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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
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