Charley and
Hubert were leaning against the bulwark when the gale struck them.
For a moment they were blinded and half-choked by the force and
fury of the spray and wind, and crouched down behind their shelter
to recover themselves. Then, with a hearty laugh at their drenched
appearance, they made their way to the mainmast, and then, holding
on by the belaying pins, they were able to look fairly out on the
gale. It was dark--so dark that they could scarcely see as far as
the foremast. Around, the sea was white with foam; the wind blew so
fiercely that they could scarcely hear each other's voices, even
when they shouted, and the steamer labored heavily against the fast
rising sea. Here Mr. Hardy joined them, and for some little time
clung there, watching the increasing fury of the gale; then,
drenched and almost confused by the strife of winds and water that
they had been watching, they made their way, with great difficulty,
down into the cabin.
Here the feeling of seasickness, which the excitement of the scene
had kept off, increased rapidly; and they were glad to slip off
their upper clothes, and to throw themselves upon their berths
before the paroxysm of sickness came on.
When questioned afterward as to the events of the next thirty-six
hours, the young Hardys were all obliged to confess that that time
was a sort of blank in their memory--a sort of horrible nightmare,
when one moment they seemed to be on their heads, and the next upon
their feet, but never lying down in a comfortable position, when
sometimes the top of the cabin seemed under their feet, sometimes
the floor over their head.
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