Page:The Rambler in Mexico.djvu/23

 Rh heard passing out at the bow. The vessel began to change her direction, when suddenly she was brought to again with a jerk, and a cry forward announced that the last bolt of the chain refused to pass through the hawse hole.

A cold chisel was procured, and while it was employed to cut the iron bolt, all who were aware of the circumstance were inclined to check their breath. Our position was truly one of no ordinary peril, as the strain upon the forward timber threatened to tear it out of the ship, in which case we must instantly have gone down.

At length the bolt was severed, and the vessel, free from all obstacles, whirled round, and began to fly before the wind.

Such a wind I had till then never even imagined. The sea was apparently levelled under its pressure; and far and near seemed like a carpet of driving snow, from the sleet and foam which were raised and hurried along its surface.

Thus we turned our backs on the shore, and drove hour after hour in storm and darkness into the unknown void before us.

What appearances there were in the sky I do not know, as our vision was limited to a narrow circle of half a furlong around us; but if the disorder of the clouds answered that of the waves, there must have been awful doings over our heads.

The sea, in spite of the tremendous force of the wind which I have alluded to, was not long to be lulled in this unnatural slumber, but began to rise and toss us about in fearful wise; and yet it was not till we had run under shortened sail for many hours, in a direction which carried us out of all danger of the coast, and we lay to under three-reefed mainsail and trysail, that we felt all the discomfort of our situation.

By this time the decks, washed by the sea, had been cleared of all lumber. The cocks and hens had been drowned in the coops, the boat had been half staved, the binnacle and compass broken, and all the inhabitants