At last they had passed the danger, the island was left behind, and the
wide sea lay all around.

But by this time the storm was at its height; the ship could not
maintain its proper course, but, yielding to the gale, fled to the
northwest far out of its right direction.




CHAPTER IV.


SINKING IN DEEP WATERS.

Brandon, overwhelmed by the rush of waters, half suffocated, and
struggling in the rush of the waves, shrieked out a few despairing cries
for help, and sought to keep his head above water as best he could. But
his cries were borne off by the fierce winds, and the ship as it
careered madly before the blast was soon out of hearing.

He was a first-rate swimmer, but in a sea like this it needed all his
strength and all his skill to save himself from impending death.
Encumbered by his clothes it was still more difficult, yet so fierce was
the rush of wind and wave that he dared not stop for a moment in his
struggles in order to divest himself of his clothing.

At first, by a mere blind instinct, he tried to swim after the ship, as
though by any possibility he could ever reach her again, but the
hurricane was against him, and he was forced sideways far out of the