!" he
exclaimed.

Mudge, seeing that this was the best thing to be done, followed his
advice; and the wind striking us the instant afterwards, away we flew
directly before it. Had the seas been higher, we might have attempted
to keep the boat's head to wind, and our chance of escape would have
been small indeed; as it was, fast as we flew through the seething
ocean, we hardly escaped being pooped, the crests of the seas
continually breaking over the stern and compelling all hands to keep
baling. I looked for the barque, but could nowhere see her; indeed, the
masses of spray which filled the atmosphere, mingled with showers of
dust and ashes which came from the volcano, completely obscured all
objects at a distance; and in a short time we entirely lost sight of the
land itself. We all felt that we were in a most perilous position: did
the sea get up more, we should in all probability be swamped; or did the
gale continue and we live through it, we should be driven far away from
the island. There might be others ahead, but they were certain to be
surrounded by reefs, on which the boat would probably be dashed to
pieces. All we could do was to keep the sail hoisted a few feet up, and
to bale out the water as fast as it washed over the gunwale.

Night now came on, adding to the horrors of the scene. On and on we
went, Mudge sitting at the helm, and steering the boat in a way which a
good seaman only could have done. Tillard offered to relieve him.

"No," he answered; "I got you into this mess, and it is my business to
get you out of it if I can. The hurricane will come to an end at
last,--maybe before daybreak,--and then we must do our best to make our
way back to the island."

In spite of our dangerous position, we were all getting very hungry; we
had been about to land in order to cook our dinner, when we saw the
barque, and after that we were too eager to think of eating. I got some
biscuits out of our basket, which I served round to all hands; and I
then found a bottle of wine.

"We must economise that," observed Mudge, when he found what I was
about; "half a glass to each person is as much as we ought to take--it
may be longer than you suppose before we get back over the ground we
have come."

The food somewhat revived our spirits. Harry sat wonderfully quiet and
calm; Tommy Peck's teeth chattered a little, as if he did not like it;
but neither Popo nor Tamaku uttered a word. The storm gave no signs of