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 SEVENTH EDITION

A New History
of Social Welfare
Phyllis J. Day

with

Jerome H. Schiele
University of Georgia

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Day, Phyllis J.
A new history of social welfare / Phyllis J. Day; with Jerome H. Schiele. — 7th ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-205-05273-8
ISBN-10: 0-205-05273-8
1. United States—Social policy. 2. Social policy. 3. Public welfare—United States—History.
4. Public welfare—History. I. Schiele, Jerome H. II. Title.
HN57.D33 2013
361.6’10973—dc23
2012012779
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1—EB—13 12 11 10 09

Student Edition
ISBN-10: 0-205-05273-8
ISBN-13: 978-0-205-05273-8
Instructor Edition
ISBN-10: 0-205-05365-3
ISBN-13: 978-0-205-05365-0
à la Carte Edition
ISBN-10: 0-205-05311-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-205-05311-7
Contents

Preface xix

1. Values In Social Welfare 1

Values in Social Welfare 4
What Are Values? 5
Foundations of Charity and Control 5
Dominant American Social Values 6
Judaeo-Christian Charity Values 7
Democratic Egalitarianism and Individualism 8
The Protestant Work Ethic and Capitalism 9
Social Darwinism 10
The New Puritanism 10
Patriarchy 11
White Privilege 12
Marriage and the Nuclear Family 13
The “American Ideal”: “Looksism” and “Otherism” 14
Issues of Discrimination 15
Classism and Poverty 15
Institutional Discrimination 19
Conclusion: Values and Power 25
PRACTICE TEST 27
MYSEARCHLAB CONNECTIONS 28

2. The Institution of Social Welfare: An Overview 29

The Meaning of Social Institution 30
The Economy 31
The Polity 32
The Family and Religion 33
Social Welfare 34
Perspectives on Social Welfare 35
The Residual Perspective 36
The Institutional Perspective 38
Newer Perspectives in Social Welfare 39

ix
x Contents

The Scope of Social Welfare 44

Life Necessity Services: Overview 45
Educational, Recreational, or Rehabilitative Services: Overview 47
Protective or Custodial Services: Overview 48
Personal Social Services: Overview 49
The Profession of Social Work 50
The Emergence of the Profession 52
Conclusion: Social Work and Social Control 55
PRACTICE TEST 56
MYSEARCHLAB CONNECTIONS 57

3. The Beginnings of Social Welfare 58

The Beginnings of History 6000–1200 B.C.E. 59
Africa: Birthplace of Humankind 60
Mesopotamia in the Bronze Age: To 1200 B.C.E. 61
Invasion, Conquest, and Patriarchal Religion 63
The Israelite Influence 63
Moving Into The Iron Age: 1200–400 B.C.E. 66
Early Judaic Social Welfare 66
The Dynasties of China 67
India and the Caste System 68
Greece, Christianity, and the Roman Empire 69
Greece and the City–States 69
Early Roman Society and the Beginning of Christianity 72
Jesus and the New Religion 75
State and Church in Rome 77
Conclusion: Beginnings of Charity and Control 80
PRACTICE TEST 81
MYSEARCHLAB CONNECTIONS 82

4. Feudalism and the Welfare State 83

The Dark and Middle Ages 85
The Feudal Society 88
The Scientific Revolution 90
The Church and Social Welfare 92
Forms of Private Welfare 93
The Dissolution of Feudalism 94
The Black Death and the Witchcraze 95
Poverty Becomes a Crime 97
The Statute of Laborers 97
The Commercial Revolution 99
Contents xi

The Protestant Reformation: New Meanings for Work

and Welfare 99
Lutheranism, Calvinism, and the Work Ethic 100
Women Under Protestantism 101
Social Welfare and Work Morality 102
Social Welfare in England: The Tudor Period 103
The Elizabethan Poor Laws of 1601 104
Almshouses for the Impotent Poor 106
Dependent Children 107
Sturdy Beggars: The Able-Bodied Poor 107
Prisons 108
Overview of Social Welfare in England 109
The Industrial Revolution and the Emergence
of Capitalism 109
The Emergence of Capitalism 110
The Industrial Revolution and the
New Poor Law 111
Conclusion: Reifying the Values of the Past 114
PRACTICE TEST 115
MYSEARCHLAB CONNECTIONS 116

5. Social Welfare Moves to the Americas 117

The Indigenous Peoples of America 120
The European Invasion of North America 122
The French in the New World 125
The Spanish in the New World 126
The Dutch in North America 128
The English in New England 129
Work in North America 131
The Practice of Indenture 131
Women in the Colonies 133
Social Welfare in the Colonies 136
Early American Poor Laws 136
Private Philanthropy 140
Slavery in the Americas 141
The Golden Triangle and the Triangular Trade 143
Toward the Revolution 145
Women in the Revolution 145
The New Nation and its Constitution 146
Conclusion: Revolution to Status Quo 148
PRACTICE TEST 149
MYSEARCHLAB CONNECTIONS 150
xii Contents

6. America to the Civil War 151

The First Civil Rights Movement 153
Immigration and Migration 154
Employment and Unionization 156
Private Philanthropy 158
Religious Answers to Poverty 158
Social Reform Ideals 159
The Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor 160
Special-Interest Charities 161
Government Responses 162
Outdoor Relief 165
Special Treatment in the 1800s 166
Medical Care and General Hospitals 166
Mental Hospitals and Psychiatry 168
Education 169
Care of Blind, Deaf, and Developmentally Disabled People 170
Social Control 171
Juvenile Justice Systems 171
Adult Criminals and Penitentiaries 172
Nonwhite Minorities: Expendable Commodities in the New Nation 173
Native Americans: A Case of Genocide 173
Chinese in America 176
The Contributions of People of African Descent 176
Hispanic Americans 182
The Women’s Movement in the 1800s 183
Conclusion: Working toward Freedom 185
PRACTICE TEST 187
MYSEARCHLAB CONNECTIONS 188

7. The American Welfare State Begins 189

The Civil War: A New Nation Emerges 192
Charity in the Civil War 194
After the Civil War 195
The Freedmen’s Bureau 195
Services for Veterans 195
Postwar Political Economy 196
Labor and Unionization 197
Population, Immigration, and the People 199
White Immigration, African-American Migration 199
Asian Immigrants 199
Native Americans After the War 201
Emancipation and the Plight of the Freedmen 202
“True Womanhood” 205
Contents xiii

Emerging Philosophies and Social Welfare 208

Social Darwinism and the Charity Organization Society 209
Private Interest Agencies 212
Populism and the Settlement House Movement 213
Child-Saving 215
Public Welfare Efforts 218
Professionalization of Social Work 220
Conclusion: Moving toward Reform 222
PRACTICE TEST 223
MYSEARCHLAB CONNECTIONS 224

8. The Progressive Era, War, and Recovery 225

The Progressive Era 227
Population Movements and Immigration 230
Immigration Acts 231
Oppression of African Americans and Native Americans 233
African-American Leaders 234
Native Americans 237
Labor and the Unions 237
Women and Unions 238
Social Welfare in the Progressive Era 239
Reforms for Children 241
Medical and Psychiatric Social Work 245
Veterans’ Welfare 247
Aid to Blind People and Aid to People with Disabilities 247
Old Age Assistance 248
Unemployment Insurance and Workers’ Compensation 249
Juvenile and Criminal Justice 250
Women’s Movements and Peace Protests 250
Suffrage 251
Women and Health 252
Abortion and Contraception 254
The Professionalization of Social Work 256
Conclusion: New Freedoms and Old Constraints 257
PRACTICE TEST 258
MYSEARCHLAB CONNECTIONS 259

