at the top
of the companion, peering out.

"You can come out, gentlemen, for a bit. She is running on an even
keel now, though that won't last long. No one hurt below, I hope."

"Two or three of us have got bruised a little, captain; and I think
we have all of us got a severe fright. We thought she was over."

"I thought so, too," the captain said. "Luckily she has got three
hundred tons of iron on board, and it's all stowed at the bottom of
the cargo, so that helped her up again; but it was touch and go
with her, for half a minute.

"And now, gentlemen, if you will take my advice you will just look
round, and then go below and turn in. Now you can do so easily.
Another hour, and there will be no keeping a footing."

The captain was right. In less than the time he named, a terrific
sea had got up. The Paramatta had already made more than one
circuit of the compass. There was no regularity in the sea. It
seemed to rise suddenly in heaps, now striking the ship on one
side, now on another, and pouring sheets of water over her
bulwarks. The motion of the vessel was so tremendous that even Bill
Hardy and the older seamen could only move along with the greatest
difficulty to carry out the orders of the captain; while Reuben
clung to the shrouds, now half buried in water, now almost hanging
in the air, with the sea racing along under his feet.

As yet no more sail had been put upon her, for there was no
following sea. Although running almost before the gale, a slight
helm was kept upon her, so as to edge her out from the centre of
the storm; and the second circle of the compass took more than
twice as long as the first to complete, although the vessel was
proceeding with equal speed through the water.

Hour after hour the sea got up--a wild, cross, broken sea--and the
motion of the vessel was so terrific as to be almost bewildering to
the oldest hands. There was none of the regular rise and fall of an
ordinary sea; the vessel was thrown with violent jerks, now on one
side, now on the other; now plunging her bow so deeply down that
she seemed about to dive, head foremost, beneath the waves; now
thrown bodily upwards, as if tossed up by some giant hand beneath
her. The watch off duty was sent below, for there was nothing that
could be done on deck; and the water swept over her in such masses
as to threaten, at times, to carry everything before it. One man
had had his leg broken. Several had been seriously bruised and