234 ADVENTURES IN THE SOUTH SEAS 
gale began to increase its force. By 9 P. M. all sail had 
been taken in, and a piece of canvas was put up in the 
weather main rigging to keep her head to the wind, which 
was then blowing hard from a northerly point. The cap- 
tain tried to get the royal yards sent down on deck, but 
no one dared venture aloft to do so. The main and after 
hatches were battened down, and nothing more could be 
done but wait and watch carefully. Describing the scenes 
which followed, Mr. Brown has said: 
“In the lulls between the fierce gusts of the gale I could 
hear the teachers and their wives praying to God to have 
mercy upon us all. I had been in several times and com- 
forted them as well as I could, but one or two of the more 
frightened ones alarmed them all again; though afterward, 
when we really expected death, they were all as quiet and 
collected as it was possible to be. The captain and I were 
often anxiously looking at the barometer, but, alas! there 
was no hope for us there. Afterward, when the captain 
would not come down from the companion stairs, I gave 
him the readings from time to time. It was really terrify- 
ing to notice the rapid, regular fall of the mercury. When 
it fell below 29°, I knew well what was in store for us; in 
fact, it was almost upon us. 
“No words can adequately describe the noise of the wind. 
It really shrieked and howled as if mad with rage against 
us, and ever and again it seemed to throw itself against the 
good old ship with another savagely exultant burst of fury, 
as of a demon exulting in the fulfillment of a long-deferred, 
but ever-longed-for vengeance. I have felt the force and 
heard the roar of a hurricane on the land, and have been 
in many a heavy gale at sea, but have never felt nor heard 
anything to equal that; and this also is the testimony of 
every one on board. We have old sailors on the ship who 
were out in the Dandenong gale, and who have experienced 
the force of some of the severest cyclones in India and 
China and other parts of the world, who all declare that 
