“No, going down slowly, but the hulk is almost ready to break in two—wheelhouse already gone, decks washed clean, and even the bulwarks broken into bits. The finish is in sight,” was what he said to me.
It gave me a numb feeling of pain.
How eagerly I prayed for delay—at least until dawn, for it is so much easier to face danger when one can distinguish its terrors, perhaps see the shore, to reach which every nerve must be strained.
Every time he went out after that I anxiously awaited his return.
Five, six o’clock—would it hold until daylight?
Hildegarde guessed how matters stood, and she sat there smiling at me—God bless her!—as much as to say she had no fear; but I knew it was done to encourage me, and that her poor little heart was quivering with womanly fright.
Then came the summons to the fray—Robbins, with a firm look upon his face, calling:
“Every one on deck! the day has come and it is dangerous to remain below. She may break in two at any moment. On deck all, I say!”
CHAPTER XXV.
ON THE BRINK OF ETERNITY.