 was still hope; it being impossible, from the nature of the cargo, that
the brig could go down, and there being every chance that the gale would blow
over by the morning. These words inspired me with new life; for, strange as it
may seem, although it was obvious that a vessel with a cargo of empty oil-casks
would not sink, I had been hitherto so confused in mind as to have overlooked
this consideration altogether; and the danger which I had for some time regarded
as the most imminent was that of foundering. As hope revived within me, I made
use of every opportunity to strengthen the lashings which held me to the remains
of the windlass, and in this occupation I soon discovered that my companions
were also busy. The night was as dark as it could possibly be, and the horrible
shrieking din and confusion which surrounded us it is useless to attempt
describing. Our deck lay level with the sea, or rather we were encircled with a
towering ridge of foam, a portion of which swept over us every instant. It is
not too much to say that our heads were not fairly out of water more than one
second in three. Although we lay close together, no one of us could see the
other, or, indeed, any portion of the brig itself, upon which we were so
tempestuously hurled about. At intervals we called one to the other, thus
endeavoring to keep alive hope, and render consolation and encouragement to such
of us as stood most in need of it. The feeble condition of Augustus made him an
object of solicitude with us all; and as, from the lacerated condition of his
right arm, it must have been impossible for him to secure his lashings with any
degree of firmness, we were in momentary expectation of finding that he had gone
overboard - yet to render him aid was a thing altogether out of the question.
Fortunately, his station was more secure than that of any of the rest of us; for
the upper part of his body lying just beneath a portion of the shattered
windlass, the seas, as they tumbled in upon him, were greatly broken in their
violence. In any other situation than this (into which he had been accidentally
thrown after having lashed himself in a very exposed spot) he must inevitably
have perished before morning. Owing to the brig's lying so much along, we were
all less liable to be washed off than otherwise would have been the case. The
heel, as I have before stated, was to larboard, about one half of the deck being
constantly under
