etween them and their floating anchor--if it
may be so called--in the lee of which they prepared to ride out the
gale.

It was well that they had taken the precaution to put on their
waterproofs before the gale began, because, while turned head to wind
every breaking wave swept right over their heads, and even now while
under the lee of the floating anchor they were for some time almost
continually overwhelmed by thick spray. Being, however, set free from
the necessity of keeping their tiny craft in position, they all bowed
their heads on the deck, sheltered their faces in their hands and
awaited the end!

Whilst in this attitude--so like to that of prayer--Nigel almost
naturally thought of Him who holds the water in the hollow of His hand,
and lifted his soul to God; for, amid the roaring of the gale, the
flashes of lightning, the appalling thunder, the feeling that he was in
reality all but under the waves and the knowledge that the proverbial
plank between him and death was of the very thinnest description, a
sensation of helplessness and of dependence on the Almighty, such as he
had never before experienced, crept over him. What the thoughts of the
hermit were he could not tell, for that strange man seldom spoke about
himself; but Moses was not so reticent, for he afterwards remarked that
he had often been caught by gales while in the canoe, and had been
attached for hours to their floating anchor, but that "dat was out ob
sight de wust bust ob wedder dey'd had since dey come to lib at
Krakatoa, an' he had bery nigh giben up in despair!"

The use of the floating breakwater was to meet the full force of the
seas and break them just before they reached the canoe. In spite of this
some of them were so tremendous that, broken though they were, the
swirling foam completely buried the craft for a second or two, but the
sharp bow cut its way through, and the water poured off the deck and off
the stooping figures like rain from a duck's back. Of course a good deal
got in at their necks, sleeves, and other small openings, and wet them
considerably, but that, as Moses remarked, "was not'ing to speak ob."

Thus they lay tossing in the midst of the raging foam for several hours.
Now and then each would raise his head a little to see that the rope
held fast, but was glad to lower it again. They hardly knew when day
broke. It was so slow in coming, and so gloomy and dark when it did
come, that the glare of the lightning-flash