"We are going to have it, and no mistake, presently; but it don't seem to be coming up fast." "The glass is going down rapidly," the captain said.

"It's down an inch already, and is still falling.
"Mr.Mason," he went on, to the officer in command of the detachment of marines, "will you kindly place your men under the orders of Mr.James?
I am going to send down all the upper spars, and they can be useful on deck." Never was the Paramatta stripped more rapidly of her sails, for every man was conscious of the urgency of the work.

As soon as the sails were furled, the yards were sent down.

The upper spars followed them and, in little over half an hour from the time the men began to ascend the shrouds, the Paramatta was metamorphosed.
Her tall tapering masts and lofty spread of sail were gone.

Every spar above the topmasts had been sent down to the deck; and she lay under close-reefed topsails, a stay sail, and a storm jib.