A few square yards of sail alone were all that the captain had thought it prudent to keep spread, and in a minute from the time she was struck the lofty hulk was tearing along through the waters at a tremendous speed.

Four of the best hands were placed at the helm; and here the captain took his post.
The danger was now that in the darkness they might run against one of their consorts.

Even in the war of the elements they could hear from time to time crashes as of vessels striking against each other, with shouts and cries.

Once or twice from the darkness ships emerged, close on one hand or the other; but the steadiness of the captain in each case saved the ship from collision.
As the storm continued these glimpses of other vessels became more and more rare, and the ship being a very fast sailer, the captain indulged the hope that he was now clear of the rest of the fleet.
He now attempted to lie-to to the storm, but the wind was too strong.
The ships in those days, too, were so high out of the water, and offered in themselves such a target to the wind, that it was useless to adopt any other maneuver than to run before it.
For two days and nights the tempest raged.
"What think you," the earl said to the captain, "of our position?
Where are we, and where will the course upon which we are running take us ?" "I cannot say with certainty," the captain said, "for the wind has shifted several times.

I had hoped to gain the shelter of Rhodes, but a shift of wind bore us away from there, and I much fear that from the direction in which we have been running we must be very nigh on the coast of Africa." "_Peste!_" the earl said.