o shout a sudden order to take in all sail. At the same
moment a sigh of wind swept over the sleeping sea as if the storm-fiend
were expressing regret at having been so promptly discovered and met.

Seamen are well used to sudden danger--especially in equatorial seas--
and to prompt, unquestioning action. Not many minutes elapsed before
the _Sunshine_ was under the smallest amount of sail she could carry.
Even before this had been well accomplished a stiff breeze was tearing
up the surface of the sea into wild foam, which a furious gale soon
raised into raging billows.

The storm came from the Sunda Straits about which the captain and his
son had just been talking, and was so violent that they could do nothing
but scud before it under almost bare poles. All that night it raged.
Towards morning it increased to such a pitch that one of the backstays
of the foremast gave way. The result was that the additional strain
thus thrown on the other stays was too much for them. They also parted,
and the foretop-mast, snapping short off with a report like a
cannon-shot, went over the side, carrying the main-topgallant-mast and
all its gear along with it.

CHAPTER TWO.

THE HAVEN IN THE CORAL RING.

It seemed as if the storm-fiend were satisfied with the mischief he had
accomplished, for immediately after the disaster just described, the
gale began to moderate, and when the sun rose it had been reduced to a
stiff but steady breeze.

From the moment of the accident onward, the whole crew had been exerting
themselves to the utmost with axe and knife to cut and clear away the
wreck of the masts, and repair damages.

Not the least energetic among them was our amateur first mate, Nigel
Roy. When all had been made comparatively snug, he went aft to where
his father stood beside the steersman, with his legs nautically wide
apart, his sou'-wester pulled well down over his frowning brows, and his
hands in their native pockets.

"This is a bad ending to a prosperous voyage," said the youth, sadly;
"but you don't seem to take it much to heart, father!"

"How much or little I take it to heart you know nothin' whatever about,
my boy, seein' that I don't wear my heart on my coat-sleeve, nor yet on
the point of my nose, for the inspection of all and sundry. Besides,
you can't tell whether it's a bad or a good endin', for it has not ended
yet one way or another. Moreover, what appears bad is often found to be
good, an' what s