Dantes cried at the top of his voice to warn them of their danger, but they saw it themselves.

Another flash showed him four men clinging to the shattered mast and the rigging, while a fifth clung to the broken rudder.
The men he beheld saw him undoubtedly, for their cries were carried to his ears by the wind.

Above the splintered mast a sail rent to tatters was waving; suddenly the ropes that still held it gave way, and it disappeared in the darkness of the night like a vast sea-bird.

At the same moment a violent crash was heard, and cries of distress.

Dantes from his rocky perch saw the shattered vessel, and among the fragments the floating forms of the hapless sailors.