Pagina 308 van 416

"Mind that, Elsa, a steel mainstay an inch thick. I never heard

of one parting in my life before. Things were happening so fast

that I couldn't keep track of them, and now, just at the crucial

minute, the old May jibed, fell off from the wind, and went into

the trough of the sea. A great wave came then, ripped her rudder

off (I found this as soon as I tried to use the wheel) and swept

the decks, taking one man.

"Meanwhile the mainmast, with one stay gone, was whipping from

side to side like a great, loose stick. I put the wheel in the

becket and in one jump released the mains'l throat-halyards,

while another fellow released the peak. The sail came down on the

run in the lazy jacks and the men jumped on it and began to crowd

it into some kind of a furl.