eally it almost merited the expression. As she fell away into the
trough of the sea, our low sails would become almost becalmed under the
lee of the following wave; but as she lifted with it, the wind would
again fill them out, and she would dart away again just in time to
escape the mishap of being _pooped_ by its breaking and hissing crest.

At four p.m. I again succeeded in obtaining an observation, this lime
for the longitude. On working it up, we proved to be rather to leeward
of our proper track; so we hauled up a point or so, and at six o'clock
decided to try what she was like when hove-to.

Watching an opportunity, we brought her to the wind on the starboard
tack, first stowing our foresail, and found, to our great delight, that
she rode like a gull. Beyond an occasional shower of spray, she shipped
not a drop of water, although the gale was still increasing, and the sea
rising rapidly.

We took a reef in our trysail, afterwards hoisting the gaff as high as
it would go, so as to avoid, as much as possible, being becalmed in the
trough of the sea, and then we were snug for the night.

Bob was a veteran seaman, and I had been in many a heavy blow before
this--in gales, in fact, to which this was a mere nothing, comparatively
speaking; yet neither of us could help feeling impressed--and for myself
I may say somewhat awe-stricken--at the sublimity of the scene as the
evening closed in. Hitherto, our experiences of gales of wind had come
to us with a good, wholesome ship under our feet; but now we found
ourselves face to face with one in a mere _boat_, little more than a toy
craft. The sea, though nothing like as high as I had frequently seen it
before, now wore a more formidable aspect than I could ever have
believed possible. The hackneyed expression of "running mountains high"
seemed strictly applicable; and I fairly own to having experienced, for,
I believe, the first time in my life, a qualm or two of fear on that
night.

The liquid hills, their foaming ridges as high as the top of our lower-
mast, swept down upon us with an impetuous fury which seemed
irresistible; and the effect was further heightened, as darkness closed
around us, by the phosphorescent glare and gleam of their breaking
crests. But the _Lily_ rose lightly and buoyantly to each as it rushed
down upon her, surmounting its crest in a blinding shower of spray, and
then settling easily into the trough between it and the next one.

The