en the
foretop-mast went, if not before. However, there they are, all lashed
together by the longboat, not gone yet; and I hope we shall have some
use for them yet bye and bye."

"I only hope so," said Mr Meldrum sadly, the despondent way in which
Captain Dinks spoke affecting him too.

The ship seemed easier running before the wind than when lying-to,
although there was the risk of the heavy following seas pooping her, a
contingency that had already happened when a portion of the bulwarks
were carried away at the time the saloon skylight was smashed, leaving
an ugly gash in the ship's side; but a spare hawser had been triced up
and secured fore and aft to prevent the men being washed overboard
through the aperture, and life lines were rove and passed along the deck
for the same purpose.

"It's safer to carry on," observed Captain Dinks, seeing the anxious
glance Mr Meldrum bent to windward. "I've heard of a ship outrunning a
hurricane before; and so might we again."

"So have I," said Mr Meldrum; "but not a cyclone! Look there, ahead,
at that bank of storm-clouds; perhaps we're running into a worse gale
than the one we've got."

"Well, we can only act for the best," replied the captain curtly,
apparently not relishing this criticism of his seamanship from a
landsman--as he thought--who knew nothing about the matter; and he then
moved back to his post by the binnacle, leaving Mr Meldrum standing by
the head of the companion, where he was presently joined by Frank
Harness, the first and second mates being both forward, superintending
the bending of preventer stays to secure the masts, which seemed to be
ready to jump out of the ship from the leverage exercised even by the
little sail she was carrying.

By noon, when it was utterly impossible to take an observation, the
heavens being black all round, with showers of hail and snow coming down
at intervals, and the wind, blowing over the Antarctic ice-fields,
seemed to cut the face as with a knife--the temperature of the air had
become bitterly cold, while the barometer fell to 29 inches. The very
spirit of destruction appeared to brood over the ill-fated _Nancy Bell_.

Mr Meldrum, after a brief visit below to look after his daughters and
see how the American passenger was progressing since his accident, had
returned on deck, accompanied by Kate, who pleaded so earnestly to be
allowed to come that he could not resist her entreaties. She now stood,
sheltered be