The more the affair was considered, the more mysterious did it appear, since not even a rope-yarn about the mainmast or farther aft had been carried away.
'It struck her obliquely, and so saved the after sticks,' Captain Thorne said. 'A water-spout would have sunk her.'
'Before I could grip anything,' one of the rescued men exclaimed, 'I was lifted off my feet. On looking upward, the yards and canvas, the latter mostly in rags, were whizzing round and round at forty knots an hour. I thought I would have smothered. Anyhow, the whirligig suddenly dropped me with the gear. There was a tremendous splash. Then I saw my two mates. The next moment I thought I'd drown, but Billy Holland dragged me on top of the lower mast. 'Twas the closest shave I ever had.'
That was how the first of a coming breeze caught the vessel. She immediately sheered alongside the floating spars, and with right goodwill all hands set to work getting them on board. Tackles were rove off and a derrick rigged.
'Bear a hand, now, Sennit,' the old man sang out 'The glass is dropping for wind, and we may have plenty of it soon.'
Assisted by the interpreter, he got some of the emigrants to help. Others, however, were not so disposed, and the hands jeered them. Before nightfall all the wreckage had been secured on deck, and the barque proceeded on her voyage.
The light wind of the evening steadily strengthened throughout the night, and the crew never ceased their labour of repairing damages. One of the chief causes of delay lay in the fact that the 'cap' of the bowsprit, or the piece of wood through which the jib-boom should pass, had been broken off; but by the ingenuity of the carpenter that mishap was speedily rectified. The lower mast had also been badly snapped off, but that, too, was set straight by a tongue and 'step' which were made on it, the stump still remaining in its place.
In the refitting Jack Clewlin had his share, and gained such experience of that duty that Readyman himself could not hope to impart by mere verbal tuition.
All the lower and other rigging had to be shortened and then set up taut. The upper masts, however, had received no injury, and with their yards were soon sent aloft. The damaged sails were replaced by others, and within a week scarcely a trace of the late accident remained.
All hands were once more in high spirits, and as the breeze still held strong and fair, great hopes of soon reaching San Francisco cheered every mind. A full daily ration of food was served out fore and aft. But the brightest anticipations of a speedy termination of the voyage were doomed to bitter disappointment. Within a few days the wind again failed. The Chinamen, believing that the food supply would be reduced, immediately hastened on deck, and loudly upbraiding the captain for bringing them all into such a position, stubbornly expressed their determination to return to Hong Kong.