His inclination was to follow her, but he felt, too, that he must do what he could to save the rest of the freight he had on board--namely, Bernt and his two other sons, the one twelve, the other fourteen, who had baled the boat for a time, but had now found a place in the stern behind their father.
Bernt now had to mind the sail alone; and he and his father, as far as was possible, helped one another.

Elias dared not let go the tiller, and he held it firmly with a hand of iron that had long lost feeling from the strain.
After a while the companion boat appeared again; as before, it had been absent for a time.

Now, too, Elias saw more of the big man who sat in the stern in the same place as himself.

Out of his back, below the sou'wester, when he turned, stuck a six-inch-long iron spike which Elias thought he ought to know.

And now, in his own mind, he had come to a clear understanding upon two points: one was that it was no other than the sea-goblin himself who was steering his half-boat by his side and was leading him to destruction, and the other, that it was so ordained that he was sailing his last voyage that night.