the side of the ship, hand over hand, along a rope that had been
thrown him, and disappear over the bulwarks. They afterwards
learned that he reached the deck of the ship, and thus made
himself master of the wreck, just as the head of his rival
appeared above the opposite side.

The wreck proved to be the ship Goodspeed, Captain Gillis, of and
for Liverpool, with cotton from New Orleans. During the calm of
the preceding night she had been caught by one of the powerful
coast currents, and stealthily but surely drawn into the toils.
Shortly before daylight she had struck on Pickle Reef, but so
lightly and so unexpectedly that her crew could hardly believe the
slight jar they felt was anything more than the shock of striking
some large fish. They soon found, however, that they were hard and
fast aground, and had struck on the very top of the flood tide, so
that, as it ebbed, the ship became more and more firmly fixed in
her position. As the ship settled with the ebbing tide she began
to leak badly, and Captain Gillis was greatly relieved when
daylight disclosed to him the presence of the Nancy Bell, and he
greeted her captain most cordially as the latter gained the deck
of his ship.

By the time the schooner had approached the wreck, as nearly as
her own safety permitted, and dropped anchor for the first time
since leaving Bangor, a dozen little wrecking craft, manned by
crews of swarthy spongers and fishermen, had also reached the
spot, and active preparations for lightening the stranded ship
were being made. Her carefully battened hatches were uncovered,
whips were rove to her lower yards, and soon the tightly pressed
bales of cotton began to appear over her sides, and find their way