"A man overboard! a man overboard!" flew like lightning over the ship. I sprang upon the quarter-deck, just as the poor fellow, with his "fearful human face," riding the top of a billow, fled past. 3. In an instant all was commotion; plank after plank was cast over for him to seize and sustain himself. on, till the ship could be put about and the boat lowered. The first mate, a bold, fiery fellow, leaped into the boat that hung at the side of the quarter-deck, and in a voice so sharp and stern that I seem to hear it yet, shouted, “In, men! in, men!" 4. But the poor sailors hung back,-the sea was too wild. The second mate sprang to the side of the first, and the men, ashamed to leave both their officers alone, followed. 5. "Cut away the lashings!" exclaimed the officer. The knife glanced round the ropes, the boat fell to the water, rose on a huge wave far over the deck, and drifted rapidly astern. 6. The brave mate stood erect, the helm in his hand, his flashing eye embracing the whole peril in a single glance, and his hand bringing the head of the gallant little boat on each high sea that otherwise would have swamped her. I watched them till nearly two miles astern, when they lay to, to look for the lost sailor. 7. Just then I turned my eyes to the southern horizon, and saw a squall, blacker and heavier than any we had before encountered, rushing down upon us. The captain also saw it, and was terribly excited. 8. He called for a flag, and, springing into the shrouds, waved it for their return. The gallant fellows obeyed the signal, and pulled for the ship. 9. But it was slow work, for the head of the boat had to be laid on to almost every wave. It was now growing dark, and if the squall should strike the boat before it reached the vessel, there was no hope for it; it would either go down at once, or drift away into the surrounding darkness, to struggle out the night as it could. 10. I shall never forget that scene. All along the southern horizon, between the black water and the blacker heavens, was a white streak of tossing foam. Nearer and clearer every moment it boiled and roared on its track. 11. I could not look steadily on that gallant little crew, now settling the question of life and death to themselves, and perhaps to us, who would be left almost unmanned in the middle of the Atlantic, and encompassed by a storm. 12. The sea was making fast, and yet that frail thing rode on it like a duck. Every time she sank away she carried my heart down with her; and when she remained a longer time than usual, I would think it was all over, and cover my eyes with horror; the next moment she would appear between us and the black rolling cloud, literally covered with foam and spray. 13. The captain knew that a few minutes more would decide the fate of his officers and crew; he called for his trumpet, and, springing up the ratlines, shouted out over the roar of the blast and waves, "Pull away, my brave boys; the squall is coming! give way, my hearties!" and the bold fellows did "give way" with a will. 14. I could see their ashen oars quiver as they rose from the water, while the lifelike boat sprang to their strokes down the billows, like a panther on a leap. On she came, and on came the blast. It was the wildest struggle I ever gazed on; but the gallant little boat conquered. 15. O, how my heart leaped when she at length shot round the stern, and rising on a wave far above our leequarter, shook the water from her drenched head, as if in delight to find her shelter again! 16. The chains were fastened, and I never pulled with such right good-will on a rope as on the one that brought that boat up the vessel's side. As the heads of the crew appeared over the bulwarks, I could have hugged the brave fellows in transport. 17. As they stepped on deck, not a question was asked, no report given; but "Forward, men!" broke from the captain's lips. The vessel was trimmed to meet the blast, and we were again bounding on our way. 18. If that squall had pursued the course of all former ones, we must have lost our crew; but when nearest the boat (and it seemed to me the foam was breaking not a hundred rods off), the wind suddenly veered, and held the cloud in check, so that it swung round close to our bows. 19. The poor sailor was gone; he came not back again. It was his birthday (he was twenty-five years old), and, alas! it was his death-day. 20. We saw him no more, and a gloom fell on the whole ship. There were few of us in all, and we felt his loss. It was a wild and dark night; death had been among us, and had left us with sad and serious hearts. 21. As I walked to the stern, and looked back on the foam and tumult of the vessel's wake, in which the poor sailor had disappeared, I instinctively murmured the mariner's hymn, closing with the sincere prayer,— "O sailor boy, sailor boy, peace to thy soul!" J. T. Headley. LESSON 49. EXPRESSION IN READING. IS not enough the voice be sound and clear- When desperate heroines grieve with tedious moan, That voice all modes of passion can express Who lays an equal emphasis on all. 2. Some o'er the tongue the labored measures roll Slow and deliberate as the parting toll; Point every stop, mark every pause so strong, And even in speaking we may seem too just 3. Some placid natures fill the allotted scene 4. He who in earnest studies o'er his part Up to the face the quick sensation flies, Lloyd. LESSON 50. TOWN AND COUNTRY. NHILD of the country! free as air CHILD Art thou, and as the sunshine fair; Born like the lily, where the dew Lies odorous when the day is new; Fed 'mid the May-flowers like the bee; Nursed to sweet music on the knee; Lull'd in the breast to that sweet tune Which winds make 'mong the woods of June: I sing of thee; - 't is sweet to sing Of such a fair and gladsome thing. 2. Child of the town! for thee I sigh; A narrow street thy boundless wood; 3. Child of the country! on the lawn |