The black-fish instantly emitted a sort of hollow muffled roar; and, sending up a fountain of watery spray mixed with blood from its spout- holes, splashed the sea violently with its formidable flukes, after which it rolled over, rocking from side to side in its last dying flurry or death agony.

"I guess he's a gone coon!" said the American, hitching up his trousers again and turning over the quid of tobacco in his mouth. "It seems a terrible pity to waste him though. There's a powerful sight of blubber in that air animile!" and the speaker appeared to gaze sadly at the carcase of the conquered cetacean as it floated by.

"It's all over," said Mr Meldrum, turning from the now pitiful spectacle with disgust. "Come away, girls!" But Kate had long since left the scene, the sight not having been of a nature to suit her tender heart; and, she was now far away aft with Frank Harness, sitting in a secluded corner of the poop, where she could see nothing of the sanguinary ending of the contest. Florry, on the contrary, had remained to the last, as well as Mrs Major Negus—who, it may be observed, had watched the struggle from its commencement to its close with almost as much interest as her enthusiastic son and heir; and Mr Meldrum had much difficulty in tearing the little girl away from her rapt contemplation of the dead whale.

"Stop a minute, papa," she urged when he took hold of her arm to draw her from the rail. "Do look! they have all left him now they have killed him. I wonder what they quarrelled about?"

"Sure, an' just for the same rayson, missy, that Christians hate sich other," said Mr McCarthy, "just for no cause at all, but bekaze they can't help it, alannah! And now that the little divils have kilt him, sure they've swum off and left the poor crathur to die, just the same as some ov us does to sich other, more's the pity, by the same token!"

It was true enough.

The thresher and his active allies had all at once disappeared, how, when, or where, none of those looking on could tell; the lifeless body of the black-fish only remaining in evidence of the battle that had taken place.

There it was, floating sluggishly on the heavy rolling swell of the ocean, in solitary grandeur; for the dolphins and "Portuguese men-of- war" that had been seen earlier in the afternoon had taken themselves off as soon as the light began—evidently preferring calmer scenes and not relishing the proximity of such inveterate enemies of their several species as the late combatants.



CHAPTER SEVEN.

FIRE!

The calm continued for four days, during which time not a breath of wind came from any point of the compass to waft the ship on her way; although, of course, she could not help drifting a few miles every twenty-four hours southwards, under the influence of the great equatorial current.

However, if there was no wind, there was no lack of novelty to those of the passengers who had never been to sea before; for, from their being now within the tropical region, the ocean around, albeit so still and glassy, seemed to swarm with life. Thousands of flying-fish were to be seen fluttering on either side of the vessel, while skipjacks and bonetas also showed themselves occasionally; and the dreaded shark, with his close attendant and valet the pilot-fish, was not an absentee, for he was continually cruising about astern on the constant look-out.

"How funny those flying-fish look!" said Florry Meldrum, watching a shoal of them that rose from the water just like a covey of white larks, and which, after skimming past the Nancy Bell, again settled in the sea, quite tired out with their short flight.

"You should see them nearer," said Frank Harness, who was between the two girls, looking out over the gangway aft—"and then you would call them funnier. Ah! here is one," he added, catching one of the little fluttering creatures that had become entangled in the mizzen rigging; "you see, it doesn't have wings as you think, but only a membrane between its fins, just like what a bat has."

"Yes," said I "I see. It is curious, though, that they should look so white at a distance, when their backs are dark and blueish, like a mackerel!"

"Ah! that is because the under part of their wings is only then visible. Look, now, at that lot there that have just risen to escape the boneta. They seem exactly like a fall of snowflakes!"

"Poor things!" said Kate. "The boneta seems to be their inveterate enemy, or rather consumer, as he appears to be in good condition on the diet. It's a pity, though, that he's such a glutton; for he's a nice- looking fish, all purple and gold, and he oughtn't to be so cruel!"

"Oh! he's not the only enemy of the flying-fish, Miss Meldrum," answered Frank; "you should see the albatross after them down near the Cape. The bird hunts them as soon as they rise in the air, and the boneta when they're in the water; so, between the two, they have little chance of escape—just like the fight, the other day, between the black-fish on the one side and the thresher and sword-fish on the other."

"Ah!" exclaimed Kate with a shiver, "I couldn't look at that long! The boneta hunt the flying-fish in a fairer way, and they do look so pretty when they jump out of the water! How disappointed the boneta must then feel when they see them take unto themselves wings and fly away?"

"They needn't be disappointed long," said Frank Harness, laughing, "for, they must know that they're bound to catch them up in the long run. But, look at that cloud there, Miss Meldrum, slowly creeping up the sky. 'I guess,' as our American friend says, that we're going to have some rain."

"Do you think so?" she answered, smiling at Frank's rather good imitation of Mr Lathrope's nasal intonation of voice; "I thought it looked too bright for that."

"We'll have it soon; just you see," said Frank.

"All right, Mr Positive, I suppose we must bow to your superior nautical skill."

"Oh, Miss Meldrum, don't laugh at me, if I am only a poor sailor," said he reproachfully; "you always seem to taunt me with my profession!"

"I!" exclaimed Kate in surprise. "Why, I would not make fun of you, or hurt your feelings, for the world!"

Frank seized her hand and pressed it, as if he were about to say something in response; but, just at that moment, the rain, without offering the apology of a warning drop or two to give notice of its approach, came down in a perfect deluge, making them rush for shelter beneath the poop awning.

This was just after lunch, early in the afternoon; and the rain lasted until the dinner-bell sounded, coming down in regular sheets of water, as if emptied out suddenly from some enormous reservoir above.

All sorts of tubs, buckets, kegs, and open casks, including the scuttle butt, were ranged along the spar-deck, below the break of the poop, to catch the welcome shower, tarpaulins being spread over the open hatchways, where exposed, to prevent the flood from going below: while the ends of the after awning were tied up in a sort of huge bag for the rain to drain off into it, so that none of it might be wasted—the canvas being let down, when the receptacle was pretty full, to empty the contents into the water-puncheons—for the pure liquid was a precious godsend, being an agreeable relief to the brackish supply which the ship carried in her tanks.

As might have been imagined, Master Negus and Miss Florry watched all these operations with the greatest interest, for they would have been only too glad if their respective guardians had allowed them to take a more active part in the watery campaign than that of merely looking on.

Mr Zachariah Lathrope, however, was his own master, and he made himself very busy amongst the dripping sailors, who were hopping about on the wet decks as if enjoying their ducking, much amusement being caused when Mr McCarthy, for a joke, let the leach of the awning once go by the run, when, the American passenger being off his guard, some hundred gallons of water came down on him, giving the worthy gentleman an impromptu shower-bath.

It was grand fun while the rain lasted, all the men folk paddling about in it to their hearts' content and ducking each other when they had the chance; while the ladies observed the sports from the shelter of the poop, seeming to take equally as much pleasure in the skylarking. It was amazing, too, to notice the amount of dirt and rubbish which the downpour washed away into the scuppers. What with the continual swilling and scrubbing and swabbing that the decks underwent every morning, it ought to have been an impossibility for any dust or debris to exist; but, there it was, to prove the contrary—the rain "exposing the weakness of the land," and making a clean sweep of everything that was dirty which lay about in the odd corners fore and aft the ship.

The day after the rain, just when all on board—sick of the calm, the listless monotonous roll of the ship, the flapping of the idle sails against the masts, and the sight of the same cloudless sky and endless expanse of tumid sea, with surface unbroken by the tiniest ripple, save when a dolphin leaped out of the water or a fairy nautilus glided by in his frail shell craft—were longing for the advent of the north-east trades, which Captain Dinks had expected them to "run into" ever since they lost their first favourable wind, there came a visitor to the Nancy Bell, the most dreaded of all the perils of the deep—Fire!

Eight bells had just been struck in the morning watch; and the passengers were just preparing for breakfast—that is, such as were late risers, like Mrs Major Negus and Mr Lathrope, neither of whom turned out earlier than was necessary. Those who knew what was the healthiest plan, like Mr Meldrum and his daughters, had been up and out more than an hour before, walking up and down the poop and getting up a vigorous appetite for the first meal of the day.

The captain had not long come up the companion; and, after looking aloft and to the northward, scanning the horizon around, had stepped up to the binnacle, where he stood contemplating the compass hopelessly, as if he had given up all idea of the wind coming, while the hands of the watch on duty were listlessly idling about the waist of the ship, dead weary of having nothing to do.

The cook, apparently, was the only really busy person on board at the time, for he could be seen popping in and out of his galley forwards, handing dishes to Llewellyn, the steward, to bring aft for the cuddy table. The darkey seemed bathed in perspiration, and looked as if he found cooking hot work in latitudes under the constellation of the Crab, whither the vessel had drifted.

All at once, however, a change came over the scene.

As the steward was passing the main hatch in his second journey aft to the saloon, he noticed a thin column of smoke ascending from the main hold, where the principal portion of the cargo was stowed. Like a fool, although it might have been pleaded for him that he was constitutionally nervous, he let fall the dishes he was carrying on a tray, in his fright at the sight of this evidence of a conflagration below, instead of going quietly up to the captain and telling him what he had seen; and, to make matters worse, he called out at the same time in terrified accents, as loud as he could bawl—"Fire! fire! the ship's on fire!"

Had a thunderbolt burst on board, or had the vessel struck on a rock in the middle of the ocean, the alarm that was instantly spread on board could not have been greater; and where all had been listless inactivity but a moment before, was now all life, motion, and excitement.

"A fire! whar?" exclaimed Mr Zachariah Lathrope poking his head out of the companion-way, judiciously concealing the remainder of his lanky person, as he had not yet quite finished his toilet. "Snakes and alligators, Cap'en, but I'm terrible skeart at fires! I hope it ain't up to much chucks?"

