My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org

IN THE AMAZON VALLEY i6ia mattress on the floor of the cabin when rough.Onthe worst night of the storm I saw him, to my surprise,bring down an axe and lay it beside him, andon asking what it was for, he replied, " To cut awaythe masts in case we capsize in the night." In themiddle of the night a great sea smashed our skylightand poured in a deluge of water, soaking the poorcaptain, and then slushing from side to side withevery roll of the ship. Now, I thought, our time iscome ; and I expected to see the captain rush up ondeck with his axe. But he only swore a good deal,sought out a dry coat and blanket, and then lay downon the sofa as if nothing had happened. So I was alittle reassured.Not less alarming was the circumstance of thecrew coming aft in a body to say that the forecastlewas uninhabitable as it was constantly wet, and severalof them brought handfuls of wet rotten wood whichthey could pull out in many places. This happenedsoon after the first gale began ;so the two captainsand I went to look, and we saw sprays and squirts ofwater coming in at the joints in numerous places,soaking almost all the men's berths, while here andthere we could see the places where they had pulledout rotten wood with their fingers. The captain thenhad the sail-room amid-ships cleared out for the mento sleep in for the rest of the voyage.One day in the height of the storm, when wewere being flooded with spray and enormous waveswere coming up behind us, Captain Turner and I weresitting on the poop inthe driest place we could find,and, as a bigger wave than usual rolled under usand dashed over our sides, he said quietly to me, " Ifwe are pooped by one of those waves we shall go tothe bottom ; " then added, " We were not very safe inM