e crew, led
by the first-mate and the missionary, were now working well.

Two crushed and mangled bodies lay among the broken spars, but there was
no time to look to the wounded, for the safety of all depended on the
wreck being cleared away, and the brig got before the wind.

"Man the down-haul. Tend the staysail sheet. Let go the halyards.
Haul down," were the rapid words of command shouted by the master, as
the main-staysail was hauled down.

Again a heavy sea poured over the brig's bows, but as it passed aft,
with it went the remains of the fore-topmast, with all its tangled mass
of ropes and blocks. A moment of comparative calm succeeded, and the
men lay out on the fore-yard. The close-reefed foresail was set, the
stout sail threatening to blow bodily out of the bolt-ropes, as feebly
obeying her helm, the brig slowly righted, the sail filled, her bows
payed off from the wind, and the dismasted "Halcyon" flew before the
gale.

"This is indeed terrible," moaned Isabel, as, supported by her lover,
she took her way below, following four of the crew who bore the body of
her father to his cabin. Dom Maxara had been nearly dashed overboard as
the huge wave broke over the brig, throwing her on her beam ends.
Sorely bruised and shaken he had been unable to rise, and each
succeeding wave, as it swept the decks, had rolled him to and fro,
surging about among the broken timbers and tangled rigging.

Flash after flash of lightning, instantly followed by peals of thunder,
succeeding each other so closely as never to seem to die wholly away,
now followed, and all day long the hurricane continued to sweep the face
of the Indian Ocean, until, far as the eye could reach, the sea was one
boiling mass of foam.

The brig rolled awfully, and with four men at the wheel, yawed wildly.
The great thing in scudding is to keep the vessel going, with a velocity
superior to the following wave. If this be not effected, then she is
pooped, the seas overtaking and flooding her, whereas if she be not kept
dead before the wind, and continually met with the helm when yawing to
starboard or port, the scudding vessel broaches to, and down she goes at
once.

Towards evening the gale broke, the main-topsail was set closely reefed,
and the clank of the chain pumps was heard, in the stillness of the
night, telling their own tale. The haze cleared away, the wind
gradually fell, and with it the sea, but even yet the brig rolled
fearfully.