Australian Tales - Setis

an extent, that I had hard work to keep my post in the rigging, and I
sometimes feared she would capsize altogether.
“I would advise you to go below and turn in, sir,” said the captain,
good naturedly addressing me. “You can do no good by stopping on
deck, and you may get hurt. I will rouse you out smartly enough if
anything happens; but I think the weather is breaking.” Just at that
moment a heavy sea broke on board, which smashed all the weather
bulwarks, and did other damage on deck, besides nearly knocking me
overboard. Soon afterwards another green sea tumbled on board, and if I
had not previously lashed myself to the rigging I should probably have
been lost; so I went below, and, without undressing, turned into a berth in
a spare cabin near to the companion way, and being wearied out with
long watching, I was soon fast asleep notwithstanding the violent
pitching of the vessel.
I had had but one nap, and it did not then appear to me to have been a
very long one, when I was awakened by a noisy kicking at my cabin
door, and the captain, in excited tones, calling upon me to hasten on
deck.
“Heave out, Mr. Boomerang; quick, quick,” cried the captain, “bear a
hand, sir; jump up on the deck, directly!”
I was out of bed in an instant, and scrambled up the companion ladder,
on my hands and knees, urged onward by extreme anxiety, and a
resolution to save my life if possible. Never shall I forget the gushing
emotions of my heart, as I stood on the quarter-deck and gazed around
me, with a bounding joy which language can but feebly express. Of
course I had expected to see the ship struggling in the breakers, and I was
preparing to battle for dear life, amid the roaring of the surges and the
blackness of death. Instead of which, my dazzled eyes beheld the
morning sun, rising into a cloudless sky; illumining the rolling ocean,
and tinging the wooded shores in the distance with golden light. It was a
Sabbath morning, and ever shall I remember the holy calm which reigned
around, and seemed to fill my spirit with feelings too deep for utterance;
with a solemn sense of mercies experienced from God, for which my
tongue could not utter my heart's gratitude. Suddenly the feeling changed
to almost a delirium of transport, which tried to vent itself in extravagant
outbursts. I rushed up to the smiling captain, seized his hand and uttered
a rhapsody of thanks and compliments; then I turned to the mate, who
laughed heartily as I shook his hand with true fraternal warmth; and I
was almost running forward to hug every Jack tar on the forecastle, for I
loved the brave fellows, who had worked so willingly during the late
gale. Like a poor felon reprieved under the gallows, I felt rescued from
the jaws of death. It was a transition from the darkness of the night of
death to the brightness of a sunny, life-breathing morning; and the joyous
emotion it wrought cannot be conveyed by ordinary figures.