"We'll catch the but-end of a gulf sneezer soon. Tell the boys to
bear a hand with them sails. We must get her snug, and stand by to
lay her under a double-reefed maintop-sail and jib, with her head to
the northward and eastward. We may make a clear drift--chance if it
lasts long," said Skipper Thompson, as he stood surveying the
horizon and his craft. Scarcely had he given the orders before the
storm burst upon them with all its fury. Its suddenness can only be
appreciated by those who have sailed in the West India passages,
where the sudden shocks of the short-chopping sea acts with a
tremendous strain upon the hull of a heavy-laden vessel. The captain
ran to the windward gangway, hurrying his men in the discharge of
their duty, and giving another order to clew up the coursers and
foretop-sail. Just as the men had executed the first, and were about
to pull on the clew-lines of the latter, a sudden gust took effect
upon the bag of the sail and carried it clean from the bolt-ropes.
The halyards were lowered and the yards properly braced up, while
the Janson was brought to under the canvas we have before described.
In a few minutes more the wind had increased to a gale, and, as the
sailors say, several times the old craft "wouldn't look at it."
Several times we had to put her helm up, and as many times she
shipped those forcing cross seas which drive every thing before
them, and sweep the decks.
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