,
And, steering into leeward
In surf and rain and spray,
Athwart her sides we floated;
And there on deck we noted,
With faces outward gazing,
Their piteous hands upraising
As all forlorn they lay,
A helpless band together
(Like birds in wintry weather
With feather pressed to feather
Close huddled from the blast);
A moment, weirdly flashing,
We saw them,'mid the lashing
Of billows wildly dashing
O'er bulwark, deck and mast.