"Very true, sir--very true, Mr Hurry," replied Grampus; "but the worst is, that we don't think of these things till just at such moments as the present, when the flood has done, and the tide of life is fast ebbing away." Thus we talked on for some time. I felt really with my old friend Nol, that though there we all stood in health and strength, we might soon be removed to behold the glories of the eternal world. Suddenly Nol looked up. Holding his hand to the wind, and casting his eye on the compass-- "I thought so, sir," he exclaimed. "There's a shift of wind. It has backed round again into the eastward." Such was providentially the case. I took the bearings of the land. We might now hope to drive on clear of it. The sea was, however, getting higher and higher, but the Dolphin proved to be as tight as a cork and as buoyant, and I began to get rid of all my dread of her foundering, provided her masts and rigging did not give way. Considering the manner in which she was fitted out, however, I did not feel quite easy on that score. Still nothing more could be done, so we had, as best we could, to wait events. At length there was a lull. I expected that it would breeze up again. "The gale has worn itself out, to my mind, Mr Hurry," observed Grampus, after a careful survey of the sky and sea. "I am sure I hope so," I answered; "I was getting somewhat tired of it, and so I suspect was the schooner. Sound the well, and see what water she has made." He sounded the well, and reported three feet. "I thought so. Rig the pumps, and let us try and get her clear while we can." All hands pumped away with a will, and soon got her free of water, when the sea went, as it soon did, gradually down. It showed me that the leak had been caused by the way the little vessel had strained herself, and that probably, had she been exposed much longer to the fury of the hurricane, she would have foundered. By night the gale had sufficiently abated to enable me to set a reefed foresail, and once more to haul up on my course. I made but little progress during the night and following day. I was standing along the coast, towards the evening of the next day, with the wind from the northward, when I discovered in-shore of me what I took to be the masts of a vessel just appearing out of the water. I conjectured that she had been sunk in the hurricane of the previous day, and on the possibility that some of the crew might still be clinging to her rigging, although I was on a lee-shore, I resolved to bear down on her. I pointed her out to Grampus, and asked his opinion. "No doubt about it, sir," he answered. "There may be some danger to us, I'll allow, especially if it was to breeze up again, but where's the man worthy of the name who refuses to run some danger for the sake of helping his fellow-men in distress? To my mind, sir, let us do what's right, and never mind the consequences."