on the waves broke over her and she
filled again.

SERIOUS DANGER OF LOSING THE BOATS.

Mr. Walker, nothing daunted by the conduct of the men, having had his own
boat hauled up, again swam off to us, and for the next hour or two we
kept the other one not more than half full; but the gale, which had been
gradually increasing, now became a perfect hurricane, and it was evident
that this boat must also go ashore. We imagined that Mr. Walker's must be
stove in several places; and, as to have been left without a boat would
have been certain destruction to us, I swam ashore to have the party
ready to try and save mine by hauling her over the reef the instant she
grounded.

I arrived there with a few cuts and bruises, and found the men on shore
in a most miserable state; many of them were perfectly appalled by the
hurricane, never having seen anything of the kind before, and were lying
under the lee of the bow of Mr. Walker's boat, which, although he had
drawn it up high and dry upon the sandhills, far above the usual
high-water mark, was again more than half full of water and seaweed from
the waves every now and then breaking over her stern. It was with great
difficulty I roused the men and got them to clear out the seaweed, which
lightened her somewhat; we then hauled her up a little at a favourable
opportunity, and advanced her so far that we rather gained upon the water
by baling, and thus, by degrees, got her quite on land. But as the storm
continued the waves still continued to encroach upon the shore, and we
were obliged to repeat this operation of hauling up three successive
times in the night, which was one of the most fearful I have ever passed.
I lay drenched through, my wet shirt sticking close to me and my blanket
soaked with water, for I could not find my clothes again after I came
ashore. Whenever a flash of lightning broke I looked if the boat was
drifting in, and there I saw it still dancing about upon the waves,
whilst the elements were so mighty in their power that I felt shrunk up
to nothing, and tremulous in my own insignificance.

The grey dawn stole on and the boat gradually became visible; she had
drifted somewhat nearer shore, but there still were the three figures
discernible in her, Ruston working away at the steer-oar, and Mr. Smith
and Mr. Walker alternately baling. The storm now appeared to lull a
little and in a few minutes (about half-past five A.M.) it suddenly
dropped. The men now looked o