It was as if a horse should rush headlong against a stone wall.
The shock was terrific.

Merriwell heard a sound of smashing timbers and snapping iron.

He was pitched violently from his feet as the bow of the _Merry Seas_ was forced downward by the collision.

He felt himself flying through the air.

Then he struck the water, and went down, down, down! But Frank did not lose consciousness.