It was like giving in.

They got a little disheartened and flurried; and the cold, passionless water seized the advantage.

It is possible, too, that the motion of the ship through the sea aided the leak.
The _Proserpine_ glided through the water all night, like some terror-stricken creature, and the incessant pumps seemed to be her poor heart, beating loud with breathless fear.
At daybreak she had gone a hundred and twenty miles.

But this was balanced by a new and alarming feature.

The water from the pumps no longer came up pure, but mixed with what appeared to be blood.
This got redder and redder, and struck terror into the more superstitious of the crew.
Even Cooper, whose heart was stout, leaned over the bulwarks and eyed the red stream, gushing into the sea from the lee scuppers, and said aloud, "Ay, bleed to death, ye bitch! We shan't be long behind ye." Hazel inquired, and found the ship had a quantity of dye-wood among her cargo.