xt783b5w6x9m https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt783b5w6x9m/data/mets.xml Optic, Oliver, 1822-1897. 1874  books b92-166-30116631 English Lee and Shepard, : Boston : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Coming wave, or, The hidden treasure of High Rock / by Oliver Optic [pseud.] text Coming wave, or, The hidden treasure of High Rock / by Oliver Optic [pseud.] 1874 2002 true xt783b5w6x9m section xt783b5w6x9m 


























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THE YA-CHT CLIU B S ERIES.



     TIlE COM1ING WAVE;



                  OR, THE



HIDDEN TREASURE OF HIGH ROCK




                    BY



          OLIVER OPTIC,
AUTh   01' OF U YOUNG AMEILICA AIBIROAID," " T1lE AR.MY AND NAVY SERIE"
  "TIlE         STOIELL 8 i'l'(lIE," "TilE STARRY FT.A SERlES,' "TilE
      BOAT CLUI ST)RIFS," "Till : THE LAKE 5101E SERIES,"
         "ItlE Ul'PWAI.) AN' (NWARI, 8EIIES,'
                ETC., ETC.





       WITH THIRTEEN ILL USTRA TIONS.





              BOSTON:



LEE AND



SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS.



       NEW YORK:
LEE, SHEPARD AND DILLINGHAM.

 























Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874,

            By WILLIAM T. ADAMS,
In the 0ffee of the Librarian of Congress, at Washbigto.,

 



















              TO


    M1Y YOUNG FRIEND


ELMER ELLSWORTHI HIOLBWOK,
       OF MEDWAY, MASS.,


           Wlbis 4ook

    IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.

 


























1. LITTLE BOBTAIL; OR, TIE WRECK OF TIHE PENOBSCOT.
2. TIlE YACHT CLUB: OR, TulE YOUNG BoAT BUIL1DER.
3  MONEY MAKER ; on, Tui VICTORY OF THlE BASILISK.
4. THms COMING WAVVE; OR, TuE HIDDEN TREASURE OF
     HIcH Roeci.
5. THiE DORCAS CLUB; Olt, OUR GIRLS AFLOAT.
6. OCEAN BORN; OR, THE CRUISE OF THE CLUBS.



          4

 













                      PREFACE.



  "Tn: COVING WAVE " LS the fourth volume of the Yacht
Club Series, and is an entirely independent story. Though the
incidents are located on Penobscot Bay and relate largely to
boats and yachting, the characters have not before been pre-
sented; but some of them will aRgain be introduced in the subse-
quent volumes of the series. There is some breezy sailing in the
story, and Penobscot Bay would not be properly described with-
out the dense fog, upon which the turn of events depends in one
of the chapters; nor is such a hurricane as that with which the
story begins an unknown occurrence in these waters. Whatever
interest the volume may possess, however, does not wholly depend
upon the experience in fog and gale of the hero and his friends,
for the plot is as much of the land as of the sea.
  Leopold Bennington and Stumpy are the chief characters.
They -re both working boys, who earn their own living, and do
nothing more surprising than other young men have done before
them. They are fastidiously honest, and strictly upright,
though they make mistakes like other human beings They try
to do their whole duty, sometimes under very difficult circum-
stances, and if other boys may not do exactly as they did, in
certain cases, they may imuitate Leopold and Stumpy in having
                                                     5

 






6                       PREFACE.

a high aim, and in striving to reach it. If young people only
mean well, they can hardly fail to lead good and true lives, in
spite of their errors of judgment, or even their occasional fail-
ures to do right.
  TOWERUOUSE, BOSTON,
           July 10, 1874.


 















CONTENTS.



PAGE,



CHAPTER 1.



TIIE TEMPEST IN THE BAY,

            C LI A PT ER
TRE LAST OF THE WALDO,



           CHAPTER II,.
HARVEY BARTH'S DIARY,     .

           CHAPTER    IV.
STUMPY AND OTHERS,.    .

            CHAPTER    V.
HERR SCHLAGER,.   .    .



     ,. 5   11

II.
  .   .   30



48



67



     86



            CHAPTER VI.
MISS SARAH LIVERAGE,      .



105



7

 





CONTENTS.



           CHAPTER     VIL.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE HIDDEN TREASURE,



           C HA PT E R
AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY,

            CHAPTER
COFFIN ROCK,



            C H A PT E R
DOUBTS AND DEBTS,   .



