And now what an inspiring scene is enacted as the big ship plunges forward, now on an upright keel, now heeled far down to leeward by the fierce puffs which shriek through the rigging with a din which is absolutely infernal. Standing by the weather-quarter-bitts looms up the burly form of Captain Scruggs, whose keen, vigilant eye takes in every detail of the ship and the weather; while the gaunt, motionless face of the helmsman can be seen through the wheel-house windows, illumined by the glow from the binnacle light. In another moment a dull, rumbling sound is heard forward: it is the upper foretop-sail-yard running down, and then the dim figures of fifteen or sixteen yellow-clad sailors can be perceived as they jump into the rigging and claw out along the yard to windward and to leeward, utterly unmindful of the pelting rain which stings their faces, or the quick, tremendous rolls which one would think must whip them off into the sea. Oh, bold and valiant seamen, toiling so well and so silently up there in the gale and darkness, truly, ye are the bravest and the least rewarded of men! In another hour the ship was under the shortest canvas thus far,--lower topsail, foresail, reefed main-sail, and spencer,--bending over to the blast, the wind now rushing through the shrouds with that grand, deep hum like the whirr of powerful machinery. Throughout the night we kept ploughing ahead through an ever-increasing sea, with showers of buckshot hail rattling overhead like storms of bullets, varied now and then with heavy dashes of spray against the cabin-house. At eight this morning, though, the wind had so moderated that we set the upper topsails, the ship wallowing continuously in a big head-sea which had made during the night. At noon, though, it began to breeze up once more, and at one o’clock the cry rang through the ship, “All hands, reef the maintop-sail.” Again the men trotted up the weather-rigging and turned in a double reef in less than twenty minutes; not bad for a merchantman. It is curious to see the delight with which an order to shorten sail is invariably received by a ship’s company on the approach of heavy weather. No matter what their humor at the moment may be, they always seem actually pleased when the expected order comes from the after-guard; and, with eager glances over their shoulders at the approaching squall, they leap into the shrouds and race aloft to see who shall be the first over the rim of the top. For the first time we, to-day, had stocking-leg duff for dinner. It consists usually of a quantity of stewed dried apples wrapped up in a roll of dough and boiled in a piece of cheese-cloth. It is by no means a bad substitute for apple-dumpling, and with good sauce is always hailed at sea with extravagant joy. The name originated in the forecastle, where the duff is always boiled in the leg of a stocking. Latitude, 50° 48′ south; longitude, 64° 34′ west. +July 9+