Quick as the words could be uttered, therefore, I called
out to port the helm. This was done, of course; and just as the Dawn
felt the new influence, the other vessel took the same sheer, and away
we both went to starboard, at precisely the same instant. I shouted to
right our helm to "hard a-starboard," and it was well I did; a minute
more would have brought us down headlong on the Englishman. Even now
we could only see his hull, at instants; but the awful proximity of
his spars denoted the full extent of the danger. Luckily, we hit on
opposite directions, or our common destruction would have been
certain. But, it was one thing, in that cauldron of a sea, to
determine on a course, and another to follow it. As we rose on the
last wave that alone separated us from the stranger, he was nearly
ahead; and as we glanced onward, I saw that we should barely clear his
larboard quarter. Our helm being already a starboard, no more could be
done. Should he take another sheer to port, we must infallibly cut him
in twain. As I have said, he had jammed his helm to-port, and slowly,
and with a species of reluctance, he inclined a little aside. Then we
came up, both ships rolling off, or our yards must have interlocked,
and passing his quarter with our bows, we each felt the sheer at the
same instant, and away we went asunder, the sterns of the ships
looking at each other, and certainly not a hundred feet apart.
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