THE VIRTUES OF A STORM. 309 



selves ; and slopped about, liolding on, and longing for a 

 monkey's tail ; but on the whole rather liking it. 



For, after all, it is a glorious pastime to find oneself in a 

 real gale of wind, in a big ship, with not a rock to run against 

 within a thousand miles. One seems in such danger ; and one 

 is so safe. And gradually the sense of security grows, and 

 grows into a sense of victory, as with the boy who fears his 

 first fence, plucks np heart for the second, is rather pleased 

 at the third, and craves for the triumph of the fourth and of 

 all the rest, sorry at last when the run is over. And when a 

 man not being sea-sick has once discovered that the appa- 

 rent heel of the ship in rolling is at least four times less than 

 it looks, and that she will jump upright again in a quarter of 

 a minute like a fisher's float ; has learnt to get his trunk out 

 from under his berth, and put it back again, by jamming his 

 forehead against the berth-side and his heels against the ship's 

 wall ; has learnt if he sleep aft to sleep through the firing 

 of the screw, though it does shake all the marrow in his 

 backbone ; and has, above all, made a solemn vow to shave 

 and bathe every morning, let the ship be as lively as she will : 

 then he will find a full gale a finer tonic, and a finer stirrer 

 of wholesome appetite, than all the drugs of Apothecaries' 

 Hall. 



This particular gale, however, began to get a little too 

 strong. We had a sail or two set, to steady the ship : on 



