The result is distinctly a
Chinese creation, a craft that seems to reflect his personality, that
responds to his touch and works with him. She's higher in the bows than
an ordinary junk, and lower in the stern; a broad, shallow hull that
needs a centerboard on the wind. Of course she's completely decked over
for heavy weather. In charge of any of us, perhaps, she would be
unmanageable; but in his hands, I can assure you, she's a sea boat of
remarkable attainments.
"I had seen him handle her under difficult conditions, but never in such
a pass as this. How he did it was inconceivable to me. The last I saw of
him that night he had called two men to help him at the tiller; and, so
far, he had kept the craft before the wind.
"For many hours I was surrounded by pitch blackness and the storm. I
clung to a single stanchion, hardly changing my position during the
night, drenched by rain and spray, seeing nothing, hearing no word. The
gale roared above us with that peculiar tearing sound that accompanies
the body of a typhoon; a sound suggestive of unearthly anger and
violence, as if elemental forces were ripping up the envelope of the
universe. The wind gained steadily in volume; it picked up the sea in
steep ridges of solid water that flung us like a chip from crest to
crest, or caught us, burst above us and swallowed us whole, as if we had
suddenly sunk in a deep well.
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