is temper, without in any way attempting to exculpate himself.

We reached Halifax, remained there a fortnight refitting, and again
sailed to cruise off the coast. Nova Scotia possesses a rocky,
forbidding shore, near which a seaman would dislike to be caught with a
gale blowing on it. One night, on a passage round to Prince Edward's
Island, we had kept closer in shore, in consequence of the fineness of
the weather, than would, under other circumstances, have been prudent.
The captain was ill below. Suddenly the wind shifted, and blew directly
on shore. I was called up, and hurrying on deck, saw at once that we
were to have a rough night of it.

The first thing to be done was to get a good offing. Accordingly I
hauled to the wind, and as it was not yet blowing very hard, I kept the
canvas on her which had previously been set. Suddenly a squall, its
approach unseen, struck the ship, and before a sheet could be started,
the main-topgallant yard was carried away, and the spar, wildly beating
about in the now furiously-blowing gale, threatened to carry away, not
only the topgallant mast, but the topmast itself. The loss of more of
our spars at such a moment might have been disastrous in the extreme.
To clear away the spar was, therefore of the greatest importance, but it
was an operation which would expose those who attempted it to the most
imminent dangers.

I sung out for volunteers. At that moment seeing Jones standing near
me, I could not help saying, "Come, my man, there's work for you; you
were boasting of your manhood the other day!" The first to spring
forward to my call was William Ellis.

"No," I answered; "I have made the offer to Jones. He ought to succeed
if any man can."

Jones looked aloft, then shook his head.

"I dare not; the man who attempts it will be sure to lose his life."

Ellis, as if anticipating the reply Jones would make, had been securing
an axe to his belt; having felt the edge to assure himself that it was
sharp. Scarcely had Jones finished speaking, than, exclaiming, "I'll
go!" he was ascending the main rigging.

I watched him with intense anxiety as long as I could see him, but he
was soon lost to sight in the gloom of night up aloft there amid the
tightening ropes, the straining mast, and the loosened sail and
shattered spar, which kept driving backwards and forwards and round and
round with terrific violence. I kept my eyes fixed on the spot where I
knew he must be. No