en cowered involuntarily, and looked in each other's
eyes with a wild surmise, for a shock came which made the vessel quiver
like a tuning-fork in every fibre; the very pannikins on the cabin floor
rattled, and all the things in the pantry went like rapidly chattering
teeth. It was not like an ordinary blow of the sea. The skipper rushed
aft, hoping to get on deck through Ferrier's cabin, but he met a
cataract of water which blinded him, and he came back saying, "I doubt
her deck won't stand another like that. Now, gentlemen, it's for you to
decide."

"Skipper, send Bill up to help me with the boat. That last's drove her
abreast the skylight."

The one look-out man had saved himself. How, only a smacksman can tell.
The skipper came down again.

"Now, gentlemen, shall I run or not?" "Well, skipper, if we get through
this we shall be more needed than ever."

"Yes, sir; but if that last sea hadn't glanced a bit on our starboard
bow, we _shouldn't_ have got through. We've saved the boat, but she was
snapped from the grips like a rotten tooth."

"But, skipper, we may be pooped in running, or we may do some damage to
the rudder and broach-to. Then we should be worse off than here."

"Very well, gentlemen. I'm not concerned for myself. My duty's done now,
and I'll do my best. I advise you to take some coffee, and try to get a
few hours' rest before the pinch comes. You'll not get much rest then."

Another sea came, and another; the sound of the wind paralyzed thought
and made speech impossible. Had any one said, "The end of the world has
come," you would have felt only a mild surprise, for even the capacity
for fear or apprehension was stunned as the brain is stunned by a blow.
"I can't stand this any longer, Tom. Even brandy wouldn't do much good
for more than an hour. Do you hear me?"

Tom nodded in a dazed way.

"Well, then, let's go into the open somehow. Perhaps the skipper's
strong, hot coffee _will_ wake us. Anyhow, let us try a cup."

Oh! that indescribable night! To know that death was feasting in that
blackness; to feel that vigilance was of no avail; to turn away
convulsed from the iron push of the demoniac force which for the time
seemed to have taken the place of an atmosphere. Smash! Rattle. Then a
wild whistling; a many lashes, that flapped and cracked; then the fall
of the spar, and the deep, quick sigh from Lennard as it whizzed close
by him. The gaff of the mizen had broken away, halliards and all,