Mr. Walker now called out to me that his boat was drifting, and in a moment more she went ashore. For one second we saw her dancing wildly in over the breakers, and then she disappeared from us, and we were left in uncertainty as to her fate; for, although we were close to the beach, it was impossible, amidst the din of elements, to hear what was taking place there. An occasional vivid flash of lightning showed us dark figures hauling about some huge object, and then again all was wrapped in roar and darkness. Mr. Smith and myself in the meanwhile were baling away, and Ruston was striving with the steer oar to keep her head to sea, for the instant she got the least broadside on the waves broke over her and she filled again.
SERIOUS DANGER OF LOSING THE BOATS.
Mr. Walker, nothing daunted by the conduct of the men, having had his own boat hauled up, again swam off to us, and for the next hour or two we kept the other one not more than half full; but the gale, which had been gradually increasing, now became a perfect hurricane, and it was evident that this boat must also go ashore. We imagined that Mr. Walker's must be stove in several places; and, as to have been left without a boat would have been certain destruction to us, I swam ashore to have the party ready to try and save mine by hauling her over the reef the instant she grounded.
I arrived there with a few cuts and bruises, and found the men on shore in a most miserable state; many of them were perfectly appalled by the hurricane, never having seen anything of the kind before, and were lying under the lee of the bow of Mr. Walker's boat, which, although he had drawn it up high and dry upon the sandhills, far above the usual high-water mark, was again more than half full of water and seaweed from the waves every now and then breaking over her stern. It was with great difficulty I roused the men and got them to clear out the seaweed, which lightened her somewhat; we then hauled her up a little at a favourable opportunity, and advanced her so far that we rather gained upon the water by baling, and thus, by degrees, got her quite on land. But as the storm continued the waves still continued to encroach upon the shore, and we were obliged to repeat this operation of hauling up three successive times in the night, which was one of the most fearful I have ever passed. I lay drenched through, my wet shirt sticking close to me and my blanket soaked with water, for I could not find my clothes again after I came ashore. Whenever a flash of lightning broke I looked if the boat was drifting in, and there I saw it still dancing about upon the waves, whilst the elements were so mighty in their power that I felt shrunk up to nothing, and tremulous in my own insignificance.
The grey dawn stole on and the boat gradually became visible; she had drifted somewhat nearer shore, but there still were the three figures discernible in her, Ruston working away at the steer-oar, and Mr. Smith and Mr. Walker alternately baling. The storm now appeared to lull a little and in a few minutes (about half-past five A.M.) it suddenly dropped. The men now looked out again and I could hear Ruston saying, "I believe we are now safe, Sir;" and I immediately ordered that two men should go off and relieve Mr. Smith and Mr. Walker. They evidently feared to make the attempt and said they could not swim, which was true as far as some of them were concerned. I then ordered successively three men who I knew could swim to take advantage of the lull and gain the boat: they all attempted it, but before they got clear of the reef their hearts failed them, and they declared they could not contend with the waves.
RENEWAL OF THE STORM.
Just as the last man had failed, the wind, which had hitherto been from the south-east, shifted instantaneously to the north-west. We all quailed or fell before it, for it came with sudden and indescribable violence; the boat appeared to hesitate for one moment, in the next she came dancing wildly in on the shore. The men reached her as well as they could and we dragged her up. The storm now became so violent that even Mr. Walker, who was a heavy man, was blown about by it like a child; there was not a tree on the island, but the bushes were stripped from the ground, and I found it impossible to keep my legs.
The sea all this time kept rising, being heaped up by the wind against the shore, but whenever a momentary lull came we took advantage of it to drag the boat a little further up; indeed the sea gained on us so much that I had made up my mind it would sweep away the intervening sandhills and once more wash the face of the cliffs. In this case we should to a certainty have all perished.
DISTRESS FOR WATER.
At two P.M. the storm lulled considerably, and I immediately despatched men in all directions to collect water from holes in the rocks, and made the native and an old bushman try to light a fire; for those of us who had been all the night and morning in the pelting rain, with nothing but our shirts on, were benumbed and miserable from cold.