es.

The command was then given to lower away, when, the anchor being
deposited on the deck of the forecastle, it was made snug close to the
foremast bitts, so that it could not shift its new moorings as the
vessel rolled.

The chain-cable was next unshackled from the ring in the anchor-stock
and rattled down into the locker in the fore-peak; after which, the
starboard hawse-hole was plugged up to prevent any water from finding
its way below through the orifice. Thus, in a very little time, half
the task the captain had set the men to do was accomplished, the seamen
working with a will and singing cheerily as they laid on to the falls of
the tackle, "yo-ho-heaving" all together, and pulling with might and
main.

The other anchor, however, being to leeward, was a little more difficult
to manage, for it was submerged every now and then as the ship canted
over, pitching her bows into the sea and splashing the spray up over the
yard-arm; but, sailors are not soon daunted when they have a job on
hand, and soon the shank painter of this was also cast-off and the
purchase tackle made fast.

"Hoist away, men!" cried Mr Marline.

"Run away with the falls, you lubbers," echoed Moggridge, who was as
busy about the matter as the first mate and doing two men's work
himself; but, although the usual chorus was raised, and the sailors
tugged away with all their strength, the anchor would not budge from its
resting-place on the cat-head.

"The tackle has fouled the jib-sheet," said Jackson, who had been
pulling like a horse at the rope's end, and now looked over the side to
see what prevented them from lifting the port bower. "Shall I get over
and clear it, sir?"

"Aye, do," replied the mate; when Jackson got over the bows in a jiffey,
holding on with one hand while he used the other to disentangle the
purchase tackle, and not minding a bit the water, which rose up as high
as his neck when the ship dipped.

"Haul away, it's all clear now!" he called out presently; and he was
just stepping inboard again when, the _Josephine_ suddenly luffing up to
the wind, the jib flapped, and, the sheet knocking the poor fellow off
his balance, he tumbled backwards into the sea, without having time even
to utter a cry.

"Man overboard!" shouted Mr Marline at the top of his voice.

For a moment, the wildest confusion seemed to reign throughout the
vessel, the hands scurrying to the side; and looking over into the sea
below, where we coul