"Oh, no!" said Captain Dinks, reassuringly, expressing what he wished more than what he felt. He had remained aft in order to somewhat allay the alarm which the outcry of the steward had excited; but he was itching to get to the scene of action himself, although he had sent Mr McCarthy there already, besides ordering the crew to their respective stations, and having the hose-pump manned.—"Oh, no, nothing at all, only one of that ass, Llewellyn's, happy discoveries, another sort of ghost in the cabin! Here, Harness," he added aside to Frank, who had just come up from below, dropping his voice to a whisper. "Just stop on the poop a minute, and keep these people quiet. I must go down to the hold myself to look after matters; don't say anything more than you can help."

So saying, the captain scuttled down the poop ladder on to the spar-deck in a jiffey, and in another second he was descending the main hatch, whence the smoke could be now clearly seen, coming up in clouds.

Mrs Major Negus's voice was also heard at this juncture. The good lady had ascended the companion behind the American, who still remained at the spot where he had first made his appearance, and was just then adjusting his braces; and almost at the same instant that her dulcet accents reached the ears of those on deck she burst upon them, as it were by storm, carrying Mr Lathrope along with her, still en deshabille, it is true, as regarded his coat and waistcoat, but fortunately now with his trousers, or as he called them "pants," properly arranged.

"Goodness gracious, man!" she exclaimed frantically—"do get out of the way. Lord a mercy! where's the fire? Oh dear, oh my! We shall all be burnt alive? Maurice, my darling boy! come to your mother's arms and let us die together. Maurice! Where's my boy?"

"You'd better stop that screechin' and say your prayers, marm," said Mr Zachariah Lathrope, sententiously. "The b'y is all right below, sleepin' in the corner of the sofy, and I'd advise you to go and rouse him up, instead of rushing up har like a mad bull in fly time, a knocking folks down and hollerin'."

Mrs Major Negus took his advice; for, without withering up the American with her scorn, as she would probably have done another time, she at once rushed back below to the cuddy as quickly as she had come up, to wake up Maurice; while Kate Meldrum, seizing the opportunity which the diversion afforded, sidled up to Frank Harness unperceived.

"Is there any danger really?" she asked the young sailor in a low tone, so that no one else could hear; and her face was pale, but composed and resolute, as she looked into his.

"Could you bear to be told the truth?" said he hesitatingly.

"I could," she replied; and he saw that she meant it.

"Well, there certainly is danger, although it is best not to alarm everybody, for when people get frightened they interfere and hinder what is being done to save them. I wouldn't like to tell the crew, Miss Meldrum, what I tell you; but I know you are brave, and see that you can bear to be told the truth. A lot of woollen goods are on fire in the main hold, and must, from the extent of the area already consumed, have been smouldering for days. We are doing all that men can do to quench it, and we may succeed, as there is no wind and nothing to fan the flames; but the only thing that hinders us is our being unable to get to the seat of the mischief, which is in the very centre of the cargo. However, the men are now breaking in the deck above, and as soon as we are able to get the end of the hose down and pass buckets, all may be well. Keep a good heart, Miss Meldrum, there's no absolute danger yet; when there is I will tell you. So, please, prevent that 'Mrs Major' from going into hysterics!"

"I will, for I trust you," said Kate with a somewhat sad smile on her pale face. "Here, Florry, come below away from the smoke and sparks; Mr Harness says the fire will soon be out and that there is no danger, and I don't want you to spoil your new frock!"

So courageously speaking, the brave girl then went below with her sister; and by her presence and example assuaged "the Major's" fears, thus preventing that lady from going back on deck and spreading consternation amongst the crew by her cries, as would otherwise have been the case. Mr Zachariah Lathrope, too, came down to the cuddy, attracted by the smell of breakfast, which the captain had directed the steward to go on getting as if nothing had happened—thus to punish the poltroon in a sort of way for his cowardly alarm; hence, the coast was left clear for the officers and men to put out the fire without being flurried by the fears and importunities of the passengers.

Meanwhile, Captain Dinks with Mr Meldrum, who was the first to volunteer—their efforts well supported by the exertions of McCarthy and the second mate and Frank Harness—were working like Britons in the Nancy Bell's hold.

The fire had broken out, as Frank had stated, almost in the centre of the ship; for two bulkheads had to be battered down and the main deck cut through, before the source of it could be reached. However, by dint of arduously plying the axe and crowbar, an opening was at length made whence the fire could be got at. Flames immediately burst forth the moment air was admitted into the hold, but these were pressed down with wet blankets, and, the fire-hose being carried down and the pumps manned by the watch on deck, a copious stream of water was directed throughout that portion of the ship where all the light woollen and textile goods were stowed. The hose, too, was supplemented by a continuous relay of buckets full of water passed rapidly along the lower deck and down the hatchway by the starboard watch—whose turn it was below, but whom the alarm of fire had caused to rouse out again to duty—so that in half an hour from the discovery of the outbreak all danger was over and the last spark quenched.

"Thank God!" said Kate Meldrum, with heart-felt earnestness, her lovely eyes full of tears as she looked up into Frank's face when he came to tell her the news. "I thought all hope was gone, you were so long in coming!"

"But were you not certain I would come?" asked Frank anxiously.

"Yes, I had confidence in your promise."

"Thank you," was all he replied; but his look spoke volumes.

At the same time another mutual "confidence game" was being played in a different part of the ship; but in this the understanding was between Mr Meldrum and Ben Boltrope, the ship's carpenter and ex-man-o'-war's- man.

"Aye, aye, sir," said the latter when the two were parting on the main deck after the termination of their labours in the lower hold. "I recognised your honour the moment you came on deck that morning of the storm in the Bay of Biscay. I couldn't mistake the cut of your honour's jib, sir, begging your pardon."

"Well, I'm sure I did not recognise you, or you may be sure I would have spoken to you. Still, you need not blurt out my identity to everybody, you know."

"Sartinly not, your honour. I'll keep mum, sir, never you fear, though I don't forget the old—"

"Stop," said Mr Meldrum, changing the subject. "I've no doubt all hands are pretty dry after all the heat we've been in down below, so, with the captain's permission, I'll send something forward for them to splice the main brace with."

"Aye, aye, your honour," replied Ben; "a nod's as good as a wink to a blind horse."

And the two parted, the one going forward to the forecastle and the other aft into the saloon.



CHAPTER EIGHT.

AN OCEAN WAIF.

"Wa-al, Cap," said Mr Lathrope after dinner that day, when he was sipping his coffee on top of the skylight, which he had selected for his favourite seat when on the poop, the "location," as he expressed it, having the advantage of possessing plenty of "stowage room" for his long legs—"I guess we've had a long spell o' calms, and a tarnation slitheration of a del-uge, 'sides being now a'most chawed up by a fire; so I kalkerlate its 'bout time we hed sunthen' of a breeze. Thunder, mister, it's kinder gettin' played out, I reckon, knocking about in these air latitoods, without nary going ahead even once in a blue moon!"

"Oh, the wind isn't far off now," replied Captain Dinks, "you see those porpoises there, passing us now and playing astern? Well, they are a certain sign of a breeze soon coming from the quarter towards which they're swimming."

"Wa-al, I dew hope so," drawled the American, with a sigh and a yawn of weariness, "guess I shall snooze till it comes;" and he proceeded to carry his thought into execution.

Captain Dinks turned out a true prophet.

A little later on in the day a breeze sprang up, that subsequently developed into the long-wished-for south-east trade-wind, thus enabling the good ship to bid adieu to the Doldrums and cross the equator, which feat she accomplished two days after the fire.

From the line—which Master Negus was able to see distinctly with the aid of one of Mr McCarthy's fine red hairs neatly adjusted across the object-glass of his telescope—the ship had a splendid run over to the South American coast, following the usual western course adopted by vessels going round the Cape of Good Hope, in order to have the advantage afterwards of the westerly winds and get well to the south; and, when she had reached the thirty-fourth parallel of longitude and latitude 18 degrees 22 minutes south—that is, about midway between Bahia and Rio Janeiro, her head was turned to the south-east with light winds from the northward and eastward, and she began to make way towards the "Cape of Storms," after getting to the southward of which she would have a straight run due east to New Zealand.

The Nancy Bell's bows, however, were not long pointed in the direction of the rising sun, when another incident occurred to vary the monotony of the voyage—although, fortunately, this time not a second fire, nor any peril from the sea to those on board.

It was the second day of her south-easterly course; and from the wind blowing fresh from the north-east, right on her port quarter, with fine bright weather, the ship was running pretty free, all sail being set, at the rate of over twelve knots an hour, leaving a wake behind her like a mill-race.

"Arrah, sure, and I call, that goin'!" exclaimed the first mate exultantly, as he walked up and down the poop quickly—just as if his doing so helped the vessel along, in the same way as one sees the coxswain of a boat bending backwards and forwards to keep time with the rowers!

"Yes, like one o'clock!" chimed in Captain Dinks, showing an equal enthusiasm. "The old girl is walking away with us at a fine rate, McCarthy. I wouldn't be surprised if we logged three hundred by noon."

"And fifty more tacked on it, sorr," said the mate. "Why, we've done twelve knots ivry hour of my watch; and Adams tould me she wor running the same at eight bells. By the piper that played before Moses, it's a beauty she is—she'd bate aisy the fastest tay clipper from Shanghai!"

"Aye, that she would!" chorused the captain. "What do you think of the ship now, Miss Kate?" he added to that young lady, who was leaning against the bulwarks to leeward, looking out over the sea. She was all alone with her thoughts, Frank Harness being away forwards attending to the cutting out of a new main-topgallant sail to replace the one they had lost in the storm, the one they were now using being old and unable to stand any further rough usage.—"You are not ashamed of the old Nancy, now, eh?"

"Oh no, Captain Dinks," answered Kate, "I never was, even in her worst moments when we were becalmed; and I'm sure I couldn't be now, when she is sailing along so beautifully; but, what is that speck out there, captain, away to the right—is it a bird, or what?"

