306 WHALING AND PISHING. 



violently gesticulating to the Earl of Harwood'f 

 crew, as we could see through a night glass. They 

 evidently desired these to cut away their vessel's 

 masts, as the last hope of saving her and them 

 selves. But this they would not do. 



" I'd sooner try to beat the old craft out, at the 

 risk of burying her bones in the sand, than to cut 

 away those masts ; we would never get a set like 

 them again," the Earl of Harwood's mate had said 

 on the previous day, while talking to our mate. 



But beating out was an impossibility. Only a 

 year before we were there, a mail steamer, drag- 

 ging in a south-easter, had attempted to get clear 

 by means of sails and steam ; but after a desperate 

 struggle of some hours, had gone ashore. How, 

 then, could one expect a vessel depending altoge- 

 ther upon sails, to be cleared ? 



"That time she dragged at least a hundred 

 fathom. Another slip like that will bring her foul 

 of the Margaret," said the mate, who was closely 

 watching every turn in affairs. " If he would 

 slip now, hoist his jib, and run her ashore, he 

 would do no damage to any one else." 



" There goes the jib ! " shouted the cook, who 

 had turned out to witness the exciting scene. 



"Yes, there it goes," said Scotch Jack, as the 

 Bail blew out of the bolt ropes, torn to shreds by 

 the fierce gale. 



" That's a mishap, now, for the poor Margaret." 



The Harwood's crew had slipped their cable a1 



