THE ISLAND. 



to watch the graceful gliding of the great waves, which 

 one moment ready to topple on the head of the seaman 

 lashed to the wheel, noiselessly slid below us to dash 

 out beneath the bows in a broad glittering carpet of 

 foam. 



When we had been carried hopelessly beyond any 

 harbour of refuge, far out near Rockhall, the following 

 gale ceased, and after a short interval of tumbled repose 

 we encountered a " whole gale " right in our teeth, which 

 compelled us to " lie to " for many hours in a sea as 

 wildly tumultuous as it -has ever been my lot to en 

 counter. 



The little ship, fought bravely. At one moment, reared 

 on her hind legs, she menaced the coming seas ; at the 

 next, almost standing on her head, she dived into the 

 deep trough which divided them, and again rolling from 

 side to side, nearly sent her funnel and masts overboard. 

 She certainly met most of the rollers fiercely, but occa- 

 sionally a great seahorse with a crest of foam would rise 

 and strike her such a blow that every fibre of her frame 

 trembled. It was as if old Tor was trying to beat us 

 back from his ancient realm with heavy strokes of his 

 mighty hammer. 



How the heart leaps when that terrible crash comes 

 overhead caused by a heavy sea on deck ! For a time 

 the ship appears completely crushed by the blow, and 

 unable again to rise from the trough into which she 

 sinks. But up she comes again, as buoyant as a cork, 

 and you breathe more freely till you instinctively know 



