stump of the mizen-mast, looked out bitterly into the world of ocean.  We had no means of calculating time, nor could we form any guess of our situation.  We were, however, well aware of having made farther to the southward than any previous navigators, and felt great amazement at not meeting with the usual impediments of ice.  In the meantime every moment threatened to be our last —­ every mountainous billow hurried to overwhelm us.  The swell surpassed anything I had imagined possible, and that we were not instantly buried is a miracle.  My companion spoke of the lightness of our cargo, and reminded me of the excellent qualities of our ship; but I could not help feeling the utter hopelessness of hope itself, and prepared myself gloomily for that death which I thought nothing could defer beyond an hour, as, with every knot of way the ship made, the swelling of the black stupendous seas became more dismally appalling.  At times we gasped for breath at an elevation beyond the albatross —­ at times became dizzy with the velocity of our descent into some watery hell, where the air grew stagnant, and no sound disturbed the slumbers of the kraken.

We were at the bottom of one of these abysses, when a quick scream from my companion broke fearfully upon the night.  “See! see!” cried he, shrieking in my ears, “Almighty God! see! see!” As he spoke, I became aware of a dull, sullen glare of red light which streamed down the sides of the vast chasm where we lay, and threw a fitful brilliancy upon our deck.  Casting my eyes upwards, I beheld a spectacle which froze the current of my blood.  At a terrific height directly above us, and upon the very verge of the precipitous descent, hovered a gigantic ship of, perhaps, four thousand tons.  Although upreared upon the summit of a wave more than a hundred times her own altitude, her apparent size exceeded that of any ship of the line or East Indiaman in existence.  Her huge hull was of a deep dingy black, unrelieved by any of the customary carvings of a ship.  A single row of brass cannon protruded from her open ports, and dashed from their polished surfaces the fires of innumerable battle-lanterns, which swung to and fro about her rigging.  But what mainly inspired us with horror and astonishment, was that she bore up under a press of sail in the very teeth of that supernatural sea, and of that ungovernable hurricane.  When we first discovered her, her bows were alone to be seen, as she rose slowly from the dim and horrible gulf beyond her.  For a moment of intense terror she paused upon the giddy pinnacle, as if in contemplation of her own sublimity, then trembled and tottered, and —­ came down.

At this instant, I know not what sudden self-possession came over my spirit.  Staggering as far aft as I could, I awaited fearlessly the ruin that was to overwhelm.  Our own vessel was at length ceasing from her struggles, and sinking with her head to the sea.  The shock of the descending mass struck her, consequently, in that portion of her frame which was already under water, and the inevitable result was to hurl me, with irresistible violence, upon the rigging of the stranger.