lowering the sail and striking the mast, when the drag of the boat
upon the oars brought her head to wind and sea, and enabled her to ride
in comparative safety and comfort, although a breaking sea occasionally
slopped in over her bows, necessitating the frequent employment of the
bucket as a baler.

There was very little sleep for any of us that night, for within an hour
it was blowing really hard, with a heavy, steep sea that frequently
broke aboard us, causing us intense discomfort as the water rushed aft
and surged about our feet and legs to the wild plunging of the boat, and
keeping one or another of us constantly busy baling to prevent the boat
from being swamped. We were thankful that we had not the added
discomfort of cold to contend with, for, hard though it blew, the wind
was quite warm; yet, even so, it was unpleasant enough, since we were in
the greatest peril every moment of that long, weary night, our utmost
efforts being continually required to keep the boat above water. But,
notwithstanding everything, it was a fine, exhilarating experience; for,
added to the joy of battle with the elements, there was the wild
grandeur of the scene, the great masses of black cloud scurrying athwart
the sky, with little patches of starlit blue winking in and out between,
the roar and swoop of the wind, and the menacing hiss of the
phosphorescent foam-caps as they came rushing down upon the boat in
endless succession, all combining together to form a picture the like of
which, as viewed from a wildly leaping, half-swamped, spray-smothered
open boat, it is given to comparatively few men to look upon.

The gale lasted all through the night, breaking at sunrise; but although
the sky cleared with the coming of the dawn, the wind continued to blow
so strongly that it was not until the sun had crossed the meridian that
it again became possible for us to make sail upon the boat: and
meanwhile we found that during the night it had hauled round from the
north-west, and was therefore still practically dead in our teeth. But
the moment that the sea had gone down enough to render sailing once more
possible, we got under way and headed westward close-hauled upon the
starboard tack, under a double-reefed sail; and I took fresh heart when
presently I saw that, even under the exceedingly unfavourable conditions
then prevailing--and they were about as unfavourable as they could
possibly be--the boat was keeping a good luff, hanging well