with as little drag as might be from the rudder.
She luffed into the wind quite as freely as could reasonably be
expected; and the moment that I heard the head sails begin to flap I
jammed the helm hard down and lashed it there, leaving the ship to
herself while I sprang to help the others to swing the mainyard. By the
time that we had got this and the main topsail yard round the ship was
fairly paying off on the other tack, when I sang out to Grace to cast
off the lashing and steady the helm. Then, letting go the fore braces,
we dragged round the head yards and got them also braced up; whereupon I
ran aft to the wheel again, leaving Gurney and Saunders to trim over the
fore topmast staysail sheet.

Upon reaching the wheel I found Grace Hartley already perched alongside
it, and the ship well to windward of the passage between the Heads. She
had fallen off a good bit, owing to the sluggishness with which the head
yards had been swung, but she was already coming to, and a few seconds
later her jibboom was pointing straight for the middle of the passage,
with the Heads looming up on either hand, black as ebony against the
faint shimmer of starlight on the waters of the lagoon beyond. Gurney
and Saunders now came aft and proceeded to complete the hoisting of the
second quarter boat; and seeing that Grace seemed to know pretty well
what she was about with the wheel I left her at it, directing her to
steer the ship as nearly as might be midway between the two Heads, and
went to lend the others a hand with the boat.

We had both davit-tackles "two blocks" by the time that the ship was
fairly clear of the Heads and in the lagoon, after which we put the
hatches on and battened them down. Then came the formidable job of
endeavouring to hoist in the longboat--and a formidable job it was, when
we actually came to seriously consider it. Nevertheless we determined
to make the attempt. Time was the only thing needed to assure us
success; and it was just in regard to this that we had our doubts. For
it must be remembered that although we had got the ship out of the
Basin, she was not yet in open water; on the contrary, she was now
moving athwart the placid waters of the lagoon, heading about sou'-sou'-
east. This lagoon, I think I have somewhere said, was, roughly,
crescent-shaped in plan, measuring about ten miles long by about two and
a half miles wide at its broadest part, the northern end being a trifle
the more weatherly