horses and near being trampled under in the roll. We tried to put
about then, but the great gusts of wind made us lower sail and drop
anchor in a hurry. Soon the horses were all in a tumble and one on
top of the other. We had to jump from back to back to save
ourselves. It was no pretty business, I can tell you, to get to
the stairway. D'ri was stripped of a boot-leg, and I was cut in
the chin by a front hoof, going ten feet or so to the upper deck.
To the man who was never hit in the chin by a horse's hoof let me
say there is no such remedy for a proud spirit. Bullets are much
easier to put up with and keep a civil tongue in one's head. That
lower deck was a kind of horses' hell. We had to let them alone.
They got astraddle of one another's necks, and were cut from ear to
fetlock--those that lived, for some of them, I could see, were
being trampled to death. How many I never knew, for suddenly we
hit a reef there in the storm and the black night. I knew we had
drifted to the north shore, and as the sea began to wash over us it
was every man for himself. The brig went up and down like a
sledge-hammer, and at every blow her sides were cracking and
caving. She keeled over suddenly, and was emptied of horse and
man. A big wave flung me far among the floundering horses. My
fingers caught in a wet mane; I clung desperately between crowding
flanks. Then a big wave went over us. I hung on, coming up
astride my capture. He swam vigorously, his nose high, blowing
like a trumpet. I thought we were in for a time of it, and had
very little hope for any landing, save in kingdom come. Every
minute I was head under in the wash, and the roaring filled me with
that mighty terror of the windfall. But, on my word, there is no
captain like a good horse in bad water. Suddenly I felt him hit
the bottom and go forward on his knees. Then he reared up, and
began to jump in the sand. A big wave washed him down again. He