from her--and she, a wreck, was rolling heavily, groaning and
complaining in every timber as she urged her impetuous race with the
furious-running sea.

How wrong are those on shore who assert that sailors are not
religious!--how is it possible, supposing them to be possessed of
feeling, to be otherwise? On shore, where you have nothing but the
change of seasons, each in his own peculiar beauty--nothing but the
blessings of the earth, its fruit, its flowers--nothing but the bounty,
the comforts, the luxuries which have been invented, where you can rise
in the morning in peace, and lay down your head at night in security--
God may be neglected and forgotten for a long time; but at sea, when
each gale is a warning, each disaster acts as a check, each escape as a
homily upon the forbearance of Providence, that man must be indeed
brutalised who does not feel that God is there. On shore we seldom view
Him but in all His beauty and kindness; but at sea we are as often
reminded how terrible He is in His wrath. Can it be supposed that the
occurrences of the last twenty-four hours were lost upon the mind of any
one man in that ship? No, no. In their courage and activity they might
appear reckless, but in their hearts they acknowledged and bowed unto
their God.

Before the day was over a jury-foremast had been got up, and sail having
been put upon it, the ship was steered with greater ease and safety--the
main brace had been spliced to cheer up the exhausted crew, and the
hammocks were piped down.

As Gascoigne had observed, some of the men were not very much pleased to
find that they were minus their blankets, but Captain Wilson ordered
their losses to be supplied by the purser and expended by the master;
this quite altered the case, as they obtained new blankets in most cases
for old ones; but still it was impossible to light the galley fire, and
the men sat on their chests and nibbled biscuit. By twelve o'clock that
night the gale broke, and more sail was necessarily put on the scudding
vessel, for the sea still ran fast and mountains high. At daylight the
sun burst out and shone brightly on them, the sea went gradually down,
the fire was lighted, and Mr Pottyfar, whose hands were again in his
pockets, at twelve o'clock gave the welcome order to pipe to dinner. As
soon as the men had eaten their dinner, the frigate was once more
brought to the wind, her jury-mast forward improved upon, and more sail
made upon it. T