The vessel was still flying towards the rugged line of cliffs, which were now visible along the whole horizon, the great projection on the left being their culminating point.  She was obviously sinking lower in the water, and she plunged in a heavy, sulky manner through the waves, instead of rising to them as she did before.  The water was steadily gaining in her interior, and it was clear that she would not float long.  The straining of the gale had increased the long-neglected rifts between her timbers, and no amount of pumping could save her.  On the other hand, the sky had broken above them, and the wind was by no means so violent as before.  The sun broke through between two great hurrying clouds, and turned all the waves to the brightest emerald green, with sparkling snow-white crests of foam.  This sudden change and the brightness of the scene made their fate seem all the harder to the seamen aboard the sinking vessel.

“The gale is clearin’,” remarked McPherson.  “If we’d had a ship that wasna rotten to the hairt, like her owners, we’d ha pu’ed through.”

“Right you are, old Sandy!  But we’re all goin’ together, captain and owners and the whole bilin’,” yelled Miggs recklessly.

The mate looked at him half in surprise and half in contempt.  “You’ve been at the bottle,” he said.  “Eh mun, mun, if we are a’ drooned, as seems likely, it’s an awfu’ thing to appear before your Maker wi’ your meeserable soul a’ steeped in drink.”

“You go down and have a drink yourself,” Miggs cried huskily.

“Na, na.  If I am to dee, I’ll dee sober.”

“You’ll die a fool,” the skipper shouted wrathfully.

“Well, old preacher, you’ve brought us into a nice hole with your damned insurance cheating, cheese-paring business.  What d’ye think of it now, when the ship’s settlin’ down under our feet, eh?  Would you repair her if you had her back in the Albert Dock, eh?”

This speech was addressed to the old merchant, who had ceased pumping, and was leaning against the cuddy and looking up hopelessly at the long line of brown cliffs which were now only half a mile away.  They could hear the roar of the surf, and saw the white breakers where the Atlantic stormed in all its fury against nature’s break-water.

“He’s not fit to command,” said Ezra to the mate.  “What would you advise?”

“We’ll bring her round and lower the boats on the lee side.  They may live or no, but it’s the only chance for us.  Them twa boats will hold us a’ easy.”

The ship was settling down in the water so fast that it was no difficult matter to let the boats down.  They only hung a few feet above the surface.  The majority of the crew got safely into the long boat, and the Girdlestones, with Miggs and four seamen, occupied the gig.  It was no easy thing to prevent the boats from being stove, as the waves alternately drove them from the ship’s side or brought the two together with a force which seemed irresistible.  By skilful management, however, they both succeeded in casting off and getting clear without accident.