Shut in the badly lighted little cabin, with the one lamp swinging madly, the agonized groaning of timbers all around them, and the thunder of tons of water falling on the deck above them, the Seaburys began to wish that they had never left their little home to go out on the treacherous ocean. They did not go to bed, but sat on the lockers, holding fast with both hands, and momentarily expecting that some terrible catastrophe would happen. About three o'clock in the morning they heard a loud shout and a heavy thump on the deck, followed by a rapid shuffling of feet.
"What can have happened?" exclaimed Mr. Seabury.
"Oh, they're coming to tell us that we must take to the life-boat!" cried Mrs. Seabury.
The cabin door was pushed open, and three sailors stumbled in, bearing the inanimate form of the Captain.
"One o' the main throat-halyard blocks fell from aloft," said a sailor, "an' hit him. I reckon he's hurt bad."
The Captain was laid in his bunk, and Mrs. Seabury forgot her fears in her anxiety to do something for him. And being one of those "handy" New England women, she could do a good deal, too. She could not find any broken bones, so she decided that the poor man had been struck on the body and injured internally. With the help of her husband, she prepared and administered a soothing drink which put the sufferer to sleep. Poor Thornton stood about idly, and keenly feeling his helplessness. But at eight o'clock he eased his mind a little by winding the chronometer.
In the mean time the storm had broken; it was only a summer gale, and at nine o'clock the wind shifted to northwest, and the sun came out. Thornton and his father went on deck, leaving Mrs. Seabury to attend to the Captain, who was awake and in much pain. The mate came up to Mr. Seabury, and said:
"This are a ser'ous business, sir."
"Yes," answered Mr. Seabury; "I suppose you're in command now."
"Waal, I am: but I wish I wasn't."