' In with your top-sails ! ' he shouted. 'Take in your spritsail! lower your foresail ! lash your guns fast!' —all of which was done as quick as hands could do it.
Of a sudden, as though a great hand from above had swept down to stir the waters and make them mad, the sea began to swell, and moan and roar, and rise up into mountains, and sink into valleys. An awful north-west wind had got caught in with a hurricane, — so James Brayer said, — and the two together whistled through the yards, and shrieked through the shrouds. The sky itself seemed to be splitting open, and dropping down thunder, lightning, rain, and hail. In broad daylight it grew all dark, and the water rose to mountains, and sank to the depths in perfect blackness, save for the great flashes of lightning that showed the white faces of men, and the whiter foam of the sea.
It looked as though the end of the world had come, and that those on the sea had been the first to know it.
James Brayer soon had every one about him busy at the work of saving the flag-ship. Even Pantagruel was pressed into service. It
A STORM COMES ON.
was no tune for ceremony ; the danger was too great for that. James Brayer bawled through his trumpet: —
'My Lord, I must ask you to stand amidship. Your Highness is so heavy that, in a sea like this, whichever side of the ship you may be on is bound to keel over. The sea is mad, —I have never seen it so mad before ! '
Pantagruel, in the midst of all this shouting of men, and raging of the waves, and shrieking of the winds, was kneeling perfectly quiet, but praying with all his good heart to the Almighty Deliverer to save them. Hearing James Brayer call, he at once rose from his knees, and said cheerfully : —
PANTAGRUEL HOLDS THE MAST.
'Here I am, good pilot! But how am I to stand amidship without interfering with the handling of the ship ? '
'Easily enough, Your Highness. All you have to do is to put your arms around the mainmast, and stand still,'
This Pantagruel did, holding the mast firmly with both hands, and keeping it straighter than two hundred tacklings could have done. Everybody worked hard, —everybody except cowardly Panurge, who, when the sea first began to churn, sank upon deck all in a heap, more dead than alive. He could do nothing but whine and cry boo! boo! boo! boo! and call upon Heaven to save him. In the meanwhile, all the others were as busy as beavers, — Friar John, Gymnaste, Carpalim, Xenomanes, even Epistemon and old Ponocrates himself! All did wonders ; but nobody worked like Friar John during all the storm ; so, at least, declared James Brayer. Why, Friar John even pulled off his monk's gown, a thing he had, until then, been known to do only
A SEA BREAKS OVEB PANTJROE.
once, and that was when he saved the Abbey-Vineyard. ' It bothers me, and I can't work in it,' he said, as he pulled it off. With his waistcoat for a coat, he stood at his post with strong arm and cheery word for everybody. Every now and then he would glance at Panurge, still squatted on deck and crying, ' Boo ! boo ! boo ! boo ! Friar John, my friend, good father, I am drowning. Boo! boo! boo! The water has got into my shoes. Boo! boo! boo! boboo! I drown! Oh, how I wish I was a gardener, and planted cabbages, for then I would be sure of always having at least one foot on land ! Oh, my
friend, the keel goes up to the sun. I hear the hull splitting. We are all drowned ! Boo ! boo ! boo! holos! holos!' At last Friar John's patience gave out, — it was at the close of the sixth hour he had been working,— and he roared out to Panurge:—
' What art thou bellowing there for, like a calf ? Pan-urge the cry-baby,
LAUD IN SIGHT.
Panurge the whiner, would it not better become thee to help thyself and friends? Come, be a man!'
Just then a huge sea broke on the deck. Panurge was too frightened even to look up. All the answer he could give to Friar John was, ' Boo! boo! boo! boboof The ship is capsized ! I drown ! '
At that moment, Pantagruel's voice was heard even above the storm, so mighty was it in prayer : ' Save us, good Lord, if it be Thy will.' The Giant's prayer must have been heard. The thunder still crashed; the lightning still blazed; the rain still poured; but it was
IT WAS LATE IN THE AFTERNOON.
not half so bad as before. The sea still rose ; but it rose in hills, not mountains, now. Pantagruel still stood, as he had from the first, with his arms clinging to the mainmast while he braced it up, and his eyes trying to pierce through the blackness. At last, just as the day broke, he shouted: —
'Land ! land ! My children, I see land ! We are not far from port. I can see the sky clearing up southwards. Cheer up, all!'
James Brayer was at his side as quick as lightning.
'Up, lads!' he shouted. 'Our prince sees land, and the sea is smoother. We can put out a trifle of sail. Hands aloft to the maintop ! Mind your steerage ; clear your sheets ; port, port! Helma-lee ! Steady, steady ! ' And steady it was, too. Before all eyes on the ship land was now to be seen in full sight, some twenty miles off. The sun was just beginning to shine a little. The sea was no longer mad. It was only sobbing, sobbing, sobbing, as though half- ashamed it had so troubled the good Giant who knew how to pray.
It was late in the afternoon when James Brayer brought the flagship into port. It was so late that it was resolved not to go on shore until next day.
CHAPTER XL.
THE ISLAND OF THE MACREONS, AND ITS FOREST IN WHICH THE HEROES WHO ARE TEMPTED BY DEMONS DIE.
THE next morning there was not a man in the whole fleet so spruce, so gay, so brave as Panurge.
' What cheer, ho ! fore and aft ? ' he cried gaily. ' Good-day to you, gentlemen, good-day to you all. Oh, ho! all's well, the storm is over. Please be so kind as to let me be the first to go on shore. Shall I help you before I go? Here, let me see, I'll coil this rope ; I have plenty of courage ; give it to me, honest tar, — no, no, I haven't a bit of fear, not I. How now, Friar John, you Well, so there's nothing for me to do. Let us go on shore, then ! Truly this is a fine place ! '
While Panurge was blustering, and making believe that he had not been crying and blubbering all during the storm, Pantagruel and his company were paying no attention to him, but were making everything ready to go on shore. On landing they were met most kindly by the people of the island, which turned out to be a small one, known as the Island of Macreons, Macreon being a Greek word meaning an ' old man.' Therefore, the Island of Macreons was only another name for the ' Island of Old Men.' A venerable Macreon, with long white beard, reaching to his waist, who was the High Sheriff of the island, stepped forward, and gravely invited Pantagruel to go with him to the Town Hall, where he could take a rest after his fatigue, and be sure of a little luncheon afterwards. But the Giant would not leave the quay until all his men had got ashore, and with enough provisions to last do nothing!
them while at work on the ships, which needed many repairs after the storm. This was done at once, and then began the carouse both in the Town Hall and among the men along the quay. There is no telling now how much was really eaten and drunk during that day; but there was enough for every one. The people of the island
