But I had not reckoned upon the colossal task the reefing of three sails meant for one man.While running away from the wind I had not appreciated its force, but when we ceased to run I learned to my sorrow, and well-nigh to my despair, how fiercely it was really blowing.The wind balked my every effort, ripping the canvas out of my hands and in an instant undoing what I had gained by ten minutes of severest struggle.At eight o'clock I had succeeded only in putting the second reef into the foresail.At eleven o'clock I was no farther along.Blood dripped from every finger end, while the nails were broken to the quick.From pain and sheer exhaustion I wept in the darkness, secretly, so that Maud should not know.
Then, in desperation, I abandoned the attempt to reef the mainsail and resolved to try the experiment of heaving to under the close-reefed foresail.