The wind's from the West and it smells of nothing but snuff.
So all that morning Jip stood in the front part of the ship, sniffing the wind and pointing the way for the Doctor to steer; while all the animals and the little boy stood round with their eyes wide open, watching the dog in wonder.
At daybreak the wind began to blow hard again, and the heavens seemed to predict a gale.
A single triangular sail, of strong canvas, was hoisted as a storm-jib, so as to hold the wind from behind.
Indeed, the little girl found it was as much as she could do to mount the stairs to the deck, and as soon as she got there the
wind struck her so fiercely that it almost tore away the skirts of her dress.
She looked at the red fire and listened to the
wind "wutherin'." It seemed to be "wutherin'" louder than ever.
How long this nerve-racking experience lasted I cannot guess, though we had pretty nearly finished our meager supply of provisions when the
wind picked up a bit and we commenced to draw away.
After looking at Messrs Parkes and Cobb for some time in silence, he clapped his two hands to his cheeks, and sent forth a roar which made the glasses dance and rafters ring--a long-sustained, discordant bellow, that rolled onward with the
wind, and startling every echo, made the night a hundred times more boisterous--a deep, loud, dismal bray, that sounded like a human gong.
In spite of the swaying of the house and the wailing of the
wind, Dorothy soon closed her eyes and fell fast asleep.
Nikita went to what had appeared dark, but found that it was earth which the
wind had blown from the bare fields of winter oats and had strewn over the snow, colouring it.
The
wind was strengthening steadily and the sea rising.
If the steering-gear did not give way, if the immense volumes of water did not burst the deck in or smash one of the hatches, if the engines did not give up, if way could be kept on the ship against this terrific
wind, and she did not bury herself in one of these awful seas, of whose white crests alone, topping high above her bows, he could now and then get a sickening glimpse -- then there was a chance of her coming out of it.