began to heave itself up above the
north-western horizon; but when once it had risen into sight its
progress was rapid--so rapid, indeed, that within an hour of its first
appearance it had soared high enough to blot out the sun, to our intense
relief, for with the disappearance of the luminary we were at once freed
from the scorching of his beams, although the closeness of the
atmosphere became intensified, rather than otherwise. Of course there
was no mystery as to what we were to expect; we were undoubtedly in for
a first-class tropical thunderstorm, with its usual accompaniments of
torrential rain and, very probably, a sharp squall of wind that might
perhaps last half an hour or so, and, if we were in luck, end in a
breeze that would carry us across the Line. The moment, therefore, that
the sun was hidden we proceeded to make our preparations for the welcome
change, beginning by striking the awning, following this by clewing up
and furling the mizen topsail, and winding up by close-reefing the fore
and main topsails. This task, which kept us all busy until close upon
eight bells (that is, four o'clock in the afternoon), left the ship
under close-reefed fore and main topsails and fore topmast staysail,
which was snug canvas enough to enable a vessel, even as short-handed as
the _Mercury_ then was, to face anything like the weather which we had
reason to expect. Meanwhile, as we found time to notice, the schooner
had followed our example and, long before our preparations were
complete, had been stripped of everything except her boom-foresail.

By the time that our labours had come to an end, and we were once more
free to sit down and await the issue of events, the pall of thundercloud
had overspread the entire visible heavens, from horizon to horizon,
enshrouding the scene in a kind of murky twilight, under which the
ocean, undulating sluggishly in long, low, irregular folds, like the
breathings of a sleeping giant, gleamed pallid and lustreless as a sea
of molten lead. The atmosphere was still oppressively close, but it was
no longer as deadly stagnant as it had been during the earlier hours of
the day; for, at intervals, the vane at our main-royal masthead, which
hitherto had drooped heavy as a sodden deck swab, save for the swaying
motion imparted to it by the lift of the ship to the heave of the
scarcely visible swell, lifted and fluttered feebly for a second or two,
pointing now this way, and anon in some othe