h it," I answered him, as I sprang to the wheel and
whirled it hard over.

"Let go your topsail halliards! Away below, ladies, for your lives; the
gale will be upon us in less than a minute. Lay aft here, some of you,
and round-in upon the larboard fore-braces! Mr Forbes, get the
starboard fore-topmast staysail sheets aft and well belayed, if you
please. Whew! here it is; hold on, everybody!"

The rain seemed to reach us a single instant ahead of the wind, dashing
vertically down upon us, for just that brief period, not in drops, but
in an overwhelming deluge that I verily believe must have drowned us had
it lasted; then, as the hurricane reached us in a deafening medley of
sound, the sheets of water were caught and swept horizontally along with
a force that it was literally impossible to face without the risk of
being blinded, while the barque gathered stern-way until the water was
piled up level with her taffrail, and for a few breathless seconds I was
firmly convinced that it would end in our foundering, stern-foremost.
The good little ship was paying off all the time, however, and presently
she had swept round until we had it fairly abeam, when she laid down to
it until her lee lower yardarms were dipping in the water. Then,
signing to the men at the braces to haul round the head-yards, I waited
until she had lost her stern-way, when I shifted the helm, putting it
hard up, and she began to draw slowly ahead. The danger was now
practically over, for the ship continued to pay off, and presently she
righted with a sudden jerk, and went foaming away before it, with the
white froth level with her hawse-pipes.

The rain was by this time over, and while all was still thick as a hedge
ahead and to leeward of us, the atmosphere astern was clear, save for
the spindrift and scud-water with which it was heavily loaded along the
water surface. The first mad fury of the outfly was past; but, even so,
it was blowing harder than I had ever seen it blow before; so hard,
indeed, that I wondered at the brave way in which the close-reefed
topsails withstood the tremendous strain and drag of the ship upon them.
So great was this strain that I began to entertain very serious fears
for the masts; and, now that it was too late, deeply regretted that I
had not stripped the ship entirely bare and faced the outfly under bare
poles; and it would have been a positive relief to me to have seen both
topsails go flying out of the boltrope