on to the Egyptian coast. Moreover, the felucca's
bow was much higher out of water than the stern, and he thought that she
would ride over the waves with greater safety than she would did they
sweep down upon her stern.

He had heard that the Greeks, when caught in a sudden gale in small
boats, often lashed the oars together, threw them overboard with a rope
attached, and rode to them safely through a sea that would otherwise
have overwhelmed them. After much consideration as to what had best be
done, he took the anchor rope, which was some sixty yards in length,
fastened one end to each end of the spar, and then lashed the middle of
the rope to the bow of the felucca; then, using an oar as a lever, he
with great labour managed to launch the spar over the bow, with the sail
still attached to it.

When he had completed this, he looked round at the state of the weather.
The clouds had risen so fast that their edge was nearly overhead,
spanning the sky like a great arch. Ahead of him it seemed almost as
black as night. He had not been out in many of the gales that at times
sweep the eastern waters of the Mediterranean with terrible violence,
but had seen enough of them to know that it was no ordinary one that he
was about to encounter. He looked over the bow; the spar at present was
lying in contact with the stem. With an oar he pushed it across so as to
be at right angles with the craft, and then, there being nothing else to
do, sat down and waited for the storm to burst. In a short time he
heard a dull moaning sound, a puff of wind struck the boat, but in a few
seconds died out; it was sufficient to give the light craft stern way,
and she drifted backwards, the rope tightening, until the spar lay
across her bows, and some twenty yards away.

The dull moaning had grown louder; and now ahead of him he saw a white
line. It approached with extraordinary rapidity. Knowing the fury with
which it would burst upon him, he leapt down, and stood at the entrance
to the cabin, with his head just above the deck. With a deafening roar
the wind struck the boat, which staggered as if she had on her full
course struck on a rock, while a shower of spray flew over her. Half
blinded and deafened, Gervaise crawled into the cabin, closed the door,
and lay down there; whatever happened, there was nothing he could do. He
was soon conscious that the spar and sail were doing their work, for
the boat still lay head to wind. The noise overhead a