"Eh, my dear?" said the skipper, looking in the direction the girl had pointed—"a bird? no, by Jove, it looks like a sail of a boat well down on the horizon. Here, McCarthy, hand me your glass."

Captain Dinks seemed even more excited than he had been a moment before when he spoke of the vessel's progress; for, taking the telescope that the mate handed him, he scrutinised eagerly the object Kate had noticed.

"Good heavens, it is a boat!" he exclaimed presently, "and I think I can see a man in the stern-sheets, though I'm not quite sure: at all events, I'll run down and overhaul it, for it would never do to abandon a poor fellow in distress; no English sailor would think of such a thing! This is all your doing, Miss Kate, you and your pretty eyes, which have the best sight of any on board. We'll have to put the ship about, McCarthy," he added to the mate; "we can't fetch that boat on this tack."

"Hands 'bout ship!" roared the mate, in response to the captain's implied wish; and, immediately, there was much running to and fro on the decks, and a yelling out of orders and hoarse "aye ayes" in reply—a striking difference to the quiet that had reigned a moment or two before, when the ship was slipping along through the water with the wind on her quarter, never a sail having to be shifted or a rope pulled, and only the man at the wheel for the time being having anything to do out of the thirty odd hands on board.

"Helm's a lee!" cried the captain, and the head-sheets were let go; "raise tacks and sheets!" and the fore-tacks and main sheets were cast off; while the weather crossjack braces and the lee main braces were belayed, ready to be let go at a moment's notice, and the opposite braces hauled taut. "Mainsail haul!" then sang out the captain when these preparations were completed; when the braces being let go, the yards swung round like a top. The after yards were subsequently braced up and belayed, the main sheet hauled aft, the spanker eased over to leeward, and the watch stood by the head braces.

"Let go and haul!" was the next word of command; upon which the weather fore-braces were let go and those to leeward hauled in by the men forward under the personal supervision of Mr McCarthy, after which the men boarded the fore-tack and hauled down the jib-sheet, clapping a tackle on it as it blew fresh; and the Nancy Bell, braced round on the starboard tack and with the wind a little more aft than when she was running eastwards just now, stood towards the boat that Kate had been the first to perceive, drifting a bout upon the wild ocean so far away from land.

At this juncture, Frank Harness sprang up into the fore cross-trees to con the ship, by Captain Dink's directions; and presently his orders to the steersman could be heard ringing out clear and distinct above the creaking of the cordage and the wash of the sea alongside—those on the poop, listening to all they could hear with intense eagerness, and waiting for the moment when they could see for themselves the object of the ship's quest.

"Keep her up a bit—steady!"

"Aye, aye, sir; steady it is!"

"Port!"

"Port it is!"

"Steady!"

"Steady it is!"

"Luff!"

"Aye, aye, sir!"

"Keep her so!"

"There is a man in her, sir!" Frank now called out in a different tone of voice; "I can see him distinctly! He is trying to wave a handkerchief or something. He looks almost dead, poor fellow!"

The excitement on board at hearing this piece of news became all the more intensified.

"Are we nearing him?" shouted out Captain Dinks.

"Oh yes, sir; the boat bears now broad on the weather beam. Keep her steady as she is, and we can round-to close alongside. Look out, we're getting pretty close now!"

"Look out forward there!" cried the captain: but several hands were there already with the first mate at their head, a coil of rope in his hand, on the watch to heave it over the boat as soon as she was approached near enough.

"Time to come about, sir," hailed Frank from the cross-trees; and, "Hands 'bout ship!" roared out Captain Dinks, almost in the same breath.

During the bustle that ensued, those on the poop could not see what was going on forward; but when the Nancy Bell paid off again from the wind on the port tack—thus resuming again what had been her previous course before the boat had been sighted—it was found that the object for which they had gone out of their way was safely alongside.

It was a shocking sight!

Four dead bodies were stretched, in every conceivable attitude of agony, across the thwarts and in the bottom of the boat, which from its shape had evidently belonged to some whaling vessel; while, sitting up in the stern-sheets, close to the helm, which his feeble hands were powerless to grasp, was the living skeleton of another sailor, whose eyes seemed starting out from their deep sockets and whose lips appeared feebly endeavouring to shape the syllables of "wa-ter!"

In a second, Mr McCarthy had leaped down into the floating coffin as it towed alongside; and, lifting the body of the solitary survivor from amidst the corpses of his dead comrades, handed the light load—for the poor, starved creature did not weigh more than a child of ten, although a man of over six feet in height—up to hands that as carefully received him; and then, leaping back again on board himself, the whale-boat was scuttled by a plank being knocked out of her bottom and cut adrift, to sink with her mortal freight into the common grave of those who die on the deep, the stench from the remains being horrible and permeating the whole ship while the boat was in contact with her.

The rescued sailor was placed in a cot and given at first a small quantity of thin soup which Snowball was busily concocting for the cabin dinner, and after that, nourishment at intervals. By these restorative measures, in a day or two, he recovered sufficiently to be able to tell who he was and how he came to be in such a sad plight.

He was a Norwegian sailor, he said, and belonged to an American whaler which had been on her voyage home after a three years' whaling cruise in the South Pacific. On rounding Cape Horn, they had encountered a fearful storm which had nearly dismasted the ship and washed the master and five hands overboard. He and four others had launched the only boat they had left over the side, trying to pick up their shipmates; but, the sea was too heavy for them, and when they endeavoured to return, they found they could not fetch their vessel again, which perhaps was just as well, for soon afterwards they saw her go down stern foremost. After that, they ran before the wind for several days and nights—how long he could not tell—until his four comrades had died from exhaustion, and he himself, he believed, was just on the point of giving up his life when providence sent the Nancy Bell to succour him.

"Ach der goot Gott!" said the man in his half German, half English way, speaking brokenly and with tears in his eyes. "Der lieber Gott! I shall nevare vergersen sie nevare!"

They had had, he said, a breaker of water in the boat when they quitted the whaler, but this was soon drunk out, and although they had occasionally something to eat, catching several fish, they suffered terribly from thirst. It was that which had killed his comrades mainly. As for him, he bore it better than them, but it must have been eight days since a drop of liquid had passed his lips.

"Golly, dat am bad," said Snowball in the galley that evening, when some of the hands gathered round the caboose to have a comfortable pipe and talk over the events of the day. "Dat orful bad, eight day widout grub or liquor! dis niggah not able 'tomach dat for sure!"

"Lor', Snowball, that's nothing when you are used to it," said Ben Boltrope, the man-o'-war's-man, who was pretty well king of the forecastle by reason of his service in the navy and general smartness as a seaman. "What is eight days in a boat without grub, when you've got to go ten, as I've done, besides wandering about on a sandy shore after swimming for a day and night to save my life? Why, that's nothing!"

"Goramighty, Massa Boltrope, you no swim ten day widout habin' notin' to eat, nor no water, hey?" said Snowball in astonishment.

"No, you blessed donkey, I didn't say that," replied the worthy Jack tar. "I said as how I had gone without grub or water for ten days after swimming for more than twelve hours."

"Dat berry rum for sure," said the darkey—"don't know how to belieb dat, no how!"



CHAPTER NINE.

THE CAPE OF STORMS.

The steady nor'-east wind that was driving the good ship so gallantly on her way when Captain Dinks put her about in order to rescue the Norwegian sailor, continued for days, accompanied by such magnificent weather, that the Nancy Bell was enabled to make very rapid progress down to those lower parallels it was necessary for her to reach before she could stretch forward, in a straight line eastward towards her port of destination.

"I guess, Cap," said Mr Zachariah Lathrope, noticing the quick change of temperature in the air, day by day, as they left the tropics behind— the mornings and evenings becoming gradually colder—"she air making as straight tracks fur the south as them northern carpet-baggers did after our little onpleasantness, what you folks called the civil war in the States; when they used to rush down from Washington arter postmasterships and other sich like offices, which wer to be hed, they kinder thought, fur the asking! She air goin' slick, and that's a fact!"

"Yes," replied the worthy captain, whose face beamed with good humour and satisfaction at the splendid run the vessel was making; "we are going ahead, working down our southing, and will soon be able to steer for New Zealand. She does walk along, and no mistake!" And then he would look aloft, perhaps, and give an order for a brace to be tautened here, or a sheet slackened there—the hours thus flying by in halcyon moments, as far as the wind and sea, and the course of the ship, and all on board were concerned—collectively and individually.

The nights in these southern latitudes were simply beautiful beyond compare.

The moon had no sooner died out than she revived again, as if gifted with perpetual youth—not an evening passing without her presence, sooner or later, on the scene—and appeared, too, to have more dignity of position and greater size than in the frigid north, ascending right up to the very zenith, instead of merely skirting the heavens, as she sometimes does here, and shining down from thence like a midnight sun in radiant splendour. The Scorpion, also, amongst the various constellations, was similarly promoted, occupying a place nearer the centre of the firmament; while the Southern Cross, quite a new acquaintance, followed by Castor and Pollux, began to descend towards the sea, becoming more diagonal as the days drew on than when originally observed, and finally vanishing from view head foremost.

As for the North Star, it had long since entirely disappeared; and only the horses in Charles' Wain yet remained above the horizon towards that point of the compass.

To Kate Meldrum's eyes, the sunsets were especially grand; for, as soon as the time came for the glorious orb of day to sink to rest in the golden west, a series of light amber-tinted clouds would arrange themselves all round the horizon, as if with a studied pictorial effect, like the stage grouping in what theatrical people term "a set piece;" and then, by degrees, these clouds would become tinged with the loveliest kaleidoscopic colours, all vividly bright—while the far-off heaven that lay between them was of the purest palest rose-hued gold, and the sky immediately above of a faint, ethereal, blueish, transparent green.

