ngs, however, did not last long enough to give us time to think about
it. In less than a minute the storm was upon us--in less than two the
sky was entirely overcast--and what with this and the driving spray it
became suddenly so dark that we could not see each other in the smack.

"Such a hurricane as then blew it is folly to attempt describing. The
oldest seaman in Norway never experienced anything like it. We had let
our sails go by the run before it cleverly took us; but, at the first
puff both our masts went by the board as if they had been sawed off--the
mainmast taking with it my youngest brother, who had lashed himself to
it for safety.

"Our boat was the lightest feather of a thing that ever sat upon water.
It had a complete flushed deck, with only a small hatch near the bow,
and this hatch it had always been our custom to batten down when about
to cross the Strom, by way of precaution against the chopping seas. But
for this circumstance we should have foundered at once--for we lay
entirely buried for some moments. How my elder brother escaped
destruction I cannot say, for I never had an opportunity of
ascertaining. For my part, as soon as I had let the foresail run, I
threw myself flat on deck, with my feet against the narrow gunwale of
the bow, and with my hands grasping a ring-bolt near the foot of the
fore-mast. It was mere instinct that prompted me to do this--which was
undoubtedly the very best thing I could have done--for I was too much
flurried to think.

"For some moments we were completely deluged, as I say, and all this
time I held my breath, and clung to the bolt. When I could stand it no
longer I raised myself upon my knees, still keeping hold with my hands,
and thus got my head clear. Presently our little boat gave herself a
shake, just as a dog does in coming out of the water, and thus rid
herself in some measure of the seas. I was now trying to get the better
of the stupor that had come over me, and to collect my senses so as to
see what was to be done, when I felt somebody grasp my arm. It was my
elder brother, and my heart leaped for joy, for I had made sure that he
was overboard--but the next moment all this joy was turned to
horror--for he put his mouth close to my ear, and screamed out the word
'_Moskoestrom_!'

"No one will ever know what my feelings were at that moment. I shook
from head to foot, as if I had had the most violent fit of the ague. I
knew what he meant by that one word w