orst of the waves and would surely go down
shortly. Unfortunately the captain had sent the dinghey ashore some
time before coming to this bay, so that there was no means whatever
of reaching the launch. The rising sea had threatened to wash away
the hut, and the captain, leaving the boat to her fate, had gone
camping inland.

I went down to the beach to see for myself how things stood, and
was forced to admit that the man had not exaggerated. In the midst
of the raging surf the launch rocked to and fro, and threatening
waves rose on every side and often seemed to cover her. Still she was
holding her own, and had evidently not struck a rock as yet; and if
her cables held out, hope was not lost. I watched her fight for life
for some time, and she defended herself more gallantly than I should
ever have expected from so clumsy a craft; but I had little hope. We
spent a miserable night in the village, in a heavy atmosphere, amid
vermin and filth, on an uneven stone floor. The rain rattled on the
roof, the storm roared in the forest like a passing express train,
the sea thundered from afar, and a river echoed in a gorge near by;
to complete the gloomy scene, a violent earthquake shook the hills.

In the morning the launch was still afloat on the same spot; the
wind had abated, and the sky no longer looked quite so stormy. During
the night things improved still more, and we ventured to camp on the
shore. The boys went for the dinghey, and although they had hard work,
half dragging, half carrying it along the shore over the cliffs, they
succeeded in bringing it to our beach, and then made an attempt to row
to the launch, but were almost carried out beyond the reef. Encouraged
by a faintly rosy sunset and a few stars, we waited another day;
then the current along the coast had nearly ceased, only outside the
reef huge mountains of water rolled silently and incessantly past,
and broke thundering against the cliffs. The second attempt to reach
the launch was successful, and, wonderful to relate, she had suffered
no damage, only she had shipped so much water that everything was
soaked and rusty. The engineer began to repair her engines, and by
evening she steamed back to her anchorage, where we welcomed her as
if she had been a human being.

The wind had quite fallen when we steamed out next day. It was dull
weather, and we were rocked by an enormous swell; yet the water was
like a mirror, and the giant waves rose and disappeare