You'll not get much rest then."
Another sea came, and another; the sound of the wind paralyzed thought
and made speech impossible. Had any one said, "The end of the world has
come," you would have felt only a mild surprise, for even the capacity
for fear or apprehension was stunned as the brain is stunned by a blow.
"I can't stand this any longer, Tom. Even brandy wouldn't do much good
for more than an hour. Do you hear me?"
Tom nodded in a dazed way.
"Well, then, let's go into the open somehow. Perhaps the skipper's
strong, hot coffee _will_ wake us. Anyhow, let us try a cup."
Oh! that indescribable night! To know that death was feasting in that
blackness; to feel that vigilance was of no avail; to turn away
convulsed from the iron push of the demoniac force which for the time
seemed to have taken the place of an atmosphere. Smash! Rattle. Then a
wild whistling; a many lashes, that flapped and cracked; then the fall
of the spar, and the deep, quick sigh from Lennard as it whizzed close
by him. The gaff of the mizen had broken away, halliards and all, as if
a supernatural knife had been drawn across by a strong hand. The men
were hanging on, while a bellying, uncontrollable canvas buffeted them
as if it had volition and sense, and strove to knock their senses out of
them. A canvas adrift is like an unruly beast. All hands came through
the after-cabin, and attacked the thundering sail.
"For your lives now, chaps, before another sea comes! I can't slack away
these halliards.
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