this revealed itself
immediately that the work began.

Meanwhile it is necessary to say that during those long weary hours of
Leslie's lonely vigil at the wheel, the wind, that at the first outfly
had come away from about due north, had gradually veered round until, by
sunrise, it was a point south of east, in which quarter it seemed
disposed to stick. Furthermore, with the coming of dawn it had evinced
a disposition to moderate its violence somewhat, while the sky had
cleared for a few brief minutes in the eastern quarter, revealing a
glimpse of the sun; and upon examining the barometer, Leslie had noticed
that the mercury in the tube showed a convex surface--a sign that it was
about to rise; he therefore suffered himself to indulge the hope that
with improving weather, they would ere nightfall be enabled, by good
steady hard work, to get the brig into such shape as to once more have
her under command.

Seen now, in broad daylight, the poor little brig presented a truly
pitiful sight as compared with her appearance on the previous evening.
She was then all ataunto, with every spar, rope, and sail intact; a
thing of life, obedient to her helm, responsive to the will of her
commander, and as fit as such a craft could be to cope with any and
every possible caprice of wind or weather. _Now_, she was a poor maimed
and disfigured thing; her mainmast gone, leaving nothing of itself but a
splintered stump standing some ten feet above the deck; her fore-topmast
also gone--snapped short off at the cap; and, of her normal spread of
canvas, nothing now remained save her fore-course. And her loss was not
confined to that of her spars only, although that of course was serious
enough. But, in addition to this, she had lost a complete suit of
canvas, and practically all her running and standing rigging--the latter
item being one that it would be quite impossible to replace until her
arrival at a port. Fortunately for all concerned, her owners had been
prudent enough to provide her with two complete suits of sails; and she
also carried a fairly liberal equipment of spare spars; it would
therefore be no very difficult job to extemporise a "jury rig" for her;
but the trouble would be to find the wherewithal to replace the lost
standing and running rigging, blocks, and all the other items that would
be needed to make that jury rig effective.

Needs must, however, when there is no alternative; and the British
sailor is, with all h