The morning light brought the stranger clearly in view, at about the same distance; and at the same period of time the ship, righting suddenly from the downward pressure, to which she had been so long exposed, showed that there was a lull of the wind. It was but momentarily, for again she heeled over as before. Again, however, she righted, and this time, her lee scuppers remained for longer free of the water.
Bowse looked to windward: he was about to order a couple of reefs more to be shaken out of the topsails, when another violent blast almost laid her on her beam ends.
The hardy crew, wearied with the unremitting exertions of the night, looked at each other in despair, as the sea literally washed up the decks to leeward. A loud crash was heard, and the fore-topmast went over the side, carrying away the jibboom. It was the last expiring effort of the gale.
The stranger now shook out all the reefs in her topsails and courses; but it was soon evident that there was no occasion for her so doing, as she continued to maintain the exact position she had held when first seen in the morning.
The forenoon watch had just been set, when Colonel Gauntlett came on deck.
“A nice night we’ve had of it, captain,” he observed in a tone which showed but little anxiety on his part. “It was only towards the morning the infernal hubbub would allow me a moment’s sleep. But, hillo! what have you been doing with your foremast? Why, it’s shorn of half its just proportions. And a pretty work seems to have been going forward on your deck. Why, I should have thought you had been in action already.”
“With the winds and waves we have, sir,” answered Bowse. “I wish we were in a better condition to meet an enemy.”
“Well, I wish we were, if there is a prospect of our seeing one again,” said the colonel. “However, I suppose you’ve managed to give the go-by to our friend, the Flying Dutchman.”
Bowse, whose spirits weariness and anxiety had much lowered, shook his head, and pointed to the stranger.
“I wish I could say so, Colonel Gauntlett. There she is, as big as life; and, what is more, may be alongside of us any moment those on board her may desire.”