Page 310 - A Knight of the White Cross

Before taking down the spar and sail, he had deliberated as to whether it
would be better to run before the coming gale or to lie to, and had decided

on the latter alternative, as, were it to continue to blow long, he might be
driven on to the Egyptian coast. Moreover, the felucca's bow was much

higher out of water than the stern, and he thought that she would ride over
the waves with greater safety than she would did they sweep down upon
her stern.

He had heard that the Greeks, when caught in a sudden gale in small boats,

often lashed the oars together, threw them overboard with a rope attached,
and rode to them safely through a sea that would otherwise have
overwhelmed them. After much consideration as to what had best be done,

he took the anchor rope, which was some sixty yards in length, fastened
one end to each end of the spar, and then lashed the middle of the rope to

the bow of the felucca; then, using an oar as a lever, he with great labour
managed to launch the spar over the bow, with the sail still attached to it.

When he had completed this, he looked round at the state of the weather.
The clouds had risen so fast that their edge was nearly overhead, spanning

the sky like a great arch. Ahead of him it seemed almost as black as night.
He had not been out in many of the gales that at times sweep the eastern
waters of the Mediterranean with terrible violence, but had seen enough of

them to know that it was no ordinary one that he was about to encounter.
He looked over the bow; the spar at present was lying in contact with the

stem. With an oar he pushed it across so as to be at right angles with the
craft, and then, there being nothing else to do, sat down and waited for the
storm to burst. In a short time he heard a dull moaning sound, a puff of

wind struck the boat, but in a few seconds died out; it was sufficient to give
the light craft stern way, and she drifted backwards, the rope tightening,

until the spar lay across her bows, and some twenty yards away.

The dull moaning had grown louder; and now ahead of him he saw a white

line. It approached with extraordinary rapidity. Knowing the fury with
which it would burst upon him, he leapt down, and stood at the entrance to

the cabin, with his head just above the deck. With a deafening roar the wind
struck the boat, which staggered as if she had on her full course struck on a