Page:Last Cruise of the Spitfire.djvu/167

Rh Picking up one of the poles Phil had thoughtfully taken aboard, I placed it against the stern of the schooner, and we shoved the raft away as far as possible. Then the cabin boy took a board, and using it as an oar, propelled the clumsy craft still further, until we were at least a hundred feet off.

"There she goes! That's the last of the Spitfire!"

As the cabin boy uttered the cry there was a tremendous crash on board the schooner. Both of the masts had come down together.

The fall tore a great hole in the vessel's side. Into this the water poured at once.

At last the schooner could stand it no longer. She quivered from stem to stern. Then with a mighty plunge she disappeared beneath the surface of the ocean!

The Spitfire was no more! And Phil Jones and I were left alone upon the bosom of the broad Atlantic!

I can hardly explain the feelings that filled my breast as I saw the schooner take her final plunge and sink beneath the waves. It was to me like some gigantic living creature breathing its last. I turned to the cabin boy, and saw that his eyes were filled with tears.

"I've spent a good many years on her," he