16 



THE GULF, 



difficulty to descry her motions distinctly in the thicken- 

 ing haze. She was seen to career midway among the 

 breakers, when suddenly her change of position and in- 

 clination told us that she had struck, A few minutes of 

 intense anxiety followed. To return was impossible, 

 and if she did not advance, her total loss was unavoidable. 

 We saw her heave and strike heavily three or four times, 

 as the sea rolled in upon her, and had given her up for 

 lost, when providentially a heavier billow than ordinary 

 carried her over the last ridge, and righting, she was in 

 safety. How we envied her ! 



As evening darkened the deck, the wind increased , 

 and the captain no longer made a secret of his convic- 

 tion that we should be driven out to sea before morn- 

 ing. There was something like despair painted on the 

 visages of some, when this became known ; and a vol- 

 ley of curses, deep, not loud, answered the announce- 

 ment. 



We were not long left in uncertainty. " The ship to 

 the southward is scudding !" said one. " There goes the 

 brig !" exclaimed another. I remember I was in my 

 usual position on deck, near the little tiller ; now and 

 then glancing at the dim form of our nearest neigh- 

 bour ; or searching into the gloom to windward, striving 

 to penetrate the dusk out of which one spectral foam- 

 tipped billow was heaving and passing under us after 

 another, urged by the impulse of a strong but steady 

 wind, when all of a sudden the goelette received a 

 shock from the opposite quarter which staggered all up- 

 on deck, and steadied her completely for the moment. 



" El norte /" yelled the mate at my elbow, as a tor- 

 rent of wind and spray swept over the deck. " El 

 norte!" echoed Cortina, the shipless captain, "1 lost 

 my ship in the last !" " El norte /" shouted the , bravo, 

 excited by the coming struggle with the elements, for 

 which he had been preparing himself by stripping al- 

 most naked, and tying a ragged handkerchief about his 

 head. " Helm hard down— slip the chain cable !" re- 

 sponded the captain, as he hoisted the jib with his own 

 hands ; and instantly the harsh sound of the iron was 