In the daytime, especially as the ship drew nearer to the meridian of the Cape, there was more life in, on, and about the ocean; and on passing the Island of Tristan da Cunha, which the Nancy Bell sailed by some three hundred miles to the northward, Master Maurice Negus was greeted with the sight of a sperm-whale.

This fellow was much smaller than the black-fish which had come to such an untimely end when assailed by the thresher, being scarcely longer than thirty-two feet. Maurice was especially credited with the cetacean's discovery, because, when he noticed the spout of spray the animal threw up from his blow-holes in the distance, he surprised everybody by calling out that he could see one of the Crystal Palace fountains—getting much laughed at, as might have been expected, for the naive announcement.

As those on board watched, they could see the whale every now and then heave himself out of the water, half the length of his long dark body, and fall "flop" down again, with a concussion that sent up the water around him in white surf, like breakers. After this little diversion, he amused himself with swimming backwards and forwards past the ship, as if just showing what he could do, at a great rate; exposing only a thin streak of his back and the fin and tail, but making the sea boil up as if a plough were going through it, and leaving a wake behind him like that of a paddle-wheel steamer—finally starting off suddenly due north, as if he had all at once recollected an appointment in that direction, when he soon disappeared from sight.

The flying-fish and dolphins, bonetas and sharks, like the "Portuguese men-of-war," were long since all left behind; but their places were taken by the albatross, the Cape pigeon, the shearwater, and a sea-bird called the "parson," dozens of which flew about the ship every day.

The shearwater was a larger species of tern, or sea-swallow; the "parson," so called for his sombre appearance and sedate manner, was a kind of sable gull about the size of an English crow. His colour, however, was not black, but a dusky brownish black, as if the reverend gentleman's coat had got rusty from wear. These birds had a very odd, "undertakerish" air about them, which amused Maurice and Florry very much, and some having venerable white heads, which appeared as if powdered with flour, like a footman's for a party, were so much more eccentric looking, that even the grave Mrs Major Negus could not help smiling at their appearance and queer ways.

"Do look, papa!" exclaimed Kate—who during the voyage would at one time be in the highest spirits, and the next pensive, as if occupied by a world of thought—"I declare if that one isn't the very image of Mr Trotter, our curate at Allington! He has the same little tuft of hair on top on his head; and, besides, he has the identical same way of popping it on one side when he used to speak, and staring at you with his little round eyes. Is he not like Mr Trotter, father?" and she pointed out one especially jaunty little "parson" to his notice.

"Well, there is a little resemblance, certainly," said Mr Meldrum, joining in Florry's laughter at the remark. "I don't suppose, though, my dear, we'll ever see poor Mr Trotter or Allington again."

"Dear old Allington!" murmured Kate with a sigh; and, in a moment, her memory flew back to the past, with all its sad associations.

The Cape pigeons were the prettiest of all the birds that visited the ship, being very like the common wood pigeon in the shape of their head and bill, but having webbed feet to suit their aquatic habits. They were much plumper, too, than either the shearwaters or parsons—which latter, by the way, unlike the fat cleric of popular opinion, were of very slender and delicate proportions.

In the matter of plumage, the Cape pigeons were white and downy, with the head and wings striped with brown like butterflies, a large species of which they strongly resembled when flying away from the ship, with their pinions spread.

But, of all the birds they saw, the albatross was the most wonderful to observe. Not much larger than a goose in the size of its body, it had enormous thin-edged wings, that enabled it to float about in the air, at will apparently, without any perceptible motion, for hours at a stretch. It seemed to direct its course by the slightest possible turning of its body, so as to alter the inclination of its wings, which, extending out straight and firm, bore the bird up or down, or away many miles off in a second of time, in the most surprising manner.

The albatross floats, or skims along the air, but does not fly according to our ideas, although it has an extraordinary power of launching itself from enormous heights down to the level of the sea with the velocity of lightning.

"Just like a white-winged messenger of light," as Kate Meldrum observed in the hearing of Captain Dinks, "sent out from the angelic host above on some divine mission to suffering humanity below!"

"Ah; that sounds very pretty, missy," said the captain; "but the albatross' mission happens to be fish; and I fancy that spoils the sentiment a bit!"

Eighteen days after passing the line, some seven weeks from her start, the Nancy Bell crossed the meridian of Greenwich, or longitude zero— at which precise time her position could not be said to be either east or west—in latitude 38 degrees south, a couple of degrees below the Cape; and the wind, which had kept steadily from the north-east and northward ever since the South American coast had been left astern, now got well round to the south-west, enabling every stitch of canvas to draw, from the spanker to the flying jib. Seeing this Captain Dinks caused the upper yards to be squared a bit and the main and fore top- gallant studding-sails set, thus helping the vessel on her way.

This sort of weather lasted for five days, the ship being steered east by south, meeting the sun and losing an hour a day by the chronometer and going twelve knots each hour out of the twenty-four; when on reaching the longitude of the Cape "a change came o'er the spirit" of the Nancy Bell's "dream."

The wind shifted suddenly from the south-west to the north-east; and the heavy rolling sea, peculiar to the Southern Ocean, set in, accompanied by showers of rain, and hail, and snow. Soon, sail had to be reduced, and the ship, with all her gay canvas stripped off her, had as much as she could do to stagger along under reefed topsails and foresail, the mizzen staysail being set to give her more power aft, her steering becoming very wild after a bit although two men were at the helm.

From merely looking squally, the clouds gathering on the horizon grew thicker and thicker, till they got as black as ink. The sea, also, darkened to a dark leaden hue, and the swell increased so rapidly in height that when the vessel sank down into the intermediate valley not a glimpse could be obtained of anything beyond the watery mountains on either side.

"I guess we're going to have it pretty rough, Cap, eh," said the American to Captain Dinks; "it looks all-powerful squally, it dew!"

"You're right," said the captain. "We're now in the vicinity of the Cape of Storms, and we've got to look out."

So saying, Captain Dinks showed his determination of "looking out," by having all the lighter spars of the ship sent down from aloft, besides causing everything to be made secure on deck and below for the expected storm.

Not long after the Nancy Bell was made snug the tempest burst upon her. The high, smooth rolling waves were torn and wrenched asunder, as it were; and their summits wreathed into masses of foam, which curled over as they advanced against the wind, and, breaking away in fragments, blew off in masses of snowy whiteness to leeward. The ship was meeting this swell nearly head on; and as the rollers caught her fairly on the bows she struck them with a sound as heavy as that with which the weight falls in a pile-driving machine, taking in some of the sea over the forecastle and carrying it aft as far as the break of the poop—washing about everything in its course until the water finally found vent from the deck through the scuppers.

One of these waves—a regular mountain of a sea, the water all green, and standing up like a huge pellucid wall before it toppled over—coming in over the bows, made a clean sweep of all that was movable lying forward of the mainmast, carrying over the side all the hen-coops, sheep-pen, water casks, as well as spare spars that had been stowed along the deck, nothing being left to show that they had ever been there! Even Snowball's galley was upset and rolled about in the waist to leeward, the sea having not been quite strong enough to carry it overboard, while its unhappy occupant, half drowned in the scuppers and not able to extricate himself from his perilous position, was loudly calling for aid.

Ben Boltrope—who had been having a confab with the darkey, and probably a "drop of something hot," his special failing, in the galley when the sea washed over the ship and fetched it away—was promptly at hand to help his sable friend; when the galley was reinstated in its proper place, and so tightly lashed down to the ring-bolts that a sea would have had to carry away the deck itself to have lifted it again. But, sad to relate, the sheep and the poultry had disappeared for ever from human ken, along with their pens and coops, and the saloon passengers would thenceforth have to fare without any such delicacies as roast mutton and boiled fowl—a terrible piece of news for Mr Lathrope when it was brought to his ears!

As the evening closed in and night came on, the force of the wind and sea both seemed to increase, and it appeared incredible that a fabric formed by human hands should have been capable of sustaining the rude shocks and ponderous blows which the ship received again and again as she battled with the waves; but the captain had in the end to let the vessel fall off her course and scud before the gale, going whither the elements listed.

"Oh, father," said Kate to Mr Meldrum, the two remaining on deck long after the others had gone below, "what confidence sailors must have in the qualities of their ship, not to be overcome with dread at such a scene, especially if they direct a thought to the frail timbers that only separate them from the watery abyss!"

"Aye, my child," replied he; "but, what greater confidence in God's protecting power!"

"True, father," said Kate, and after that she remained silent until Mr Meldrum declared it was time to go below. They did not retire, however, until it was as dark as pitch, when nothing could be seen beyond the wall of water on either side of the taffrail—the tumid mass looking like a black avalanche about to overwhelm them, while the roaring of the wind and rattling of blocks and creaking of cordage, in conjunction with the groaning of the ship's timbers, and crashing sounds of the waves as they broke against the quarter, as if trying to beat the vessel's sides in, made such a discord and concert altogether that it drowned conversation, even had either been inclined to talk in the presence of such a display of the mighty power of Him who rules the waves.

Down in the cuddy, the scene was certainly more cheerful; and, what with the bright light of the swinging lamps, and the well-spread table comfortably arranged for tea, with the cups and saucers placed between "fiddles" to prevent them from slipping adrift when the vessel pitched or rolled, it afforded a strong contrast to the barren bareness and gloomy discomfort of the deck, especially on such a cold night, with suspicions of hail, and sleet, and snow at intervals. But, still, here also everything was not quite so rose-coloured as might have at first appeared; for stormy weather at sea discounts what might be called the market value of the comforts and conveniences of everyday life to a most surprising extent!

The cups and saucers were all right, or so they seemed at first sight in their abnormal position; but, the moment those who sat down at the table began to use them, they took to flying about like shuttles in a carpet- loom. Bread-baskets and cake-dishes discharged their contents like catapults against the panelling of the cabin doors, while jugs of condensed milk—which was used not from any special liking for the article, but through default of there being a cow on board—were emptied most impartially on to the shirt-fronts and dresses of the gentlemen and ladies who unfortunately sat opposite to them.

