heavy thunder was heard in the distance, and through the gloom a bank of
foam was seen hastening towards the schooner; in a few minutes the
staysail was stowed, and the wind caught her, gradually freshening until
it burst upon her in all its fury; the rolling sea broke in upon her,
and completely filled her upper deck; but the side bulwarks were open,
and the sea found vent. Having battened his crew down below, Mr Murray
lashed himself to the deck, and steered the vessel through the storm,
which continued with heavy thunder and torrents of rain till about two
in the morning, when, completely exhausted, he fell asleep, and was
aroused by the crew (who, having knocked once or twice without reply,
believed him to have been washed overboard) hammering at the skylight to
get out. This gale so strained the schooner that the water gained two
feet a day, and, to add to their disasters, one of the crew was ill for
a fortnight.

From the 10th of October till the 4th of November, when land was again
discovered, the _Dores_ continued her course for Sierra Leone,
experiencing the whole weight of the rainy season. It now became
evident that she could not stem the current, for in the course of many
days she had not made more than four or five miles. Mr Murray then
determined to try again to reach Cape Palmas, by standing along the
land; and thus nearly incurred a new danger from the natives, who
assembled on the beach, armed with pikes and clubs, and as night drew on
prepared to attack the schooner should she run on shore. Happily a
slight breeze sprang up, which gave her steerage way, and enabled her to
draw off the land. No resource remained but to shape her course again
for Cape Coast Castle, to obtain provisions, their stock being
exhausted. The governor made every effort to prevail on Mr Murray to
relinquish the undertaking, which now appeared so hopeless, but he was
resolute in staying by the charge entrusted to him; and, calling his men
together, he gave them the choice of going on shore to await a passage
down to the _Dolphin_. With one consent they replied that they would
never leave him; holding to the old feeling of a true seaman, never to
leave his officer at a time of difficulty till death parts them. Their
provisioning was just completed when a fatal accident diminished the
number of the crew. They had been bathing after their day's work, and
one of them, a black, was still in the water, when he was seized by