Now we looked to see her make straight for the breakers, lift on the
first of them, and then capsize. That first line was not a quarter of a
mile from us now.
But she never reached them. She plunged away at first, heading right for
the surf, and then went steadily westward, and up the shore line outside
it, until she was lost to sight among the wild waves, for she was very
low in the water.
"Cheer up, men," my father said, as he saw that; "we are not ashore yet,
nor will be so long as the tide takes that current along shore. We shall
stop dragging directly."
And so it was, for when the ship slowly came to the place where the boat
had changed her course, the anchor held once more for a while until the
gathering strength of the tide forced it to drag again. Now, however, it
was not toward the shore that we drifted, but up the Humber, as the boat
had gone; and as we went the sea became less heavy, for we were getting
into the lee of the Spurn headland.
Soon the clouds began to break, flying wildly overhead with patches of
blue sky and passing sunshine in between them that gladdened us. The
wind worked round to the eastward at the same time, and we knew that the
end of the gale had come. But, blowing as it did right into the mouth of
the river, the sea became more angry, and it would be worse yet when the
tide set again outwards.
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