"Durn my boots!" ejaculated the American once; "but if them air sheep hadn't gone overboard to feed the fishes, I guess we'd hev hed capers enuff goin' on down har to sarve for sass to the biled mutton!"

All put up, however, with these petty annoyances gleefully enough, only too glad to be able to joke and make capital out of them and pleased that their present calamities were not too serious for laughter; and when they separated at bedtime, it was with the cheerful wish that the weather might be a trifle brighter on the morrow. No one seemed to think for a moment of danger, or took heed of the bustle on deck, or of the quivering and shaking of everything in the saloon, which seemed suffering from what Mr Lathrope styled a "seaquake"—in contradistinction to earthquake.

But, hardly had six bells been struck in the first watch when the order "out lights" was given and the welcome gleam of the cuddy lamp disappeared summarily, plunging all in darkness—than a sudden stupendous shock assailed the ship startling the sleepers.

There came first a stunning blow, apparently from a wave, right amidships; and then, the vessel seemed to go down to the very water's edge on one side, heeling over as rapidly immediately afterwards to the other.

Away went everything that was movable below, flung backwards and then forwards right across the ship—the thumping noise made by the heavy boxes falling in the cabins and state-rooms, combined with the crashing and smashing of glass and crockeryware in the cuddy, where the table and settle-seats had been carried away by the run, and the outcry of the sailors yelling and stamping above, not to speak of the grinding and groaning of the bulkheads and shuddering of the ship's timbers between decks, all making up a babel of sound and confusion that was worse by a thousand fold than what had previously occurred during the first storm which the vessel, experienced in the Bay of Biscay.

Naturally, the majority of those below thought that all was over, and piercing cries of terror and appeal for help resounded through the ship.



CHAPTER TEN.

CAUGHT IN A CYCLONE.

A storm at sea is bad enough in the daytime, but at night it is terrible; for then, the peril unseen is so magnified by the terror- stricken mind as to become far more appalling than a much greater danger seen face to face and realised:— the latter can be grappled with, but the former, by its very intangibility and "unreachableness," daunts the bravest heart and paralyses the strongest arm!

Llewellyn, the steward, managed to procure a light, which he did only after much delay—the racket and uproar having apparently sent his little wits wool-gathering—the cuddy looked the very picture of desolation, almost leading to the belief that the sea had made a clean breach through the sides of the ship in one of its rude onslaughts dashing everything to pieces.

Fortunately, however, this was not the case, although the saloon skylight had been carried away, gratings and all, and a considerable amount of water had come down through the opening, which loomed now above the semi-lighted space like a large hole broken in the deck; but, by reason of the carrying away of the table and seats from their lashings and ring-bolt fastenings and now being washed in a jumbled heap to one side of the cuddy, the cabins to leeward were so completely barricaded that their occupants were prevented from issuing forth. It was from this quarter that the cries for help proceeded—the voice of Mrs Major Negus, it need hardly be mentioned, predominating, although the American passenger, who had a berth alongside that distinguished lady, also sang out pretty loudly.

"Hullo, steward!" called out Mr Meldrum on seeing the light, having already opened the door of his state-room, which had a sliding panel and was undamaged as far as he could notice. "Why, what's the matter!"

"Only shipped a sea, sir," answered Llewellyn rather gruffly, for he was annoyed at being roused from his sleep, "though from the row they're a- making one would think we were all going to the bottom!"

"Much mischief done, eh?" asked Mr Meldrum, taking in at a glance the havoc in the cuddy—"I mean on deck," he added.

"Can't say, sir," replied the other; "ain't had time to look about here yet, much less to go up and see! It's a bad berth that o' steward to a lot of bawling females on a passenger ship; I'd liefer—"

But, his grumblings were stopped for the moment by the renewed loud screams of Mrs Major Negus—who was his pet aversion on board on account of her giving him more trouble than all the rest combined, while Master Maurice really was the plague of his life.

"Steward—stew-ard!" she cried, "Come here at once and get me out! I'm all smothered and drowned, and nobody will help me! Stew-ard! I'm dying—I'll tell the captain with my last breath. Stew-ard!"

"Sure I'm coming, mum, as fast as I can," sang out Llewellyn aloud, adding sotto voce for his own satisfaction, "Hang that Major Madam! I'd never have shipped in the Nancy Bell if I had a-knowed she was coming aboard! Bless you, mum, I'm coming—everything is all right and there isn't no cause for alarm!"

"Isn't there?" indignantly demanded the lady in a queer sort of half suffocated voice from behind the barred door of her cabin. "If you were jumbled in a pool of water, with all your luggage on top of you, I don't think you'd think everything right. Help, man! release me at once, or I'll be drowned and flattened into a pancake!"

"Say, you Mister Steward, you jest hurry up and git the lady out of her muss, and come and fix me up," chimed in the voice of Mr Zachariah Lathrope. "I guess I've had my innards a'most squoze out agin the durned bunk, an' feel like a dough-nut in a frying-pan. If you leave me much longer I kalkerlate this old boss'll be cold meat, you bet, and you'll have the funeral to pay!"

Mr Meldrum coming to Llewellyn's aid, the steward managed at length to clear away the wreckage from before the door of Mrs Major Negus' cabin, and then from that of the American, when both the occupants were found more seriously hurt than either of their rescuers had imagined, they thinking that their outcries had proceeded more from alarm than any real injury.

The wife of the deputy-assistant comptroller-general of Waikatoo was lying, all purple in the face, with a heavy portmanteau on the top of her, on the deck of her cabin in nearly a foot of water; and by the time they got her up from her perilous position she fainted dead away in the steward's arms.

"Here, Mary!" called out Llewellyn to his wife, the stewardess, who quickly appeared on the scene half-dressed. "Attend to this lady, while we go and see after Mister Lathrope."

The American was in a much worse plight; for, whereas Mrs Major Negus had only swallowed a lot of sea-water and had been only nearly frightened to death, Mr Lathrope's sallow face was so unearthly pale that Mr Meldrum was certain he had received some severe injury; as he was tightly jammed between his bunk and the washing-stand, while a heavy packing-case had tumbled out of the top berth on to one of his shoulders, preventing him from moving.

"I guess, mister, you jest come in time," said the poor fellow with a sickly smile, as they pulled away the case and wash-stand, and helped him into a sitting position on the bunk, "another minnit and it would have been all up with Z Lathrope, Esquire!" And he gasped for breath, putting his hand to his left side, as if feeling pain there.

"Oh, papa, are you there?" said Kate, coming out, in a charming state of dishabille, from the state-room she shared with her sister on the opposite side of the saloon, alongside to that of Mr Meldrum. "Is anybody hurt?"

"Yes, my dear," answered her father, "you'd better bring some sal volatile or something. Mrs Negus has fainted; and I'm afraid poor Mr Lathrope is in a bad way."

The plucky girl did not delay, or exhibit any of that feminine weakness or nervousness which might have been expected under the circumstances. Retiring for a moment, to throw a shawl round herself and get what was required in the emergency, she quickly reappeared again at the door of the state-room,—which she closed behind her to prevent Miss Florry, inquisitive as usual, from coming forth; and then proceeded to cross the floor of the cuddy as well as she was able—a somewhat difficult task considering the rolling and pitching of the vessel, and the fact that the table and seats, which generally formed points of vantage for holding on, had been swept away, so that there was nothing for her to cling to.

Half running, half sliding, she, however, reached the opposite side and was quickly engaged in the Samaritan task of bathing Mr Lathrope's temples with Eau de Cologne.

"Don't you bother, miss," said the American faintly, "I guess I ain't so much hurt arter all!" but he couldn't help groaning as he spoke, whereupon Mr Meldrum laid him down gently and sent the steward for some brandy, which revived him somewhat.

"I got a pretty considerable gouge in the ribs from that air wash- stand," said he, pointing out the objectionable piece of furniture as he uttered the words; "but I guess I'll be all right presently. How's Madam Negus!"

"Oh, she was more frightened than hurt," said Mr Meldrum laughing; "she was in a nice pickle on the floor of her cabin. You should just have seen her. I really don't think she could ever be dignified to me any more!"

"For shame, papa, to laugh at misfortune!" said Kate; "and now, as Mr Lathrope seems better, I'll go and look after his fellow-sufferer." So saying, the girl clambered along by the side of the saloon to where Mrs Major Negus was ensconced in state, in the adjoining cabin—now revived from her fainting fit and with Mary Llewellyn ministering to her wants, although "the Major" could not help scolding the latter at intervals, as if she were the cause of the disaster.

In the midst of all this, down came Mr McCarthy, the first mate, from the poop.

"Be jabers and it's a foine time you are having of it, any way!" said he by way of greeting, looking round with a quizzical cock of his eye at the dismantled cuddy. "I only thought you'd have had a drop of wather or two whin the skoilight got adrift, and we've rigged up tarpaulins over it and battened it down comfortably, so that ye'll not be throubled any more by the say washing down. But, how did the table git carried away! It was fixed down so strong it's a puzzle to me entirely!"

"Goodness only knows," said Mr Meldrum; "there came a tremendous crash amidships soon after midnight, and away it went!"

"Ah that was whin that gossoon Adams had howlt of the helm. The omahdawn, he was looking up at the spars and tellin' the cap'en about taking the topsails off her, as she was carrying too much sail, instead of mindin' his own business and lookin' to the steering; and, faix, he let the ship broach to, bad cess to him!"

"And how are you getting on now, on deck?" asked Mr Meldrum.

"Will, sorr," said the mate, speaking more earnestly than was his usual wont, and dropping his voice so that no one else could hear him. "To spake the truth and shame the divil—faix it's no lie I'm telling—we're right in the centre of a cyclone, and the Lord only knows if we'll iver git out of it!"

"I thought so," murmured Mr Meldrum; "my poor children!"

