ile
sufficient to save her from being overrun by the furious sea, would not
be too big for the felucca to carry. Fortunately, there was such a sail
on board,--a small lug-sail made of stout canvas, and nearly new,--which
was intended to be substituted for the lateen on those rare occasions
when the little craft might be caught in heavy weather; and this sail I
now proceeded to drag up from below and bend to its yard; after which I
lowered away the lateen, laid it fore and aft the deck, and made it up,
securing it as well as I could by passing innumerable turns of a light
warp round it; after which I firmly lashed it to the bulwarks with as
many lashings as I could find pins or cleats for. My next job was to
close-reef and set the lug, which I did with the aid of the winch; and
this done, I went forward, and, beginning with the fore-scuttle,
proceeded to carefully batten down every opening in the deck, bringing
the cabin lamp on deck in order that I might have a sufficiency of light
to work by. The skylight I secured as well as I could by passing
lashings over the cover to a couple of ring-bolts conveniently placed in
the deck, and I finished up by backing the companion doors with a couple
of stout pieces of timber, which I sawed to the proper length and wedged
in between the uprights, rendering it practically impossible for the
doors to be forced open by a sea, while, by drawing over the slide, I
could at the last moment effectually close all access to the cabin.
This completed my labours, with which I was fairly well satisfied, the
only portion of my defences about which I had any serious doubt being
the skylight, the glazed panels of which might easily be smashed by a
sea; but I was obliged to take my chance of that, being unable to find
anything with which to protect them.

And now, all that remained was to watch and wait. Nor had I to wait
very long; for when, having completed my preparations, I found time to
again glance aloft at the frowning sky, I observed that the heavy masses
of fiery cloud, that had hitherto seemed to be practically motionless,
so stealthy were their movements, were now working with a restless,
writhing motion, while ever and anon some small detached fragment of
vapour would come sweeping rapidly out from the westward athwart the
twisting masses, as though caught and torn off from the main body by
some sudden, momentary, partial, but violent movement in the atmosphere.
These small, scurryi