C IIA PT ER



IN TILE FOG,



CHAPTER



VIII.



142



I X.



160



X.



178



X I.



197



XILI



216



AN EXTENSIVE ARRIVAL,

           CHAPTER XIII.
THE EXCURSTON TO HIGri RoCK,

           CHAPTER XIV.
THE FAIR THING,.    .

            CHAPTER XV.
THEI WALDO'S PASSENGER,  .



C IH APT ER



XVI.



GOLD AND BILLS,



123



235



. 254



273



8



.293

 





             CONTENTS.                  9

         CHAPTER    XVII.

THE FIRST OF JULY,        .   .  313

         CHAPTER XVI1I.

THE COWENG WAVE,.  .  .   .  .   332

 This page in the original text is blank.


 









     THE COMING WAVE;

                    OR,
TUE  HIDDEN    TREASURE   OF HIGH    ROCK



               CHAPTER I.

         THE TEMlPEST IN THE BAY.

C1 ATELL, parsenger, we're likely to get in
   8 V   to port before long, if we only have a
breeze of wind," said Harvey Barth, the cook and
steward of the brig Waldo, in a peculiar, drawling
tone, by which any one who knew the speaker
might have recognized him without the use of
his eyes.
  The steward was a tall, lank, lantern-jawed
man, whose cheek-bones were almost as promni-
nent as his long nose. His face was pale, in
spite of the bronze which a XVest India sun had
imparted to it, and his hair was long   and
straight.  He had a very thin beard of jet
                                     1

 




THE COMING WAVE.



black, which contrasted strongly with the palor
of his face. His voice was hollow, anti souP(led
doubly so from the dr-awl with which he uttered
his sentences, and every remark he made was
preceded by a single long-drawn hacking cough,
which might have been caused by the force of
habit or the incipient workings of disease.  Ile
was seated in the galley, abaft the foremast of
the brig, and when the passenger showed him-
self at the door of the galley, he had been
engaged in writing in a square record-book,
which lie closed the instant the visitor darkened
the aperture of his den.
  The passenger-the only one on board of the
Waldo - was a - short, thick-set man of about
forty, whose name was entered on the brig's
papers as Jacob Wallbridge, and his trunk bore
the initials corresponding to this name.  In his
hand he had a pipe, filled full of tobacco,
and it was evident that he had called at the galley
only to light it, though the steward proceeded
to infold his book in an ample piece of oil-cloth
which lay upon the seat at his side. It was clear
that he did not wish the passenger to know what
lie was doing, or, at least, what he had written,



12

 



THE COMING WAVE.



for he was really quite nervous, as he securely
tied the book, and then locked it up in a box
under the seat. Though Harvey Barth did not
confess it then, it was, nevertheless, a fact that
he had been writing in his book about the pas-
senger who darkened his door, though what he
wrote was not seen by any human eye until
many months after the pen had done its office.
  "1 thought this morning we should get in
to-night," replied the passenger, as he stepped
inside of the caboose. "lay 1 borrow a coal
of fire from the stove, doctor  "
  " Certain, if you can get one; but the fire is
about out. You will find some matches in the
tin box on your right," added the steward.
  "I like to light my pipe in the old-fashioned
way when I can. I don't mean to begin to
suck in brimstone just yet," continued Wall-
bridgre, as he succeeded in finding a coal, and
soon had his pipe in working order. "What
were you doing with that book, doctor Do
you keep a log of the voyage 
  "WVell, ya-as," drawled the steward. "I keep
a log of this voyage, and a log of the voyage
of life. I've kept a diary ever since I taught



13

 




THE COMING WAVE.



school; and that's seven years ago, come winter."
  "It must be worth reading. I should like to
look it over, if we have to stay out here
another day. I suppose you have seen a good
deal of the world, if you have been to sea many
years."
  "-No; I haven't seen much of the world. I
never went but one voyage before this, and that
was in a coaster, from  New York to Bangor.
The diary is only for my own reading, and I
wouldn't let anybody look at it for all the
world," answered Harvey Barth, with an even
more painful cough than usual.
  "s Then you are not a great traveller," added
Wallbridge, puffing away at his pipe, as he
watched the sun sinking to his rest beyond the
western waves.
  " Bless you! no. I was brought up on a farm
in York State. I used to keep school winters
till the folks in our town began to think they
must have a more dandified chap than I am."
  "Where did you learn to cook, if you were
a schoolmaster"
  "rWell you see I was an only son, and my
mother died when I was but sixteen. Father



