out of the companion way, the Captain ordered her back. She said, "Where
is Paul?" Her husband answered, "I have called to him time and time
again to get below." She called to Paul, who was holding fast to the
anchor chain with his legs stuck under the windlass. He did not answer.
She started to creep forward. Her husband could not see her. At this
moment the sloop took a dreadful plunge. A heavy sea swept over her from
stern to bow, completely submerging her. The Captain, who had taken the
precaution to lash himself to the deck, in a half-drowned state, held
steadily to the tiller. As soon as possible he called to his wife, but
no answer came back. He called to Paul, and he too was silent. Was she
lost? Had she, in whom all his hopes were placed, been carried into the
sea and for ever lost to him on earth? These thoughts bewildered him
while he was trying to steer his vessel. He dare not leave the helm to
look after his wife and children. He hoped the sea had not broken into
the cabin and drowned all that were left to him on earth. He had often
been called to drink the cup of bitterness, had he been called to drink
it to its dregs? Had his sorrow at last reached its destined depths. He
burst into tears, almost stupified, and calling upon Him who is able to
guide the storm in its course and hush it to a calm; to Him whose
charities have distilled like the dews of Heaven; who had fed the hungry
and clothed the naked; who had opened a way of escape in the wilderness;
to Him he cried for succor. And at last in utter despair he earnestly
prayed for morning or death. Now and again a huge sea would break over
the little ship, but she rode the waves as beautifully as an ocean
liner. Terribly the night wore away. With the dawn of the morning the
gale began to abate. The Captain lashed the tiller and crept to the
companion way. He opened it, went down, found his children, bruised,
bleeding and terrified. He kissed them, feeling they were now dearer
than ever to him. They asked him where their mother was. He came on deck
and shut them in the cabin without replying. As Captain Godfrey crawled