"When we were first shut in there we could sit on the edge of the lower bunks; but before Dick left the water had risen so that we were sitting in it, and I soon had to stand on the bunks to keep out of it. It must have been night again, for no ray of light came in through the broken hatch, when I found the water so deep that I was obliged to climb up on the foremast, and sit there with my head between two of the bunks on the upper side. I knew this was the last move I could make, and I fully expected to die there. I had no way of knowing how long I sat there; but it seemed like many hours, and doubtless was. "All of a sudden, I seemed to hear faint, far-away voices, then some heavy object struck the hull of the schooner, and directly I heard footsteps, as though men were walking upon the bottom above me. I nearly suffocated in my efforts to shout; but somehow I couldn’t utter a sound. I don’t know whether it was from excitement or weakness, but my voice had left me. Then I tried to make them hear by pounding with my fists on the planking overhead; but though I kept it up until my hands were bleeding and numb, the sound did not reach them. At last I ceased to hear the footsteps, and imagined that the men, having satisfied their curiosity, were going to leave, which, as I afterwards found out, was the case. "At that moment I thought of my watch, which was still in my pocket, and which, as you know, Breeze, had a very heavy silver case. Pounding on the planking with it, I succeeded in making a sound that attracted their attention just as they were about to pull away. I never stopped my pounding for a moment until somebody sung out, ‘Hello in the schooner! Is anybody inside there?’ "I found voice then to answer that I was in there all alone, that the water had nearly reached me, and to beg them not to go away without trying to do something for me. "‘All right, shipmate,’ came the answer; ‘we won’t leave you as long as there’s a chance of saving you. You may count on that. We are only going for some tools to cut a hole with, and will be back in a few minutes. So keep up a good heart.’ "I heard them go away and then return again; and by rapping on the planking with my watch, I managed to show them a place between two ribs where there was no inside sheathing. Here they began to cut, after asking me how thick the planking was. They did not break through in any one place until they had cut very nearly through all around, for fear of making holes out of which the air would rush. In that case, you see, the schooner would quickly sink, taking me with her.