At all
events, I'll turn back: perhaps we may reach the brig before it comes
on. She carries a light, and we can find her out." I then turned the
boat round, and steered, as near as I could guess, for where the brig
was lying. But we had not pulled out more than two minutes before a low
moaning was heard in the atmosphere--now here, now there--and we
appeared to be pulling through solid darkness, if I may use the
expression. Swinburne looked around him and pointed out on the starboard
bow.
"It's a-coming, Mr Simple, sure enough; many's the living being that
will not rise on its legs to-morrow. See, sir."
I looked, and dark as it was, it appeared as if a sort of black wall was
sweeping along the water right towards us. The moaning gradually
increased to a stunning roar, and then at once it broke upon us with a
noise to which no thunder can bear a comparison. The oars were caught by
the wind with such force that the men were dashed forward under the
thwarts, many of them severely hurt. Fortunately we pulled with tholes
and pins, or the gunwale and planks of the boat would have been wrenched
off, and we should have foundered. The wind soon caught the boat on her
broadside, and, had there been the least sea, would have inevitably
thrown her over; but Swinburne put the helm down, and she fell off
before the hurricane, darting through the boiling water at the rate of
ten miles an hour. All hands were aghast; they had recovered their
seats, but were obliged to relinquish them and sit down at the bottom,
holding on by the thwarts.
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