t of the island." Two days
later, Mrs. Brassey had her first rough experience of the sea. "We were
all sitting or standing," she says, "about the stern of the vessel,
admiring the magnificent dark blue billows following us, with their
curling white crests, mountains high. Each wave, as it approached,
appeared as if it must overwhelm us, instead of which it rushed grandly
by, rolling and shaking us from stem to stern, and sending fountains of
spray on board. Tom (Mr. Brassey) was looking at the stern compass,
Allnutt being close to him. Mr. Bingham and Mr. Freer were smoking,
half-way between the quarter-deck and the after-companion, where Captain
Brown, Dr. Potter, Muriel, and I were standing. Captain Lecky, seated on
a large coil of rope, placed on the box of the rudder, was spinning
Mabelle a yarn. A new hand was steering, and just at the moment when an
unusually big wave overtook us, he unfortunately allowed the vessel to
broach to a little. In a second the sea came pouring over the stern,
above Allnutt's head. The boy was nearly washed overboard, but he
managed to catch hold of the rail, and, with great presence of mind,
stuck his knees into the bulwarks. Kindred, our boatswain, seeing his
danger, rushed forward to save him, but was knocked down by the return
wave, from which he emerged gasping. The coll of rope, on which Captain
Lecky and Mabelle were seated, was completely floated by the sea.
Providentially, however, he had taken a double turn round his wrist with
a reefing point, and throwing his other arm round Mabelle, held on like
grim death; otherwise nothing could have saved them. She was perfectly
self-possessed, and only said quietly, "Hold on, Captain Lecky, hold
on!" to which he replied, "All right." I asked her afterwards if she
thought she was going overboard, and she answered, "I did not _think_ at
all, mamma, but felt sure we were gone." Captain Lecky, long accustomed
to very large ships, had not in the least realized how near we were to
the water in our little vessel, and was proportionately taken by
surprise. All the rest of the party were drenched, with the exception of
Muriel, whom Captain Brown held high above the water in his arms, and
who lost no time in remarking, in the midst of the general confusion,
"I'm not at all wet, I'm not." Happily, the children don't know what
fear is. The maids, however, were very frightened, as some of the sea
had got down into the nursery, and the skylights had to