“They drifted along till noon time and then they was somewheres out in the bay, but that’s about all you could say.  Zach, he was stewin’ and sputterin’ like a pair of fried eels, and Lafayette Gage and Emulous Peters—­they’re Denboro folks, Mr. Ellery, and about sixteen p’ints t’other side of no account—­they was the only passengers aboard except Nat Hammond, and they put in their time playin’ high low jack in the cabin.  The lookout was for’ard tootin’ a tin horn and his bellerin’ was the most excitin’ thing goin’ on.  After dinner—­corned beef and cabbage—­trust Zach for that, though it’s next door to cannibalism to put cabbage in his mouth—­after dinner all hands was on deck when Nat says:  ‘Hush!’ he says.  ‘Don’t I hear somethin’?’

“They listened, and then they all heard it—­all ’cept Zach, who’s deef in his larboard ear.

“‘Stand by!’ roars Nat.  ‘It’s a squall, dead astern and comin’ abilin’!  I’ll take her, ‘Bije.  You look out for them tops’ls.’

“So Nat grabs the wheel and ’Bije tears for’ard and sends the two fo’mast hands aloft on the jump.  Zach was skipper, but all he done was race around and holler and trip over his own feet.  Oh, he’s a prize sailor, he is!  Don’t talk to me about them Fosters!  I—­”

“Nobody is talkin’ about ’em but you, Zeb,” observed Keziah drily.  “Go on.  How about the squall?”

“It hit ’em ’fore they got even one tops’l clewed down.  That one, the foretops’l ’twas, split to rags.  The main tops’l was set, and when the squall struck, the rotten old topmast went by the board ‘Kerrash-o!’ ’Course splinters flew like all possessed, and one of ’em, about a foot long, sailed past Nat’s head, where he stood heavin’ his whole weight on the wheel, and lit right on the binnacle, smashin’ it to matches.

“They say Nat never paid the least attention, no more’n if the chunk of wood had been a June bug buzzin’ past.  He just held that wheel hard down and that saved the packet.  She come around and put her nose dead in the wind just in time.  As ’twas, ’Bije says there was a second when the water by her lee rail looked right underneath him as he hung onto the deck with finger nails and teeth.

“Well, there they was, afloat, but with their upper riggin’ gone and the compass smashed flat.  A howlin’ no’thwester blowin’ and fog thick as ever.  Zach was a whimperin’, fidgetin’ old woman, Lafayette and Emulous was prayin’ in the scuppers—­and that ain’t an exercise they’re used to, neither—­and even ’Bije was mighty shook up and worried—­he says he was himself.  But Nat Hammond was as cool and refreshin’ as the bottom of my well up home.

“‘Better clear away that mess aloft, hadn’t you?’ he says to the skipper.

“Zach said he guessed so; he wa’n’t sure of nothin’.  However, they cleared it away, and incidentally ‘Bije yanked the prayer meetin’ out of the scuppers and set ’em to work.  Then Nat suggests gettin’ the spare compass and, lo and behold you! there wa’n’t any.  Compasses cost money and money’s made to keep, so Zach thinks.