"Down your helm!" shouted the captain; "hard down your helm!" The order
was hardly given, when they were thrown on their beam ends; down, down
they went, as if never to rise again, completely engulfed in the dark
abyss! The boy, where is he? down in the hold, his arm made fast to the
collar of old Neptune, that they may go down together; he kneels, his
mother's gift, the bible, in his hand, calmly awaiting his time. Nature
seems terrified, yet that boy knows no fear. Crash succeeds crash; ah,
who can describe the scene! He alone who has stood upon the frail plank,
which only separates him from death. Again a terrific crash,--their
masts have gone by the board! It would seem that the enraged billows
were bent upon their destruction. Still their stout bark is unwilling to
give up, and trembling from stem to stern, she clings to life, nobly
resisting the gigantic attacks of the storm-king, who, having fought
with terrific fierceness through the livelong night, puts on a less
demon-like expression as his strength is well nigh spent, and the gray
dawn sees no traces of the despoiler, who perhaps has slain thousands,
save the swelling surges, which angrily gaze as if disappointed of
their prey.
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