14

 




THE COMING WAVE.



and I kept house together till he died, and I
used to do about all the cooking. I had an
idea then that I could do it pretty well, too,"
replied Harvey, with a sickly smile. "The old
man got to drinking rather too much, and lost
all he had and all I had, too. My health wasn't
very good; I had a bad cough and night sweats.
I was an orphan at twenty-four, and I thought
I'd go to New York city, and take a little
voyage on the salt water. I had about a hun-
dred dollars I earned after the old man died;
but a fellow in the city got it all away fronm
me;" and Harvey hung his head, as though this
was not a pleasant experience to remember.
  "Ah! how was that " asked Wallbridge.
  "The fellow offered to show me round town,
and, as I was kind of lonesome, I went with him.
We called at a place to pay a bill he owed.
lie had a check for three hundred dollars; but
the man he owed couldn't give him the change,
so I lent him my hundred dollars, and took the
check till lie paid me. Then my kinid friend went
inito another room; and that's the last I ever saw
of him. I couldn't find him, but I did find that
the check was good for nothing. I hadn't a



15

 




THE COMING WAVE.



dollar left. At one of the piers I came across
a schooner that wanted a cook, and I shipped
rigrht off. Then the cap'n's nephew  wanted to
cook for him, after wve got to Bangor, and I
was out of a job. I worked in an eating-house
for a while, cooking; but my health was so bad
I wanted to go to a warm climate; so I shipped
in this brig for the West Indies. It was warm
enough there, but I didn't get any better. I
don't think I'm as stout as I was when I
left Bangor. I shall not hold out much longer."
  " 0, yes, you will. You may live to be a
hundred years old yet," added Wallbridgge, rather
lightly.
  "No; my end isn't a great way off," added
the steward, with a sigh, as the passenger, evi-
dently not pleased with the turn the conversa-
tion had taken, walked away from the galley.
  Any one who looked at Harvey Barth would
have found no difficulty in accepting his gloomy
prediction; and yet he was, as events occurred,
farther from his end than his companions in the
brig. The steward sat before his stove, gazing
at the planks of the deck under his feet. He
was deeply impressed by the words he had



16

 




THE COMING WAVE.



uttered if the passenger was not. He had im-
proved the opportunity, while the weather was
calm to write up his diary, and perhaps the
thoughts he had expressed on its pages had
started a train of gloomy reflections. The future
seemed to have nothing inviting to him, and
his attention was fixed upon an open grave at
no great distance before him in the pathway of
his life. Beyond that he had hardly taught
himself to look; if he had he would, doubtless,
have been less sad and gloomy.
  His work for the day had all been done;
supper in the calbin had been served, and the
beef and hard bread had been given to the crew
two hours before. It was a day in August, and
the sun had lingered long above the horizon.
Harvey had finished writing in his diary when
the passenger interrupted him; but, apparently
to change the current of his thoughts, he took
the book from the box, and began to read what
he had written.
  "I don't know what his name is, but I don't
believe it's Wallbridge," said he, to himself, as the
last page recalled the reflections which had
caused him to make some of the entries in the
      2



1T

 




THE COMING WAVE.



book. "1 That wasn't the name I found on the
paper in his state-room, though the initials were
the same. I don't see what he changed his
name for; but that's none of my business. I
only hope he hasn't been doing anything wrong."
  "' My pipe's gone out," said Wallbridge, pre-
senting himself at the door of the galley again.
,,I want another coal of fire."
  The steward carefully secured his book again,
and returned it to the box, while the passen-
ger was lighting his pipe.
  "Rather a still time just now," said the stew-
ard, alluding to the weather, as Wallbridge
puffed away at his pipe.
  "Dead calm," replied the passenger.
  "We shall not get in to-morrow at this rate."
  "Captain 'Siah says we shall have more wind
than we want before morning," added the
smoker. He wishes the brig was twenty miles
farther out to sea, for his barometer has gone
down as though the bottom had dropped out
of it."
  "' It looks like one of those West India
showers," added the steward, as he glanced out
at one of the doors of the galley.



18

 



THE COMING WAVE.



