Page:Vagabond life in Mexico.djvu/325

struction upon the light-as we did, for the ship was seen advancing toward the light with great rapidity, looming larger and larger as she approached the shore. The light was waved backward and forward, but was kept always in a straight line. A single jib was the only sail that could be set to assist her in answering her helm. Sometimes, when the wind lulled for an instant, her motion appeared to be checked, but a fresh gust soon gave her a new impulse. At last, carried on the top of a high wave, the vessel hung for an instant upon her larboard quarter, then upon her star board; she then started forward and canted on her broadside, her timbers grinding heavily against the ground. A cry of distress reached our ears, heard distinctly above the roar of the winds and waves; at the same instant the light went out, like one of those glow-worms which flit through the air at night in fenny places, and lead the incautious traveler into quagmires. The schooner was a complete wreck. All we could now do was to save the crew and passengers. While some were deliberating on the means that should be adopted for that purpose, a man was seen making his way along the bows of the wrecked ship, and, by the light of a lamp which shone full upon his face, I distinguished a person who was no longer unknown to me since his visit to Manantial— I mean the pilot Ventura. Some words that he directed to us through a speaking-trumpet were heard very indistinctly, but a line that he held in his hand left us in no doubt as to his meaning. Ventura was begging us to launch a boat to take the end of a rope on shore. But it was impossible that any thing could swim amid these breakers. A boat was then lowered from the bows of the schooner, several seamen got in, and pulled