ens.
No sooner did the peculiar atmosphere by which the mysterious image that
he so often examined was suddenly surrounded, catch his eye, than his
voice was raised in the clear, powerful, and exciting notes of warning.

"Stand by," he called aloud, "to in-all-studding-sails! Down with them!"
he added, scarcely giving his former words time to reach the ears of his
subordinates. "Down with every rag of them, fore and aft the ship! Man
the top-gallant clew-lines, Mr. Earing. Clew up, and clew down! In with
every thing, cheerily, men!--In!"

This was a language to which the crew of the _Caroline_ were no
strangers, and it was doubly welcome, since the meanest seaman amongst
them had long thought that his unknown commander had been heedlessly
trifling with the safety of the vessel, by the hardy manner in which he
disregarded the wild symptoms of the weather. But they undervalued the
keen-eyed vigilance of Wilder. He had certainly driven the Bristol
trader through the water at a rate she had never been known to go before;
but, thus far, the facts themselves gave evidence in his favour, since no
injury was the consequence of what they deemed temerity. At the quick
sudden order just given, however, the whole ship was in an uproar. A
dozen seamen called to each other, from different parts of the vessel,
each striving to lift his voice above the roaring ocean; and there was
every appearance of a general and inextricable confusion; but the same
authority which had so unexpectedly aroused them into activity, produced
order from their ill-directed though vigorous efforts.

Wilder had spoken, to awaken the drowsy and to excite the torpid. The
instant he found each man on the alert, he resumed his orders with a
calmness that gave a direction to the powers of all, and yet with an
energy that he well knew was called for by the occasion. The enormous
sheets of duck, which had looked like so many light clouds in the murky
and threatening heavens, were soon seen fluttering wildly, as they
descended from their high places, and, in a few minutes, the ship was
reduced to the action of her more secure and heavier canvas. To effect
this object, every man in the ship exerted his powers to the utmost,
under the guidance of the steady but rapid mandates of their commander.
Then followed a short and apprehensive pause. All eyes were turned
towards the quarter where the ominous signs had been discovered; and each
individual endeavore