Accidents > Dangers of the deep, or, Narratives of shipwreck and adventure at sea

394 BURNING OP THE
unhappy individual, whose best calculations
were thus defeated, was generally left swing¬
ing for some time in mid-air, if he was not re¬
peatedly plunged several feet under water, or
dashed with dangerous violence against the
sides of the returning boat, or what not un-
frequently happened, was forced to let go
his hold of the rope altogether. As there
seemed, however, no alternative, I did not
hesitate, notwithstanding my comparative
inexperience and awkwardness in such a situa¬
tion, to throw my leg across the perilous
stick; and with a heart extremely grateful that
such means of deliverance, dangerous as they
appeared, were still extended to me ; and more
grateful still that I had been enabled, in com¬
mon with others, to discharge my honest duty
to my sovereign, and to my fellow men; I pro¬
ceeded, after confidently committing my
spirit, the great object of my solicitude, into
the keeping of Him who had formed and re¬
deemed it, to creep slowly forward, feeling at
every step the increasing difficulty of my
situation. On getting nearly to the end of the
boom, the young officer whom I followed,
and myself, were met with a squall of wind
and rain, so violent as to make us fain to em-