The “Kid” scurried further aft to give the order to the boatswain’s mates and master-at-arms.

We looked out to seaward and noted the black sky and the rising wind.

“I guess you ‘heroes’ will have a chance to show what right you have to be called seamen,” said “Stump,” mimicking “Cutlets.”

CHAPTER XIV.

We engage in A sea fight.

“Watch on deck, put on your oilers,” shouted the boatswain’s mates.

The order came none too soon, for as the last man ran up the companion-way ladder, the rain began to drop in sheets.

The rising wind drove the rain in our faces with stinging force, and we were soon wet as drowned rats.

The white-capped seas raced alongside, and the “Yankee” heaved and tossed like a bucking bronco.  The lookouts at the masthead swayed forward and back, to and fro, dizzily, and the officer of the deck on the bridge had difficulty in keeping his feet.  The pots and pans in the galley banged noisily, and ever and anon the screw was lifted out of the water, and for a few turns shook the ship from stern to stem with its accelerated speed.

A number of men who had partaken too freely of tropical fruits manned the rail and seemed too much interested in the seething water below to notice the rain that was dripping down their necks.

For a time, things were very lively aboard the old hooker, and, though in the main unpleasant, the grandeur of the sea in the tempest made up for all discomforts.  The flash of the lightning, the roar of the thunder, the hum and whistle of the wind through the rigging, and the swish of the seas as they dashed themselves to spray against the sides of the ship—­all this made an impressive chorus, more stirring even than the roar of cannon and the shriek of shell.

When “hammocks” was blown by the ship’s bugler at a quarter to seven, we found it difficult to make our way forward to the nettings.  One moment we were toiling up the deck’s steep incline; the next, the ship would bury her prow, and we were rushing forward pell mell.  The boat seemed to be endowed with diabolical intelligence that night.  A man might, perchance, stoop to tie his shoe or examine a freshly stubbed toe, when the ship would seem to divine that she had him at a disadvantage, and would leap forward so that he would immediately stand on his head, or affectionately and firmly embrace a convenient stanchion.  “Pride cometh before a fall,” and the man who thought he had caught the swing and could walk a chalk line on the deck, soon found that the old boat knew a new trick or two, and in a twinkling of an eye he was sawing the air frantically with his arms, in his efforts to keep his balance.

Though the force of the tropical storm was soon spent, the sea continued high, and locomotion was difficult.

The hammocks were given out by the “hammock stowers” of the watch on duty.  They called out the numbers stenciled on our “dream bags,” and the owners stepped forward and claimed them.  As soon as a man secured his hammock he immediately slung it in place, unlashed it, and arranged the blankets to his liking.