hurry with their work. I
did the same, though we, having less to do, were ahead in our
proceedings of our consort. I saw enough to convince me that there was
no time to be lost. The blackest of black clouds had gathered with a
rapidity scarcely credible, and were rushing on towards us with headlong
speed. It was not as is often the case when a storm is brewing; a few
light clouds come first like the skirmishers in advance of an army; but
the whole body came on in one dense mass, the sea below it foaming, and
hissing, and curling with a noise which we could hear even before the
wind reached us. A hurricane was coming, and one of no ordinary
violence.

"Lie down! lie down, off the yards, all of you," shouted McAllister.
The men required no second command. A glance at the quickly changing
sky and water told them what was approaching. They slid down the
rigging, and in silence awaited the bursting of the tornado. The
Frenchmen who were on the deck looked pale and anxious, as if they
dreaded the consequences of the hurricane. Bambrick and another good
hand went to the helm. A part of the fore-staysail was hoisted, just to
pay the vessel's head off. We were not kept long in suspense. With a
loud hiss and roar like thunder the hurricane struck us. The schooner
heeled over to the gale; I thought she was going over altogether. Many
fancied so likewise, and cries of terror escaped from several of the
Frenchmen. Lieutenant Preville uttered an expression of annoyance at
the pusillanimity of his countrymen.

"They are brave garcons, though," he exclaimed, "and fight like heroes
with mortal foes of flesh and blood; but they are not like you bull-dog
English, who fear neither mortals nor spirits, and would do battle with
the prince of darkness himself, if you met him in the open seas on board
any craft he might be able to charter."

What more the lieutenant might have said I do not know, for the howling
of the tempest drowned his voice. The foaming seas began to rush up the
schooner's deck, and dense masses of spray flew over her. I thought,
indeed, that she was gone; but, recovering from the effects of the first
blast, she rose a little when her staysail felt the force of the wind.
Round went her head: another blast stronger than the first blew the
canvas from the bolt-ropes, but the desired effect had been produced,
and away she flew under bare poles through the ocean of seething foam;
the wind howling and shrie