uite the size of a
full-grown vegetable marrow; yet, little recking that it contained the
seeds of the terrible tempest that was so soon to overwhelm us, I still
went on with my sandwiches.

[Illustration: I WENT ON WITH MY SANDWICHES]

'Presently the gale increased, and the seas swelled up to the size of
Ludgate Hill. Whole shoals of the passive skate arose to the surface and
flopped warningly about our vessel. To leeward could be seen flocks of
the wild sea shrike, whose ominous bark could be distinctly heard above
the snort of the coming tempest. By now the cloud had half filled the
heavens; the seas rose higher and higher; the din was terrific, as the
wind tore from the sea shoal upon shoal of the shy sardine and whirled
them through the air. Soon the ship was drenched in the high seas that
continually broke over her and the quarts and quarts of rain that
wolloped from the dense cloud now covering the whole sky and blotting
out all light.

'At last came the order from the captain, who now realised the danger
that threatened his vessel. "Up helm," roared he, through his
speaking-trumpet, "clew up the lee braces of the topsail halyards; haul
out the reef tackle and brail up the spanker." But the command came too
late. The fore-topsail studding booms went by the board, carrying with
them the bowsprit, the main mast, the fo'c's'le, the top-gallant
studding-sail halyard, and the captain's tobacco-pouch, which had been
placed upon the bowsprit earlier in the afternoon. Nothing could now be
seen except, here and there, the gleam on some fish as it was whirled,
with the masts, men, boots, screws, sharks, thimbles, sea anemones,
watch-chains, ship's stores, planks, and other miscellaneous objects,
through the sky. I had barely finished my last sandwich when, lo,
everything became a blank to me and I lost all consciousness.

'How long I remained thus I cannot say, but I awakened on the sandy
shore of some island, upon which I had been thrown by the force of the
wind. Nothing could I see of my companions: a few planks and spars and
my own wretched self were all that remained to tell the tale of the good
ship _Turnip_.

'The wind had dropped, and it was a beautiful morning, not a trace of
the storm remaining, only here and there the panting of the crayfish, as
they nestled behind the rocks, or the gasping of the oysters telling of
the strain they had undergone. I gazed along the shore in each
direction, hoping to discover