it. We can reef her when
it comes away. I want to be home." All the night it seemed as though
something evil were in the air, and even the men below were depressed.
Sometimes it happens that if you work long in a lonely house, you find
yourself at night living in dread of some vague ill, and every crack of
the woodwork is like an ominous message. It is just that way at sea
before a bad gale.

When Joe saw the moon beginning to paint the clouds with leprous hues,
and the great ring grew wider and wider, he looked at the mainsail, and
wished the trouble over. At midnight there came a sigh; then a rattle of
blocks, and then a big, silent wave came pouring along. Something was
astir somewhere, and before long the Esperanza's crew knew what was the
matter. The last glare of wild-fire flushed the sky, and then down came
the breeze. The Esperanza was as stiff as a house, but it made her lie
over a little, and she roared along in fine style. In two hours the
vessel was putting her lee rail nearly under, and a single sharp squall
would have hove her down, so the hands were called up to reef her. Joe
was out on the boom, getting the reef-earrings adrift, when the first of
the chapter of accidents came. A man sang out, "Look out for a drop o'
water!" and a black mountain smashed over the Esperanza in an instant
after. Joe saw the third hand slip, and the next second the man was
whisked overboard. The Esperanza was still smothered, and a stab of pity
went through Joe's heart as he saw his shipmate wallowing. But he had no
time for sentiment; he grabbed the reef-earring with his left hand, and
clutched at the man with his right. When the vessel shook herself, both
good fellows came inboard, and hung on panting. "No time to lose," said
Joe; and indeed there wasn't. The spoondrift began to fly so that you
could not see the moon, and the wind was enough to choke you if you
faced it. I have heard Joe say that small shot couldn't have hit you
very much harder than the drift when you looked to windward. Then the
sea was growing worse every minute, until at last every man on board
except the skipper wanted to let her ride. But the worthy captain said,
"If she's got to be smothered, she'll be smothered moving. The nearer to
home the nearer to help, and she shall go." So the Esperanza tore on
throughout the awful night with all four of her reefs in, and it was a
mercy, that she was never badly hit. At dawn the rushing hills of water
were tr