298 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



abundance of praise, but doubted if they could do more 

 execution than his own. My reel, alone, he acknowledged 

 to be better than his, and concluded, if ever he went to- 

 New York,* he 'd be guilty of purchasing its counterpart. 

 Bedtime arrived, and having discussed a nightcap, I turned 

 into my bunk, while the captain went on deck to keep the 

 middle watch with the second mate, a practice he always 

 followed when on the coast. The motion was just sufficient 

 to lull me to sleep, and soon my eyes were closed to the 

 outer world. Three hours at the utmost must I have been 

 asleep, when the violence of the motion, the stamping on 

 deck, thoroughly aroused me from my slumbers. From the 

 even keel that we had been on a few hours before, we now 

 careened so far over that I found it next to impossible to 

 brace myself in my berth ; the wind fairly screeched through 

 the rigging, and the racket caused by chairs, and other 

 movables adrift, banished slumber for the time being. 

 At length I could remain no longer below, from a desire to 

 see and ascertain the nature of affairs. After many 

 ineffectual attempts, and not without assuming all kinds of 

 strange attitudes, I got into my nether garments and boots, 

 and succeeded in gaining the upper regions The scene 

 was truly terrific; the sea was wild with agitation ; billow 

 after billow rolled past, crested with foam, while the blast 

 fairly howled its wrath. The captain stood aft, holding 

 on to the weather mainstay, occasionally giving an order 

 to the men at the wheel. From the spread of canvas we 

 had formerly carried, we were now reduced to a close-reefed 



* Made by Andrew Clerk and Co., of Maiden Lane. 



