little more she would be ashore in Filey Bay before four
o'clock in the morning. My views on seafaring had undergone a change. I
was overcome with delight, and, forgetting the lesson many times given
me never to speak until I was spoken to, with unrestrained impetuosity
I interjected that I hoped she would be ashore before four o'clock, so
that I might get back to my home again. I can never forget the
indignation of the two men. They frowned contemptuously on me, called
me names that I had never heard before, and swore with a refinement
that impressed me with the suspicion that I had said something that was
not to be readily forgiven. With childlike simplicity I asked if it was
wrong to wish that the vessel should go ashore.

"Wrong? you young devil!" said they. "Would you have us all drowned?"

Needless to say, my desire happily did not come to pass, and I became
the object for many a long day of good-humoured chaff which I would
have done anything to obviate. The sailors did not seem to recognize
any humorous side to their own part in it, and yet they used to roar
with laughter at my amazing conclusions, and as my anger increased so
did their amusement. A lee shore is always dreaded by seamen, and many
a sound ship has been made leaky, and many a spar and sail has been
carried away in the effort to keep off. It was precisely this fear that
possessed the two captains in question and caused them almost to bury
their ships in order to get well out to sea in case the wind should
back into the east again.

When darkness came on they lost sight of each other. All night long the
_Blake_ was plunged into a tremendous sea. The crew were nearly worn
out with incessant pumping, and when the dawn whirled into the sky
nothing could be seen of her companion. It was thought she must have
shortened sail and fallen astern. The hoarse moaning of the wind, and
the waves running like conical hillocks, were a sure indication that
there was greater turmoil behind them. The square foresail had been
hauled up, and the crew were in the act of stowing it when the
hurricane burst upon her, and she was held in the grasp of the wind.
The sea was flattened, and the wild drift flew before the screaming
tempest. The captain called out to the men on the foreyard to "hold on
for God's sake," as the vessel lurched over so far that the man on the
lee yardarm said that he felt his foot touch the water. With almost
superhuman effort the seamen, already