Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/257

 Rh of the soldiers were stunned or stupid with fright; others said they were sick. Wiederhold reminded them that he had himself been suffering for four weeks from a fever, but as there was no one else to render any help, he had tried to do something for the common safety. He did not doubt, he said, that there were some men there who were stronger than he, and who had enough affection for him to follow him and to do what he should tell them. He promised to stay on deck with them, lend a hand to their work, and share their fate, hoping to save the ship and all on board. No one would come, until at last Wiederhold cried out, “Is there no under-officer who is in health, and has ambition and a Hessian heart, who will follow and help me?” Hereupon a sergeant and two corporals started up, and were followed by fifteen or twenty men. “Well, then,” said Wiederhold, “come along! Let us first try to pitch the cannon into the sea.” After several attempts, during which they were in constant danger of being crushed, or of being carried overboard with the gun, they succeeded in mastering it, and pushed it over the side. In doing this a soldier had his arm broken in two places, and Wiederhold's little finger was crushed.

Now they went to work at the pump, in relays of four men. Each relay could only work for six or eight minutes at a time, and the men had to be tied, or cling to the stump of the mainmast, not to be washed away. About three or four o'clock in the morning the pump broke, and could not be mended in the dark, so they fell to bailing, which they kept up until daylight, when they managed to repair the pump.