I saw now that the Dolphin was a doomed ship; that awful chasm in the deck could never be covered in and made secure in time to prevent her foundering; I therefore rapidly cast over in my mind what would be best to do. In a minute I had the necessary idea, which it seemed had at the same moment presented itself to the carpenter, for he staggered toward me and hoarsely shouted into my ear:
“The ship can’t live ten minutes longer, sir. Better cut away the masts so as to leave us something to cling to when she goes from under us.”
“Yes,” said I, “do it at once. Steady, men!” I continued, “out knives every one of you and cut away every rope attached to the hull; as many of you as can get at the lanyards of the rigging cut them; the masts are our only chance.”
The men understood me and at once set to work, most of them going forward and attacking the foremast first, so as to get it down and out of the way before commencing upon the mainmast. The back-stays were first severed, then the lanyards of the shrouds, commencing at the aftermost and working forward; and when the hands had cut through about half of them the remainder suddenly parted and the foremast went over the bows with a crash, being only prevented from going adrift altogether and lost by the circumstance that the topsail sheets and other running gear had not been let go or cut away. The foremast in falling brought down the main-topmast with it; and I fancied that, as it crashed down on the deck, I heard, above the hoarse shriek of the gale, a human cry which led me to fear that some of the workers had been hurt. Leaving Fidd with half a dozen hands to the somewhat delicate task of securing the wreck of the mast sufficiently to prevent its prematurely breaking adrift, whilst at the same time taking precautions against the danger of its being dragged down by the ship when she should founder, the rest of the crew came aft and at once commenced an attack upon the mainmast, which it had now become necessary to get rid of with the utmost expedition, as, owing to the fall of the foremast, the ship was in momentary peril of broaching to and capsizing. The men had reached the main rigging and were in the very act of commencing operations when a huge sea swept unbroken under the schooner; and as the crest passed her and she settled slopingly down on the back of it, I heard the water in the hold come rushing aft, accompanied by a crashing sound below which told me that the cabin bulkhead had given way, and the next instant the water surged up through the sky-light-hole in the deck, showing that she was at that moment full to the beams abaft. Her stern settled bodily down with the weight of water in that part of her, whilst her bows, relieved of the burden, rose high in the air. She was now in the trough between two seas, and as the one following her came sweeping up astern with towering foam-capped crest reared high in air, it became evident that, being pinned down as it were with so much water in the after part of her, she would not recover herself in time, and that the approaching sea would run right over her. I knew well enough what would then happen, and so did the men, for at my warning cry they at once dropped whatever they happened to have in their hands and sprang forward. I waved to the helmsman, who up to that moment had stuck most nobly to his perilous post, and he, understanding me, let go the wheel and rushed past me after his shipmates. On swept the wave, the water gathering up round the quarters of the devoted schooner until it began to pour in over the taffrail. Nothing now could save the Dolphin—her hour had come. I glanced wildly round the deck and saw, indistinctly through the gloom, the dark blot-like crowd of men all clustered together in the gangway, waiting to spring for the wreck of the foremast; and as the body of the wave came roaring and foaming in over the stern, and I felt the deck canting upward under its weight, I too staggered up the steep incline and shouted, “Jump for your lives!” as one of the men seized me round the waist whilst he thrust a rope into my hand.
Another moment and the great mountain of foaming water had reached to where we stood. I was swept irresistibly off my feet and hurled in among the crowding men; I was jostled and dragged to and fro; and as the sea closed over my head, ends and bights of rope wreathed and twisted themselves about my limbs and body; I received several violent blows from what I supposed were floating pieces of wreckage; I found myself, all in a moment, inextricably entangled in a raffle of cordage which tightened itself about my body until I could move neither hand nor foot; and then there came a great singing in my ears, and I felt that I was being dragged irresistibly downward.
Chapter Twenty Three.
The Spanish Treasure-ship.
Suddenly, with a distinct jerk, the downward dragging sensation ceased; the gear with which I was entangled had broken adrift from the sinking hull; and just as I was upon the point of being suffocated from my long submersion I found myself once more upon the surface. Though scarcely conscious, I still had sense enough to take a long inhalation and so fill my lungs afresh with air; and it was well that I did so, for my head had not been above water more than a few seconds before I was again overwhelmed. I quite gave myself up for lost; for, as I have already said, I was so completely enmeshed by the raffle of loose gear which had wrapped itself about my body and limbs that I was quite powerless to help myself. On emerging the second time, however, somebody seized me by the hair, and in another moment I felt myself being drawn up by the arms upon a spar.