. Then the captain cried:

"Here it comes, lads. Hold on, every one!"

Looking ahead, Bob saw a white line. It approached with wonderful
rapidity, and with a confused, rushing sound. Then in a moment he
felt himself clinging, as if for life, to the stanchion of which he
had taken hold. The wind almost wrenched him from his feet while,
at the same moment, a perfect deluge of water came down upon him.

He felt the brig going further and further over, till the deck
beneath his feet seemed almost perpendicular. The captain and first
mate had both grasped the spokes of the wheel, and were aiding the
helmsman in jamming it down. Bob had no longer a hold for his feet,
and was hanging by his arms. Looking down, the sea seemed almost
beneath him but, with a desperate effort, he got hold of the rail
with one hand, and then hauled himself up under it, clinging tight
to the main shrouds. Then he saw the second mate loose the jib
halliards, while one of the sailors threw off the fore-staysail
sheet, and the spanker slowly brought the brig's head up into the
wind.

As it did so she righted, gradually, and Bob regained his place on
deck; which was still, however, lying over at a very considerable
angle. The captain raised his hand, and pointed to the main
topsail; and the second mate at once made his way aft with some of
the men and, laying out on the weather rigging, made his way aloft.
The danger seemed, to Bob, so frightful that he dared not look up.
He could hear, through the pauses of the blast, the mate shout to
the men above him and, in a few minutes, they again descended to
the deck.

Even Bob could feel how much the brig was relieved, when the
pressure of the topsail was taken off. The lower planks of the deck
rose from the water and, although this still rushed in and out
through the scupper holes, and rose at times to the level of the
bulwark rail, he felt that the worst was over.

One of the men was called to assist at the helm, and the captain
and mate came forward to the poop rail.

"That was touch and go, youngster!" the former shouted to Bob.

"It was," Bob said. "More go than touch, I should say; for I
thought she had gone, altogether."

"You had better go below, and change your things. Tell the steward
to bring me my oilskins, out of my cabin. You had better keep
below, until this rain has stopped."

Bob thought the advice was good; so he went down and got into dry
clothes, and then lay down on the cabin