ing the rail, began to claw his
deliberate way up the main rigging.

It took the hands about five minutes to pass the weather and lee
earings, by which time the squall was close to the brig, its approach
being heralded by a smart shower of rain that drove Miss Trevor to the
shelter of the cabin. Then, while the men were still upon the yards,
tying the reef-points, the wind came roaring and screaming down upon the
brig--fortunately from dead astern--and, with a report like that of a
gun, her topsails filled and, with the foam all boiling and hissing
around her and her bluff bows buried deep in the brine, the _Mermaid_
gathered way and was off, heading south-south-west; which was as nearly
as possible her proper course.

The men aloft, meanwhile, although nearly jerked off the yards by the
violence and suddenness with which that first puff struck them, stuck
manfully to their work until they had tied their last reef-point, when
they leisurely descended to the deck, squared the yards, took a pull
upon and belayed the halliards, and then went below to change into dry
clothes and oilskins--an example which Leslie quickly followed as soon
as he was relieved at the wheel.

The squall lasted for a full half-hour--during which the dismasted
barque vanished in the thickness astern--and then it settled down into a
strong gale that swept them along before it to the southward for nearly
thirty hours, moderating on the following day about sunset.

The following morning dawned brilliantly fine, with a light breeze out
from the westward that was just sufficient to fan the brig along, under
everything that would draw, at a bare four knots in the hour over a
heavy westerly swell.

"Why, what is the meaning of this, Chips?" demanded Leslie, as he
emerged from the companion-way, at seven bells, clad in bathing-drawers
only, on his way forward to take his matutinal douche under the head
pump; "is this swell the forerunner of a new gale, or has it been
knocked up by something that we have just missed?"

"Well, sir," answered Chips, "I'm inclined to think as your last guess
is the proper answer. We struck the beginnin's of this here swell about
two bells this mornin', and the furder south we goes the heavier the run
seems to be gettin'--as though we was gettin', as you may say, more into
the track of a breeze that have passed along just about here. Besides,
the glass have gone up a goodish bit durin' the night, and is still
risin'!"