was hacking at the foresheet with a pocket knife. It was a question of

seconds, for the Farallone drank deep of the encroaching seas. But the

hand of the captain had the advance; the foresail boom tore apart the

last strands of the sheet and crashed to leeward; the Farallone leaped

up into the wind and righted; and the peak and throat halyards, which

had long been let go, began to run at the same instant.

For some ten minutes more she careered under the impulse of the squall;

but the captain was now master of himself and of his ship, and all

danger at an end. And then, sudden as a trick change upon the stage, the

squall blew by, the wind dropped into light airs, the sun beamed forth

again upon the tattered schooner; and the captain, having secured the

foresail boom and set a couple of hands to the pump, walked aft, sober,

a little pale, and with the sodden end of a cigar still stuck between

his teeth even as the squall had found it. Herrick followed him; he

could scarce recall the violence of his late emotions, but he felt

there was a scene to go through, and he was anxious and even eager to go

through with it.

The captain, turning at the house end, met him face to face, and averted

his eyes. 'We've lost the two tops'ls and the stays'l,' he gabbled.

'Good business, we didn't lose any sticks. I guess you think we're all

the better without the kites.'

'That's not what I'm thinking,' said Herrick, in a voice strangely

quiet, that yet echoed confusion in the captain's mind.

The Ebb-Tide