God bless you, old fellow! we ail owe you our
lives."
"How did it happen, captain?" Tom asked, as the captain also came
up to him.
"It was the currents, I suppose," the captain said; "it was so thick
we could not see a quarter of a mile any way. The weather was so
wild I would not put into Guernsey, and passed the island without
seeing it. I steered my usual course, but the gale must have altered
the currents, for I thought I was three miles away from the reef,
when we saw it on our beam, not a hundred yards away. It was too
late to avoid it then, and in another minute we ran upon it, and
the waves were sweeping over us. Everyone behaved well. I got all,
except those who had been swept overboard or crushed by the funnel,
up into the bow of the ship, and there we waited. There was nothing
to be done. No boat would live for a moment in the sea on that reef,
and all I could advise was that when she went to pieces everyone
should try to get hold of a floating fragment; but I doubt whether
a man would have been alive a quarter of an hour after she went to
pieces."
"Perhaps, captain, you will come on deck with me and give me the
benefit of your advice. My skipper and I know the islands pretty
well, but no doubt you know them a good deal better, and I don't
want another mishap.
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