9. The Great Depression and Social Security for Americans 260

The Great Depression 263
Social Revolt and Temporary Relief 265
Roosevelt’s Emergency Measures 266
Eleanor Roosevelt and Women in the New Deal 270
xiv Contents

Social Insurance in the United States 271

Programs of Social Insurance Based on Social Security Acts 273
Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) 274
Unemployment Compensation: Title III 274
Workers’ Compensation: State Social Insurance 275
Public Assistance Programs of the Social Security Acts 276
Old Age Assistance (OAA) 276
Aid to the Blind (AB) and Aid to the Disabled (AD) 276
Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) 277
Maternal and Child Welfare Act: Title V 278
The Professionalization of Social Work 279
World War II 281
Internment of Japanese Americans 281
The War Years 282
The War and People of Minorities 284
Social Welfare Services: The War and After 286
Women After the War 287
The Resurgence of Social Work 289
Reorganizing Federal Social Welfare Efforts 291
The American Dream 291
Conclusion: Moving Toward the Future 292
PRACTICE TEST 293
MYSEARCHLAB CONNECTIONS 294

10. Civil and Welfare Rights in the New Reform Era 295
The State of the Nation Under Eisenhower 298
Social Programs in the 1950s 299
Social Insurance 300
Public Assistance 300
Civil Rights Before Kennedy 303
African Americans 303
Native Americans 305
Hispanic Americans 306
Chinese Americans 307
Civil Rights in the Kennedy–Johnson Years 308
Johnson and the Great Society 309
The Civil Rights Act and Continued Protest 309
The Voting Rights Act and New Legal Rights 314
Social Programs in the Kennedy–Johnson Years 315
Kennedy’s Social Security Amendments 316
The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 317
Programs Amended Under Johnson 320
Other Kennedy–Johnson Social Programs 322
Contents xv

Welfare, Civil Rights, and the Social Work Profession 325

Conclusion: Looking Back on the 1960s 326
PRACTICE TEST 328
MYSEARCHLAB CONNECTIONS 329

11. The Return to the Past 330

A Retreat From the Welfare State 331
Social Programs in the 1970s 334
Social Insurance 334
Public Assistance Programs 336
Other Social Welfare Programs 340
Food Stamps 340
Comprehensive Education and Training Act (CETA) 340
Education and Youth Programs 341
Housing 342
Juvenile Protection and Adult Corrections 342
Civil Rights in the 1970s 343
Native Americans 343
Japanese Americans 346
Other Asian Americans 347
Mexican Americans 347
Puerto Ricans and Cubans 348
African Americans 349
Women 351
Gay Liberation 353
Conclusion: Tightening the Reins 354
PRACTICE TEST 355
MYSEARCHLAB CONNECTIONS 356

12. The Reactionary Vision 357

Biting The Conservative Bullet 358
Reaganomics: The Conservative Political
Economy 360
The New Federalism 362
Privatization 362
New Federalism: Returning Programs to States 363
Pruning the Programs 365
Old Age, Survivors, Disability, and Health
Insurance 366
Unemployment Insurance and the New Poor 367
Public Assistance Programs 368
The Family Support Act (FSA) of 1988 370
xvi Contents

Basic Needs Programs 372

Reaganomics and Nutrition 372
Reaganomics and Health Care 373
Housing in the 1980s 375
Education and Training 377
Civil Rights Under Reagan and Bush 378
The Costs of Social Welfare 381
Estimating Poverty 381
How Much Did Welfare Cost in the Reagan Era? 382
The International Element 383
Conclusion: Past Ideology in a Postindustrial World 383
PRACTICE TEST 385
MYSEARCHLAB CONNECTIONS 386

13. The Decline of Social Responsibility 387

Clinton and the Republican Congress 388
Welfare As We Knew It 389
The “Contract with America” 389
Restructuring Public Assistance: Losing the Safety Net 390
The Structure of TANF 392
The Place of Values in TANF 396
Did TANF Work? 399
Other Safety Net Programs in the Clinton Era 401
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) 401
Earned Income Tax Credits (EITCs) and Child and Dependent Care Credits
(CDCCs) 402
Social Insurance 403
Nutrition Programs: Food Stamps, WIC, and Child Nutrition 405
Homelessness and Housing 406
Health Care in America 407
Health Insurance 407
Medicare 409
Medicaid 410
Social Issues 411
Empowerment Enterprise Zones 411
Crime Control 411
Education 413
Employment and Jobs 413
Affirmative Action and Civil Rights 414
Private Charity 416
Welfare for the Wealthy and Corporate Welfare 417
Capital Assets and Tax Cuts 417
Corporate Welfare 418
Globalization, the International Economy, and American Social Welfare 422
Contents xvii

Conclusion 425
PRACTICE TEST 427
MYSEARCHLAB CONNECTIONS 428

14. Spiraling Down to Welfare Past 429

The Bush/Cheney Presidency 430
Oil and War 431
Religion and the Presidency 431
The Conservative Economy and Poverty 432
Social Welfare in the Bush/Cheney Administration 434
Faith-Based Initiatives 434
Levels of Income Security 435
The First Level: Employment 435
The Second Level: Social Insurance 437
The Third Level: Public Assistance Programs 438
Health Care Under the Bush/Cheney Presidency 443
Medicare 443
Medicaid 444
State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) 445
Other Health Programs and Issues 445
Education 447
Juvenile and Criminal Justice Systems 448
Juvenile Justice 448
Criminal Justice System 449
Our “Ism-Ridden” Society 450
Racism 450
Sexism in the United States 451
Conclusion: Where are the Social Workers? 452
PRACTICE TEST 454
MYSEARCHLAB CONNECTIONS 455

15. Political Stonewalls 456

The Bitter Remnants of the Bush Administration 457
The Historical Significance of the 2008 Election 457
The Economic Morass 458
Social Welfare in the Obama Administration 459
Obama’s Signature Acts: Health Care and
Stimulus Acts 459
Unemployment, Homelessness, and Housing 460
Human Rights and Justice 461
xviii Contents

Social Issues and Vulnerable Populations 467

Women 467
People of Color 468
LGBT Persons 469
The Elderly and Disabled 470
Portending the Future 471
Tea Party Movement 471
Mid-Term Elections 472
The Arab Spring 474
Social Work and the Obama Administration 474
The World in Turmoil 475
Conclusion: Afterword 476
Cycles of Power 476
Cycles of History 477
The “Why” of Values Analysis 478
Toward the Future 478
PRACTICE TEST 480
MYSEARCHLAB CONNECTIONS 481

