“‘Then we saw brave Hobson’s figure—unearthly tall it looked. No voice could be heard, only his arms waved us to the bulwarks.
“‘Next second it seemed we were all in the water, as a roar louder than the artillery shook the sky, shook the hills, and silenced even the batteries.
“‘The ship was sinking beside us! We were all but drawn into the whirlpool, but I held Jack’s hand and toughly towed him off.
“‘But the dinghy was gone, and the rudder too, and the Merrimac sank, not across, but along the channel. So our forlorn hope had been led in vain. The Spanish fleet was bottled still, but not corked, sir.’
“He paused for a moment.
“‘Ah, sir, no one there would ever forget that night, nor the hours we passed under a tilted grating that God in His mercy had put it into some one’s head to attach by a rope to the ship. We could just get under this catamaran and hold on to the spars above.
“‘Hour after hour of darkness went by. Boats passed and repassed, and we could hear the men talking. Had they known there were nine heads under that grating, short would have been our shrift, sir.
“‘And all these hours we hardly spoke. We almost feared to breathe aloud.
“‘More than once I thought that Jackie here was dead or dying, but I whispered cheering words to him. More than once I trembled as my feet were touched by slimy sharks. How they did not tear me down I cannot tell you. Seems to me, sir, ’twere a ’tarposition o’ Providence like.
“‘But daylight came at last, and Cervera’s own boat and Cervera himself.