but his glances in this
direction were brief and hurried, for he expected the storm from the
opposite quarter.

Again he paused at the taffrail, by the side of the man who stood idle
at the wheel, for the brig had not motion enough to give her
steerage-way. This time Captain 'Siah listened longer than usual. From
far away to seaward, between the peals of thunder, came a confused,
roaring sound. At the same time a slight puff of air swelled the sails
of the brig, and the helmsman threw over the wheel to meet her, as the
vessel began to move through the still waters.

"Haul down the fore-topmast staysail!" shouted Captain 'Siah, at the top
of his lungs, a sudden energy seeming to take possession of his nervous
frame.

"Ay, ay, sir," returned the mate; and almost at the same instant the
captain heard the hanks rattling down the stay.

"It's coming down upon us like a tornado," said Captain 'Siah to the
passenger who was smoking his pipe on the quarter-deck.

"Can I do anything, Captain 'Siah?" asked Wallbridge, who had been
aroused from his lethargy by the energy of the captain.

"Yes; let go the peak-halyards of the spanker!" answered the captain,
sharply, as he sprang to the throat-halyards himself.

The sail came down, and the passenger, who had evidently been to sea
before, proceeded to gather up and secure the fluttering canvas, for the
breeze was rapidly freshening.

"Furl the fore-topsail," cried the captain, with a kind of desperation,
which indicated his sense of the peril of the brig.

"Ay, ay, sir," shouted the ready mate, who, in anticipation of the
order, had manned the halyards, and stationed hands at the sheets and
clewlines. "Let go the sheets! clew up--lively! Settle away the
halyards! Ready at the bunt-lines--sharp work, boys! Aloft, and furl the
topsail!"

"Set the main-staysail!" shouted the captain.

Captain 'Siah was an old-fashioned shipmaster, and the Waldo was an
old-fashioned vessel. Everything on board was done promptly and
skillfully in the old-fashioned way. The captain knew just where he was
as long as he could see any of the objects around him, whether lights or
the dark outlines of the rocky islands. His principal fear was, if the
brig withstood the shock of the tempest, that she would drift upon some
dangerous rocks, which were hidden by the waves after half-tide. They
were situated off a large island, whose high, precipitous shores he
could just discern, when the lightning i