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uncommon among seafaring people.
A beam nearly free of its lashings was swinging loose. The chief clasped
it with both hands, crying, "Help me."
They unlashed the beam. They had now at their disposal the very thing
they wanted. From the defensive, they assumed the offensive.
It was a longish beam of heart of oak, sound and strong, useful either
as a support or as an engine of attack--a lever for a burden, a ram
against a tower.
"
Ready!" shouted the chief.
All six, getting foothold on the stump of the mast, threw their weight
on the spar projecting over the side, straight as a lance towards a
projection of the cliff.
It was a dangerous manoeuvre. To strike at a mountain is audacity
indeed. The six men might well have been thrown into the water by the
shock.
There is variety in struggles with storms. After the hurricane, the
shoal; after the wind, the rock. First the intangible, then the
immovable, to be encountered.
Some minutes passed, such minutes as whiten men's hair.
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