As he spoke a great wave struck the vessel. She rose on it, moved a few yards further forward, and then fell again with a crash that threw them both off their feet.
“THE SHIP FELL WITH A CRASH THAT THREW STEVE AND THE CAPTAIN OFF THEIR FEET.”
“There is not much chance of that,” the Peruvian said as he rose again, taking up the conversation at the point at which [pg 187]it had been broken; “an hour or two will see the end of her, perhaps even less.”
“It felt to me as if she struck all over,” Stephen said, “and I should think she is on a flat ledge of rock. I don’t think that the wind is blowing as hard as it was when we lay down. There are some stars shining. At any rate we may as well go in again and wait. We should only be swept overboard if we tried to go forward.”
He turned to re-enter the cabin, but was nearly carried off his feet by a torrent of water that swept along the passage.
“That last wave has smashed her stern in,” he said to the Peruvian; “we must stand outside.”
They seated themselves on the deck, with their backs to the poop. The cataract of water which from time to time swept over them from above, fell beyond them and rushed forward.
“Her head is lower than her stern,” the Peruvian remarked. “I begin to think she may hold together until morning; she has not lifted again.”