close-reefed foresail, the little vessel was buried to the
level of her rail.

So violent was the first swoop of the hurricane that the surface of the
ocean was as it were crushed flat by it, and the slightest irregularity
that presented itself was instantly torn away and swept to leeward in
the form of spray. Thus for the first hour or so it was impossible for
the sea to rise. At the end of that time, however, the tormented ocean
began to assert itself, and, although their crests continued to be torn
off by the violence of the wind, the seas steadily rose and gathered
weight, until by midnight the little _Francesca_, was being hove up and
flung about as violently as a cork upon the surface of a turbulent
stream. And now another of the schooner's many good qualities revealed
itself, for, despite the furious violence of both wind and wave, the
little craft rode the raging seas as buoyantly and as daintily as a sea
gull, and shipped not so much as a spoonful of water, excepting, of
course, such as flew on board in the form of spray. Even of that small
quantity we had very little after the schooner had been brought to the
wind, for the tremendous pressure of the gale upon her spars and
rigging, and upon the small area of her close-reefed foresail laid her
over at so steep an angle, and caused her to turn up so bold a weather
side, that most of the spray flew clean over her and was swept away to
leeward.

The temporary lull in the gale, of which we had taken advantage to
heave-to the schooner, lasted only just long enough to enable us to
accomplish that manoeuvre. It was well for us that we availed ourselves
so promptly of the opportunity, for no other occurred; on the contrary,
after that brief lull the gale seemed to increase steadily in fury to
such an extent, indeed, that at length I felt that I should not have
been in the least surprised had the schooner been blown bodily out of
the water and whirled away to leeward like an autumn leaf.

Needless to say, that night was one of intense anxiety to me, for the
responsibility for the safety of the schooner, and all hands aboard her,
rested entirely upon my shoulders. I had already done all that was
possible in the way of precaution, while I felt that, despite the
magnificent behaviour of the little craft, an exceptionally heavy sea
might at any moment catch her at a disadvantage and break aboard her, in
which event she would most probably founder out of hand. So g