Page 79 - Jack's victory and other stories about dogs

A faithful fkiknjo. 77

see, too, their hopeless efforts to lash spars

together for a raft to float ashore on. It was

impossible to render them any aid. Nothing

ever put together by human hands could live an

instant in the awful tumult of water that rased
around the doomed barque. She was beaten to

pieces in a few hours, and before evening the

last spar sank beneath the waves,

Next morning the shore was strewn for miles
and miles with boxes of oranges, and long- slender

puncheons of olive oil> but no sign of th§ helpless

crew of the vessel was ever seen again. We all

went down to the shore, and set to work saving
the cargo, piling up the boxes of fruit, and rolling

the casks of oil above lngh-watcr mark. While

at work we noticed a very curious illustration of

the effect of “ oil upon the waters/’ Many of

the puncheons were broken and leaking. W hen­
ever the oil had escaped in this way, and spread

out on the surface of the bay, there the waves

were stilled, and in the midst of the tumultuous

seas a smooth, calm field appeared, sometimes
Covering a space of nearly two acres*