The wind was beginning to whistle through the rigging, the water to foam under the bows of the “Sister Sue,” showing that she was getting under good headway.

“Port one point,” bellowed the skipper.  Harriet instantly obeyed the command.  Then the gale was upon them with a screech and a roar.  A volume of water that threatened to swamp them rolled toward the stern, but before it had done so Harriet, acting upon a sharply uttered command, had swung the sloop about until its nose met the oncoming rush of wind and water.  She gasped for breath as the flood of salt water enveloped her; yet, bracing her feet, clung firmly to the wheel, holding the craft on the new course.  Afterward Harriet had a faint recollection of having seen her companions swimming on the green sea in the little cockpit, Tommy’s pale face standing out more prominently than all the rest.

“We made it,” roared the skipper.  “Now hold her steady, and she will ride it out like a duck.”  He grabbed up a pail and began bailing with all his might.  Jane did likewise, then Miss Elting lent her assistance.  Tommy was clinging to the cabin roof with all her might.

Before the storm struck them they had not thought to light their masthead and side lights.  Now it was next to impossible to do so.  The sloop was rushing through the seas without a light to mark her presence on the sea that was growing more wild with the moments.  But the binnacle light was burning steadily over the compass, so that the helmswoman was able to see in which direction they were heading.  The compass told her that, instead of making headway toward land, they were rushing along at a frightful rate of speed toward Europe.  Still, she realized that this was the only safe course to follow.

All at once Harriet Burrell uttered a sharp cry of alarm.  She threw the wheel over so suddenly that a wave smashing against the side of the sloop nearly turned them turtle.  Captain Billy, with quick instinct, let go the mainsail, which swung out far to leeward, thus saving the little craft from being upset.  Up to this moment he did not know what the sudden shifting meant, but just as he was about to bellow to the helmswoman he caught sight of a towering mass of lights that for the moment seemed to hang over them, then flashed on, missing the “Sue” by a few scant rods of water.  They had had a narrow escape from being run down by a steamer.  But for Harriet’s quickness, nothing could have saved them.  It was plain that those on the bridge of the steamer had not discovered the small boat in the sea under their bows, for they did not even hail.

“Good work,” bellowed the skipper.

“I thought we’d got to Europe,” shouted Tommy.

“Lay her to.  I’ve got to close reef that sail,” commanded the captain.

Harriet pointed the bow right into the teeth of the wind.  Oh, how that little craft did plunge!  At times it seemed as if the greater part of her length were wholly out of water, that she had taken a long, quivering leap from the crest of one great wave to another.  So hard was she pitching that she had little time left in which to roll.  Salt spray rained down over the decks until the cabin itself was almost wholly hidden from the view of the girl at the wheel.  In the meantime the captain had reefed the mainsail down to the last row.