"Sure and be a man now!" whispered the mate as Kate came out of Mrs Major Negus' cabin. "I wouldn't have tould you if I had thought contrariwise!"

"I was not thinking of myself," said Mr Meldrum sternly; "what sail are you carrying?"

"Sail!" exclaimed Mr McCarthy; "faix and its joking ye are! Ivery stitch of canvas, sure, was blown to smithereens when the ship broached to, and the foretop-mast was thin took out of her, too, by the same token! The divil a hap'orth are we carrying, save a piece of tarpaulin lashed in the weather rigging to kape her hid to the say, and that's all we can do till daylight comes, if we iver say it, please God, for it's as dark now as a blue dog in a black entry, and you couldn't say your hand before your face to set any sail, if ever a man could git up the rigging—but whist now about that! Steward," he added in a louder key, "come, look alive here and git the cuddy to rights in shipshape fashion! By the powers, but the skipper'd be in a foine rage if he saw it all mops and brooms like this! Bear a hand, man, and be smart, and I'll send the carpenter to help you as soon as the watch is relayed." With these words he bustled on deck again, after changing his oilskin, which was all knocked to pieces, for a rough pea-jacket, and saying to Mr Meldrum that he thought the latter would be more handy, for it was blowing enough to take one's hair off!

"Papa," said Kate as soon as the mate had ascended the companion, "what was that Mr McCarthy was saying when he spoke so low to you?"

"Eh, my dear?" answered her father a little confusedly, with some hesitation in his voice. "Oh, only that the storm was raging violently and did not seem to lull at all yet."

"Did he say that there was any danger?"

"Danger, eh? no, I—I can't say. I think I'll just step up and see for myself;" and, anxious to escape this cross-examination, as well as really to judge whether the position of the ship was as precarious as the chief mate had indicated, Mr Meldrum likewise went up on to the poop, finding some trouble when he reached the top of the companion stairs, in opening the hatch.

For a moment, after emerging on to the deck, all was terribly dark—as black as ink, as Mr McCarthy had said; but, the next instant, the whole awful scene was lit up by the most intense and vivid flash of lightning Mr Meldrum had ever beheld—the electric fluid being quite unaccompanied by any peal of thunder, although that might have been drowned by the continuous roar and shriek of the howling wind which appeared to have gone mad with the unbridled fury of a demon.

During the brief space of time in which the zigazag stream of fire from the vault of heaven momentarily lit up the surroundings of the ship, which it did with a brightness that eclipsed the light of day, Mr Meldrum could see the vessel tumbling about amid a chaotic mass of waves, which it was no exaggeration to term mountains high, as if she were in the vortex of a whirlpool; while dense opaque black clouds hovered over her, vomiting forth wind, apparently from every quarter of the horizon, the gusts tearing at the ship with harpy-like clutches, as if they would rend her to pieces—she, like a poor human thing racked with pain, labouring and groaning, and bending this way and that to escape the relentless wind, so well aided by the clutching billows from below that leaped up to engulf the vessel when they themselves were not absolutely flattened to the surface of the water, as they were sometimes, by the force of the hurricane.

The scene was literally awful!

The next moment all was darkness again; with the night black as Erebus, and Mr Meldrum unable, as the mate had said, to see his hand before his face.

Captain Dinks, however, had noted his arrival on deck; and approached him without being seen.

"I advise you to go below, Mr Meldrum," said he, "you can do no good here, nor any of us, indeed, until morning, when I hope we'll have better weather. It's a terrible night, the worst I have ever seen at sea in all my time!"

"Aye, terrible," replied the other, shouting in the ear of the captain, but, as he was facing the wind, his voice seemed to the latter only like a whisper. "I'll take your advice, as I see I could be of no use; still, if I can be of any service, mind you call me!"

"Aye, aye," said Captain Dinks, "you go down and go to sleep. We are all in God's hands now, though I'll do all that man can—good night!"

"Good night," said Mr Meldrum; and he then went below again to give what report he could to Kate, who was waiting anxiously for his expected reappearance, as he had said he should not be gone long when he left her.

She had been certain the ship was in great danger; and she now read the confirmation of her worst fears in her father's face.

"Oh, papa!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms round his neck as soon as he came down the companion, without waiting to hear a word from him. "I thought so, I thought so!"

"Hush, my child!" said he soothingly, leading her towards her state-room and opening the door, "go in to your cabin and pray!"

And thus the weary night passed away.



CHAPTER ELEVEN.

IN UNKNOWN LATITUDES.

When daylight came, through the exertions of Ben Boltrope, the carpenter, and a couple of the crew sent to aid him, the cuddy offered a more presentable appearance than it had done just immediately after the midnight scare; for, the table and seats were fixed back in their original positions, the debris cleared away, and a portion of the skylight restored—all of which so brightened up the interior that what had passed but a few hours before seemed but a dream, at first, to those of the passengers who turned out early. The continuous sustained roar of the wind and waves had so drowned the noise of the men hammering and moving about that the repairs appeared to have been accomplished by magic.

As soon as Mr Meldrum went on deck, however, he could see little alteration for the better there.

The great rolling billows, as Maury has described them, were running high and fast, tossing their white caps in the air, looking like the green hills of a western prairie capped with snow, and chasing each other in sport; while the wind was still blowing a hurricane, and the ship, resembling a crippled bird with her foretop-mast gone, was running now before the gale under a single storm-staysail, that looked no bigger than an ordinary sized pocket-handkerchief, at a greater rate of speed than she would have done in a stiff breeze with all her canvas spread.

The outlook around, too, was by no means cheering.

The horizon was piled up with masses of blue-black clouds, whose ragged edges meant mischief, and scraps of greyish white scud were flying across the sky in all directions—now towards the same point as the wind, now against it, as if there were contending currents aloft and they could not decide what precise course to travel.

Captain Dinks, who, with the other officers, had been on deck all night, looked haggard and care-worn. The men, too, seemed worn-out, which could not be wondered at, as no sooner had the watch whose turn it was to be relieved, got below than they were roused up again at the call of "All hands"—when, of course, they had to tumble on deck again, without a moment's time for the rest and repose they needed after the exposure they were subjected to in battling up and down the rigging in the tempest of wind and rain and hail that had lasted through the livelong night.

"Not a very bright look-out!" said the captain, trying to speak cheerily, but failing miserably in the attempt. "Old Boreas, too, I'm afraid, is going to put on a fresh hand to the bellows, for the barometer has fallen again."

"Indeed?" answered Mr Meldrum.

"Yes," continued Captain Dinks; "it stood at 29.50 at three o'clock this morning, and when I looked just now it was at 29.25."

"That's bad," said the other; "it shows we've not got the worst of the cyclone yet."

"No," replied the captain; "we've got that all to come! Luckily, I sent down the topgallant-masts yesterday evening, or we'd have had every stick out of her by now:— they would have been safe to go when the foretop-mast went, if not before. However, there they are, all lashed together by the longboat, not gone yet; and I hope we shall have some use for them yet bye and bye."

"I only hope so," said Mr Meldrum sadly, the despondent way in which Captain Dinks spoke affecting him too.

The ship seemed easier running before the wind than when lying-to, although there was the risk of the heavy following seas pooping her, a contingency that had already happened when a portion of the bulwarks were carried away at the time the saloon skylight was smashed, leaving an ugly gash in the ship's side; but a spare hawser had been triced up and secured fore and aft to prevent the men being washed overboard through the aperture, and life lines were rove and passed along the deck for the same purpose.

"It's safer to carry on," observed Captain Dinks, seeing the anxious glance Mr Meldrum bent to windward. "I've heard of a ship outrunning a hurricane before; and so might we again."

"So have I," said Mr Meldrum; "but not a cyclone! Look there, ahead, at that bank of storm-clouds; perhaps we're running into a worse gale than the one we've got."

"Well, we can only act for the best," replied the captain curtly, apparently not relishing this criticism of his seamanship from a landsman—as he thought—who knew nothing about the matter; and he then moved back to his post by the binnacle, leaving Mr Meldrum standing by the head of the companion, where he was presently joined by Frank Harness, the first and second mates being both forward, superintending the bending of preventer stays to secure the masts, which seemed to be ready to jump out of the ship from the leverage exercised even by the little sail she was carrying.

By noon, when it was utterly impossible to take an observation, the heavens being black all round, with showers of hail and snow coming down at intervals, and the wind, blowing over the Antarctic ice-fields, seemed to cut the face as with a knife—the temperature of the air had become bitterly cold, while the barometer fell to 29 inches. The very spirit of destruction appeared to brood over the ill-fated Nancy Bell.

Mr Meldrum, after a brief visit below to look after his daughters and see how the American passenger was progressing since his accident, had returned on deck, accompanied by Kate, who pleaded so earnestly to be allowed to come that he could not resist her entreaties. She now stood, sheltered behind him, in the mouth of the companionway, watching the brewing of the fresh storm with which the vessel was about to be assailed—Frank Harness close to her side as if for additional protection, although the captain had told him he might go below and have a spell off after being up all night. The young sailor, as soon as she came up, had taken off his own monkey-jacket and fastened it round her shoulders to protect her from the wind and hail, despite all Kate's protests, to which he was obliged to turn a deaf ear by reason of the force of the gale.

Suddenly, the dark looming mass of clouds in front of the ship appeared to split asunder, showing gaping ragged edges fringed with white, just like a shark's mouth.

Mr Meldrum at once rushed to where Captain Dinks was standing close to the wheel-house, where two men had all they could do to control the helm, although they were the strongest hands on board, the one being Ben Boltrope, the ex-man-o'-war's-man, and the other Karl Ericksen, the Norwegian sailor who had been rescued from the boat, and who was a perfect giant now that he was restored to health and strength—standing over six feet, and with long brawny arms that seemed as powerful as those of a windmill when he threw them about.