Notes 482
Photo Credits 511
Index 512
Preface

Traditionally, a preface is the place to thank those who have contributed to

the accomplishment that is a book. Throughout my life, people have touched
me with their feelings, thoughts, and knowledge, and this book is, in a very
true sense, a part of me that was part of them. My teachers, my colleagues, my
students, my friends, my family of origin and of marriage—all who partici-
pated in my life have contributed.
The book tries to answer the “why” of social welfare. In great part, it is a
history of those involved in the social welfare institution not as wielders but
as subjects, victims, recipients, and clients. It seeks to redress in part the loss
of history for women, nonwhite people, and other groups oppressed by social
institutions, and to relate intimately the place of the labor force and working
people with the social welfare institution. The breadth of the book ensures its
failure to adequately cover its aspirations. I am well aware of much left un-
done, through lack of either space/time or knowledge. However, it is a begin-
ning from which students and others can seek more deeply and, hopefully, fill
in its blanks.
A New History of Social Welfare looks at the earliest forces for both aspects
of social welfare: social treatment and social control. These themes are car-
ried forward from a perspective that considers the synergistic relationships of
economy, polity, religion, and social welfare and asks the “why” of treatment
and/or control. To this end, I view the ways people related to each other from
early history within their societal contexts and the needs of society either to
provide care for valued members or to ensure enough members for social tasks.
Because social welfare is so deeply affected by institutional racism, sex-
ism, classism, and “otherism,” the historical and evolutionary sources of these
“isms” are given a great deal of attention. One of the results of institutional
discrimination has been an “elimination” of history, or a selective compilation
of a series of achievements of men who are generally Caucasian or Aryan and
of the elite and/or warrior classes. That reading of history ignores or belittles
the contributions of women, nonwhite people, and the poor laborers on whose
backs history occurred. A New History hopefully provides new or reinterpreted
historical information to set a less biased social context.
Of particular import in this perspective is the analysis of humankind’s
relationships with deity—religions—both in providing charity and in elabo-
rating on or perpetuating social control. This dichotomy of religiously legiti-
mated charity and control underlies the development of social welfare in all its
ramifications, the values that provide the push to helping or controlling “others”
and the ways in which the profession of social work itself came into being and
grew. Religions are synergistically related to other major institutions of soci-
ety, whether we speak of European feudalism, the European invasions of the
Western Hemisphere, colonial America, the Progressive movement of the early
1900s, the conservative backlash of the Reagan era, the power of the Far Right
and the Religious Right to destroy the safety net of the poor or the makings of
xix
xx Preface

an imperialist president in the new millennium. This synergism, then, is the

key to the historical analysis of social welfare and the social work profession.
When I wrote the first edition of the book in the Reagan years, the conser-
vative backlash occurring seemed to be just a glitch to be overcome. By the
1990s, I saw that the Reagan years were probably a permanent trend to ulti-
mately reverse the social morality we had over the past 300 years. Under poli-
cies endorsed by the presidential administrations of George H. W. Bush, Bill
Clinton, and George W. Bush, we destroyed programs that underlaid our social
responsibility. Rather than replacing them, we now simply refuse to look at
the consequences. Social responsibility and morality have taken a back seat
to greed at both national and international levels. Our world has narrowed,
but worse, we as individuals and as a nation have narrowed, condensed, and
encapsulated ourselves. We have no space, no heart, for others, and this plays
itself out in our social policies.
While social policies continue to be made every day, only time will tell if
the lessons learned from history will have impact on future social work prac-
tice and the evolution of the social welfare institution. I hope, at the very least,
that events, values, and perspectives presented here will serve social work stu-
dents well in their attempts to find social justice for their future clients. The
many fine policy analysis texts now extant can provide frameworks for analyz-
ing the “what” and “how” of social welfare, and perhaps A New History can
help define the “why.”
And now to thank those who helped me with this project. The greatest
influence on the book and on my life was my mother, Nora Seymour Phelps,
dead these many years. She gave me, from the beginning of my life, the cour-
age to follow my convictions and search for reality no matter where the path
led. Although her heart finally failed her, her spirit never did. Also, my sis-
ters contributed more than they knew with strength, endurance, and courage
throughout their hard lives and harder deaths: Avah, who always knew that
“things will be better tomorrow”; Evah, with her gentle courage; and Lois, who
never gave up and always faced the world with valor. Thanks also to my men-
tors, Rosemary C. Sarri, who serves as a model, however unattainable, for more
women than she knows; and John E. Tropman, who always believed in me. My
gratitude to dear friends Joan Bowker, Keetjie Ramo, Harry Macy, and Mary
Ann Foley, all of whom have saved my life in ways they will never know; and
to my former husband, Jerald R. Day, and my children—Jerry II, Nora Gaye,
Merry Rose, Sean, and Joy Alyssa.
For the first edition, I continue to thank the editors and personnel at Pren-
tice Hall/ over the past more than 25 years: Nancy Roberts, Marianne Peters,
Judy Fifer, Julie Cancio, Jennifer Miller, Jacqueline Aaron, Michael Granger,
Patricia Quinlin, and Annemarie Kennedy.
Also, many thanks to my reviewers of all editions of this text, including
Albert Roberts, Indiana University; George Siefert, Jr., Daemen College; Jack
Otis, University of Texas–Austin; Patricia K. Cianciolo, Northern Michigan
University; Paul H. Stuart, University of Alabama; Marcia B. Cohen, University
of New England; Nancy L. Mary, California State University–San Bernadino;
James D. Stafford, University of Mississippi; Marina Barnett, Temple Univer-
sity; Karen A. Ford, James Madison University; Walter Pierce, Barry Univer-
sity; and Beverly Stadum, St. Cloud State University. Thanks for the seventh
edition go to Ashley Dodge, Carly Czech, Nicole Suddeth, Greg Johnson,
Meghan DeMaio, and Sneha Pant.
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
as—was what she was as she stood by my side, a sweet and gentle
woman whom my heart was drawing closer and closer to every hour,
whose life I would have died to preserve, whose danger made my
own life a larger necessity to me than I should have felt it.
A momentary emotion of disappointment, a resentment whereof I
knew not the meaning, through lacking the leisure or the skill to
analyse it, made me turn and say—
"Would you like me to command one of your ships, Miss
Robertson?"
"Yes," she answered, promptly.
"As a recompense for my humane efforts to preserve you from
drowning?"
She withdrew her hand from my arm and inclined her head to
look me full in the face.
"Mr. Royle, I never thought you would speak to me like that."
"I want no recompense for what I have done, Miss Robertson."
"I have not offered you any recompense."
"Let me feel," I said, "that you understand it is possible for an
English sailor to do his duty without asking or expecting any manner
of reward. The Humane Society's medals are not for him."
"Why are you angry with me?" she exclaimed, sinking her head,
and speaking with a little sob in her voice.
I was stirred to the heart by her broken tones, and answered—
"I am not angry. I could not be angry with you. I wish you to feel
that what I have done, that whatever I may do is ... is...."
I faltered and stopped—an ignominious break down! though I
think it concealed the true secret of my resentment.
I covered my confusion by taking her hand, and resting it on my
arm again.
 "Do you mean," she said, "that all you have done has been for my
sake only—out of humanity—that you would do as much for anybody
else?"
"No," said I, boldly.
Again she withdrew her hand and remained silent, and I made up
my mind not to interrupt her thoughts.
After a few moments she went to the ship's side, and stood there;
sometimes looking at the stars, and sometimes at the water that
stretched away into the gloom in heavy breaking seas.
The wind was singing shrilly up aloft, but the sounds of the
pumping ceased on a sudden.
I awaited the approach of the boatswain with inexpressible
anxiety. After an interval I saw his figure come up the poop ladder.
"Pumps suck!" he roared out.
"Hurrah!" I shouted. "Down with you for grog all round," for the
other two were following the boatswain. But they all came aft first
and stood near the wheel, blowing like whales, and Miss Robertson
joined the group.
"If it's no worse than this, bo'sun," I exclaimed, "she'll do."
"Aye, she'll do, sir; but it's hard work. My arms feel as though
they wos tied up in knots."
"So do mine," said the steward.
"Shall I take the wheel?" asked Cornish.
"No; go and get some grog and turn in, all of you. I am as fresh
as a lark, and will stay here till twelve o'clock," I replied.
The steward at once shuffled below.
"Boatswain, ask Mr. Royle to let me take the wheel," said Miss
Robertson. "He has been talking to me for the last half-hour and
sometimes held the wheel with one hand. I am sure I can hold it."
 "As you won't go below, Miss Robertson, you shall steer; but I will
stop by you," I said.
"That will be of no use!" she exclaimed.
Cornish smothered a laugh and walked away.
"Now, bo'sun, down with you," I cried. "I'll have you up again
shortly to sound the well. But half an hour's sleep is something. If
you get knocked up, I lose half the ship's company—two-thirds of it."
"All right, sir," he replied, with a prodigious yawn. "You an' the
lady 'll know how to settle this here business of steering."
And off he went.
"You see how obedient these men are, Miss Robertson. Why will
you not obey orders, and get some sleep?"
"I have offended you, Mr. Royle, and I am very, very sorry."
"Let us make peace then," I said, holding out my hand.
She took it; but when I had got her hand, I would not let it go for
some moments.
She was leaving the deck in silence when she came back and
said—
"If we should have to leave this ship suddenly, I should not like—
it would make me unhappy for ever to think of poor papa left in her."
She spoke, poor girl, with a great effort.
I answered immediately—
"Any wish you may express shall be carried out."
"He would go down in this ship without a prayer said for him,"
she exclaimed, sobbing.
"Will you leave this with me? I promise you that no tenderness,
no reverence, no sincere sorrow shall be wanting."
 "Mr. Royle, you are a dear good friend to me. God knows how
lonely I should have been without you—and yet—I made you angry."
"Do not say that. What I do I do for your safety—for your
ultimate happiness—so that when we say farewell to each other on
shore, I may feel that the trust which God gave me in you was
honourably and faithfully discharged. I desire, if our lives are spared,
that this memory may follow me when all this scene is changed, and
we behold it again only in our dreams. I should have told you my
meaning just now, but one cannot always express one's thoughts."
"You have told me your meaning, and I shall not forget it. God
bless you!" she exclaimed, in her calm, earnest voice, and went
slowly down into the cuddy.
 CHAPTER VII.