  The calm   and silence which had pervaded
the deck of the Waldo seemed to be broken.
Captain 'Siah had giveen his orders to the mate,
who was now     shouting  lustily to the crew,
though1 there was not a breath of air stiring,
anid the brig lay motionless upon the still waters.
The vessel was a considerable distance within
the range of islands which    separate Penob-
scot Bay from the broad ocean. The water was
nearly as smooth as a mill-pond, and Harvey
had found no more difficulty in writing in his
diary than if the Waldo had been anchored in
the harbor of Rockland, whither she was bound,
though she had made the land some distance to
the eastward of Owl's Head.
  Harvey Bath walked out upon the deck, after
putting on an overcoat to protect him from the
chill air of the evening, for he felt that his life
depended upon his precaution. In the south-
west the clouds were dense and black, indica-
timg the approach of a heavy shower. In the
east, just as dense and black, was another mass
of clouds ; and the two showers seemed to be
working up towards the zenith.
  "Cast off the fore tack!" shouted the mate.
"Let go the fore sheet! "



19

 


THIE COMING WAVE.



  When this last order was given, it was the
duty of the cook to execute it; and, ordinarily,
this is about the only seaman's duty which the
"doctor" is called upon to perform. Harvey
promptly cast off the sheet, and the hands at
the clew-garnets hauled up the foresail. The
flying-gib and top-gallantsails had already been
furled, and the canvas on the brig was soon
reduced to the fore-topsail, fore-topmast stay-
sail, and spanker; and these sails huiig like wet
rags, the vessel drifting with the tide, which
now set up the bay.
  The dense black clouds slowly approached the
zenith, and it was dark before there appeared
to be any commotion of the elements. As the
gloom of the evening increased, the lightning
became more vivid, the zigzag chains of elec-
tric fluid darting angrily from the inky masses
of cloud which obscured the sky. The heavy
thunder sounded nearer and more overhead, in-
dicating the nearer approach of the two showers.
Scarcely did the flashing lightning - almost in-
stantly followed by the cannon-like crash of the
thunder-- blaze and peal on one side of the
brig, before the flaming bolt and the startling



2.1

 


THE COMING WAVE.



roar were taken up on the other side, as though
the two tempests on either hand were vying
with each other for the mastery of the air.
  Captain Josiah Barnwood, familiarly called,
even by the crew, who were his friends and
neighbors, Captain 'Siah, nervously walked his
quarter-deek, after he had taken every pre-
caution which a careful sailor could take ; for,
even if his practised eye had not taught him that
there was wind in the clouds in the south-wvest,
the barometer had earnestly admonished him of
violent disturbances in the atmosphere. Hle had
done everything he could for the safety of the
brig, but he blamed himself- though without
reason, for the change of weather had been sud-
den and unexpected -for comning into the bay
when it was so near night. The brig was sur-
rounded on nearly every side by rocky islands
and numerous reefs, with the chances that thick
weather would hide the friendly lights from
his view. But it was a summer day, and, until
late in the afternoon, when there was no wind
to help him, no change could have been antici-
pated.
  Captain 'Siah was nervous, though he was as



291

 





THE COMING WAVE.



familiar with the bay as he was with the apart-
ments in his own house. He knew every island
and head land, every rock and shoal, and the
situation of every light-house; but the barome-
ter had warned him of nothing less than a
hurricane. The Waldo was an old vessel, and
barely sea-worthy, even for a summer voyage, to
the region of hurricanes. He had, therefore,
many misgivings, as he paced the quarter-deck,
watching the angry bolts of ligrhtningr, and lis-
tening to the deafening roar of the thunder.
Occasionally he halted at the taffrail, and gazed
into the thick darkness of the south-west, from
which his experience taught him the tempest
would come. Then, at the foot of the maini-
mast he halted again, to listen for any sound
that might come over the waters from the east-
ward; but his glances in this direction were
brief and hurried, for he expected the storm
from the opposite quarter.
  Again he paused at the taifrail, by the side
of the man who stood idle at the wheel, for the
brig had not motion enough to give her steer-
age-way. This time Captain 'Siab listened longer
than usual. From far away to seaward, between



22

 






THE COMING WAVE.



