At last, the day broke; and, as the faint light gleamed through the chinks in the tent, telling all that the dreary night was past, they quickly bestirred themselves—Snowball being one of the first to turn out, and at once hastening to kindle up the fire, which he had left carefully banked up the previous evening, besides wisely hedging it in with heavy pieces of stone so that the wind should not scatter it away, as would otherwise probably have been the case.
“Soon get drop hot coffee, massa,” said he to Mr Meldrum, who was an early riser too and not far behind the darkey; “Um berry good for de tomack fust thing in mornin’!”
But the other was too much concerned about the fate of the ship to think of coffee then; and, long before Snowball had finished his remark, he was actively ascending the highest rock near to get a good view out to seaward. Here he was shortly joined by Mr McCarthy and Ben Boltrope, who were also equally anxious in the matter; although the others, not having been called, did not hurry themselves to leave the warm atmosphere of the tent for the cold and raw air without.
The lookers-out, however, could not see much as yet; for the usual surface fog—which in these regions generally creeps up in the evening and hangs over the sea till broad daylight—had not yet completely cleared away; and so, a curtain of haze shut out the offing from their gaze. Still, as far as the eye could reach, the sea was very rough, with heavy rollers rolling in landward. The gale of the night had not abated much, albeit the wind was not so gusty as it had been, while its force seemed to be lessening as the morning drew on.
“I’m afraid,” said Mr Meldrum, after vainly trying for a long time to peer through the impenetrable veil of mist which hid the reef from sight, “that this last blow has settled the old ship.”
“Faix, and I’m thinking just that very same,” responded the first mate. “It blowed tremenjus towards four bells, sorr, an’ the poor crathur must be clane smashed up by now!”
“It’s very unfortunate if that has happened,” replied the other. “The sea is running too high for us to launch the jolly-boat, and so we’ll lose all chance of saving the wreckage.”
“True for you, sorr, save and onless it drifts ashore.”
“There’s not the slightest hope of that,” replied Mr Meldrum. “Nothing has come up on the beach here yet, that I’ve been able to perceive!”
“But, sure an’ the wind’s bin blowing on to the land, sorr, all night. P’r’aps that might make a difference!”