"Yes; beg your mother to write to them, and say that I send my love to all, not forgetting my uncle the major, and that I have been thinking much of them to-day," I answered, as well as I could speak with the choking sensation in my throat. "And please, Mr Nettleship, may I be so bold as to axe you to put in a word about Larry Harrigan, and to say that he stuck to Mr Terence to the last, and that if he couldn't save him, it wasn't the will that was wanting, but the cruel say was too much for us at last." "And put in a word to my family,--you know their address," said Tom; "just my love, and that I was thinking of them. They'll know that I was likely to have done my duty as far as I could, so I won't trouble you with a longer message." Just as Nettleship had returned to the gun-room to add the messages to his letter, there came a shout from the poop-- "A sail! a sail!" Many of the officers rushed up to take a look at her. Tom Pim and I followed them. We could make her out clearly,--a small vessel, right away to windward. The question was whether she would see us. Captain Drury also had his telescope on her. Now she was hidden by the seas which rose up between us; now she came clearly into view, her hull almost visible. "She's standing this way," said Captain Drury, "and I believe has made us out, but of that we can't be certain. However, we must not relax in our efforts to keep the ship afloat, for it may be many hours before we can get aboard her." I should have said that we had had a spar secured to the stump of the mainmast, to which an ensign with a jack downwards had been nailed from the first, in the hopes of attracting the attention of any passing vessel. Captain Bouchier, who had been informed that a sail was in sight, now came up to have a look at her, but almost immediately went down again among the men. "Lads," he said, "your exertions will be rewarded, I hope; but you must not slacken in them, or your labours may be thrown away. We may keep the ship afloat many hours longer if you bale and pump as sturdily as heretofore. By that time the sea may have gone down, and we may manage to get aboard the vessel in her boats, though she probably will not venture alongside." The men received his address with a faint cheer, and turned to again at the pumps, while those employed in baling passed the buckets to and fro with greater alacrity even than before. I occasionally ran up on deck to see how near she was getting. I know my heart bounded when I saw the English flag flying out at her peak. She appeared to be a good-sized merchantman, a "snow," and I heard some of the officers who had been looking through their glasses say that she had guns aboard. On hearing my report when I returned, some of the men burst into tears, others shouted for joy and shook each other by the hand, believing that our deliverance was near.