At this order thirty of the young tars ran up the shrouds, over the
cat-harpings, and up the rigging, till they reached the fore, main, and
mizzen topsail yards. Twelve of them were stationed on the main, ten on
the fore, and eight on the mizzen topsail yard. The first, second, and
third midshipmen were aloft to superintend the work, and when the
studding-sail booms had been triced up, they gave the order to lay out,
and take two reefs.

When the hands were at their stations on the yard, the first lieutenant
ordered the quartermaster to "luff up;" that is, to put the helm down
so as to throw the ship up into the wind and spill the sail, or get the
wind out of it, that the young tars might handle it with the more ease.

The boys had been frequently trained in the manoeuvre which they were
now executing under trying circumstances, and all of them knew their
duty. If any one trembled as the mast swayed over when the ship rolled,
he was afraid to mention the fact, or to exhibit any signs of alarm.
Perhaps most of them would have been willing to acknowledge that it was
rather "ticklish" business to lay out on a topsail yard at midnight in a
gale of wind; and if their anxious mothers could have seen the boys at
that moment, some of them might have fainted, and all wished them in a
safer place.

The boom tricing-lines were manned again, and the studding-sail booms
restored to their places.

"Lay down from aloft!" shouted Haven, when the midshipman in charge
aloft had reported the work done; and he was obliged to roar at the top
of his lungs through the speaking trumpet, in order to be heard above
the piping of the gale and the dashing of the sea. "Man the topsail
halyards! stand by the braces."

"All ready, sir," reported the fourth lieutenant, after the others.

"Hoist away the topsails!"

The hands on deck walked away with the halyards, until the topsails were
hauled up to a taut leech.

The same operation was repeated on the fore and main course; the yards
were trimmed; the bowlines attached and hauled out, and then the ship
was under double-reefed topsails and courses.

"Boatswain, pipe down!" said the executive officer when the work was
done.

But the crew did not care to pipe down, just then. This was the first
time they had ever seen a gale at sea, and there was something grand and
sublime in the heaving ocean, and the wild winds that danced madly over
the white-crested waves. It was now after midnight, e