D--SITE FOR A FORT CHOSEN--STORES AND GUNS LANDED--A
GALE--SHIP GOES TO PIECES--LAUNCH LOST--A VESSEL SEEN--CHASED--ESCAPES--
FORT FINISHED--A SPANISH MAN-OF-WAR APPROACHES--ATTACKS THE FORT--
SPANIARDS DEFEATED--A GALE--SPANISH SHIP LOST--VAIN ATTEMPTS TO SAVE THE
CROW.

The _Champion_ was standing across the channel between Jamaica and Cuba.
The night came on very dark. The wind, though blowing fresh from the
north-west, did not increase as much as had been expected, and it was
hoped that the ship would claw off the shore and obtain a good offing
before the morning. The topgallantsails had been handed, and as much
canvas was set as she could carry. The master turned many an anxious
glance over the quarter, where he could still dimly discern the outline
of the land. The ship was heeling over till her lee bulwarks were
smothered in the fast-rising sea. Still the commander was unwilling to
shorten sail while she could bear what she was then carrying. It was
impossible to say from which direction the wind might next blow. It
might come from the northward, and if so, she would have the shore dead
under her lee, and, should her masts go, might be driven helplessly
towards it. Another reef was taken in the topsails, but still she
heeled over to the wind more than the commander liked, notwithstanding
which she was evidently making considerable leeway.

At length there came a lull; the ship righted, and for some time
continued to stand up better than heretofore to her canvas. The
appearance of the sky, however, did not improve. Dark masses of clouds
flew across it, gradually thickening till a dense canopy hung over the
ocean without any discernible break. The wind howled and whistled, and
the sea rose more and more.

"We'll heave the ship to, Mr Billhook," said the commander. "We have
got, I should think, a sufficient offing, and we must return to the
shore as soon as the weather will allow."

"If you will take my advice, sir, we will rather stand on for some time
longer. We are perhaps nearer the coast than we may fancy, and we might
find it a hard matter to get off again, should we discover in the
morning that we have been drifting towards it."

"Keep her as she is going, then," said the commander, who thought that
the master was probably right.

Soon after this the wind somewhat lulled, and the ship looked up more to
the northward than she had hitherto done, showing that the wind had
shifted a point or t