imself again, and turned
out. The gale had almost blown itself out, but the sea was very
heavy. The fresh air was delightful to Reuben, after the
confinement in the forecastle; and as his watch was on deck, he at
once went up to Bill and asked him what he could do.

"Glad to see you about agin, Reuben," the sailor said. "You have
had a worse time of it than most. There is a lot of difference
atween chaps. Some takes it bad, and some is never ill from the
first. Well, there ain't nothing to do at present, but just hold on
and get to feel your legs. Don't you try to go across the deck, if
the hands are called, until you are accustomed to it; else you will
get a fall, to a certainty."

"Is the gale nearly over, Bill?"

"Why, it's quite over. Don't you see that for yourself?"

"It seems to me to blow hard now."

"Blow hard! Why, there ain't a capful of wind. It was blowing
pretty hard yesterday, if you like, but not worth calling a gale.
If you are lucky, you are like to know what a gale is, when we get
south of the Cape. The wind does blow there, when it has made up
its mind. That's the place where they say as the helmsman has to
have two men, regular, to hold on his hair."

Reuben laughed.

"I think on the whole, Bill, I would rather get to Sydney without
meeting a storm like that. This has been quite enough for me. Why,
some of the waves hit the vessel's bow as if they would have
knocked it in."

"Wait till you have a gale in earnest, Master Reuben, and you will
know about it then. Of course it seemed worse to you, because you
were lying there a-doing nothing, and was weak-like with heaving
yourself up. If you had been on deck, you would have seen as it was
nothing worth talking about.

"Look at the ship. Everything's in its place, and ship-shape."

"Why, what has become of the tall spars aloft," Reuben said,
looking up.

"Oh, they were sent down when the wind freshened," Bill said.
"There ain't nothing in that."

"Where are the convicts, Bill?"

"Oh, they are all battened down below," the sailor said carelessly.
"They only come up for an airing when the weather is fine. They are
like the passengers only, instead of pleasing themselves, their
ways are marked out for them."

"Have any of the passengers been up?"

"Two or three of the men have shown, and a gal. It ain't her first
voyage, I'll bet. A pretty thing she is, and as straight as a mast.
She's been on deck, off and on, ever since we started."