the peals of thunder, came a confused, roaring
sound. At the samne time a slight puff of air
swvelled the sails of the brig, anti the helms-
nman threw over the wheel to meet her, as the
vessel began to moie through the still waters.
   "Haul dovwn the    fore-topmast  staysail! "
shouted Captain 'Siah, at the top of his lungs,
a sudden energy seeming to take possession of
his nervous frame.
  I"Ay, ay, sir," returned the mate; and almost
at the same instant the captain heard the hanks
rattling down the stay.
  "It's coming down upon us like a tornado,"
said Captain 'Sith to the passenger who was
smoking his pipe on the quarter-deck.
  "Can I do anything, Captain 'Siah" asked
Wallbridge, who had been aroused from his leth-
argy by the energy of the captain.
  "1 Yes; let go the peak-halyards of the span-
ker ! ' answered the captain, sharply, as he
sprang to the throat-halyards himself.
  The sail came down, and the passenger, who
had evidently been to sea before, proceeded to
gather up and secure the fluttering canvas, for
the breeze was rapidly freshening.



23

 





21THE COMING WAVE.



   "I Furl the fore-topsail," cried the captain,
with a kind of desperation, which indicated his
sense of the peril of the brig.
   "1 Ay, ay, sir," shouted the ready ma te, who,
in anticipation of the order, had manned the
halyards, and stationed hands at the sheets and)
clewlines. "I Let go the sheets! clew up - lively!
Settle away the halyards! Ready at the bunt.
lines-sharp work, boys! Aloft, and furl the
topsail! "
  "Set the main-staysail! " shouted the captain.
  "1 Captain 'Siah was an old-fashioned ship-
master, and the Waldo was an old-fashioned
vessel. Everything on board was done promptly
and skillfully in the old-fashioned way. The
captain knew just where he was as long as he
could see any of the objects around himi, whether
lights or the dark outlines of the rocky islands.
His principal fear was, if the brig withstood the
shock of the tempest, that she would drift upon
some dangerous rocks, which were hidden by
the waves after half-tide. They were situated
off a large island, whose high, precipitous shores
he could just discern, when the lightning illu-
minated the scene around him. This island and



21

 



THE COMING WAVE.



these perilous rocks were dead to leeward of
the Waldo, and hardly a mile distant. With
the aid of the staysail Captain 'Siah hoped-
and only hoped- that he should be able to
work his vessel out of the range of these dan.
gers. But before the staysail could be set, and
before the fore-topsail could be furled, a violent
squall struck the brig. The fore-topsail was
blovn out of the hands of the four seamen who
had gone aloft to secure it. So great was the
fury of the tempest that in an instant the well-
worn sail was torn into ribbons, and great
pieces of it were blown away, like little white
clouds played upon by the lightning. Worse
than this, two of the men on the topsail-yard
were wrenched from their hold on the spar, and
hurled into the darkness beneath them, one
falling into foaming waters, and the other strik-
ing senseless upon the deck.
  Vainly, for a time, the Nate, with four men
to help him, struggled to set the staysail, upon
which depended the safety of the brig from the
savage rocks to leeward of her. At last they
succeeded stimulated by the hoarse shouts of
Captain 'Siah on the quarter-deck, though not



25

 


T2TIE COMING WAVE.



till one of the four men had been strnck insen-
sible on the deck by the fierce blows of the
sheet-block. The sail was hauled out finally by
the exertions of the mate. The helmsman met
her at the wheel, and the Waldo heeled over
till the water poured in over her lee bulwarks.
At this moment, the stay-sail, too flimsy from
age to stand the strain upon it, was blown out
of the bolt-ropes, with an explosion like a can-
non, and went off like a misty cloud into the
darkness. The hour of doom seemed to have
overtaken the Waldo; but in spite of the mis-
fortunes that overwhelmed her, Captain 'Siah
did not abandon hope, or relax his exertions to
save the vessel.
  " Set the fore-topmast staysail ' hoarsely
yelled the captain. "Send four hands aft to set
the spanker! "
  Captain 'Siah did not know, when he gave
this order, that three of his nine hands had
been disabled, and the mate sent only three men
aft, one of whom told the captain of the acci-
dent. But the passenger was as zealous and
willing as even the mate. In order to save his
canvas, the captain ordered the spanker to be



26

 



THE COMING WAVE.