The wind still continued a brisk gale and the sea very heavy. Yet
overhead it was a glorious night, and as the glass had risen steadily,
I was surprised to find the wild weather holding on so long.
I busied my head with all kinds of schemes to save the ship, and
believed it would be no hard matter to do so if the water did not
come into her more quickly than she was now making it.
Unfortunately, there were only two parts of the ship's hold which
we could get into: namely, right forward in the fore peak, and right
aft down in the lazarette. If she had strained a butt, or started any
part of her planking or outer skin, amidships or anywhere in her
bottom between these two points, there would be no chance of
getting at the leak unless the cargo were slung out of her.
But the leak could not be considered very serious that did not run
a greater depth of water into the ship than under a foot an hour;
and with the Bermudas close at hand and the weather promising fair,
I could still dare to think it possible, despite the hopes and fears
which alternately depressed and elevated me, to bring the vessel to
port, all crippled and under-manned as she was.
These speculations kept me busily thinking until half-past eleven,
on which I bawled to the steward, who got up and called the
boatswain and Cornish, though I only wanted the boatswain. Cornish
thought it was midnight and his turn to take the wheel, so he came
aft. I resigned my post, being anxious to get on the main-deck,
where I found the bo'sun in the act of sounding the well, he having
lost some time in re-lighting the lamp, which had burnt out.
He dropped the rod carefully and found the water thirteen inches
deep,—that was, nine inches high in the pumps.
"Just what I thought," said he; "she's takin' of it at a foot an hour,
no better and no worse."
"Well, we must turn to," I exclaimed. "We mustn't let it rise above
a foot, as every inch will make our work longer and harder."
"If it stops at that, good and well," said the boatswain. "But
there's always a hif in these here sinkin' cases. However, there's time
enough to croak when the worst happens."
He called to the steward, and we all three went to work and
pumped vigorously, and kept the handles grinding and clanking, with
now and again a spell of a couple of minutes' rest between, until the
pumps gave out the throaty sound which told us that the water was
exhausted.
Though this proved beyond a doubt that, providing the leak
remained as it was, we should be able to keep the water under, the
prospect before us of having to work the pumps every hour was
extremely disheartening; all four of us required sleep to put us right,
and already our bones were aching with weariness. Yet it was
certain that we should be able to obtain at the very best but brief
snatches of rest; and I for one did not even promise myself so
much, for I had strong misgivings as to the condition of the ship's
bottom, and was prepared, at any moment, to find the water gaining
more rapidly upon us than we could pump it out, though I kept my
fears to myself.
I had been on deck now for four hours at one stretch; so, leaving
Cornish at the wheel, I lay down on the steward's mattress in the
cuddy, whilst he seated himself on the bench with his head upon the
cuddy table, and snored in that posture.
 But we were all aroused again within the hour by Cornish, who
called to us down the companion, and away we floundered, with our
eyes gummed up with sleep, to the pumps, and wearily worked
them like miserable automatons.
The dawn found me again at the wheel, having been there half
an hour.
I scanned the broken desolate horizon in the pale light creeping
over it, but no ship was in sight. The sea, though not nearly so
dangerous as it had been, was terribly sloppy, short, and quick, and
tumbled very often over the ship's sides, making the decks, with the
raffle that encumbered them, look wretched.
I had not had my clothes off me for some days, and the sense of
personal discomfort in no small degree aggravated the profound
feeling of weariness which ached like rheumatism in my body and
absolutely stung in my legs. The skin of my face was hard and dry
with long exposure to the terrible wind and the salt water it had
blown and dried upon it; and though my underclothing was dry, yet
it produced all the sensation of dampness upon my skin, and never
in all my life had I felt so uncomfortable, weary, and spiritless as I
did standing at the wheel when the dawn broke and I looked abroad
upon the rugged fields of water, and found no vessel in sight to
inspire me with a moment's emotion of hope.
I was replaced at the wheel by the boatswain, and took another
turn at the pumps. When this harassing job was ended, I went into
the forecastle, making my way thither with much difficulty.
I had a sacred duty to perform, and now that the daylight was
come it was proper I should go to work.
On entering the forecastle I looked around me on the empty
hammocks swinging from the deck, and finding one that looked new
and clean, took it down and threw the mattress and blankets out of
it and folded it up as a piece of canvas.
I then searched the carpenter's berth for a sail needle, twine, and
palm, which things, together with the hammock, I took aft.
 On reaching the cuddy I called Cornish, whose services in this
matter I preferred to the steward's, and bid him follow me into the
cabin where the old man's body lay.
When there, I closed the door and informed him that we should
bury the poor old gentleman when the morning was more advanced,
and that I wished him to help me to sew up the body in the
hammock.
God knows I had rather that any man should have undertaken
this job than I; but it was a duty I was bound to perform, and I
desired, for Miss Robertson's sake, that it should be carried out with
all the reverence and tenderness that so rude and simple a burial
was susceptible of, and nothing done to cause the least violence to
her feelings.
We spread the hammock open on the deck, and lifted the body
and placed it on the hammock, and rolled a blanket over it. A very
great change had come over the face of the corpse since death, and
I do not think I should have known it as the kindly, dignified
countenance, reverent with its white hair and beard, that had smiled
at me from the bunk and thanked me for what I had done.
For what I had done!—alas! how mocking was this memory now!
—with what painful cynicism did that lonely face illustrate the power
of man over the great issues of life and death!
I brought the sides of the hammock to meet over the corpse and
held them while Cornish passed the stitches. I then sent him to find
me a big holystone or any pieces of iron, so as to sink the body, and
he brought some pieces of the stone, which I secured in the clues at
the foot of the hammock.
We left the face exposed and raised the body on to the bunk and
covered it over; after which I despatched Cornish for a carpenter's
short-stage I had noticed forward, and which was in use for slinging
