The Three Admirals | Page 4

wind to steady the ship as she made her way amid the heaving billows. Mr Jay, the second lieutenant, was now the officer of the watch; he made a sign to Tom.
"Rogers," he said, "go and tell the commander that the weather is getting much worse."
"Be quick about it, too," exclaimed Green; "there is no time to lose."
Commander Rawson was quickly on deck. After taking a rapid glance round, he shouted out, "All hands shorten sail."
The watch below came tumbling up on deck. The topsails were lowered, and the topmen, like bees, swiftly swarmed aloft, laying out on the yardarms.
"Hold on by your teeth and eyelids, Billy," said Tom to his old friend Billy Blueblazes, as he sprang up to his station in the main-top. The canvas was speedily reduced to closely-reefed fore and main-topsails and fore-staysail. It was hard work to hold on, for the ship rolled even more violently than before. The wind, however, did not come as soon as was expected, but it was impossible to say at what moment it might strike her. That it would come with no ordinary strength, and without further warning, there was every reason to believe.
The crew, having performed their task, were called down on deck. There was something in the appearance of the sea and sky, and the heaviness of the atmosphere, which made even the toughest old seaman feel an extraordinary depression of spirits, though he might not have suspected the cause.
"Faith! I'm sorry I did not remain quietly in my cot," said Desmond; "it seems to me as if the world were coming to an end. I should not be surprised to see flames spouting up out of the sea. It looks as if some big fires were burning away under it."
"Don't you ken, Gerald, that the water would be putting the fire out," observed Archie; "though from the appearance of some of those islands there has been fire enough below them at one time or other. They have all been raised up out of the ocean by volcanic agency."
"I am not disposed to dispute the truth of your remark," said Desmond; "I only wish the sea would get quiet, and let us glide comfortably over it, instead of kicking up such a disturbance."
While the midshipmen were speaking, the ship had continued her uneasy course, slowly rising to the summit of a huge billow and then gliding down into the deep trough.
Suddenly a loud roar was heard, and it seemed as if some mighty monster of the deep had struck a prodigious blow on the side of the ship. Over she heeled until the water rushed in at her lee ports.
"Up with the helm. Furl the main-topsail. Take another reef in the fore-topsail. We must run before it," cried the commander, hoping to steer clear of any islands or reefs which might be ahead.
The ship quickly rose to an even keel, and dashed forward amid the foaming seas, rolling, however, even more violently than before. So rapidly did the waves follow, that many struck her stern; not, however, before her dead lights had been closed. So tremendous were some of the blows, that it seemed as if her masts would be shaken out of her. The doctor and purser, who were sitting in the gun room, were thrown off their seats sprawling under the table, fully believing that the ship had struck a rock, and that all hands would soon be struggling for their lives.
As soon as things could be got to rights, Tom helped Desmond below, and he was glad enough to again turn into his hammock, which he had before been so anxious to quit.
"Shure we have got Harry Cane aboard of us, Mr Rogers," observed Tim Nolan, who was in Tom's watch, and took the liberty of an old shipmate to address his officer with a freedom on which others would not have ventured. They were both stationed together on the forecastle, looking out ahead.
"I wish that the gentleman would be good enough to take himself off, then," answered Tom, "or he may be playing us a scurvy trick, by sending our craft on some of the ugly reefs which abound hereabouts."
"We'll be after keeping a bright look-out for that, sir," said Tim.
"We may be on a reef before we can see it," observed Tom. "For my part, if I did not believe that Providence was steering us, I should not be at all comfortable."
The ship continued to drive on before the gale. The second lieutenant came forward, but he had to confess that his eyes were of little value to pierce the dark gloom ahead. The foam-crested waves could alone be seen, rapidly rising and falling. Tom's eyes ached. He was not sorry when he was relieved. Still, neither he nor any one else