AT

YARN X.

T the time when the Russian was washed overboard, the gale had not long begun to blow, but it was a tearer, with a heavy sea running up at once out of the swell. The wave that broke aboard of us, carrying Oloff with it, had made a regular clean sweep of the Priscilla's deck from the waist forward, carrying off everything that was loose, and shipping a great deal of water down the hatches; at the same time nearly bringing her "by the lee," which would no doubt have finished her in the circumstances. With the confusion of the accident, and doing what I could to save the man, I was nigh hand too late to mind the helm in time; however, I ran and got it ground down, spoke by spoke, hard-a-starboard, lashed it there, then hurried to let go tack and sheet of our canvas, letting it fill, and shivering the clew of the storm staysail amidships. This luckily brought her with the wind abaft the beam again, when I met her with the helm.

Night was coming on, the gale growing, and the sea running higher; no good prospect, you will say, for all the crew that was left to the Priscilla.

Tweed and the bear, however, stuck all the closer to me, and with my help they still proved of no little use. We managed to drag down such tacks and sheets as were needful to put the ship in trim to it; the hand-winch also being serviceable as before for the purpose. The Priscilla was a very weatherly craft of herself, so that, lashing the helm amidship, I found I could count on her for her own steerage a minute or two at a time, when of course she gained two or three points either way, but did it pretty equally, till I got back to my place again. The sail she had aloft when taken by the gale was tolerably well balanced, some of it blowing to shreds at once, whilst the rest had to take its chance. Blowing from the west as it did, nothing could have been more in my favour, if only able to hold out; nor I cannot say but what the loss of Oloff, after a little time, went to ease my spirits. I got a tackle brought to bear on the wheel, to help the extra strain, wrapped myself up as comfortable as I could, and held at it. Now and then I dozed off, till the jerks of the spokes brought me up again; and with that the worst part of the night wore through.

When the day began to break, I must say the sight brought little comfort, being as wild a morning as you could wish to face. Over and over again I wanted myself back at the ice, no matter for how long; with the full swell of the Atlantic heaving us, now up to the blast, now along in the

trough half becalmed, every wave as if it were the only one. Betwixt the down-streak and the wrinkle aloft, you had to mind your helm in case she yawed and lost way; then there came a breathing time, and you were up in the gale, spray to the cat-head, swimming along-the old hooker shaking herself and taking the crest of the sea as if she understood it, for bare life. Every time you would have thought she made a mile more of her distance, the one wave handing her along to the other. You have no notion till you 've tried it, what company there lies in the very craft you're aboard of; the old Priscilla positively seemed to try her best, judging by the motion of her underfoot, from every creak of her frame below to the sway of her spars above, against the flying scud; consequently, after I had freshened myself up a bit, I did my best to give her justice with the helm. As to the wind, there were signs of its moderating, which helped to cheer us up. The wheel-house I had contrived, though rather damaged by the weather, had proved of no small advantage again, for I easily got some sort of an off-hand breakfast for myself, with the dog and Baker-the latter being always sulkier when hungry.

The masts had been got pretty well ataunto whilst in the floe, what with the help of the Huskies first, and the Russian thereafter; scarce a stick was the worse as yet for the night's squall, though the canvas had got into a sad mess. Accordingly,

the business was to clear it away where useless, and put more in its place. Something was wanted in the shape of a main-topsail, to lift her better over the swell of the sea, and this was feasible by dint of a little perseverance. I lugged out a strong new studding-sail from those on deck, bent it on lengthways by the four corners to proper gear, and giving the young bear the weight of it, ordered him aloft to the yard. Being accustomed that way, he served the turn so far; do what I could, however, there was no driving into his thick skull to pass a rope rightly, except a junk of pork was dangled before his snout. I had to come aloft myself to do the main part of the work, leaving Tweed to tend the wheel between times, with help of the relieving tackle I fitted on. She would actually slack off the fall of it, or tug it back again, according as I hailed her; and after that, when we got a little into trim, the ship could steer herself for minutes on end, by merely slacking up the sheets of the jib or the spanker a little, as might be required. By this means I had time to get the sail bent on the yard aloft, and fairly set, as good as a close-reefed maintopsail; which not only drove her ahead, but steadied the roll.

You may be sure that when aloft I looked out anxiously for anything like sight of a sail on the horizon. From the latitudes we were in, there was every reason to count on the chance of this, and so long as the day brightened up, I did not give up

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hopes to that effect. However, to my no small dismay, the improvement of the weather lasted but for a time, being little better than a lull; and, what was worse, the wind shifted round, threatening to blow from an opposite quarter, dead ahead of our course. In fact, noon had scarce passed before I saw it was time to make ready for another gale, as hard as ever at the least, from a north-easterly direction. The first point was to secure the hatches and batten down everything close. This I took care to do; then to the best of my ability, stowed everything that was loose aloft, lashed fast the jib forward, brailed in the spanker aft to a mere show, and trusted to the storm stay-sail and square-sail aloft. Very little help I had, except from the handwinch and tackle, for poor Tweed was in no condition to do much, and as to Baker, the longer I used him the less I got out of him. He did not at all like coming down and going aloft again, even on the show of fresh grub; then, again, he had begun to care for threats still less, the brute being cunning enough to understand the difference betwixt Oloff and me, if not between a red-pointed stick and the hot poker. At last he regularly struck work at sight of the spray to windward, and stowed himself safe under the bulwarks.

Before the force of the gale came on again, I had two plans to choose upon; either to bear up and run before it, no matter where, or else to try and lay the ship to the wind when it came. Better