Page:The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart.pdf/116

112 us downward; then the wind, encircling us, drives us hither and thither, so that everything crashed as if the ship was going to be shattered into a hundred thousand pieces. Then I became as one dead, and saw nothing before me but destruction. But the sailors, who could no longer resist the violence of the storm, and feared to be driven on to rocks or shallows, pulled down the wings, and by means of thick ropes threw out large iron hooks, hoping thus to remain on the same spot till the storm should have ceased. But in vain! Some of the men who climbed along the ropes were shaken off them by the wind as if they had been caterpillars, and thrown into the sea; also through the force of the waves the anchors were broken off and sank into the depths. And then at last our ship, and we with it, began to drift about helplessly like a chip of wood in a stream. Then only did those iron, wilful giants lose heart; they became pale, trembled, knew not what to do; then only remembered God, exhorted us to pray, and they also wrung their hands. Then our ship begins to sink down to the bottom of the sea, to strike against rocks concealed under the water, and thus to sink and break up; then through fissures water flows towards us; and though all, young and old, were ordered to pour out the water with all their might, this availed them not; it pressed powerfully against us, and drew us to it. Then there were tears, screams, moaning without measure. No one saw anything before him but a cruel death. But as life is sweet, everyone seized what he could—