Nothing short of a miracle can save us now.

Within an hour we must go to pieces upon yonder rocks." "Let us, then, commend ourselves to the providence of Him to Whom nothing is impossible," replied the count, in a calm, clear voice that could be distinctly heard by all; and as he spoke, he reverently uncovered, an example in which he was followed by all the rest.
The destruction of the vessel seeming thus inevitable, Lieutenant Procope took the best measures he could to insure a few days' supply of food for any who might escape ashore.

He ordered several cases of provisions and kegs of water to be brought on deck, and saw that they were securely lashed to some empty barrels, to make them float after the ship had gone down.
Less and less grew the distance from the shore, but no creek, no inlet, could be discerned in the towering wall of cliff, which seemed about to topple over and involve them in annihilation.

Except a change of wind or, as Procope observed, a supernatural rifting of the rock, nothing could bring deliverance now.

But the wind did not veer, and in a few minutes more the schooner was hardly three cables' distance from the fatal land.