the men over the ship's side for scraping or painting her. A grating
would have answered our purpose better, but the hatches were
battened down, the tarpaulins over them, and there was no grating
to be got at without leaving the hatchway exposed.
I dressed this short-stage in the big ensign, and placed it on the
upper bunk ready to be used, and then told Cornish to stand by with
the steward, and went aft and knocked at Miss Robertson's door.
My heart was in my throat, for this mission was even more
ungrateful to me than the sewing up of the body had been, and I
was afraid that I should not be able to address her tenderly enough,
and show her how truly I mourned for and with her.
As I got no answer, I was leaving, wishing her to obtain all the
sleep she could, but when I had gone a few paces she came out and
followed me.
"Did you knock just now, Mr. Royle?" she asked.
I told her yes, but could not immediately summon up courage
enough to tell her why I had knocked.
She looked at me inquiringly, and I began to reproach myself for
my weakness, and still I could not address her; but seeing me
glance towards her father's cabin she understood all on a sudden,
and covered her face with her hands.
"I have left his face uncovered for you to kiss," I said, gently
laying my hand on her arm.
She went at once into his cabin, and I closed the door upon her
and waited outside.
She did not keep me long waiting. I think, brave girl that she was,
even amid all her desolating sorrow, that she knew I would wish the
burial over so that we might address ourselves again to the ship.
"I leave him to you now," she said.
I thought she meant that she would not witness the funeral, and
was glad that she had so resolved, and I accordingly took her hand
to lead her away to her cabin.
 "Let me be with you!" she exclaimed. "Indeed, indeed, I am
strong enough to bear it. I should not be happy if I did not know the
moment when he left me, that I might pray to God for him then."
"Be it so," I answered. "I will call you when we are ready."
She left me; and Cornish and the steward and I went into the
cabin to complete the mournful preparations.
I cased the body completely in the hammock, and we then raised
it up and laid it upon the stage, which we had made to answer for a
stretcher, and over it I threw a sheet, so that only the sheet and the
ensign were visible.
This done, I consulted with Cornish as to what part of the deck
we should choose in order to tilt the body overboard. It is generally
the custom to rest the body near the gangway, but the ship was
rolling too heavily to enable us to do this now, and the main-deck
was afloat, so we decided on carrying the body right aft, and thither
we transported it, lodging the foot of the stretcher on the rail abaft
the port quarter-boat.
The boatswain removed his hat when he saw the body, and the
others imitated him.
I went below and told Miss Robertson that all was ready, and took
from among the books belonging to the captain an old thin volume
containing the Office for the Burial of Dead at Sea, printed in very
large type. It was fortunate that I had noticed this slip of a book
when overhauling Captain Coxon's effects, for my own Prayer-Book
did not contain the office, and there was no Church Service among
the captain's books.
I entreated Miss Robertson to reflect before resolving to witness
the burial. I told her that her presence could do no good, and
faithfully assured her that prayers would be read, and the sad little
service conducted as reverently and tenderly as my deep sympathy
and the respect which the others felt for her could dictate.
 She only answered that it would comfort her to pray for him and
herself at the moment he was leaving her, and put her hand into
mine, and gently and with tearless eyes, though with a world of
sorrow in her beautiful pale face, asked me to take her on deck.
Such grief was not to be argued with—indeed, I felt it would be
cruel to oppose any fancy, however strange it seemed to me, which
might really solace her.
She started and stopped when she saw the stretcher and the
white sheet and the outline beneath it, and her hand clasped mine
tightly; but she recovered herself and we advanced, and then
resolving that she should not see the body leave the stretcher, I
procured a flag and placed it near the after skylight and said she
could kneel there; which she did with her back turned upon us.
I then whispered Cornish to watch me and take note of the sign I
should give him to tilt the stretcher and to do it quickly; after which
I placed myself near the body and began to read the service.
It was altogether a strange, impressive scene, one that in a
picture would, I am sure, hold the eye for a long time; but in the
reality create an ineffaceable memory.
The insecurity—the peril, I should prefer to say—of our situation,
heightened my own feelings, and made me behold in the corpse we
were about to commit to the deep a sad type and melancholy
forerunner of our own end. The ship, with her broken masts, her
streaming decks, her jib-boom gone, her one sail swollen by the
hoarse gale, plunging and rolling amid the tumultuous seas that
foamed around and over her; the strong man at the wheel,
bareheaded, his hair blown about by the wind, looking downwards
with a face full of blunt and honest sorrow, and his lips moving as
they repeated the words I read; the motionless, kneeling girl; the
three of us standing near the corpse; the still, dead burden on the
stretcher, waiting to be launched; the blue sky, and sun kindling into
glory as it soared above the eastern horizon: all these were details
which formed a picture the wildness and strangeness of which no
pen could describe. They are all, as a vision, before me as I write;
but they make me know how poor are words, and eloquence how
weak, when great realities and things which have befallen many
men are to be described.
When I came to that part of the office wherein it is directed that
the body shall be let fall into the sea, my heart beat anxiously, for I
feared that the girl would look around and see what was done.
I gave the sign, and instantly Cornish obeyed, and I thank God
that the sullen splash of the corpse was lost in the roar of a sea
bursting under the ship's counter.
Now that it was gone, the worst was over; and in a short time I
brought the service to an end, omitting many portions which
assuredly I had not skipped had not time been precious to us.
I motioned to Cornish and the steward to carry the stretcher
away, and waited for Miss Robertson to rise; but she remained for
some minutes on her knees, and when she rose, the deck was clear.
She gave me her hand, and smiled softly, though with a heart-
broken expression in her eyes, at the boatswain by way of thanking
him for his sympathy, and I then conducted her below and left her at
the door of the cabin, saying—
"I have no words to tell you how I feel for you. Pray God that
those who are still living may be spared, and be sure that in His own
good time He will comfort you."
 CHAPTER VIII.

