Page:The Dark Frigate (Hawes).djvu/108

There was running on the deck and shadows passed forward and aft.

From the quarter-deck a clear voice, so sharp that it pierced the noise of the storm, was calling, “Port the helm! Ease her, ease her! Now up! Hard up! Ease her, ease her!”

As the boatswain dropped through the hatch, he saw very dimly the captain crouching under the poop, his cloak drawn close about him.

There was wild confusion below, for as the ship rolled to starboard the sea burst in through the great gap along the timber heads and pushed through the gap and into the ship the blankets and rugs that were stuffed in place. Though the men leaped after them and came scrambling back to force them again into place between the timbers, and though they tore down hammocks and jammed them in with the blankets to fill the great opening, yet as the ship again rolled and the sea once more came surging against the barrier, they again fled before it, and again the sea cleared the gap and came flooding in upon the deck. It was a sight to fill a brave man with despair.

The more hands made faster work, and though the labour seemed spent in vain they stuffed the gap anew. But now when the ship again rolled to starboard an old seaman raised his hand and roared, ‘‘Every man to his place and hold against the sea! Stay! Hold fast your ground! — Come, bullies, hold hard! — Good fellows! See, we have won!”

They had perceived his meaning and braced themselves and with their hands they had held the stuffing in the gap until the pressure ceased, which was more of a feat than a man might think, since despite their