ng to windward in such a
night as they saw before them; and it was under mute protest, therefore,
that they proceeded to carry out his orders to clap on preventer braces
on the rags of sail which they were carrying. The old blocks creaked and
screamed in the increasing darkness above the rattle of the hail
squalls, and the vessel careened over and went plunging into the head
seas with successive shocks that seemed likely very soon to shake her to
pieces.

Nils Buvaagen was standing in moody silence, with another, at the wheel,
and he could see by the light from the binnacle, which occasionally fell
upon Salve's face as he walked up and down near them to leeward, that he
was ashy pale. He would have liked to say something, but it didn't seem
advisable.

"Topsail's flapping!" came from forward, "she'll be taken aback!"

"She's an old craft, captain--her topmasts'll not bear a great deal,"
Nils ventured to observe.

"I'll show you that I can make the old tub go," muttered Salve between
his teeth, affecting not to have heard what was said.

"Keep her away, Nils--she must have more way--and so over on a new
tack," was his reply in a peremptory tone.

"Stand by to 'bout ship!"

Nils sighed: such sailing was quite indefensible; and there was not one
of the crew who had not the same feeling.

Through the darkness and the blinding dash of the seas came then at
intervals--

"Haul in the boom--hard a-lee--brace forward--brace aft!" and here there
was a longer interval, for one of the ropes on the foremast had
apparently got foul, and there was a difficulty in bracing the yard, the
sail flapping with a dull noise above and making the whole mast tremble.
One of the crew had to mount the old rigging at the risk of his life,
and feel over the unsteady yard in the dark for the rope and disentangle
it, with the white tops of the seas breaking not far under his feet.

"Sharp up aft--sharp forward!" came then again. "Haul the jib-sheet!"
but no sooner was the jib hauled taut and made fast, than it broke loose
and hung fluttering wildly about the stay until it gradually twisted
itself up into a tangle.

The sails filled on the new tack; but they were not much better off than
before, the sea breaking over them with such violence that the deck,
from amidships forward, was only passable with the greatest difficulty
and danger. The crew began to think the captain must have taken leave of
his senses; and, in fact, Salve was not hi