Section 51 The White Ship. V.
Crash1!—a terrific cry broke from three hundred hearts. It was the cry (S. 16, N. 10) the people2 in the distant vessels of the king had faintly3 heard on the water. The White Ship had struck upon a rock, and4 was going down!
Fitz-Stephen hurried5 the prince into a boat with some few nobles. “Push off,” he whispered, “and row to6 the land. It is not far, and the sea is smooth7. The8 rest of us must die.”
But9, as they rowed away fast from the sinking ship, the prince heard the voice of his sister Mary calling10 for help. He (S. 5, N. 2) never in his life had been so good as11 he was then. He12 cried, in an agony: “Row back at any risk! I cannot bear13 to leave her!”
Notes
1 Krach!—es erhob sich ein aus drei hundert Kehlen erschallender fürchterlicher Angstschrei.
2 the people = one; in = upon.
3 faintly on the water, unvollkommen von der See herüber.
4 und war im Sinken begriffen!
5 to hurry into a boat, schnell in ein Boot steigen lassen; with = and.
6 an, contracted with the def. art.
[7] ruhig.
8 The — us = We others.
9 Render ‘but’ by jedoch, which place before the adverb ‘fast’ (schnell); to row away, sich entfernen.
10 See S. 16, N. 4; for, um.
11 Say ‘as at (in) this moment’.
12 The remaining passage will greatly improve by placing the clause ‘Row — risk’ before the words ‘He — agony’. In an agony, voll Seelenangst; at any risk, koste es, was es wolle.
13 When there is in a principal clause a transitive verb, the object of which is contained in a following objective clause, which often assumes the form of a supine (i.e. an infinitive with zu, see S. 1, N. 2), the object in the principal clause is frequently supplied by the pronoun es, which then may be called the grammatical object. This is more particularly the case when special emphasis is given to the verb contained in the principal clause; as—
He liked to hear good music. Er liebte es, gute Musik zu hören.
The deed proves, that she speaks the truth. Die That beweist es, daß sie die Wahrheit spricht.