THE TOLL OF THE BRAVE 341 



after part of the ship, on which the survivors were 

 crowded, turned bottom up, and the miserable remnant 

 of a ship's fine company was drowned. 



There was one strange feature of the wreck which 

 was put on record at the time. On board the Minotaur 

 was a large tame wolf which, from the time it was caught 

 as a cub, had been the pet of both officers and men, and 

 had become specially attached to a lieutenant named 

 Salsford. When the ship was wrecked the wolf howled 

 pitifully, keeping close to Salsford all the time. When 

 at last the officer tried to reach the shore by clinging to 

 a drifting mast, his pet was with him. They were 

 repeatedly washed off, yet helped each other back to the 

 mast, the wolf acting just as a big and faithful dog would 

 have done that was trying to save his master. The 

 mast was driven quite close to the land, and it seemed as 

 if the strange pair would reach salvation ; but both were 

 utterly exhausted and benumbed, and Salsford, . unable 

 to support himself any longer, fell away from his only 

 hope of safety. Simultaneously the wolf placed his paws 

 round the drowning officer's neck, and Salsford at the 

 same moment clasped the animal in his arms. So, 

 locked together, they sank. 



On the day before Christmas, at dawn, the survivors 

 were marched off as prisoners of war to Valenciennes ; 

 but in a few weeks the gunner escaped, hiding and 

 almost starving for more than a month ; then, by agreeing 

 to pay ^50 to the skipper of a smuggling craft at Ostend, 

 he escaped to England. 



There was a note of tragic prophecy in the words of 

 Captain Newman, commanding the Hero, when, a year 

 after the loss of the Minotaur, he made ready to convoy 



