Work and Win Part 23

"I suppose he don't, and I won't blame him, whatever happens," replied he, willing to comfort the poor girl in any way he could.

"I should not care so much if it didn't look as though it was all father's fault."

"It will be all right to-morrow. We will throw the rest of the liquor overboard. We will search through the hold, and not leave a single bottle of anything there. Then we shall be safe."

"It will be too late then," sighed Mollie.

"No, it won't; the vessel will be saved. I _know_ it will," added Noddy, resolutely.

"You don't know."

"Yes, I do; I am just as certain of it as I am of my own existence."

Noddy had hardly uttered these confident words, before a tremendous shock threw them upon the cabin floor. It was followed by a terrible crashing sound, as though every timber in the vessel had been rent and broken; and they could hear the rush of waters, as the torrents poured in through the broken sides. Noddy, without stopping to think of the vain prophecy he had made, seized the light form of Mollie, and bore her to the deck. The sea was running riot there; the great waves swept over the deck with a force which no human strength could resist, and Noddy was compelled to retreat to the cabin again.

The lantern still swung from a deck beam, but the water had risen in the cabin so that his descent was prevented. The Roebuck had run upon a reef or shoal in such a manner that her bow was projected far out of the water, while her stern was almost submerged in the waves. Noddy's quick perception enabled him to comprehend the position of the vessel, and he placed his charge on the companion ladder, which was protected in a measure from the force of the sea by the hatch, closed on the top, and open only on the front.

"My father!" gasped Mollie. "Save him, Noddy!"

"I will try," replied Noddy. "Hold on tight," added he, as a heavy volume of water rolled down the companion-way.

"Save him, and don't mind me," groaned the poor girl, unselfish to the last.

The brave boy stepped down to the cabin floor, where the water was up to his hips. Creeping on the top of the lockers, and holding on to the front of the berths, he reached the door of the captain's state-room. In this part of the vessel the water had risen nearly to the top of the door, and the berth in which the unfortunate inebriate lay was entirely beneath its surface. He crawled into the room, and put his hand into the berth. The captain was not there.

The water was still rising, and Noddy had no doubt that the poor man had already perished. The shock of the collision when the schooner struck, or the rising waters, had forced him from his position on the bed. The water was over Noddy's head in the state-room; but the agony of Mollie induced him to make a desperate effort to save her father. He dropped down on the floor, and felt about with his feet, till he found the body.

The question was settled. Captain McClintock was dead. He was one of the first victims of his criminal neglect.

It was not safe to remain longer in the state-room, even if there had been any motive for doing so, and Noddy worked his way forward again as he had come. He found Mollie still clinging to the ladder, suffering everything on account of her father, and nothing for herself.

"My poor father!" said she, when she discovered her friend coming back without him. "Where is he, Noddy?"

"I couldn't do anything for him, Mollie," replied he.

"Is he lost?"

"He is gone, Mollie; and it was all over with him before I got there.

Don't cry. He is out of trouble now."

"Poor father," sobbed she. "Couldn't you save him? Let me go and help you."

"No use, Mollie," added Noddy, as he climbed up the ladder, and looked out through the aperture at the hatch.

"Are you sure we can't do anything for him?" she asked, in trembling tones.

"Nothing, Mollie. He was dead when I opened the door of his room. I found him on the floor, and had to go down over my head to find him. He did not move or struggle, and I'm sure he is dead. I am sorry, but I can't help it."

"O, dear, dear!" groaned she, in her anguish.

She heeded not the cracking timbers and the roaring sea. Her heart was with the unfortunate man who lay cold and still beneath the invading waters. She was ready to go with him to the home in the silent land.

"You hold on tight a little while, and I will go on deck, and see if I can make out where we are," said Noddy.

"It matters little to me where we are. I shall soon be with my father,"

replied Mollie.

"Don't say that. Your father is at rest now."

"And I shall soon be at rest with him. Do you hear those terrible waves beat against the vessel? They will break her in pieces in a few moments more."

"Perhaps they will, and perhaps they won't. You mustn't give up, Mollie.

If I should lose you now, I shouldn't care what became of me."

"You have been very good to me, Noddy; and I hope G.o.d will bless you."

"I want to save you if I can."

"You cannot, Noddy, in this terrible storm. We are poor weak children, and we can do nothing."

"But I am bound to work and win. I shall not give it up yet, Mollie. We have struck upon a rock or a shoal, and the land can't be a great ways off."

"Such an awful sea! We could never reach the land."

"We can try--can't we?"

"Where is Mr. Lincoln?"

"I don't know. I have not heard a sound but the noise of the sea since the vessel struck. I suppose he and the rest of the men were washed overboard."

"How horrible!"

"I don't know. They may have left in one of the boats."

"I haven't any courage, Noddy. My poor father is gone, and I don't feel as though it made any difference what became of me."

"Don't talk so, Mollie. Save yourself for my sake, if you don't for your own."

"What can we do?" asked she, blankly, for the situation seemed utterly hopeless.

"I don't know; I will see," replied Noddy, as he crawled through the aperture, and reached the deck.

A huge wave struck him as he rose upon his feet, and bore him down to the lee side of the vessel; but he grasped the shrouds, and saved himself from being hurled into the abyss of waters that boiled in the fury of the storm on both sides of the stranded schooner. He ran up the shrouds a short distance, and tried to penetrate the gloom of the night.

He could see nothing but the white froth on the waves, which beat on all sides. There was no land to be seen ahead, as he had expected, and it was evident that the Roebuck had struck on a shoal, at some distance from any sh.o.r.e.

It was impossible to walk forward on the deck, for the savage waves that broke over the vessel would have carried him overboard. The sight suggested the manner in which the men had so suddenly disappeared. They had probably been swept away the moment the vessel struck. The rigging of the schooner was all standing, and Noddy decided to go forward to ascertain if there was any comfortable position there for Mollie. He went to the main-mast head, and, by the spring-stay, reached the fore-mast. Descending by the fore-shrouds, he reached the forecastle of the schooner.

The bow had been thrown up so high on the shoal that the sea did not break over this part of the vessel with anything like the force it did farther aft. The hatch was on the fore-scuttle, and it was possible that the men had taken refuge in the forecastle. Removing the hatch, he called the names of Mr. Lincoln and others; but there was no response.

He then went down, and attempted to make his way aft through the hold.