There Was A
Complete "Hurrah's Nest," As The Sailors Say, "Everything On Top
And Nothing At Hand." A Large Hawser
Had been coiled away upon
my chest; my hats, boots, mattress and blankets had all fetched
away and gone over
To leeward, and were jammed and broken under
the boxes and coils of rigging. To crown all, we were allowed
no light to find anything with, and I was just beginning to feel
strong symptoms of sea-sickness, and that listlessness and
inactivity which accompany it. Giving up all attempts to collect
my things together, I lay down upon the sails, expecting every moment
to hear the cry of "all hands, ahoy," which the approaching storm would
soon make necessary. I shortly heard the rain-drops falling on deck,
thick and fast, and the watch evidently had their hands full of work,
for I could hear the loud and repeated orders of the mate, the trampling
of feet, the creaking of blocks, and all the accompaniments of a coming
storm. In a few minutes the slide of the hatch was thrown back, which
let down the noise and tumult of the deck still louder, the loud cry of
"All hands, ahoy! tumble up here and take in sail," saluted our ears,
and the hatch was quickly shut again. When I got upon deck, a new
scene and a new experience were before me. The little brig was close
hauled upon the wind, and lying over, as it then seemed to me, nearly
upon her beam ends.
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