deafening shriek, while away to the eastward a long line of white,
foaming water became visible, rushing down toward us with incredible
rapidity. The next instant the squall struck us, and the white water
boiled up high over the sterns of the boats, burying us so deeply that
for a moment I thought it was all over with us, and that, despite our
precautions, we must inevitably be swamped. But the good canvas of
which the longboat's sails were made fortunately withstood the strain,
as also did the stout hemp rigging which supported the mast, and as the
furious blast swooped down upon us we gathered way and were the next
moment flying to the westward before the hurricane, our bows buried
deeply in the boiling surge. And now we had good reason to congratulate
ourselves upon the fact that we in the longboat had taken the gig in
tow, for the strain of the smaller boat kept the longboat's stern down,
and in a great measure counteracted the leverage of the mast which
tended to depress and bury our bows, but for which I feel convinced that
the longboat, stout craft though she was, would have been driven under
by the tremendous force of the wind and swamped by an inrush of water
over the bows.

The outfly was accompanied by a furious storm of thunder and lightning,
the illumination of which was most welcome to us, for it enabled us to
see where we were going, and incidentally revealed to us our enemy, the
pirate brig, scudding away to leeward under a goose-winged fore-topsail,
and with her topgallant-masts struck.

We now had reason to congratulate ourselves upon the foresight which had
suggested to us the idea of partially covering in the boats with their
sails as a protection against the inroads of the sea; for within ten
minutes of the outburst not only was the air full of flying sheets of
spindrift and scud-water that, but for the precaution referred to, would
have kept us busily baling, but in addition to this a short, steep,
tumultuous sea was rapidly rising, which at frequent intervals rose
above the boats' gunwales, and would have pooped us dangerously had the
boats been left in their ordinary unprotected condition. As it was,
beyond a pint or so of water that occasionally made its way inboard
despite all our precautions, and needed to be baled out again, we had no
trouble.

The first fury of the squall lasted about a quarter of an hour. During
that time the thunder and lightning were incessant, but afterwards they