"Hard-a-weather——" shouted the captain; "hard-up, for your life!"
He sprang to the helm, but the head of the schooner remained immovable in the same direction.
Vernon watched the approaching hurricane.
His experience told him that it was coming again with redoubled fury.
The lightning flashes showed them a glimpse of the storm.
Everything was done to save the schooner which experienced seamanship could suggest.
"Head her off," cried the captain, "or we shall capsize!"
Onward came the hurricane, ploughing up the sea, which boiled and foamed and roared before it, a moving spasm of awful surge.
"Look to yourself, captain!" shouted Tempest, and the words died away on the wind just as the wild waters leaped over the deck with the thunderous roar and fury of a cataract.