“What is coming?  Do tell me.  I am so very nervous.”

“The Jilla-Jilly wind!  We’ll be in the midst of it soon.  You’d better look out!”

“The Jilla-Jilly wind?  For mercy sakes, what’s that?”

“It’s a kind of a hurricane,” said Bob, inventing something on the spur of the moment.  “Only, instead of blowing straight ahead or around in a circle it blows up and down.  It’s liable to snatch you right up to the clouds, or suck you down into the ocean!”

“That is terrible, my dear young friend!”

“Terrible!  I should say it was!”

“What had I better do?”

“You’ll surely be blown overboard if you stay on deck.  That Jilla-Jilly wind is the most terrible wind you ever heard of!  We’ll soon strike it!  There, that sounds like it now!  Don’t you feel as if you were being lifted up?”

The nervous fears of Mr. Tarbill made him anticipate almost any sensation that was vividly described to him.  He was in such a state of mind that he would have believed almost anything he heard.

“Yes!  Yes!” he exclaimed.  “I feel it coming!  Oh, dear!  What shall I do?”

“Go below quickly!” yelled Bob, for that was the object he had in mind in inventing the Jilla-Jilly wind for the occasion.

“I will!  I’ll go at once!” And, holding on to hand-lines which had been stretched about the deck for safety, the nervous passenger made his way to his cabin, while the ship tossed more than ever.

CHAPTER XVI

WRECK OF THE SHIP

Though the vessel was in great danger Bob could not help smiling at the success of his prank.  When Mr. Tar-bill, with every evidence of terror, had left the deck, Bob crept cautiously forward to peer ahead into the wild waste of waves that threatened to overwhelm the Eagle.

“If it isn’t a Jilla-Jilly wind, it’s almost as bad,” thought our hero.  If he had known more about the ocean and its terrors he would have been more frightened than he was.  If it was not exactly an instance of “where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise,” it was, in Bob’s case, the next thing to it.

“Wow!  That was a bad one!” exclaimed the boy, as an extraordinarily large wave made the ship tremble.

At the same instant a frightened shriek rang out through the darkness.  It was one full of terror.

“It’s got me!  It’s got me!” yelled the voice.  “What in the world is that?” shouted Captain Spark above the din of the storm.  “Is some one overboard?”

“Sounds like Mr. Tarbill,” replied the mate, putting his lips close to the captain’s ear, so as to be heard.

“Maybe something has happened to him,” suggested the commander.  “Better look after him, Mr. Carr.  We shall do very well for the time being.  We’ve got her before the gale now, and she’s scudding along very nicely.”