'em? Be they down below? Or have they been swep'
overboard? Stan's to reason that when they found theirselves onable to
steer clear o' that there spout they'd go below and shut theirselves up
as best they could, knowin' as nothin' livin' could surwive a waterspout
tramplin' over 'em, as one may say; but where be them there chaps _now_?
If they was all right they'd be out on deck by this time--wouldn't
they?--lookin' roun' to see the extent o' the damage. Would the bustin'
o' the thing kill 'em, d'ye think, sir--they bein' shut up below?"

"It is difficult to say," answered Leslie, meditatively. "It would
depend almost entirely upon the strength of their defences. We can see
for ourselves what it has done to the craft herself; it has made a clean
sweep of everything on deck, and reduced her to the condition of a sheer
hulk. Hang this weather! I don't like the look of it; it is not to be
trusted! If it were only a shade or two less threatening I should feel
strongly tempted to send away a boat to see just what has happened
aboard there. There may be a number of poor fellows somewhere on that
wreck just dying for want of assistance. But--"

He paused, and again glanced anxiously round the horizon, noting that
the aspect of the sky was still as full of menace as ever.

"No," he continued, "I dare not do it; it would be risking too much.
Ha! look there; here it comes! Fore and main-topsail halliards let go,
and man your reef-tackles!" he shouted, as a long line of white foam
appeared on the western horizon, slowly widening as it advanced.

The men sprang to their stations in an instant, galvanised into sudden
and intense activity by the urgency that marked the tone of the
commands, and the next instant there was a rattling and squeaking of
blocks and parrells as the topsail-yards slid down the well-greased
topmasts and settled with a thud upon the caps. Then, as the men began,
with loud cries, to drag upon the reef-tackles, Leslie shouted--

"Call all hands, carpenter, to close-reef topsails. Look alive, lads;
if you are smart you may have time yet to get those reef-points knotted
before the squall strikes us. Well there with the reef-tackles. Belay!
Now away aloft with you all, and hurry about it. You, too," he added
to the man who had been standing by the useless wheel, "I will look
after her."

And, so saying, he mounted the wheel-grating while the whilome helmsman
slouched along the deck, and, climb