Capt(uri 

 QallowcuJ 



CHAPTER FOURTEEN 



Across the Indian Ocean 



CAPTAIN GALLOWAY brought his ship to that one place on 

 the precipitous shores of Tristan da Cunha where a land- 

 ing can be effected. A boat was lowered and he was 

 rowed ashore to return after an hour or so with a cargo of 

 hogs, chicken and vegetables which would provide a 

 welcome relief to the monotony of the salt beef and hard 

 biscuit diet during the passage across the Indian Ocean. 



With her boat back on its cranes the Meribah squared 

 away from the island and soon found her sails filHng with 

 the brave west winds that blow right round the globe in 

 those latitudes known as the Roaring Forties. With her 

 long jibboom climbing and dipping she set her prow to 

 the eastward for Australia. 



'Secure and lash everything,' sang out the captain above 

 the howling of the wind through the rigging. 



'Hoist the boats high on the cranes!' 



As the days passed and the winds rose to gale force one 

 sail after another was taken in until only her reefed 

 topsails and foresails remained; and so with two oilskin- 

 clad men continually wrestling with the wheel to keep her 



