Page:Small-boat sailing; an explanation of the management of small yachts, half-decked and open sailing-boats of various rigs; sailing on sea and on river; cruising, etc (IA smallboatsailing01knig).pdf/162

 certainty fall on us, and that it was quite impossible for the Falcon to rise to such a steep wall of water; that she would be rolled over and over by it certainly seemed probable to me at that moment. I only took a second's glance, jammed myself firmly inside the tiller rope, and steered so that the wave should strike us dead aft. Suddenly up went our stern with a jerk that jumped me off my feet, a few bucketfuls of water tumbled on board; then up flew our bow till our deck was at an angle of 45°. The roller had passed us; it had struck us so true that we remained on an even keel without the slightest list to port or starboard. But the peril was far from over yet; another equally lofty roller followed close; and between the two was a valley so narrow and steep that it was impossible that the Falcon after her descent could raise her stern in time to meet this second wall of water. After a glance over my shoulder, which sufficed me to take in the danger of the situation, I turned my back on the roller again, and kept the vessel dead before it. We slid down the slope of the liquid valley, then our stern commenced to rise a little as the foot of the second wave reached us, and then there was a crash and a sudden darkness, and I felt a mass of water rush right over my head. "It is all up with us," I thought—that is, if I thought at all, for all this had occupied but a few seconds; I think, however, all on board imagined that we had foundered; doubtlessly to any one looking from