Explore "The 'Lady Macquarie', a Story of a Very Curious Cruise" by John Arthur Barry on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The next morning at sunrise Mowbray sighted an object that puzzled us; for though it was undoubtedly a ship, she looked to be ashore in mid ocean. At first we could only make out her three royals leaning towards us at a sharp angle, exactly as if a sudden squall had caught her before there was time to let fly the halliards. But gradually we rose all her other canvas, and through a pair of old binoculars belonging to Paxton we saw that she was lying over with a heavy list, and that she was quite motionless, although a smart breeze was blowing, and the sky gave promise of more to come, from the east'ard this time. Nearer still, and we could distinguish that she had four boats out astern.
-"On a reef, by Jingo!" exclaimed Mowbray; "must be a part of the Great Barrier. Look, there's a patch of broken water beyond her again. And she's got a flag at half-mast! Red, white, blue. French, by Jupiter! Fire up, Pax., old man, and don't spare the coal now! I've got a notion there's money in this. Oh, the luck of it!--the luck of it!"