gh that without losing anything; and she is
lying to, now, under the smallest possible canvas and, if all goes
well, there is no reason, whatever, for anxiety."

"What do you mean by 'if all goes well,' captain?"

"I mean as long as one of her masts isn't carried away, or anything
of that sort. I daresay you think it rough, now, but it is nothing
to what it will be by tomorrow morning. I should advise you to turn
in, at once. You could see nothing, if you went up; and would run
the risk of being washed overboard, or of getting a limb broken."

Bob's recollections of his position, as the ship heeled over when
the storm struck her, were still far too vivid for him to have any
desire for a repetition of it; and he accordingly took the
captain's advice, and turned in at once.

When he got up in the morning and, with some difficulty, made his
way on deck he found that, as the captain predicted, the sea was
far heavier than the night before. Great ridges of water bore down
upon the ship, each seeming as if it would overwhelm her; and for
the first few minutes Bob expected to see the brig go, head
foremost, and sink under his feet. It was not till he reflected
that she had lived through it for hours that he began to view the
scene with composure. Although the waves were much higher than when
he had left the deck on the previous afternoon, the scene was
really less terrifying.

The sky was covered with masses of gray cloud, ragged and torn,
hurrying along with great velocity, apparently but a short distance
above the masthead. When the vessel rose on a wave, it seemed to
him that the clouds, in places, almost touched the water, and
mingled with the masses of spray caught up by the waves. The scud,
borne along by the wind, struck his face with a force that caused
it to smart and, for a time, he was unable to face the gale even
for a minute.

The decks were streaming with water. The boats had disappeared from
the davits, and a clean sweep seemed to have been made of
everything movable. Forward was a big gap in the bulwark and, as
the brig met the great waves, masses of green water poured in
through this, and swept along the deck waist deep. The brig was
under the same sail as before, except that she now showed a
closely-reefed fore-topsail.

When he became a little accustomed to the sea, and to the motion,
he watched his time; and then made a rush across from the companion
to the weather bulwark, and got a firm hold of