"Waal, the blessed old barky were a-settlin' lower an' lower in the water every minute. Old Hiram Duck, the ship's carpenter, he climbed up to the foretorps'l-yard, an' set there with his legs hangin' over, while he wiped his eyes with a piece o' oakum, an' sang, werry solemn like:
"'Oh, fare ye well, my Mary Ann;
You'll nevermore see me;
I'm goin' fur to wed a mermaid
At the bottom o' the sea.'
"Long Bill Smock he were a-jumpin' up an' down in the waist o' the wessel, a-ringin' o' his hands an' sayin': 'Oh dear! oh dear! I'm sure the water's awful cold, an' I've got rheumatism now.' The Cap'n he didn't say a word, but jess kep' a-lookin' at the compass an' a-scratchin' his head. As fur me, I were the wust fool o' the hull lot, fur I yelled fur all hands to take to the riggin'. An' blow me fur pickles ef they didn't up an' do it. An' that are wot saved 'em, arter all. The Uncle Tom's Cabin went down an' down till the next sea rolled clean over her deck, an' ef them fellers hadn't been aloft, it 'd 'a' washed 'em all overboard. But jest then we heerd a tremenjis rumblin' an' roarin' under the sea, like there was a thunder-storm on the bottom, an' the Uncle Tom's Cabin stopped sinkin'."
The Old Sailor paused a moment to let the full meaning of this startling statement sink into the minds of his young hearers. He swept the horizon with his glance, and then continued:
"An' wot are more, she beginned fur to come up. There were somethin' under her a-shovin' her up. We could feel her shake an' tremble an' bump.
"'Sacred name of a poodle!' hollered Jean Bart, a French sailor, 'it are a whale!'
"Whale not'in'!' yells Jim Hall, a gentleman from the Bowery; 'she's struck a rock!'
"W'ich the same it were putty near true. 'Cos w'y, a rock had struck her. The bottom o' the sea had riz right up under her, an' pushed her right out o' the water. An' there she were, restin' comfortable atween two rocks, with a island about half a mile wide all around her, an' a ferogious surf a-breakin' onto it.
"'Breakers ahead! Breakers astarn! Geewollikins! Breakers all around!' yells Hiram Duck, from the foretorps'l-yard.