having rendered it impossible for me to go below and
get into my oilskins. Then there was the unceasing buffeting of the
wind, which seemed at times as though it would drag me limb from limb.
There was also the continuous scourging of the spray, which stung like
the lash of a million whips; and finally, there was the oppression of a
very real anxiety, for, as I think I have mentioned, the yacht was as
heavily rigged as a frigate, and notwithstanding the relief afforded by
sending down her tophamper, she lay down so alarmingly that at length I
began seriously to question whether it would not eventually end in her
turning turtle. Eight bells came at length, however; and when shortly
afterward I got below, shed my streaming garments, towelled myself dry,
and tumbled into my bunk, my discomfort and anxiety promptly left me as
I sank into a sound and dreamless sleep.

CHAPTER FOUR.

I SAVE JULIUS'S LIFE.

When, shortly before eight bells, I was called by the wardroom steward,
I at once became aware that a change of some sort had occurred in the
weather. For, on the one hand, the list of the ship to starboard seemed
to be no longer so heavy as it had been when I turned in; while, on the
other, the motion was far and away greater--so violent indeed was it
that, seasoned as I was to the movements of a heaving deck, I
experienced the greatest difficulty in maintaining my balance. When
presently I went on deck, my previous impressions were fully confirmed;
for although it was still blowing a whole gale, the maniacal fury of the
hurricane was past, while the sea, no longer flattened down and kept
practically level by the irresistible strength of the tempest, had risen
rapidly and was now an almost terrifying sight to behold. Especially
was this the case when the ship settled into the trough, with one great
foaming liquid mountain rushing away to leeward of her, while another
enormous grey-back, towering above us as high as our lower mast-heads,
came swooping down upon us from to windward with hissing angry crest,
threatening to hurl itself bodily down upon our decks and sink us out of
hand.

Yet that threat was never fulfilled, for the yacht was behaving
magnificently. She came to in most perfect style as she climbed the
breast of each oncoming comber, heeling steeply to it the while and
turning up a bold weather bow to meet its onslaught. Then, as the crest
curled in over her turtle-back topgallant forecastle, smo