All that morning the gale continued fresh and the sea dangerous.
We found that the ship was regularly making nine to ten inches of
water an hour; and after the funeral we turned to and pumped her
out again.
But this heavy work, coupled with our extreme anxiety and the
perils and labour we had gone through, was beginning to tell heavily
upon us. The steward showed signs of what strength he had coming
to an end, and Cornish's face had a worn and wasted look as of a
man who has fasted long. The boatswain supported this fatigue
best, and always went cheerfully to work, and had encouraging
words for us all. As for me, what I suffered most from was, strange
to say, the eternal rolling of the ship. At times it completely
nauseated me. Also it gave me a racking headache, and occasionally
the motion so bewildered me that I was obliged to sit down and hold
my head in my hands until the dizziness had passed.
I believe this feeling was the result of over-work, long
wakefulness, and preying anxiety, which was hourly sapping my
constitution. Yet I was generally relieved by even a quarter of an
hour's sleep, but presently was troubled again, and I grew to dread
the time when I should take the wheel, for right aft the motion of
the ship was intensely felt by me, so much so that on that morning,
the vessel's stern falling heavily into a hollow, I nearly fainted, and
only saved myself from rolling on the deck by clinging convulsively to
the wheel.
At a quarter-past eleven I had just gone into the cuddy, after
having had an hour's spell at the pumps with the boatswain and the
steward, when I heard Cornish's voice shouting down the
companion, "A sail! a sail!"
But a minute before I had felt so utterly prostrated, that I should
not have believed myself capable of taking half-a-dozen steps
without a long rest between each. Yet these magical words sent me
rushing up the companion ladder with as much speed and energy as
I should have been capable of after a long night's refreshing
slumber.
The moment Cornish saw me he pointed like a mad man to the
horizon on the weather beam, and the ship's stern rising at that
moment, I clearly beheld the sails of a vessel, though in what
direction she was going I could not tell by the naked eye.
Both the boatswain and the other had come running aft on
hearing Cornish's exclamation, and the steward, in the madness of
his eagerness, had swung himself on to the mizzen rigging, and
stood there bawling, "Yonder's the ship! yonder's the ship! Come up
here, and you'll see her plain enough!"
I got the telescope and pointed it at the vessel, and found that
she was heading directly for us, steering due south, with the gale
upon her starboard quarter.
On this I cried out: "She's coming slap at us, boys! Hurrah!
Cornish, you were the first to see her; thank you! thank you!"
And I grasped his hand and shook it wildly. I then seized the
telescope, and inspected the vessel again, and exclaimed, while I
held the glass to my eye—
"She's a big ship, bo'sun. She's carrying a main top-gallant sail,
and there's a single reef in her fore-topsail. She can't miss us! She's
coming right at us, hand over fist, boys! Steward, go and tell Miss
Robertson to come on deck. Down with you and belay that squalling.
Do you think we're blind?"
The small ensign was still alive, roaring away just as we had
hoisted and left it; but in my excitement I did not think the signal
importunate enough, though surely it was so; and rushing to the
flag-locker, I got out the book of signals, and sang out to the
boatswain to help me to bend on the flags which I threw out, and
which would represent that we were sinking.
We hauled the ensign down, and ran up the string of flags, and
glorious they looked in our eyes, as they streamed out in a
semicircle, showing their brilliant colours against the clear blue sky.
Again I took the telescope, and set it on the rail, and knelt to
steady myself.
The hull of the ship was now half risen, and as she came rolling
and plunging over the seas I could discern the vast space of froth
she was throwing up at her bows. Dead on as she was, we could not
tell whether she had hoisted any flag at the peak, and I hoped in
mercy to us that she would send up an answering pennant to the
royal mast-head, so that we might see it and know that our signal
was perceived.
But this was a foolish hope, only such a one as bitter eager
anxiety could coin. She was coming right at us; she could not fail to
see us; what need to answer us yet when a little patience, only a
little patience, and she would be within a biscuit's throw of us?
Miss Robertson came on deck without any covering on her head,
and the wind blew her hair away from its fastenings and floated it
out like a cloud of gold. She held on to the rail and stared at the
coming ship with wild eyes and a frowning forehead, while the
steward, who had fallen crazy with the sight of the ship, clambered
once more into the mizzen rigging, and shouted and beckoned to
the vessel as a little child would.
It did not take me long, however, to recover my own reason, the
more especially as I felt that we might require all the sense we had
when the ship rounded and hove to. I could not, indeed, hope that
they would send a boat through such a sea; they would lie by us
and send a boat when the sea moderated, which, to judge by the
barometer and the high and beaming sky, we might expect to find
that night or next morning; and then we should require our senses,
not only to keep the pumps going, but to enter the boat calmly and
in an orderly way, and help our rescuers to save our lives.
The boatswain leaned against the companion hatchway with his
arms folded, contemplating the approaching ship with a wooden
face. Variously and powerfully as the spectacle of the vessel had
affected Cornish and Miss Robertson, and myself and the steward,
on the boatswain it had scarcely produced any impression.
I know not what kind of misgiving came into my mind as I looked
from the coming ship to his stolid face.
I had infinite confidence in this man's judgment and bravery, and
his lifelessness on this occasion weighed down upon me like a heavy
presentiment, insomuch that the cheery gratulatory words I was
about to address to Miss Robertson died away on my lips.
I should say that we had sighted this vessel's upper sails when
she was about seventeen miles distant, and, therefore, coming down
upon us before a strong wind, and helped onwards by the long
running seas, in less than half an hour her whole figure was plain to
us upon the water.
I examined her carefully through the glass, striving to make out
her nationality by the cut of her aloft. I thought she had the look of
a Scotch ship, her hull being after the pattern of the Aberdeen
clippers, such as I remembered them in the Australian trade, painted
green, and she was also rigged with skysail-poles and a great
breadth of canvas.
I handed the glass to the boatswain, and asked him what country
he took her to be of. After inspecting her, he said he did not think
she was English; the colour of her canvas looked foreign, but it was
hard to tell; we should see her colours presently.
 As she approached, Miss Robertson's excitement grew very great;
not demonstrative—I mean she did not cry out nor gesticulate like
the steward in the rigging; it was visible, like a kind of madness, in
her eyes, in her swelling bosom, in a strange, wonderful, brilliant
smile upon her face, such as a great actress might wear in a play,
but which we who observe it know to be forced and unreal.
I ran below for the fur cap and coat, and made her put them on,
and then drew her away from the ship's side and kept close to her,
even holding her by the hand for some time, for I could not tell what
effect the sight of the ship might produce upon her mind, already
strung and weakened by privation and cruel sorrow and peril.
The vessel came rolling and plunging down towards us before the
wind, carrying a sea on either quarter as high as her main-brace
bumpkins, and spreading a great surface of foam before and around
her.
When she was about a couple of miles off they let go the main
top-gallant halliards and clewed up the sail; and then the helm was
starboarded, which brought her bows astern of us and gave her a
sheer, by which we saw that she was a fine barque, of at least eight
hundred tons burden.
At the same moment she hoisted Russian colours.
I was bitterly disappointed when I saw that flag. I should have
been equally disappointed by the sight of any other foreign flag,
unless it were the Stripes and Stars, which floats over brave hearts
and is a signal to Englishmen as full of welcome and promise almost
as their own loved bit of bunting.
I had hoped, God knows how earnestly, that we should behold
the English ensign at the gaff end. Our chances of rescue by a
British ship were fifty to one as against our chances of rescue by a
foreigner. Cases, indeed, have been known of ships commanded by
Englishmen sighting vessels in distress and leaving them to their
fate; but, to the honour and glory of our calling, I say that these
cases make so brief a list that no impartial-minded man will allow
them to weigh with him a moment when he considers the vast
number of instances of pluck, humanity, and heroism which illustrate
and adorn the story of British naval life.
It is otherwise with foreigners. I write not with any foolish insular
prejudice against wooden shoes and continental connexions: we
cannot dispute good evidence. Though I believe that the Russians
make fair sailors, and fight bravely on sea, why was it that my heart
sank when I saw that flag? I say that the British flag is an assurance
to all distressed persons that what can be done for them will be
done for them, and foreigners know this well, and would sooner
sight it when they are in peril than their own colours, be those
colours Dutch, or French, or Spanish, or Danish, or Italian, or
Russian. But he must be a confident man indeed who hopes
anything from a vessel sailing under a foreign flag when life is to be
saved at the risk of the lives of the rescuers.
"He's goin' to round to!" exclaimed the boatswain, who watched
the movements of ship with an unconcern absolutely phenomenal to
me even to recall now, when I consider that the lives of us all might
have depended upon the issue of the stranger's actions.
She went gracefully swooping and swashing along the water, and
I saw the hands upon the deck aft standing by at the main-braces to
back the yards.
"Bo'sun!" I cried, "she means to heave to—she won't leave us!"
He made no answer, but continued watching her with an
immovable face.
She passed under our stern not more than a quarter of a mile
distant, perhaps not so far. There was a crowd of persons near the
wheel, some looking at us through binocular glasses, others through
telescopes. There were a few women and children among them.
Yet I could detect no hurry, no eagerness, no excitement in their
movements; they appeared as imperturbable as Turks or Hollanders,
contemplating us as though we were rather an object of curiosity
