behaved better than they all did after the accident. It was frightful
to see them aloft in such weather, swinging on the ends of the broken
spars, as the yacht rolled and pitched about. When it comes to a pinch
they are all good men and true: not that they are perfection, any more
than other men are.

_Sunday, January 28th_.--It is finer, but bitterly cold. Several of my
tropical birds are already dead. The little pig from Harpe Island, and
the Hawaiian geese, look very wretched, in spite of all my
precautions.

We had the Litany at eleven, and prayer and a sermon at four; after
which Tom addressed the men, paying them some well-deserved
compliments on their behaviour on Friday night.

The decks were very slippery, and as we kept rolling about a good deal
there were some nasty falls among the passengers. We had a splendid
though stormy sunset, which did not belie its promise, for the wind
shortly afterwards became stiffer and stronger, until at last we had
two reefs down, and were tumbling about in all directions, as we
rushed through the water. The dining-tables tilted till they could go
no further, and then paused to go back again; but not quickly enough,
for the glasses began to walk uphill and go over the edge in the most
extraordinary manner. On deck the night looked brilliant but rather
terrible. The full moon made it as light as day, and illuminated the
fountains of spray blown from the waves by which we were surrounded.
Without her heavy jibboom, and with her canvas well reefed down, the
'Sunbeam' rode through it all, dipping her head into the sea,
shivering from stem to stern, and then giving herself a shake,
preparatory to a fresh start, just like a playful water-bird emerging