RETURN TO SYDNEY. 413 



canvass still flapped with a lazy swag against the 

 masts ; but suddenly it was filled by a violent 

 gust ; and the Beagle was hurried swiftly onwards, 

 careering over the waves like the misty spectre in a 

 storm. Two hours after (six p.m.) the barometer 

 had risen a tenth. We now expected our passage to 

 Sydney to be short : but the ill luck of foul winds 

 again attending us, it was the fifteenth before we 

 arrived. 