than in miserable, perishing distress.
 I jumped upon the grating abaft the wheel and waved my hat to
them and pointed to our signals. A man standing near their
starboard quarter-boat, whom, by the way he looked aloft, I judged
to be the captain, flourished his hand in reply.
I then, at the top of my voice and through my hands, shouted,
"We're sinking! for God's sake stand by us!" On which the same
person held up his hand again, though I do not believe he
understood or even heard what I said.
Meanwhile they had braced up the foreyards, and as the vessel
came round parallel with us, at a distance of about two-thirds of a
mile, they backed the mainyards, and in a few moments she lay
steady, riding finely upon the water and keeping her decks dry,
though the seas were still splashing over us freely.
Seeing now, as I believed, that she meant to stand by us, all my
excitement broke out afresh. I cried out that we were saved, and fell
upon my knees and thanked God for His mercy. Miss Robertson
sobbed aloud, and the steward came down out of the rigging, and
danced about the deck, exclaiming wildly and extending his arms
towards the ship. Cornish retained his grasp of the wheel, but could
not remove his eyes from the ship; the boatswain alone remained
perfectly tranquil, and even angered me by his hard, unconcerned
face.
"Good God!" I cried; "do you not value your life? Have you
nothing to say? See, she is lying there, and will wait till the sea
moderates, and then fetch us on board!"
"Perhaps she may," he answered, "and it'll be time enough for me
to go mad when I am saved."
And he then folded his arms afresh, and leaned against the rail,
contemplating the ship with the same extraordinary indifference.
They now hauled down the flag, and I waited anxiously to see if
they would hoist the answering pennant to let us know they
understood our signal; but they made no further sign that way, nor
could I be sure, therefore, that they understood the flags we had
hoisted; for though in those days Marryatt's Code was in use among
ships of all nations, yet it often happened (as it does now), that
vessels, both British and foreign, would, through the meanness of
their owners, be sent to sea with merely the flags indicating their
own number on board, so that speaking one of these vessels was
like addressing a dumb person.
The movements of the people on the Russian barque were quite
discernible by the naked eye; and we all now, saving the boatswain,
watched her with rapt eagerness, the steward stopping his mad
antics to grasp the poop rail, and gaze with devouring eyes.
We did not know what they would do, and, indeed, we scarcely
knew what we had to expect; for it was plain to us all that a boat
would stand but a poor chance in that violent sea, and that we
should run a greater risk of losing our lives by quitting the ship than
by staying in her.
But would they not give us some sign, some assurance that they
meant to stand by us?
The agony of my doubts of their intentions was exquisite.
For some time she held her ground right abreast of us; but our
topsail being full, while the Russian was actually hove to, we slowly
began to reach ahead of her.
Seeing this, I cried out to Cornish to put the helm hard down, and
keep the sail flat at the leech; but he had already anticipated this
order, though it was a useless one; for the ship came to and fell off
with every sea, though the helm was hard down, and before we
could have got her to behave as we wished, we should have been
obliged to clap some after sail upon her, which I did not dare do, as
we had only choice of the mizzen and crossjack, and either of these
sails (both being large), would probably have slewed her round head
into the sea, and thrown her dead and useless on our hands.
Seeing that we were slowly bringing the Russian on to our lee
quarter, I called out in the hope of encouraging the others—
 "No matter! she will let us draw ahead, and then shorten sail and
stand after us."
"Are they goin' to lower that boat?" exclaimed the boatswain,
suddenly starting out of his apathetic manner.
There was a crowd of men round the starboard davits where the
quarter-boat hung, but it was not until I brought the telescope to
bear upon them that I could see they were holding an animated
discussion.
The man who had motioned to us, and whom I took to be master
of the ship, stood aft, in company with two others and a woman,
and gesticulated very vehemently, sometimes pointing at us and
sometimes at the sea.
His meaning was intelligible enough to me, but I was not
disheartened; for though it was plain that he was representing the
waves as too rough to permit them to lower a boat, which was a
conclusive sign, at least, that those whom he addressed were urging
him to save us; yet his refusal was no proof that he did not mean to
keep by us until it should be safe to send a boat to our ship.
"What will they do, Mr. Royle?" exclaimed Miss Robertson,
speaking in a voice sharpened by the terrible excitement under
which she laboured.
"They will not leave us," I answered. "They are men—and it is
enough that they should have seen you among us to make them
stay. Oh!" I cried, "it is hard that those waves do not subside! but
patience. The wind is lulling—we have a long spell of daylight before
us. Would to God she were an English ship!—I should have no fear
then."
I again pointed the glass at the vessel.
The captain was still declaiming and gesticulating; but the men
had withdrawn from the quarter-boat, and were watching us over
the bulwarks.
 Since the boat was not to be lowered, why did he continue
arguing?
I watched him intently, watched him until my eyes grew bleared
and the metal rim of the telescope seemed to burn into the flesh
around my eye.
I put the glass down and turned to glance at the flags streaming
over my head.
"There she goes! I knew it. They never shows no pity!" exclaimed
the boatswain, in a deep voice.
I looked and saw the figures of the men hauling on the lee main-
braces.
The yards swung round; the vessel's head paid off; they squared
away forward, and in a few minutes her stern was at us, and she
went away solemnly, rolling and plunging; the main top-gallant sail
being sheeted home and the yard hoisted as she surged forward on
her course.
We remained staring after her—no one speaking—no one
believing in the reality of what he beheld.
Of all the trials that had befallen us, this was the worst.
Of all the terrible, cruel disappointments that can afflict suffering
people, none, none in all the hideous catalogue, is more deadly,
more unendurable, more frightful to endure than that which it was
our doom then to feel. To witness our salvation at hand and then to
miss it; to have been buoyed up with hope unspeakable; to taste in
the promise of rescue the joy of renovated life; to believe that our
suffering was at an end, and that in a short time we should be
among sympathetic rescuers, looking back with shudders upon the
perils from which we had been snatched—to have felt all this, and
then to be deceived!
I thought my heart would burst. I tried to speak, but my tongue
clove to the roof of my mouth.
 When the steward saw that we were abandoned, he uttered a
loud scream and rushed headlong down into the cuddy.
I took no notice of him.
Cornish ran from the wheel, and springing on to the rail, shook
his fist at the departing vessel, raving, and cursing her with horrible,
blasphemous words, black in the face with his mad and useless rage.
The boatswain took his place and grasped the wheel, never
speaking a word.
I was aroused from the stupor that had come over me, the effect
of excessive emotion, by Miss Robertson putting her hand in mine.
"Be brave!" she whispered, with her mouth close to my ear. "God
is with us still. My dead father would not deceive me. We shall be
saved yet. Have courage, and be your own true self again!"
I looked into her shining eyes, out of which all the excitement
that had fired them while the Russian remained hove to, had
departed. There was a beautiful tranquillity, there was a courage
heaven-inspired, there was a soft and hopeful smile upon her pale
face, which fell upon the tempest in my breast and stilled it.
God had given her this influence over me, and I yielded to it as
though He Himself had commanded me.
All her own troubles came before me, all her own bitter trials, her
miserable bereavement; and as I heard her sweet voice bidding me
have courage, and beheld her smiling upon me out of her deep faith
in her simple, sacred dream, I caught up both her hands and bent
my head over them and wept.
"Cornish!" I cried, recovering myself, and seizing the man by the
arm as he stood shouting at the fast-lessening ship, "what is the use
of those oaths? let them go their ways—the pitiless cowards. We are
Englishmen, and our lives are still our own. Come, brave companion!
we have all undergone too much to permit this trial to break us. See
this lady! she swears that we shall be saved yet. Be of her heart and
mine and the bo'sun's there, and help us to make another fight for
it. Come!"
He suffered me to pull him off his perilous perch, and then sat
himself down upon a coil of rope trembling all over, and hid his face
in his hands.
But a new trouble awaited me.
At this moment the steward came staggering up the companion
ladder, his face purple, his eyes protruding, and talking loudly and
incoherently. He clasped the sea-chest belonging to himself, which
certainly was of greater weight than he in his enfeebled state would
have been able to bear had he not been mad. The chest was corded,
and he had no doubt packed it.
He rushed to the ship's side and pitched the chest overboard, and
was in the act of springing on to the rail, meaning to fling himself
into the sea, when I caught hold of him, and using more force than I
was conscious of, dragged him backward so violently that his head
struck the deck like a cannon shot, and he lay motionless and
insensible.
"That's the best thing that could have happened to him,"
exclaimed the boatswain. "Let him lie a bit. He'll come to, and
maybe leave his craze behind him. It wouldn't be the fust time I've
seen a daft man knocked sensible."
And then, coolly biting a chew out of a stick of tobacco, which he
very carefully replaced in his breeches pocket, he added—
"Jim, come and lay hold of this here wheel, will yer, while me and
Mr. Royle pumps the ship out!"
Cornish got up and took the boatswain's place.
"I can help you to pump, Mr. Royle!" said Miss Robertson.
The boatswain laughed.
"Lor' bless your dear 'art, miss, what next?" he cried. "No, no; you
stand by here ready to knock this steward down agin if he shows
hisself anxious to swim arter the Roosian. We'll see what water the
ship's a-makin', and if she shows herself obstinate, as I rayther think
she will, why, we'll all turn to and leave her. For you've got to deal
with a bad ship as you would with a bad wife: use every genteel
persuasion fust, and if that won't alter her, there's nothen for it but
to grease your boots, oil your hair, and po-litely walk out."
 CHAPTER IX.