balance-reefed. The stops were taken off, and
the master assisted in the work with his own
hands.
  "Jam your helm hard down! " he cried to
the man at the wheel. " If we can get her
head up to the wind, we may be able to set
these sails."
  All hands worked with desperate energy, and
it required all their strength to prevent the
canvas from being blown out of their hands.
The savage wind upon her bare hull and spars
had given the brig steerage-way, and when the
manl at the helm threw the wiLeel over, the head
of the vessel. begail to come up to the wind.
Captain 'Siah was hopeful, and he encouraged
the men at the spanker to renewed exertions.
He saw that the mate had partially succeeded in
setting the head sail, and the chances were cer-
tainly much better than they had been a mo-
ment before.  Perhaps, if no greater calamity
than that which came on the wings of the
stormy wind had befallen the brig and her crew,
she might possibly have been saved.
  The shower from    the south-vest and] that
from  the cast, had apparently come together



27

 



THE COMING WAVE.



above the devoted vessel. The lightning was
more frequent and vivid, the thunder followed
each flash almost instantaneously; and Captain
'Siall realized that the clouds were but a short
distance above the brig. But he heeded not the
booming thunder or the glaring lightning, only
as the latter enabled him to see the work upon
which the mate and himself were engaged. The
captain, aided by the passenger, was lashing
the throat of the gaff down to its place, when
a  heavy bolt of lightning, accompanied at the
same instant by a terrific peel of thunder, struck
the main-royal mast-head, and leaped   down
the mast in a lurid current of fire. At the
throat of the main-booln it was divided, part
of it following the mnast down into the cabin
and hold, and the rest dartingr off on the spar,
where the captain, the passenger, and three
men were at work on the spanker. Every one
of them was struck down, and lay senseless
on the deck. Even the man at the wheel
shared their fate, though no one could know
who were killed and who were simply stunned
by the shock. The lightning capriciously leaped
from the boom to the metal ivork of the wheel,



28

 




             THE COMING WAVE.                29

shattering the whole into a thousand pieces, and
splintering the rudder-head as though it had
been so much glass.
  The rudder was disabled, the fore-topmast
staysail was rent into ribbons, and the brig fell
off into the trough of the seas where she rolled
helplessly at the mercy of the tempest.


 




THE COMING WAVE.



               CHAPTER II.

          THE LAST OF THE WALDO.

T lHE storm which swept over the waters of
    H the lower bay, lashing them into a wild
fury, and piling up the angry waves upon them,
was not merely a squall; it was a hurricane,
which raged for half an hour with uninterrupted
violence. From the time the tempest struck the
Waldo, she had been driffing towards the dail-
gerous rocks; and when the wheel and rudder-
head were shattered, the vessel became unman-
agable. Six men, including the captain aind the
passenger, lay paralyzed on the quarter-deck.
There were only three left-the mate, the stew-
ard, and one seaman. When the steering appa-
ratus was disabled, the brig fell off, and rushed
madly before the hurricane, towards the danger-
ous reefs. The rain had been pouring down ill
torrents for a few moments, but little cared the



80

 





THE COMING WAVE.



seamen for that which could not harm the ves-
sel.
   Harvey Barth was not, and did not pretend
to be, a sailor. When the storm burst upon the
vessel, he retired to the galley. When the
moments of peril came, he was alarmed at first;
but then he felt that he had only a few months,
or a year or two at most, of life left to him,
and he tried to be as brave as the sailors who
were doing there utmost to save the brig from
destruction.  Perhaps it would   have been   a
pleasure to him in the last days of his life to
do some noble deed ; but there was only the
drudgery of the common sailor to be done. He
saw the man from the topsail yard strike heavily
upon the deck. He dragged hiim into the galley,
but he seemed to be dead. The steward -had
tender eelinlgs, and he tried to do something to
restore the unconscious sailor. While he was
thus engaged, the mate summoned him to assist
iii setting the foretopmiast staysail. He obeyed
the call, though it was the first timre lie was
ever called upon to do any duty, except to make
fast, or cast off the fore-sheet. He wvas not a
strong man, but he did the best he could at the
halyard, and the mate was satisfied with hima.



SI

 






THE COMING WAVE.



