up to the
lee coamings of her main hatchway, and for a second or two I thought she
was going to turn turtle with me; but, once fairly round and head-on to
the sea, she rode wonderfully well, especially after I had lashed the
helm a-lee and got the mainsheet aft. The latter was a heavy job, but I
managed it in about half an hour, with the assistance of the watch-
tackle, and, that done, the craft could take care of herself. I
therefore slid back the top of the companion, swung myself heavily in
through the opening, stumbled down the ladder, staggered across the
little cabin, and flung myself, wet to the skin as I was, into my bunk,
where I instantly lost consciousness, whether in a swoon or only in a
profound sleep I never knew.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

THE LAST OF THE FELUCCA.

I was awakened, some five hours later, by the sound water washing
heavily to and fro, and upon looking over the edge of the bunk I
discovered that the cabin was all afloat, the floor being covered to a
depth of nearly a foot, so that I looked down upon a miniature sea,
violently agitated by the furious leaping and plunging and rolling of
the felucca. I could tell, by the roar of the wind and the hissing of
the sea, with the frequent heavy fall of water on deck, that it was
still blowing heavily, and my first impression was that the water had
come down through the companion,--the slide of which I had left open,--
but a few minutes of patient observation convinced me that, although a
slight sprinkling of spray rained down occasionally, it was not nearly
sufficient to account for the quantity that surged and splashed about
the cabin. The only other explanation I could think of was that the
felucca had sprung a leak; and, leaping out of the bunk, I made my way
on deck to ascertain the truth of this conjecture.

It was a dismal and dreary scene that presented itself when I swung
myself out on deck through the companion top. It was still blowing with
the force of a whole gale; the sky to windward was as black and
threatening as ever; and the sea was running so high and breaking so
heavily that, as every succeeding comber came sweeping down upon the
felucca, with its foaming, hissing crest towering above her to nearly
the height of her masthead, it appeared to me--new to the scene as I
was--that the next sea must inevitably overwhelm her. Yet, deep in the
water as I instantly noticed her to be, the little craft still retained
buoyancy enough to