Already the Sunflower was pitching and tossing on the choppy sea, which was every moment getting worse, and he had all he could do to keep his feet.
"No life on the rolling deep for me," he muttered to himself, as a sudden strange feeling in the region of the stomach attacked him. "If it gets much rougher, I really believe I'll be seasick."
He came down the companionway on a run, and slid half across the cabin before he could stop himself. Then when he did finally start to do the work at hand, he found his head spinning around dreadfully, while that awful, deadly feeling in his stomach kept growing worse with every roll of the vessel.
"I must brace up!" he murmured, as he sank dowm in one of the captain's armchairs. "I must, no matter if I'm turned inside out!"
And using all of his will-power, Franklin staggered up, and began to straighten out the cabin.
He had nearly finished when a vivid flash of lightning, followed by a deafening clap of thunder startled him. Immediately after, came a heavy downpour of rain.
"Shut up all the portholes and windows, Franklin!" yelled the mate down the companionway. "Be lively now!"
"I'm already closing them, sir."
"When you are through come on deck. We'll need every hand while this storm lasts."
