As this deck was flush with the gunwale, or rather, had no gunwale at all, the water ran off it as it does off a whale's back.
Then there came a momentary lull.
"Now, Moses--'bout ship!" shouted Van der Kemp.

"Stand by, Nigel!" "Ay, ay, sir." Although the canoe was long--and therefore unfitted to turn quickly--the powerful strokes of the two paddles in what may be called counteracting-harmony brought the little craft right round with her stern to the waves.
"Hoist away, Nigel! We must run right before it now." Up went the mainsail, the tiny foresail bulged out at the same moment, and away they went like the driving foam, appearing almost to leap from wave to wave.

All sense of danger was now overwhelmed in Nigel's mind by that feeling of excitement and wild delight which accompanies some kinds of rapid motion.

This was, if possible, intensified by the crashing thunder which now burst forth and the vivid lightning which began to play, revealing from time to time the tumultuous turmoil as if in clearest moonlight, only to plunge it again in still blacker night.
By degrees the gale increased in fury, and it soon became evident that neither sails nor cordage could long withstand the strain to which they were subjected.
"A'most too much, massa," said the negro in a suggestive shout.
"Right, Moses," returned his master.

"I was just thinking we must risk it." "Risk what?
I wonder," thought Nigel.
He had not long to wait for an answer to his thought.
"Down wi' the mainsail," was quickly followed by the lowering of the foresail until not more than a mere corner was shown, merely to keep the canoe end-on to the seas.