This was all about the shipwreck I heard from Miss Alice at the time. It appeared that when the masts had been carried away, the mizen-mast had hung on by some of the rigging, and by dragging astern had assisted in making the head of the ship pay off. This caused her to drive before the gale, and saved the decks from being swept by the seas, which would otherwise have cleared them of every human being. As soon as all the damage had been committed, the wind and sea began to go down, and by the morning there was only a moderate breeze. The carpenter, however, discovered that the ship had sprung a leak, and all hands were now summoned to work the pumps; but weakened by disease and famine, and overcome with fatigue, they were soon obliged to give up the almost hopeless task. Three days of horror passed away without any ship coming near them, while several of them died from sheer starvation. Fortunately, at last they discovered some gunpowder which, being in tin cases, was not spoilt, and with it they managed to fire the guns which had attracted our attention. Miss Alice told me many more incidents, which I now forget. Our conversation was interrupted by Jack Stretcher, who came aft. "Sir," said he, touching his hat, "I'm afraid we shall have to take to the boat, for the people are almost all knocked up; and, do all we can, the ship won't float much longer." "I'm sorry to hear that, for I should have liked to have got her safe into harbour," I answered. "But I suppose there is no help for it." "We'll take another spell at the pumps before we give in," he replied. "But I wanted to tell you, sir, that to my mind that poor gentleman will be killing himself if he works away as he does; and as he is of no great use to us, it would be better if he sat down and rested himself." On hearing this, Miss Marlow darted forward to her father, and seizing him by the arm, tried to force him away from the pumps. He soon yielded to her entreaties, and almost fainting with fatigue, came and sat down aft. "Now, my lads," cried Jack to the men, who, one after the other, had thrown themselves down on the deck, "we'll see if we can't keep the old craft afloat till we get her into harbour." But no one responded to his summons. Just then my eye fell on the white sail of a vessel appearing above the dark horizon right ahead of us. I pointed it out to Jack. "It's the cutter, sir, to a certainty," he exclaimed, after scrutinising it attentively. "Huzza! my lads, there's help at hand, if you will but hold out an hour longer."