The weather cleared a little to-day, but there was still a heavy sea
and nearly a head wind. The crew were busily engaged in repairing
damages. Unfortunately, two of them are ill, and so is the carpenter,
a specially important person at this juncture. No men could have
behaved better than they all did after the accident. It was frightful
to see them aloft in such weather, swinging on the ends of the broken
spars, as the yacht rolled and pitched about. When it comes to a pinch
they are all good men and true: not that they are perfection, any more
than other men are.
_Sunday, January 28th_.--It is finer, but bitterly cold. Several of my
tropical birds are already dead. The little pig from Harpe Island, and
the Hawaiian geese, look very wretched, in spite of all my
precautions.
We had the Litany at eleven, and prayer and a sermon at four; after
which Tom addressed the men, paying them some well-deserved
compliments on their behaviour on Friday night.
The decks were very slippery, and as we kept rolling about a good deal
there were some nasty falls among the passengers. We had a splendid
though stormy sunset, which did not belie its promise, for the wind
shortly afterwards became stiffer and stronger, until at last we had
two reefs down, and were tumbling about in all directions, as we
rushed through the water.
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