be screwed down.
Our studding sail boom, too, broke with a loud crack when the ship
broached to, and the jaws of the fore-boom gave way.

"Soon after this adventure we all went to bed, full of thankfulness that
it had ended as well as it did, but, alas! not, so far as I was
concerned, to rest in peace. In about two hours I was awakened by a
tremendous weight of water suddenly descending upon me and flooding the
bed. I immediately sprang out, only to find myself in another pool on
the floor. It was pitch dark, and I could not think what had happened;
so I rushed on deck, and found that, the weather having moderated a
little, some kind sailor, knowing my love of fresh air, had opened the
skylight rather too soon, and one of the angry waves had popped on
board, deluging the cabin.

"I got a light and proceeded to mop up as best I could, and then
endeavoured to find a dry place to sleep in. This, however, was no easy
task, for my own bed was drenched and every other berth occupied; the
deck, too, was ankle-deep in water, as I found when I tried to get
across to the deck-house sofa. At last I lay down on the floor, wrapped
up in my ulster, and wedged between the foot-stanchions of our swing bed
and the wardrobe athwart ship; so that, as the yacht rolled heavily, my
feet were often higher than my head. Consequently what sleep I snatched
turned into a nightmare, of which the fixed idea was a broken head,
from the three hundredweight of lead at the bottom of our bed swinging
wildly from side to side and up and down, as the vessel rolled and
pitched, suggesting all manner of accidents. When morning came at last
the weather cleared a good deal, though the breeze continued. All hands
were soon busily employed in repairing damages; and very picturesque the
deck and rigging of the _Sunbeam_ looked, with the various groups of men
occupied upon the ropes, spars, and sails. Towards evening the wind fell
light, and we had to get up steam. The night was the first really warm
one we had enjoyed, and the stars shone out brightly; the sea, which had
been of a lovely blue colour during the day, showed a slight
phosphorescence after dark."

The voyage, which opened in this stirring manner, proved not less
prosperous than pleasant, and was unmarked by any striking adventures,
though not devoid of interesting incidents. By way of the Cape de Verde
Islands and Madeira, the _Sunbeam_ kept southward to the Equator, and
gradually drew near the c