midnight
We scudded thus before the gale for nearly an hour , when , availing ourselves of a temporary lull in its fury , we brought the schooner to the wind and hove her to on the starboard tack ; but , even then , so tremendous was the force of the wind that , although she showed to it nothing but a close-reefed foresail , the little vessel was buried to the level of her rail . So violent was the first swoop of the hurricane that the surface of the ocean was as it were crushed flat by it , and the slightest irregularity that presented itself was instantly torn away and swept to leeward in the form of spray . Thus for the first hour or so it was impossible for the sea to rise . At the end of that time , however , the tormented ocean began to assert itself , and , although their crests continued to be torn off by the violence of the wind , the seas steadily rose and gathered weight , until by midnight the little _ Francesca _ , was being hove up and flung about as violently as a cork upon the surface of a turbulent stream . And now another of the schooner 's many good qualities revealed itself , for , despite the furious violence of both wind and wave , the little craft rode the raging seas as buoyantly and as daintily as a sea gull , and shipped not so much as a spoonful of water , excepting , of course , such as flew on board in the form of spray . Even of that small quantity we had very little after the schooner had been brought to the wind , for the tremendous pressure of the gale upon her spars and rigging , and upon the small area of her close-reefed foresail laid her over at so steep an angle , and caused her to turn up so bold a weather side , that most of the spray flew clean over her and was swept away to leeward . The temporary lull in the gale , of which we had taken advantage to heave-to the schooner , lasted only just long enough to enable us to accomplish that manoeuvre .