around. I had made myself fast you may be sure; for I
shouldn't have been long on the deck if I hadn't, as not once, but many
a time a sea came tumbling over first one quarter, then the other; and,
though it was but just the top of it, we should all of us have been
swept overboard, and if the hatches hadn't been battened down, the old
drogher would have gone to the bottom. We had managed to light the
binnacle lamp before we got from under the land, and I saw by the
compass that we were driving about south-east, so that I had no fear of
being cast on the shore of any other island, and I hoped, if we could
weather out the gale, that we might beat back to Saba. On we ran hour
after hour. It seemed to me the longest night I'd ever passed since I
came to sea. The wonder was that the drogher still kept afloat; but she
was tight and light as a cork--now she was on the top of one sea, now
climbing up the side of another. One comfort was that the longest night
must come to an end, and that the hurricane could not last for ever. We
were, I judged, too, on the skirts of it, and that if we stood on we
should in time get beyond its power. It required pretty careful
steering to keep the wind right aft, for if I had brought it ever so
little abeam the vessel would have gone clean over in a moment. I was
thankful, you may be sure, when daylight came at last--not that the
prospect round us was a pleasant one. The big seas were rolling and
leaping, and tumbling about like mad, on every side hissing and roaring,
and knocking their white heads together, as if they didn't know what
they would be at. It was a hard job to steer clear of the worst; it was
often Dobson's choice, and many came with such a plump down on the deck
that I thought after all we should be sent to Davy Jones's locker; but
the lively little craft managed to run her nose up the next mountain
sea, and to shake herself clear of the water, just as a Newfoundland dog
does when he gets ashore after a swim. The only pleasant sight was to
see the young gentlemen standing where they had been all night, and
keeping up their spirits.

"`We are getting precious hungry, Dick,' sung out Mr Rogers, `I'm
thinking of going below to find some grub.'

"`No, no; just stay safe where you are, sir,' I answered. `If you let
go your hold, maybe that moment we shall have a sea come aboard us and
carry you away with it, or if the companion hatch is lifted it may make
its way below a