little. In a second the sea came pouring over the stern, above
Allnutt's head. The boy was nearly washed overboard, but he managed to
catch hold of the rail, and, with great presence of mind, stuck his
knees into the bulwarks. Kindred, our boatswain, seeing his danger,
rushed forward to save him, but was knocked down by the return wave,
from which he emerged gasping. The coil of rope, on which Captain
Lecky and Mabelle were seated, was completely floated by the sea.
Providentially, however, he had taken a double turn round his wrist
with a reefing point, and, throwing his other arm round Mabelle, held
on like grim death; otherwise nothing could have saved them. She was
perfectly self-possessed, and only said quietly, 'Hold on, Captain
Lecky, hold on!' to which he replied, 'All right.' I asked her
afterwards if she thought she was going overboard, and she answered,
'I did not _think_ at all, mamma, but felt sure we were gone.' Captain
Lecky, being accustomed to very large ships, had not in the least
realised how near we were to the water in our little vessel, and was
proportionately taken by surprise. All the rest of the party were
drenched, with the exception of Muriel, whom Captain Brown held high
above the water in his arms, and who lost no time in remarking, in the
midst of the general confusion, 'I'm not at all wet, I'm not.'
Happily, the children don't know what fear is. The maids, however,
were very frightened, as some of the sea had got down into the
nursery, and the skylights had to be screwed down. Our studding-sail
boom, too, broke with a loud crack when the ship broached-to, and the
jaws of the fore-boom gave way.

Soon after this adventure we all went to bed, full of thankfulness
that it had ended as well as it did; but, alas, not, so far as I was
concerned, to rest in peace. In about two hours I was awakened by a
tremendous weight of water suddenly descending upon me and flooding