heaviest, and it really seemed to me as though nothing made by mortal hands could withstand it. Minute after minute passed, however, and still the good sail stood, while hope every moment grew stronger within my breast. We had reached to within half a mile of the point, and I was already congratulating myself upon the certainty that we should clear it, when I happened to catch a momentary glimpse, through the driving spray, of something peculiar in the appearance of the water just off the point. Surely it could not be--fate would not be so cruel--and yet-- "Breakers on the lee bow!" simultaneously reported the two men on the lookout. Then I was _not_ mistaken; it _was_ broken water I had seen. Yes; there could not be a doubt about it, for while I strained my gaze in an effort to pierce the darkness a ghostly white gleam shot into the air, such as is caused by the water breaking heavily upon rocks. "Ay, ay; I see them," I answered; then, to the man at the wheel--"Watch your helm carefully, now, my man. Keep her clean full, and let her go through the water; but do not let her go off a hair's breadth more than is necessary. You must weather that reef if you have any wish to see to-morrow's sun rise." "I'll do my best, sir," answered the fellow, earnestly; and I saw him brace himself afresh as he fixed his eye more intently upon the weather leach of the main-topsail. We were _flying_ through the water--it could scarcely be called sailing--for the poor little ship was being so bitterly pressed that she scarcely rose at all to the seas now; she simply drove her sharp bows straight into the body of every sea as it came at her and ploughed her way through it, shipping at every plunge tons of water that poured in a continuous cataract over her forecastle and down into the seething swirl to leeward under which her lee rail was buried. She must have been travelling very fast, or she would not have behaved in this fashion; yet in the agony of my suspense she scarcely seemed to move at all. Despite this feeling it was sufficiently apparent that we were nearing that awful reef at headlong speed; and with every desperate forward plunge of the ship the frightful amount of lee drift we were making became also more unmistakable, momentarily increasing the doubt as to the possibility of our escape. We were now, and had been for some time, so close to the land that any attempt to wear the ship round must have inevitably resulted in her destruction; and, as to staying, that was equally out of the question under such short canvas in such a heavy sea--for the outer line of breakers was now close aboard of us; we dared not attempt to anchor in the face of that wild fury of wind and wave; and we had therefore absolutely no alternative but to keep on as we were going.