"I am sure that a score of those flashes struck the
mast, and yet no damage has been done to it, so far as I could see
by the last flash. Are you all right there, Purvis?"
"All right," the mate replied. "Scared a bit, I fancy. I know I am
myself, but none the worse for it."
"It is coming now, sir," the captain said. "Listen."
Frank could hear a low moaning noise, rapidly growing louder, and
then he saw a white line on the water coming along with
extraordinary velocity.
"Hard down with the helm, Perry," the captain said.
"Hard down it is, sir."
"Hold on all!" the captain shouted.
A few seconds later the gale struck them. The yacht shook as if in
a collision, and heeled over till the water was half up her deck.
Then the weight of her lead ballast told, and as the pressure on
the mizzen did its work, she gradually came up to the wind, getting
on to an almost even keel as she did so.
"Break out the jib and haul in the weather sheet," the captain
shouted.
Purvis was expecting this, and although he did not hear the words
above the howl of the storm, at once obeyed the order.
"There she is, sir, lying-to like a duck," the skipper shouted in
Frank's ear; "and none the worse for it.
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