so dark that we could not see each other in the smack.

"Such a hurricane as then blew it is folly to attempt to describe. The
oldest seaman in Norway never experienced anything like it. We had let our
sails go by the run before it cleverly took us; but at the first puff both
our masts went by the board as if they had been sawed off--the mainmast
taking with it my youngest brother, who had lashed himself to it for
safety.

"Our boat was the lightest feather of a thing that ever sat upon water. It
had a complete flush deck, with only a small hatch near the bow; and this
hatch it had always been our custom to batten down when about to cross the
Stroem, by way of precaution against chopping seas. But for this
circumstance we should have foundered at once; for we lay entirely buried
for some moments. How my elder brother escaped destruction I cannot say,
for I never had an opportunity of ascertaining. For my part, as soon as I
had let the foresail run, I threw myself flat on deck, with my feet
against the narrow gunwale of the bow, and with my hands grasping a
ring-bolt near the foot of the foremast.

"It was mere instinct that prompted me to do this, which was undoubtedly
the very best thing I could have done; for I was too much flurried to
think.

"For some moments I was completely deluged, I say; and all this time I
held my breath and clung to the bolt. When I could stand it no longer I
raised myself upon my knees, still keeping hold with my hands, and thus
got my head clear. Presently our little boat gave herself a shake, just as
a dog does in coming out of the water, and thus rid herself in some
measure of the seas.

"I was now trying to get the better of the stupor that had come over me,
and to collect my senses so as to see what was to be done, when I felt
somebody grasp my arm. It was my elder brother--and my heart leaped for
joy, for I had made sure that he was overboard; but the next moment all
this joy was turned into horror--for he put his mouth close to my ear and
screamed out the word 'Moskoe-stroem!'

"No one will ever know what my feelings were at that moment. I shook from
head to foot as if I had the most violent fit of the ague. I knew what he
meant by that one word well enough--I knew what he wished to make me
understand. With the wind that now drove us on, we were bound for the
whirl of the Stroem, and nothing could save us!

"You perceive that in crossing the Stroem channel we always went a long