everything but their duty, dashed into the tunnel, carrying blankets and ropes to secure over the leak. They actually got to the end of the tunnel and succeeded in placing the blankets over the hole; but before they could secure them, the rising water forced them back, just filling the tunnel as they were dashed back into the engine-room. Then, with great difficulty, the water-tight door was closed; and the fires not having been put out, though the water had nearly risen up to them, they were able to work a powerful steam-pump with which the vessel was fitted, soon reducing the water in the engine-room. The water-tight bulkhead was still leaking badly in several places, and it required all the skill of the chief engineer to make it sufficiently tight to prevent the water from gaining on the pumps inside the engine room. The vessel was well found in boats, six in all four large ones, and two light gigs. It was decided to use only the four large boats, as they would take us all; and we set to work to get them swung out and provisioned in a hurry. It was an exciting time. If the vessel had been sinking quickly, we should not have got one boat away. Nothing would work easily; the davits stuck for a long time, and resisted all our efforts to turn them; and the falls jammed in the blocks. Moreover, the boat I was told off to had been painted the day before, and was all over wet paint, which made it most difficult to handle her, besides leaving a reminder on one's garments. However, it was done at last; and tinned meat, biscuits, and water put into each boat. As to our water-cask, it was so rotten it could not hold water at all, and we had to content ourselves with filling a few bottles. Abaft the engine-room the water was rapidly rising. Some of the passengers The captain then ordered the women had been set to work at a hand-pump on and children and one sick man into the deck; but being a poor pump, it was boat he was going to take charge of; and worked very hard with little result. We in they got, the boat still swinging at the took the work in two gangs, twenty min-davits. One old man brought all his utes off and on, and I found myself smok- heavy boxes from the cabin, and placed ing my pipe between the spells with them beside the boat he was going in; considerable comfort. and when told he could only take some wraps, he quietly dragged them back to his cabin. The well was sounded again, and five feet of water found in it. Shortly after this, the captain told me privately that there was no chance of saving the ship; and he was shortly going to give the order to prepare the boats for leaving her. This order was soon given; and then occurred the only sign of panic which I saw from first to last. Some of the crew, which was composed of men of several nationalities, made a dash at one of the boats, with the intention of getting away in her by themselves. The night was dark, the moon not having yet risen, so that they were not noticed for a minute or two; but when the mates found out what was going on, they bundled them out of the boat in no time. About this time I had occasion to go through the saloon; the steward was there; and although he knew that orders had been given to leave the ship, he was busy dusting some glasses in a rack, and had evidently been round the saloon putting everything in perfect order, so that it might go to the bottom tidy! I suppose habit was second nature to him. On going out, I passed the cabin where the four children were peacefully sleeping. I could not help peeping in; but it was sad to look at the rosy cheeks and peaceful faces of the little ones, and to think what a small chance they had of surviving a long boatcruise. Just as the order was going to be given for all to leave the ship, and even the man at the wheel had been called away, the chief engineer came on deck and said to the captain: "Don't you leave the ship, sir; I believe we can save her." He then explained that though the engine-room bulkhead had leaked considerably, he and his men had made it nearly tight, and what little water came into the engine room was easily pumped out again; and though the water was still rising abaft the engineroom, it was not rising so fast as it did at first; and the vessel, in his opinion, was sure to float for some hours yet, if she could not be kept afloat altogether. The captain consented to wait till daylight, and we men went back to the pumps, though the poor women and chil dren were still kept swinging at the davits, the captain being afraid to take them out of the boats, for fear there would not be time to get them in again. But after about two hours of it, he let them come out. The dreary night wore on. Cocoa, and once a drink of rum, was served out to the men at the pumps. When the rum came -a wineglassful to every two men - the man I shared with was a grimy stoker, and he had first drink; for a moment I hesitated when my turn came; but the claims of exhausted nature were not to be denied. The moon was up now. We got some sail on the vessel, and headed her for Madeira, which was about two hundred miles distant, and the wind fair. As far as we