  The bolt of lightning which came down the
mainmast seemed to shake and shatter the brig,
and the hands forward were terribly startled by
the shock. Then the sail they were setting
was torn in pieces. The mate who had worked
vigorously and courageously, saw that all they
had done was useless.  The vessel fell off, and
rushed to the ruin that was in store for her.
  "It is all up with us," said Mr. Carboy, the
mate, as he dropped the halyard. "s Nothing can
save the brig now."
  "What shall we do" asked Harvey Barth,
startled by the words of the officer. "m Must we
drown here"
  "We shall do what we can to save ourselves,"
replied Mr. Carboy, as he made his way with
no little difficulty to the quarter-deck, in order
to ascertain the condition of things, for he was
not aware of the havoc which the lightning had
made among his shipmates.
  A flash of the electric fluid streamed alone
the mass of black clouds at this instant, and dis-
closed to him the situation of his companions.
He was shotked by the sight, and even his
strong frame was shakeni by the fearful scene



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THE COMING WAVE.



which for an instant only was visible to him.
lie recognized the captain, but he seemed to be
dead. Next to him was the passenger, who was
getting upon his feet again, apparently not much
injured by the bolt. Not another of the six
men who lay on the quarter-deck moved, or
exhibited any signs of life. The mate,-in whose
mind the situation of each of his unfortunate
shipmitates was fixed in such a way that he could
not have forgotten the scene if he had lived to
be a hundred years old, -went to each man,
but could discover no indications of vitality
in them. He was thinking of saving his own
life, but it was  awful, and  terribly repul-
sive to his sense of humanity to consider the
idea of abandoning the vessel while these nmen,
who might be only stunned by the shock lay
on her deck.
  ", What's to be done, Mr. Carboy  " asked the
passenger, when another flash revealed to him
the presence of the mate; "1 we shall be on the
rock.; in another moment."
  "aWe have two boats, but we can't get them
into the water in this weather. It blows harder
and harder," replied the mate.
      3



vtJ

 





THE COMING WAVE.



  The passenger said no more, but, guided by
the vivid lightning, he rushed down the com-
panion-way into the cabin of the brig; bat in
another moment he returned with a small, but
heavy package in his hand. When the mate
went aft, Harvey Barth visited the galley, and
took from the box his diary, still carefully envel-
loped in the oil-cloth. This book was the reposi-
tory of the few valuables he possessed, but
whether it was for the diary, or the treasures it
contained, that he was so anxious to save it at
that trying moment, we may not know. He
stuffed the took inside of his guernsey shirt,
which he buttoned tightly over it. Then he
crawled to the quarter-deck by holding on at
the bulwarks; and here all the survivors of the
tempest and the lightning met, as the passenger
came up from the cabin.
  The brig rose and fell on the savage waves,
and still dashed madly on towards the rocks.
She lay broadside to the hurricane, so that her
progress was slower than it would otherwise
have been. His companions looked to the mate,
whose skill and courage had inspired their cone
fideuce, to point out the means of safety, if



34

 





THE COMING WAVE.



there were any means of safety in such a tem-
pest. The brig had evidently shifted her cargo
iin the hold, for she had heeled over until the
water was a foot deep in the lee scuppers.
   -It will be all over with the Waldo in two
minutes more," said Wallbridge, in a loud voice,
which was necessary in order to make himself
heard above the roar of the tempest.
  "I don't knowv this part of the bay very
well," replied Mr. Carboy in the same loud
tone.
  " We shall strike on a ledge in a minute or
two."
  "Then we will be ready for it," added the
mate, taking from within the fife-rail at the foot
of the mainmast a couple of sharp axes, which
were kept for just such emergencies as the
present.
  "We haven't time to cut away the masts,"
protested Walbridge, as a flash of lightning
revealed the axes in the hands of the mate.
  "I am   not going to cut away the masts.
The jolly-boat wouldn't live a moment in this sea,
and we must get the whale-boat over-board,"
answered the mate, as he went down into the



360

 




THE COMING WAVE.



waist, where the boat was locked up. "Here,
Burns, cut away the lee bulward," he shouted
to the only remaining seaman of the brig.
  "Give me the other axe," said Wallbridge.
"I know how to use it."
  "' Good! Make quick work of it," added Mr.
Carboy. ";Here, steward, bear a band at this
boat."
  The passenger carefully deposited in the fore-
sheets of the whale-boat the heavy bundle he
had brought up from the cabin, and seizing the
axe, he applied himself vigorously to the labor
of cutting away the bulwark.
  The mate and steward cleared away the boat,
and swung it around so that the stern was
headed towards the opening. But while