A HURRICANE 311 



to be lifted off the deck. We went up and down like 

 this all the afternoon and evening, till during the night 

 the wind gradually dropped and it became calm. That 

 the storm would not be of long duration might almost 

 be assumed from its suddenness, and the English rule — 



Long foretold, long last ; 

 Short notice, soon past ' — 



may thus be said to have held good. 



" When there is a strong wind on her beam, the 

 Fram does not roll so much as usual, except for an 

 occasional leeward lurch ; nor was any excessive quantity 

 of water shipped in this boisterous sea. The watch went 

 below as usual when they were relieved, and, as some- 

 body very truly remarked, all hands might quite well 

 have turned in, if we had not had to keep a lookout for 

 ice. And fortune willed it that the day of the hurricane 

 was the first since we had left the Barrier that we did 

 7iot see ice — whether this was because the spray was so 

 high that it hid our view, or because there really was 

 none. Be that as it may, the main thing was that we 

 saw no ice. During the night we had a glimpse of the 

 full moon, which gave the man at the wheel occasion to 

 call out ' Hurrah !' — and with good reason, as we had 

 been waiting a long time for the moon to help us in 

 looking out for ice. 



" In weather like tliis one notices nothing out of the 

 ordinary below deck. Here hardly anything is heard of 

 the wind, and in the after-saloon, wliich is below the 



