But with all straining of eyes and glasses, we could discern
no sign of man on board. Well I recollect the mingled disappointment
and admiration of the Preventive men, as a fresh set of salvors
appeared in view, in the form of a boat's crew of Clovelly fishermen;
how we watched breathlessly the little black speck crawling and
struggling up in the teeth of the gale, under the shelter of the
land, till, when the ship had rounded a point into smoother water,
she seized on her like some tiny spider on a huge unwieldy fly; and
then how one still smaller black speck showed aloft on the main-yard,
and another--and then the desperate efforts to get the topsail set--
and how we saw it tear out of their hands again, and again, and
again, and almost fancied we could hear the thunder of its flappings
above the roar of the gale, and the mountains of surf which made the
rocks ring beneath our feet;--and how we stood silent, shuddering,
expecting every moment to see whirled into the sea from the plunging
yards one of those same tiny black specks, in each one of which was a
living human soul, with sad women praying for him at home! And then
how they tried to get her head round to the wind, and disappeared
instantly in a cloud of white spray--and let her head fall back
again--and jammed it round again, and disappeared again--and at last
let her drive helplessly up the bay, while we kept pace with her
along the cliffs; and how at last, when she had been mastered and
fairly taken in tow, and was within two miles of the pier, and all
hearts were merry with the hopes of a prize which would make them
rich, perhaps, for years to come--one-third, I suppose, of the whole
value of her cargo--how she broke loose from them at the last moment,
and rushed frantically in upon those huge rocks below us, leaping
great banks of slate at the blow of each breaker, tearing off masses
of ironstone which lie there to this day to tell the tale, till she
drove up high and dry against the cliff, and lay, like an enormous
stranded whale, grinding and crashing herself to pieces against the
walls of her adamantine cage.
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