es on the quarter-deck. Paul looked as noble and commanding as
though he had been a foot taller, with a full beard grown upon his face.
He appeared to be master of the situation, and Professor Stoute regarded
him with an admiration strongly in contrast with the disgust of his
fellow-teacher. The competent captain of the ship is always little less
than a miracle of a man to his passengers, especially in a storm, when
he is confident and self-reliant. They feel that everything--their very
lives, and the lives of those they love--are dependent upon him, and
they look up to him as to an oracle of skill and wisdom.

"It's coming heavier and heavier," said Terrill, as the Josephine gave a
fearful lurch.

"Ay, ay! It's nothing less than a hurricane," replied Paul.

"It's the biggest squall I ever was in," added Terrill, blowing the salt
water out of his mouth, after a pint of spray had slapped him in the
face.

"It is kicking up an awful sea."

"That's so."

"Keep your helm hard down, Blair!" shouted Paul to the quartermaster in
charge of the wheel.

"She don't mind it now, sir!" yelled the quartermaster, at the top of
his lungs.

"She's falling off, Mr. Terrill," added Paul.

"I see she is, sir."

"We must keep her head up to it, or our decks will be washed. Hard down,
Blair!"

"She don't mind it, sir!"

"Set the close-reefed foresail, Mr. Terrill," said the captain. "But be
careful of the hands."

Terrill, with the trumpet in his hand, sprang from the life-line to the
fife-rail, so as to be nearer to the hands who were to execute the
captain's order. The unpleasant plight of Mr. Hamblin attracted his
attention, in spite of the pressure of the emergency. His gyrations, as
he bobbed about under the uneasy motions of the vessel, gave him a
ludicrous appearance, which even the positive expression of suffering on
his face did not essentially mitigate. He had evidently come to a
realizing sense of the perils of the sea, and was a pitiful sight to
behold.

"Man the foresail outhaul!" shouted Terrill, through his trumpet. "Mr.
Martyn!"

"Here, sir!" replied the second lieutenant; but his voice sounded like a
whisper in the roar of the hurricane.

"Double the hands on the outhaul!" added Terrill. "Stand by the brails!"

"All ready, forward, sir!" reported Martyn.

"Stand by the fore-sheets!--Mr. Cleats!" continued the executive
officer.

"Here, sir!" said the old sailor, who, with the carpenter, was holding