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falling on the distressed vessel tears it limb from limb.
A cloud of foam covered the entire poop of the Matutina.
There was heard above the confusion of darkness and waters a crash.
When the spray cleared off, when the stern again rose in view, the
skipper and the helm had disappeared. Both had been swept away.
The helm and the man they had but just secured to it had passed with the
wave into the hissing turmoil of the hurricane.
The chief of the band, gazing intently into the darkness, shouted,--
"
Te burlas de nosotros?"
To this defiant exclamation there followed another cry,--
"Let go the anchor. Save the skipper."
They rushed to the capstan and let go the anchor.
Hookers carry but one. In this case the anchor reached the bottom, but
only to be lost. The bottom was of the hardest rock. The billows were
raging with resistless force. The cable snapped like a thread.
The anchor lay at the bottom of the sea. At the cutwater there remained
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