upon the hapless vessel. Buffeted by great waves, and
stripped of every shred of canvas by the force of the
mighty wind that howled about her, the Ithaca drifted
a hopeless wreck soon after the storm struck her.

Below deck the terrified girl clung desperately to
a stanchion as the stricken ship lunged sickeningly
before the hurricane. For half an hour the awful
suspense endured, and then with a terrific crash the
vessel struck, shivering and trembling from stem to stern.

Virginia Maxon sank to her knees in prayer, for this
she thought must surely be the end. On deck Bududreen
and his crew had lashed themselves to the masts, and as
the Ithaca struck the reef before the harbor, back upon
which she had been driven, the tall poles with their
living freight snapped at the deck and went overboard
carrying every thing with them amid shrieks and cries
of terror that were drowned and choked by the wild
tumult of the night.

Twice the girl felt the ship strike upon the reef, then
a great wave caught and carried her high into the air,
dropping her with a nauseating lunge which seemed to
the imprisoned girl to be carrying the ship to the very
bottom of the ocean. With closed eyes she clung in
silent prayer beside her berth waiting for the moment
that would bring the engulfing waters and oblivion--
praying that the end might come speedily and release
her from the torture of nervous apprehension that had