The deck was several feet lower than at the moment of the vessel's final impact against the rocks.

Even before the three reached the ledge from which their rescuers were working, the bridge and funnel were swept away, the foremast fell, the forehold and forecastle were riotously flooded by the sea, and Watts, were he capable of using his eyes, might have seen his deadly enemies, the rats, swarming in hundreds to the tiny platform that still rose above the destroying waves.

Soon, even that frail ark was shattered.

When keel and garboard stroke plates snapped, all that was left of the _Andromeda_ toppled over, and the cavern she had invaded rang with a fierce note of triumph as the next wave thundered in without hindrance.
* * * * * * It was, indeed, a new and strange world on which Iris looked when able to breathe and see once more.

During that terrible ascent she had retained but slight consciousness of her surroundings.