There being but two of us now to work the pumps, it was more
than we could do to keep them going. We plied them, with a brief
spell between, and then my arms fell to my side, and I told the
boatswain I could pump no more.
He sounded the well and made six inches.
"There's only two inches left that we can get out of her," said he;
"and they'll do no harm."
On which we quitted the main-deck and came into the cuddy.
"Mr. Royle," he said, seating himself on the edge of the table, "we
shall have to leave this ship if we aren't taken off her. I reckon it'll
require twelve feet o' water to sink her, allowin' for there being a
deal o' wood in the cargo; and maybe she won't go down at that.
However, we'll say twelve feet, and supposin' we lets her be, she'll
give us, if you like, eight or nine hours afore settlin'. I'm not saying
as we ought to leave her; but I'm lookin' at you, sir, and see that
you're werry nigh knocked up; Cornish is about a quarter o' the man
he was; an' as to the bloomin' steward, he's as good as drownded,
no better and no worse. We shall take one spell too many at them
pumps and fall down under it an' never get up agin. Wot we had
best do is to keep a look all around for wessels, get that there
quarter-boat ready for lowerin', and stand by to leave the ship when
the sea calms. You know how Bermuda bears, don't you, sir?"
 "I can find out to-night. It is too late to get sights now."
"I think," he returned, "that our lives 'll be as safe in the boat as
they are on board this ship, an' a trifle safer. I've been watching this
wessel a good deal, and my belief is that wos another gale to strike
her, she'd make one o' her long plunges and go all to pieces like a
pack o' cards when she got to the bottom o' the walley o' water. Of
course, if this sea don't calm, we must make shift to keep her afloat
until it do. You'll excuse me for talkin' as though I wos dictatin'. I'm
just givin' you the thoughts that come into my head whilst we wos
pumpin'."
"I quite agree with you," I replied; "I am only thinking of the size
of the quarter-boat; whether she isn't too small for five persons?"
"Not she! I'll get a bit of a mast rigged up in her and it'll go hard
if we don't get four mile an hour out of her somehows. How fur
might the Bermuda Islands be off?"
I answered, after reflecting some moments, that they would
probably be distant from the ship between 250 and 300 miles.
"We should get pretty near 'em in three days," said he, "if the
wind blew that way. Will you go an' tell the young lady what we're
thinkin' o' doing while I overhauls the boat an' see what's wantin' in
her? One good job is, we shan't have to put off through the ship
sinkin' all of a heap. There's a long warning given us, and I can't
help thinkin' that the stormy weather's blown hisself out, for the sky
looks to me to have a regular set fair blue in it."
He went on to the main-deck. I inspected the glass, which I found
had risen since I last looked at it. This, coupled with the brilliant sky
and glorious sunshine and the diminishing motion of the ship,
cheered me somewhat, though I looked forward with misgiving to
leaving the ship, having upon me the memory of the sufferings
endured by shipwrecked men in this lonely condition, and
remembering that Mary Robertson would be one of us, and have to
share in any privations that might befall us.
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