"For God's sake, Captain," exclaimed Mr Meldrum, "round the ship to, if you can! If that squall that's coming right forward catches her in the teeth, she will go down stern foremost in a second!"

"Nonsense, Mr Meldrum!" answered Captain Dinks hotly. "Who are you? a landsman, to give orders to a trained seaman! I don't allow passengers to interfere with me in working my own ship."

"Considering I have been in the royal navy all my life, and left the service with the rank of commander," said Mr Meldrum quietly, not a whit angered by the captain's somewhat reasonable indignation, "I think I am something of an authority on the point. But, don't let us argue that matter now, Captain Dinks. I apologise for interfering; but I have seen and been through a good many cyclones in the China seas, when I was in command of a gunboat there, and I advise you to do as I've said."

"Trust his honour, Capting, sir," chimed in Ben Boltrope, for once forgetting his sense of discipline, and speaking to his superior officer without leave; "I've sarved with Commander Meldrum, and knows what he is."

"I'm sure, sir, Mr Meldrum, I hardly know how to address you," said Captain Dinks, his old polite sell again, and smiling as if there was no storm near. "I beg your pardon for not recognising that you were of the same craft; but what could I think, or how could I judge?"

"Oh, never mind that now," said Mr Meldrum eagerly. "Put her about at once, as you value all our lives."

"All right!" replied Captain Dinks; "down with the helm there, sharp!"

The men strained every sinew to get the wheel round, the muscles on the Norwegian's arms standing out in relief like wire ropes, and Ben Boltrope using his utmost strength and assisting him with a will.

"Look out forward!" shouted the captain in the meantime, to warn McCarthy and the men what was going to be done so that they might hold on; "were going to 'bout ship." And although they could not hear a word he said, they judged what he meant by his motions and prepared themselves accordingly.

The manoeuvre was executed at last, but very nearly a moment too late.

As the ship came round, she met the sea full butt, and was for the instant almost buried—the water coming in high over the forecastle and falling like a cataract into the waist, engulfing the men there in a well of green wave and foam; while, at the same moment, the squall ahead struck her on the port bow, the vessel, between the two opposing forces, being like a piece of iron 'twixt hammer and anvil. The concussion was tremendous, knocking everybody off their feet just as if the ship had struck on a rock.

Crash went the remains of the foremast over the side, carrying with it the maintop-mast and the solitary scrap of sail that was set; and for a moment the ship broached to, heeling over as if she were going to founder.

However, the same expedient that had been tried in the night, that of a tarpaulin in the weather-rigging, was again resorted to; and the helm being kept down, the vessel's head was got to the sea, the wreck of the foremast, which had swung clear of the ship although still kept attached by the gear forwards, acting as a sort of breakwater, and tempering down the strength of the waves, so that after a time she rode somewhat easy.

Meanwhile, Kate had a terrible fright.

As the shock came when the Nancy Bell was put about, Frank Harness threw his arm round Kate's waist to prevent her from being thrown down, holding on himself at the same time like grim death to the rail of the companion; and on the ship steadying, he released the girl and let go his hold. At that moment, however, a wave came over the poop, and he, being taken off his guard, was rolled over on the deck and washed towards the opening in the broken bulwarks.

Kate instantly, without hesitating for a second, made a snatch at his collar; and, clutching hold of it, in the very nick of time, saved him by a miracle—had he been carried overboard, no earthly power could have rescued him!

"Oh, Frank!" she exclaimed, "I thought I had lost you!" And, as he scrambled to his feet, pale with the suddenness of his peril and her effort to rescue him, the brave girl sank down, apparently lifeless, on the deck—all of a heap.

"Good heavens, she is dead!" cried Frank. "She has been killed in trying to save me!" and in the desperation of grief he looked as if he were going to throw himself into the sea.

"No, no, my boy," said Mr Meldrum, who had witnessed the incident from the wheel-house, and had now come to his aid; "she has only fainted from revulsion of feeling and the strain on her nerves. Help me to carry her below."

And, as the two descended the companion-way with their apparently inanimate burden, the young sailor could not help furtively kissing the floating tresses of dark brown hair that swept across his face as he tenderly supported Kate's head on his shoulder, guarding it jealously in the passage below. His anxiety was soon afterwards relieved by Mr Meldrum coming out from the cabin where they had deposited poor Kate, and telling him that she was getting better.

It was a bad case with the ship, however; worse than anyone thought.

Soon after Frank and Mr Meldrum had left the deck, Ben Boltrope, who was still in the wheel-house with the Norwegian, called out to Captain Dinks:— "I think there's something wrong with the rudder, sir," he said.

"Wrong with the rudder!" repeated the captain. "What do you mean?" and he came nearer to look himself at the steering gear.

"Why; the wheel goes round either way, just as you please, without any strain at all, as if the ropes were parted, or the rudder gone adrift!"

"Mercy on us! That would be a calamity!" exclaimed Captain Dinks; and, watching his opportunity, when the stern of the ship rose up in the air, he looked over the rail below. "It is really the case!" he said, in grave accents. "The rudder and rudder-post have both been carried away. What a blessing that they did not go before we got her about; if they had, nothing could have saved us."

"True for you, sir," responded Ben in acquiescence; while the Norwegian nodded his head and said, "Ja! ja!"

"Come away from there, my men," presently said the captain after a long silence, as if he were thinking to himself what should be done; "it's no use your stopping there any longer. But, stay, it is best not to alarm the crew too soon. You stop, Norwegee," calling that sailor by the name the men had dubbed him; "and you, carpenter, go and sound the well to see what water we have taken in. Mind and do it quietly, now, so as not to be seen; and you need not tell any of the hands about the loss of the rudder, you know."

"Aye, aye, sir, I twig," said Ben, going forwards and then down the main hatchway, slipping off the cover for the purpose.

Presently he returned aft, looking very serious.

"There's four feet water in the hold, sir," said he.

"Only four feet?" replied Captain Dinks, pretending to treat the matter with great unconcern; "why, I thought she would have had ever so much more in her, with all the straining she has gone through in the last twenty-four hours, besides the lot of seas she took in before we had the hatches battened. Still we'd better get rid of it, carpenter, as there's no use our carrying more cargo than we are obliged, eh?"

"No, sir," said Ben somewhat dubiously, not taken in by the captain's manner.

"Just what I think," said Captain Dinks. "Here, McCarthy," he cried out to the first mate, who, ever intent on duty, was busily engaged in trimming matters amidships, having the lashings of the longboat and spare spars overhauled in readiness for the next sea that might flood the decks—for nothing could be done about the wreck of the foremast till the gale moderated, as to loose it now would be to lose their sheet-anchor. "McCarthy, just have the chain-pumps rigged and pump out the hold to get rid of all that water we have taken on board."

"Aye, aye, sorr," was the hearty response, and the "cling, clang" of the pumps was soon heard resounding with a will through the ship, the men encouraged by the mate to do their best.

Still, it was a bad look-out.

The ship had first been scudding due east, and then to the northward, goodness only knew how many miles off her course; and now, here she was, drifting southwards, dismasted and rudderless, a hopeless wreck in unknown waters, at the mercy of the elements!



CHAPTER TWELVE.

ICE AHEAD!

Although the wind and sea had being doing their utmost, without, to transform the previously trim ship, that had sailed from Plymouth so gallantly, into the veritable semblance of a battered hulk, no further damage had been done below: so that, in the cuddy, all was comparative comfort—in contrast to the scene on deck.

Mr Zachariah Lathrope, who made light of his injuries, albeit his left arm was in a sling—confessing, too, that his side "felt kinder painful, as if some coon had given him a sockdolager in the ribs, or a grizzly bar put his hug on"—was seated at the replaced table, pitching into a sort of heavy lunch, to make amends for his missed breakfast, while the steward was cutting up a plentiful supply of ham for him on his plate, so that he could use his solitary hand with a fork and so feed himself. Mrs Major Negus was busily engaged in her cabin, and with the assistance of Mary Llewellyn, the stewardess, was rearranging all her numerous goods and chattels that had been so ruthlessly banged about in the night; and Master Maurice, whom the turmoil had not disturbed in the least, was still sleeping in the top bunk as composedly as he had continued doing all through the period of his mother's struggles on the floor and narrow escape from suffocation, unawakened either by the noise or her loud calls for help—the worthy lady as soon as she came to herself having earnestly cautioned Kate and the stewardess not to arouse her darling boy, for "he would be so frightened, you know, if he saw me like this!"

Kate herself, recovered from her faint, but yet feeling weak and languid from the effects of all she had gone through, was mechanically assisting Florry to dress, wondering the while, in a dull apathetic way, whether she would ever again have to tender the same offices to her little sister, for she was prepared for the worst and believed that the ship was in imminent danger—although she hoped still, with the ardent nature of youth, that they might be delivered, trusting to the loving mercy and watchful care of that God to whom she had prayed during the night, even before her earthly father's counsel, and before whose footstool she had already that morning bent the knee more than once.

As for Mr Meldrum—who had remained below from the consciousness that he could not be of any service in the immediate present on deck and from an unwillingness to having the appearance even of shoving himself forward and interfering with the management of the ship after what Captain Dinks had said—he had tumbled out a portmanteau in his state- room in order to overhaul some old papers; and he presently came out into the cuddy with a chart in his hand.

"Hillo, mister," said the American as soon as he noticed him, "jest roused up, hey? I thought you wer havin' a bit of snooze, and wondered when you were goin' to turn out!"

"Ah," said Mr Meldrum gravely, "it's no time for sleeping now for any one on board. The ship is in far too perilous a position for that!"

"Is she?" asked Mr Lathrope, most unconcernedly apparently.

"She really is," replied Mr Meldrum.

