Our first glances were naturally directed ahead in search of the mysterious object for which we were steering, and it was quickly discovered about two miles distant, and a good point on the lee bow. To the unaided eye its character still remained uncertain, but a single glance through the ship's telescope now sufficed to satisfy us that it was a wreck, or a portion of one. It had all the appearance of a small craft, capsized; for the telescope enabled one to see a small strip of wet, black side showing above water, with a considerably greater expanse of copper-sheathed planking. But, even now that we had so greatly decreased the distance between us and it, there was still great difficulty in determining its precise character; for it was only when we and it happened to be upon the top of a sea at the same moment that it came within our ken, and those moments were comparatively rare. As we continued to close, however, our glimpses of it became increasingly frequent; and at length, when we had approached to within half a mile, the heave of the sea having meanwhile flung it round into a more favourable position, it became apparent that it was a small craft of some sort--seemingly a brig--that had capsized, and now lay with her masts prone along the water, for we could now and then catch a glimpse of the spars, with the canvas still set, lifting a foot or two out of the water with the heave of the sea, only to settle back again the next moment, however. What interested us most keenly of all, however, and excited our profoundest astonishment, was the fact that a dark patch in her main rigging--for which I could not at first account--soon afterwards proved to be a group of men! for we presently saw one of them scramble along the shrouds until he reached the vessel's upturned side, and then--despite the heavy masses of water that were continually breaking over the hull--rise to his feet and wave something that looked like a man's jacket, by way of a signal, in answer to which I immediately ran our ensign up to the gaff-end. The excitement of the fairer occupants of our poop was now intense, especially that of Miss Merrivale, who, in the extremity and oblivion of her enthusiasm, not only addressed me as "Jack," but also volunteered to do all sorts of impossible things by way of assisting in the rescue that she took for granted. But how was such a thing to be achieved? We were only five men on board the _Esmeralda_, all told, and what could our united efforts accomplish? We certainly could not launch a boat, even had we dared to hope that so small a craft would live in such a wild and fearful sea; for the lightest of our gigs--the only boat it would have been possible to launch, under the circumstances--would need at least four men to do anything with her in such weather, which would leave only one man on board to look after and handle the ship during the process of rescue--which amounted to a physical impossibility.