rkie!"

"How did it come down upon you then--in the shape of a sudden squall?"
I demanded.

"Well, no, not exactly that," answered the carpenter. "It began wi'
little whifflin' gusts that comed up from nowhere partic'lar, and was
gone again afore you could say Jack Robinson. They comed moanin' along,
filled the canvas with a smack, and--there was an end o' that one. Then
another'd come along same way, do the same thing, and go floatin' away
down to loo'ard. It happened 'bout half a dozen times, and then, afore
we knowed where we was, away come the hurricane, screamin' and yellin'
like Billy-oh. `Halyards and sheets let go, fore an' aft!' yells my
noble Mr Mate--Bryce his name was; but, Lor' bless you, sir, afore we
could cast off the turns from the belayin' pins the gale had hit us, and
there we was, on our beam-ends, wi! the deck standin' up like the side
of a 'ouse."

"Well," said I, "that can scarcely happen to us, I think, with the small
spread of canvas that we are showing. But it will be bad enough when it
comes, I doubt not; so go below and call Murdock, the cook, and the
cabin boy, and say I want them to come on deck, as I am about to batten
down the fore scuttle. And when eight bells comes, you will have to go
aft and stretch yourselves out on the cabin lockers, for the forecastle
will be closed until this breeze is over."

It took us but a few minutes to batten down the forecastle hatch
securely, for there was a good tarpaulin cover that had been specially
made to fit it; and when that was done I set our scanty crew to work--
myself lending a hand--to secure the galley and the boats with extra
lashings, so that they might not be washed away: and when we had
finished, the cook entered his galley and shut himself in, to finish the
night there.

As it happened, we were none too soon in the completion of our
preparations; for scarcely had we finished when the ruddy glow in the
sky began to die out again, and as it did so the first of those
scuffling puffs of which Chips had spoken came whining and moaning
across the surface of the ocean from the south-west, filling our scanty
spread of canvas with a resounding clap and then passing away toward the
north-east, its track across the glistening surface of the ocean being
marked by a dimming blur like a catspaw, which swept down toward us,
touched us for an instant, and was gone again. This occurred some seven
or eight times at decreasing intervals, each