"Wa-al, if she is," returned the other, lifting a huge morsel of ham on the end of his fork, and surveying it critically with much relish of eye before placing it in his capacious mouth, "why, it's a bad business, that's all I ken say; and I'm right down sorry fur it, I am—things was going on so slick and pleasant! But if we can't help it, mister, what's the sorter use in grievin'? I don't see the good in cryin' over a spilt petroleum can, I don't! Now, dew, mister, draw up har and make yourself comf'able; you'll find this bacon prime, for I knows it's the gen-u-ine Chicago brand and came out of the States."

"No, thanks," said Mr Meldrum, smiling at the other's imperturbable philosophy and epicureanism that seemed proof against everything, even the sense of mortal peril, "I had something to eat earlier, and do not care about anything now."

At that moment, Captain Dinks came down the companion and looked into the saloon, when, seeing Mr Meldrum, he beckoned to him.

"Would you mind coming on deck for a few moments," said he hurriedly, "I want to speak to you about something?"

"Certainly," said Mr Meldrum, at once getting up from the table, on which he had spread out the chart he had brought from his cabin and was engaged with a pair of compasses in picking out the ship's possible position.

"Say, mister—" commenced the American.

"Pray, excuse me," interrupted Mr Meldrum, "I'll speak to you when I come down again; I must join the captain now, as you see;" and he hurried to the companion-way, Captain Dinks standing aside and motioning to him to go up first.

"Say, Cap—" called out Mr Lathrope, not to be baffled.

"Can't stop now," curtly replied Captain Dinks; and he, too, disappeared in the rear of Mr Meldrum.

"Now, I do jest wonder what them two coons hev on hand?" said the American, when they had thus left him with his curiosity unslackened; "I'm durned if I don't go up myself and see: people must rise pretty airly o' mornin's to take a rise out of this old hoss!"

A roll of the ship, however, coming as soon as he had risen from his seat, settled his inquisitiveness. "I guess I'd better bide har," he murmured to himself, uttering his thoughts aloud. "This air vessel's a durned sight too skittish on her footing to please me, an' that air ramshackly arm o' mine might git squoze agin if I went on deck! No, I guess I'll bide har in the land of Gilead—Steward!" he added, raising his voice.

"Yes, sir," answered Llewellyn, coming out of his pantry.

"Hev you got any coffee or tea fixins?"

"No, sir, that lazy nigger Snowball says he can't light the galley fire."

"Does he? I'd make him smell fire if I'd got him out on the plantation whar I was riz! Then, bring me a glass of brandy and water, and make it stiff: I allers go in fur temperance drinks when I can get them, that is before sundown; but if I'm obleeged to take pizen, why, I likes it strong!"

When Mr Meldrum gained the deck, in company with the captain, he found the wind still blowing with terrific force and a dangerous sea on, although as the gale had not shifted during the last hour from the north-west, to which quarter it had finally veered, there was some hope that they had escaped from the worst of the cyclone and were now being hurried along its outside edge. In one of the last onslaughts of the wind, however, the mainyard truss had been carried away, and the yard swung so violently to and fro after snapping the braces like pack-thread that it seemed as if the main-mast would go; but, fortunately, in one of its mad gyrations, as it moved about like the arms of a semaphore, the yard-arm had caught in the standing rigging on the starboard side, where, through the gallant exertions of Frank Harness and the Norwegian sailor, who performed the task at the peril of their lives, it was firmly lashed and secured from doing further mischief. This operation eased the ship considerably, and certainly saved the masts.

The worst piece of news that the captain had to tell Mr Meldrum was with reference to the manner in which the ship was leaking.

"We had four feet water in her when the carpenter sounded the well at six bells," said Captain Dinks; "and after rigging the pumps we reduced it considerably; but since then, she has made nearly two feet again—all clear and clean without any bilge in it—which shows she's taking it in fresh and fast."

"There must be a big leak somewhere," said Mr Meldrum, "and the sooner we see about stopping it the better."

"Yes," said the captain, "we might keep it down certainly by an hour's spell in each watch; but it tires out the men so. I think it is coming in somewhere astern; the rudder-post must have started some of the timbers when it got wrenched off."

"Very probably," said the other; "but then, the ship has had a good deal of straining the last day or two, besides from the storm in the Bay of Biscay."

"Ah! she felt that," replied Captain Dinks. "That's what, no doubt, weakened the rudder and made it go so easily this morning; but I'll call the carpenter."

The port watch had gone below with Mr Adams, to have a little rest, for there was no need of all the crew being on deck, the ship riding out the gale to leeward of the floating anchor which providence had sent them in the shape of the broken foremast, and there being nothing to do; so, on a hail from the captain, Mr McCarthy passed the word forwards for Ben Boltrope, who soon made his appearance out of the fo'c'sle—scrambling aft as well as he could by holding on to every rope in his way, for the vessel rolled and pitched most uneasily, rendering upright walking along the deck an utter impossibility.

"Sarvent, sir," said he, touching his hat to Mr Meldrum on coming up the poop ladder; "glad to see you on deck."

"What about this leak, carpenter?" said Captain Dinks. "Please tell Mr Meldrum all you know."

"Well, your honour," said Ben, "all that can be said lies in a nut- shell! She's making water as fast as it can pour in; and if we don't find the leak and stop it, she'll founder pretty soon."

"Have you any idea where it is coming in?" inquired Mr Meldrum.

"Well, sir, the cap'en say it's by the rudder-post; but I myself thinks it's amidships or else forrud: I'd have looked, but I couldn't shift the cargo without help."

"This must be seen to at once, Captain Dinks," said Mr Meldrum. "As you have asked my aid, I would advise your calling the watch below; and I'll go down with the carpenter and see whether we can spy out the leak."

"Oh, by all means, if you think that will do any good, although I'm of the opinion that the leak is in the stern. McCarthy, call the port watch up to go below and break cargo!"

"All hands, ahoy!"

This cry soon brought up the weary sailors, who had only just retired after more than twenty hours of duty, before they had had time to close their eyes in their first sleep, but they came out of the forecastle willingly enough, well knowing the peril the ship was in; and, down below the main-hatch they bumbled after Mr Meldrum and the carpenter, glad that it was not for another spell of pumping for which they had been called up.

Ben Boltrope was found to be right. After tossing to one side the bales and boxes and heavy masses of iron that filled the midship section of the hold, they found a great gap between the timbers through which the water was spouting in at the rate of some hundred gallons an hour—the cause of the hole being apparent enough in a long iron girder which had got jammed against the side of the ship, end outwards, and in the working of the ship had made its way clean through the strakes and planking—just as if it had been an auger, the hole had been bored so round and neat!

This orifice was now carefully plugged and battened over; and when the pumps were again rigged and the vessel cleared it was found that she had ceased to make water to any appreciable extent.

"Thank God for that!" said Captain Dinks heartily. "I own I was wrong, for I was certain that the rudder-post was the seat of mischief:— the ship was bound to leak there!"

"It was a very natural thought of yours," said Mr Meldrum, to soothe his sense of defeat. "I would have held to the same but for the carpenter."

"Ah! he's a roight good man, sorr," chimed in Mr McCarthy, "and a cridit to the sarvice that brought him up. Sure, an' he's a sailor ivry inch ov him, from the crown of his hid to the sole of his fut!"

The sky was still obscured by clouds and the stormy billows were tossing about, striving to bear down the ship and beat her to pieces; but she bravely held her own, head to sea, and rode out the gale all that day and night, as if she had been at anchor, although drifting steadily the while in a south-easterly direction, the impulse of the waves and the force of the wind on her hull carrying her thither.

It was the same the next day; but, on the third morning, the gale somewhat moderated, although still blowing with considerable force from the northward and westward, and under Mr Meldrum's advice, which Captain Dinks now eagerly sought on every occasion, sail was got upon the ship and she was allowed to run before the wind, hoping that the vessel might reach smoother latitudes and fine weather, when they would be able to repair damages and continue their voyage.

It was but a poor pretence of making sail, however!

All they could set was a close-reefed mizzentop-sail and a fore staysail, which latter was hoisted on a jury-mast rigged forwards in place of the foremast; while the missing rudder was replaced by an ingenious makeshift, the joint handiwork of Mr Meldrum and the carpenter, composed of lengths of a spare hawser and some of the smaller spars, sawn up, lashed together, and then planked over, so as to offer a yielding surface to the sea, and secured under the stern by guys and tackles leading from the quarter galleries, the steering gear being then attached.

This contrivance was found to work admirably in guiding the ship before the wind, although if they had tried to wear her or put her about by it, there might have been some difficulty and danger in the operation.

Towards the evening of this day, while the crippled Nancy Bell, so ruthlessly shorn of her fair proportions, was going along pretty bravely, nevertheless, at some six knots an hour or more under the little sail she was carrying, with the sea still rough and wintry and the sky all clouded over, the thermometer was noticed to go down again several degrees; and Mr Meldrum, who alone had made the discovery for the wind having been bitterly cold for days past the feeling in the air would not have specially attracted attention—at once warned Captain Dinks that they had run so far southwards that he was certain they were near ice, and consequently it would be best to keep a strict look-out.

"Ice?" exclaimed the captain aghast. "Why, we aren't much below the latitude of the Cape, I take it!"

"You'll find you are wrong when we're able to get an observation," replied Mr Meldrum. "I wouldn't be surprised to find that we were far below 'the Forties,' with all that drift and leeway we've had! However, wherever we are, we're not far from ice, take my word for it, whether it be a wandering berg out of its latitude or the drift from the Antarctic ice-fields."

"All right, sir," said Captain Dinks laughing, "I'll take your word for it; though an iceberg hereabouts, to my thinking, is a rather rum visitor this time of year, and I'll believe it when I see it!"

However, the captain was wrong again.

Just before dark, the look-out in the maintop reported something ahead, which presently turned out to be an enormous iceberg, fortunately far away to leeward out of the course of the ship. It was an immense irregular mass several miles long and of great height, appearing to reach up into the clouds above as it heaved up and down on the heavy rolling sea; and its top and points, covered with snow, stood out distinctly against the dark horizon.