CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
"A LITTLE UNPLEASANTNESS." "Say, Cap', we'll have to strip her first," suggested Jorrocks, when it was thus decided to carry out the contemplated measure for the relief of the ship--"if we don't do that, we'll have every stick taken out of her as soon as we try to wear her!" "Oh, aye, boatswain, I haven't forgotten that, you may be sure," said the skipper; and the hands were then once more sent aloft to furl the main-topsail, while the mizzen trysail was hauled down and the braces manned, so as to help the vessel round with the yards the moment the helm was put up.
It was a ticklish job, though.

The utmost care was necessary in order that the manoeuvre might be successfully accomplished.
Should one of the heavy rollers strike her after she had once yielded to the influence of the rudder and while coming round with the wind, before she had fully paid off--thus presenting her stern to the attack of her stubborn assailants even as she now faced them, like a stag at bay or a cat fronting a bull-dog--why, the gale would undoubtedly catch her broadside on.

In such a case, the _Esmeralda_ would be exposed at her weakest point to the full force of the wind and sea, in the same way as the deer or cat turning tail to its pursuer--with what result we on board could readily anticipate, even without the skipper's warning words! As Jorrocks expressed it, in the event of such a catastrophe happening, "It was all Lombard Street to a China orange we'd lose the number of our mess and sarve as food for fishes!" Everything, therefore, depended on our seizing the right moment for putting the helm up and bringing her head round, the critical period being that between the onslaught of one of the rollers and the advent of the next; when, if the vessel answered her helm smartly, rising out of the trough of the sea ere the following wave had time to reach her, she would be away scudding in front of the gale safely, before many minutes would be past and the present peril might then be a thing to look back upon with feelings of thankfulness and satisfaction.
Captain Billings explained this to Jorrocks, while all the remaining canvas was being stripped off the vessel, with the exception of the fore-topmast staysail, which was still retained in order to assist in forcing her head round when all was ready for trying the hazardous experiment.
"You know what I want, Boatswain," he said, sending Jorrocks forwards to watch for a favourable opening between the following waves and turn the ship--"the moment you see our chance, give the word; and then, Heaven help us to get round in time and not broach-to!" "Aye, aye, sir, I knows what you want," answered Jorrocks, who then proceeded to crawl as carefully towards the fore-chains, as the carpenter had come aft--bending down beneath the protection of the weather-bulwarks as he crept along the waist, and holding on by a stray rope's-end here and there to preserve his balance--although he did this as much to prevent exposing his body as leverage for the wind to force the vessel over to leeward before the proper time, as to shield himself from its boisterous buffeting.
Arrived at the point he had selected, Jorrocks drew himself up gingerly into the fore-rigging, his hat blowing from off his head and his hair streaming out before the wind the instant he abandoned the shelter of the bulwarks.

However, he had not long to remain in that exposed position.
He had waited to stand up until he heard the blow of one of the heavy billows as it careered before the gale, coming against the bows in due rotation, and the instant he heard this he raised himself erect at once, receiving part of the deluge that broke over the cathead in a fountain of spray on his exposed head and hairy face, the impromptu shower bath making him appear like a dripping merman fresh from the briny deep.
Jorrocks, however, did not mind the cold bath.

He had much more serious matter on hand to take notice of it, beyond giving himself a shake like a retriever fresh from a dip.
Looking over the side to windward, as quickly as he dashed the water from his eyes, he noticed that the following wave succeeding the one which had just delivered its attack, was quite two cable lengths off--a more than usually long interval between the waves as yet.
It seemed like an interposition of Providence in our favour, I thought, noticing the lull from my station on the poop almost as soon as Jorrocks perceived it in the bows, and I feared he would have missed the opportunity.
But the boatswain was too good a seaman for that.