mine."

The manoeuvre was safely executed, and the brig brought before the wind.
She felt the relief at once, and sped rapidly before the storm on an even
keel.

"How far will this gale extend beyond the coast?"

"There is no saying, senor. An ordinary gale will seldom be felt above a
hundred or a hundred and fifty miles; but a big one, as this will I think
be, may take us a thousand miles before we can get on our course again."

"Are there any dangers to be feared?"

"If we go far enough we may get among some islands; but on the course that
we are steering we shall run some hundreds of miles before we reach them."

"You have got a chart, I suppose?"

"I have a chart of the coast, senor, but nothing beyond. We only do a
coasting trade."

"Then the look-out is a bad one if the wind holds like this," Stephen
said. "However, there is nothing to do now."

The gale continued to increase in violence, and in a couple of hours
Stephen ordered the main topsail to be lowered on to the cap and there
secured. It was a dangerous service, and was undertaken by the Chilians,
who are far more handy sailors than the Peruvians. Stephen felt grateful
when the last of them stepped on to the deck again. Small as was the
amount of sail that was now spread, the brig flew before the wind with
alarming rapidity, the sea seeming to stand up on each side of her. The
foremast bent so much under the pressure that Stephen had to order
preventer-stays to be rove. These were with great difficulty and risk
fastened above the hounds and taken well aft, where they were tightened by
tackles, and the strain on the mast considerably relieved.

"I wish we could get down that upper spar," he shouted to the captain;
"its pressure helps to keep her head down."

After watching it for some minutes he ordered the stays and runners to be
cut, at the same time calling all hands aft. Scarcely had the men gathered
there than the vessel plunged her head into the sea. There was a loud
report, and the top-gallant mast fell over her bows with a crash. Two of
the Chilians with axes crawled out along the bowsprit and cut away the
gear that held the spar alongside, and the wreckage at once floated away.
The jib-boom was then got in, and the vessel felt the relief and lifted
her head more buoyantly over the seas. For four days the gale continued,
her bulwarks were carried away, and the waves swept her decks continually.
One tremendous roller carried away the boat