could see, no vessels were in sight; but some rockets were tried. Only one of them, however, went up, the rest being damp and useless. Sunday morning broke at last. A sad Sunday! We anxiously scanned the horizon; there was not a sail in sight anywhere. The bulkhead, which was keeping us up for the time being, was nearly amidships, but not quite, it being a little aft of that position, so not quite half the vessel was at the mercy of the leak, Shortly after daylight there was a consultation in the captain's cabin as to what should be done. It was decided to take the hatches off, and throw over all the cargo abaft the engine-room that could be got at. There was a steam-winch available, and a derrick was soon rigged up. The cargo we could get at was all wool, in bales of about ten hundredweight each; and as bale after bale went over the side, we made a long wake of them, as they did not sink at once. The weather still kept fairly fine; had it not been for this, we could not have taken off the hatches, as the after-part of the vessel was by this time rather low in the water, and we should in all probability have been unable to save the ship. The steward had not neglected his duty, and had prepared as good a breakfast as he could manage; and mechanically we went to it, not that anybody had any real wish to go to breakfast, but as a matter of habit. It was an uncanny thing, also, to take a meal in a cabin which one felt almost sure would be at the bottom of the sea before the next meal-time came round. Yet, in we went, the captain taking the head of the table as usual; but he could eat nothing, and even his jovial ruddy face was much altered. evening, as the light was beginning to fade, we saw a steamer; but it was hull down, and we could only see its masts and funnel. We had an old carronade which had probable last been fired at the battle of the Nile. This was loaded, and with great difficulty fired; but it took such a long time, that the steamer was out of sight before it went off, and no result followed. We also tried one or two more rockets; but it was of no use. Sunday night. All the cargo in the after-hold that could be got at had been thrown overboard; so, by way of using the steam-winch, a large cask was rigged up and lowered into the hold, filled with water, hoisted up, and tipped overboard. This could be done about twice a minute, and helped considerably to keep the water down. The stench from the hold added now to our discomforts, as the raw hides and wool began to ferment, owing to the action of the water combined with the heat of the weather. But that was a small matter. And so the second night went on. The great ship looming against the star-lit sky with her dark square sails set on the foremast, her bows towering high above the sea, her stern nearly level with it, and three red lights on her foremast-signals of distress looked like some huge monster out of a fairy tale stricken nigh unto death, but struggling on while life lasted. One There were some curious traits of character exhibited on the part of both crew and passengers, though most of them did their duty quietly and manfully. man, a steerage passenger, took to his berth after the accident happened. When the second mate went to rouse him up and make him take his turn at the pumps, he said "he was not going to pump; he knew the vessel was going down, and he would die comfortable in his berth." In fact he was left there, as the mate had no time to waste over him. Another man armed himself with a revolver with the intention of shooting himself if the worst came to the worst, as he said he preferred shooting to drowning. The revolver was taken from him. Shortly after breakfast, one of the sailors who was on the lookout cried "Sail ho!" At half past three on Monday morning, We certainly saw what appeared to be a just before the first glimmer of daylight sail; but it disappeared and again ap- appeared, we sighted another steamer. peared in a curious manner. Everybody No rockets were left; but fortunately there brightened up at this news, particularly was a Roman candle, and this was supplethe poor women; but after careful exam-mented by a blue light. The vessel was ination through the glass, it turned out to be only some whales spouting. Ten feet of water being in the hold by the afternoon, the stern of the vessel was very much lower in the water. Towards about three miles away, and passing us at that distance. For about two minutes after the blue light had died out, we all strained our eyes in anxious silence; but the stranger was keeping a good lookout, and at the end of that time a bright light | the lee of the island and into smooth appeared from its deck for a moment; and water. then up into the clear sky shot a majestic Our steamer had come from a South rocket, and bursting at a great height, American port which the Portuguese are showered down its colored balls. I have pleased to consider unhealthy. Though seen many rockets, but never enjoyed the there was nobody ill on board, and the sight of one so much as I did then. A vessel had left that port some three weeks deep sigh of relief passed through all