“Cut the lanyards to windward!” he cried; and again buried his ax into the mast.  He was quickly obeyed.  And upon cutting the third lanyard of the five, he shouted for us to pause.  Dropping his ax, he climbed up to windward.  As he clutched the rail, the wounded mast snapped in twain with a report like a cannon.  A slight smoke was perceptible where it broke.  The remaining lanyards parted.  From the violent strain upon them, the two shrouds flew madly into the air, and one of the great blocks at their ends, striking Annatoo upon the forehead, she let go her hold upon a stanchion, and sliding across the aslant deck, was swallowed up in the whirlpool under our lea.  Samoa shrieked.  But there was no time to mourn; no hand could reach to save.

By the connecting stays, the mainmast carried over with it the foremast; when we instantly righted, and for the time were saved; my own royal Viking our saviour.

The first fury of the gale was gone.  But far to leeward was seen the even, white line of its onset, pawing the ocean into foam.  All round us, the sea boiled like ten thousand caldrons; and through eddy, wave, and surge, our almost water-logged craft waded heavily; every dead clash ringing hollow against her hull, like blows upon a coffin.

We floated a wreck.  With every pitch we lifted our dangling jib-boom into the air; and beating against the side, were the shattered fragments of the masts.  From these we made all haste to be free, by cutting the rigging that held them.

Soon, the worst of the gale was blown over.  But the sea ran high.  Yet the rack and scud of the tempest, its mad, tearing foam, was subdued into immense, long-extended, and long-rolling billows; the white cream on their crests like snow on the Andes.  Ever and anon we hung poised on their brows; when the furrowed ocean all round looked like a panorama from Chimborazo.

A few hours more, and the surges went down.  There was a moderate sea, a steady breeze, and a clear, starry sky.  Such was the storm that came after our calm.

CHAPTER XXXVII Once More They Take To The Chamois

Try the pumps.  We dropped the sinker, and found the Parki bleeding at every pore.  Up from her well, the water, spring-like, came bubbling, pure and limpid as the water of Saratoga.  Her time had come.  But by keeping two hands at the pumps, we had no doubt she would float till daylight; previous to which we liked not to abandon her.

The interval was employed in clanging at the pump-breaks, and preparing the Chamois for our reception.  So soon as the sea permitted, we lowered it over the side; and letting it float under the stern, stowed it with water and provisions, together with various other things, including muskets and cutlasses.

Shortly after daylight, a violent jostling and thumping under foot showed that the water, gaining rapidly in the, hold, spite of all pumping, had floated the lighter casks up-ward to the deck, against which they were striking.