At this precise moment, the Sea Lion was less than a quarter of a mile to windward of the point she was struggling to weather, and towards which she was driving under a treble impetus; that of the wind, acting on her sails, and pressing her ahead at the rate of fully five knots, for the craft was kept a rap full; that of the eddy, or current, and that of the rolling waters.  No man spoke, for each person felt that the crisis was one in which silence was a sort of homage to the Deity.  Some prayed privately, and all gazed on the low rocky point that it was indispensable to pass, to avoid destruction.  There was one favourable circumstance; the water was known to be deep, quite close to the iron-bound coast, and it was seldom that any danger existed, that it was not visible to the eye.  This, Roswell knew from Stimson’s accounts, as well as from those of other mariners, and he saw that the fact was of the last importance to him.  Should he be able to weather the point ahead, that which terminated at the mouth of the passage that led within the Hermits, it was now certain it could be done only by going fearfully near the rocks.

Roswell Gardiner took his station between the knight-heads, beckoning to Stimson to come near him.  At the same time, Hazard himself went to the helm.

“Do you remember this place?” asked the young master of the old seaman.

“This is the spot, sir; and if we can round the rocky point ahead, I will take you to a safe anchorage.  Our drift is awful, or we are in an eddy tide here, sir!”

“It is the eddy,” answered Roswell, calmly, “though our drift is not trifling.  This is getting frightfully near to that point!”

“Hold on, sir—­it’s our only chance;—­hold on, and we may rub and go.”

“If we rub, we are lost; that is certain enough.  Should we get by this first point, there is another, a short distance beyond it, which must certainly fetch us up, I fear.  See—­it opens more, as we draw ahead.”

Stimson saw the new danger, and fully appreciated it.  He did not speak, however; for, to own the truth, he now abandoned all hope, and, being a piously inclined person, he was privately addressing himself to God.  Every man on board was fully aware of the character of this new danger, and all seemed to forget that of the nearest point of rock, towards which they were now wading with portentous speed.  That point might be passed; there was a little hope there; but as to the point a quarter of a mile beyond, with the leeward set of the schooner, the most ignorant hand on board saw how unlikely it was that they should get by it.

An imposing silence prevailed in the schooner, as she came abreast of the first rock.  It was about fifty fathoms under the lee bow, and, as to that spot, all depended on the distance outward that the dangers thrust themselves.  This it was impossible to see amid the chaos of waters produced by the collision between the waves and the land.  Roswell fastened his eyes on objects ahead, to note the rate of his leeward set, and, with a seaman’s quickness, he noted the first change.