the or more, she was obliged to hoist the yelassembled watchers; and almost immedi-low quarantine flag on nearing Madeira. ately after, we could see all three of the As we passed the signal staff, a lot of steamer's lights, showing she was steering little flags went up. I was standing by straight for us. She soon got alongside the captain at the time, and heard him as nearly as she dared to come; and her mutter something in which the word captain having arranged to tow us to Ma-" "fools was noticeable. I asked what the deira, distant about one hundred and signal meant. The question asked was: ninety miles, if we could keep our vessel "Are you in distress?" A brief "Yes" afloat, we were taken in tow. To manage was the reply. Again up went the little this we had to lower one of our boats; and flags from the station, and this time they the trouble we had in getting that boat said, "Do not anchor if you can help it; safely afloat gave us some idea of the diffi- and that because we were flying the yellow culty and danger there would have been, flag. These inhospitable Portuguese, in the state of the sea, in getting every- rather than run the most remote risk of body safely away in the boats. disease, would have allowed us to go to the bottom without any help. Our captain answered: "Must anchor, or beach her; and shortly after, we did anchor. But not a soul was allowed on board to help us; and a guard was set over us, to prevent any of the passengers or crew from land. ing. We had two more nights and days of pumping and bailing, the water still gradually gaining on us. Once or twice we managed to lower it an inch or two; but we soon lost the advantage we had gained. So matters went on. The last night, before we got in, I noticed that every now and then little dark shadows flitted across However, we got some help at last. the deck, which I was at a loss to account The people of Madeira are noted for their for. The mystery was explained the next powers of swimming and diving. No divmorning, for one of the children happening ing-dresses were to be had; but without to go into the after-wheelhouse, which was them, we got two of the best divers to not used in a general way, found nearly come off, and though not allowed to come all the rats in the ship assembled there. on board, they were allowed to work outThey had forsaken the hold, either be-side the ship. They had two boats made cause they considered the risk of drowning was too great there, or possibly with some desperate hope of being able to leave the ship before she went down. We made a raid on them, and eleven rats came to an untimely end; "the rest they ran away." Having sighted and passed the inhospitable island of Porto Santo, we arrived off the east end of Madeira. By this time there were fourteen feet of water in the after-hold, and the stern of the vessel was still lower in the water. There is a considerable race off the east end of the island, caused, I suppose, by unequal soundings; and the way the poor ship rolled in this broken water was sickening. She would make a heavy roll, say, to port, and then she would stop, and as the weight of water followed the roll, she would continue to roll the same way as before, till you felt sure she was going to capsize; then she would slowly right, and go through the same performance the other way. However, we soon got under fast astern, and they dived in turn, taking a header with a lump of oakum in one hand, and in the other a short thin piece of wood to drive in the oakum. They had a depth of twenty feet to dive to get to the leak, still each time they man. aged to drive in the lump of oakum before coming up; and after a time, they so far stopped the leak that the pumps began to gain on it. This was all that was wanted; and six hours after, the water was so far reduced that the engineers were able to get at the leak from the inside. Two or three days longer we were kept prisoners on board a vessel that could not move; and then one of the huge Castle line of steamers came in, to which I joyfully transferred myself and luggage after a hearty good-bye to the captain and others. Thus, by God's help, and the care and patient perseverance of the captain and his officers, not a life was lost or a person injured, and the good ship herself was kept afloat. Four days later I reached Plymouth. For EIGHT DOLLARS, remitted directly to the Publishers, the LIVING AGE will be punctually forwarded for a year, free of postage. Remittances should be made by bank draft or check, or by post-office money-order, if possible. If neither of these can be procured, the money should be sent in a registered letter. All postmasters are obliged to register letters when requested to do so. Drafts, checks, and money-orders should be made payable to the order of LITTELL & Co. Single Numbers of THE LIVING AGE, 18 cents. THE OLD LOVE AND THE NEW. How oft I've watched her footstep glide And deemed she was the fairest bride How oft with her I've cast me down In the glad careless times! By that old wicket ne'er we meet Mine old true love had eyes of blue, No more the old sweet words we call, ball!" Leg-bye!" "No |