AN OCTOBER ABROAD 229 



watery chasms that opened now under her port 

 bows, now under her starboard, and that almost 

 made one catch for his breath as he looked into 

 them; yet the noble ship had a way of skirting 

 them or striding across them that was quite wonder 

 ful. Only five days was I compelled to "hole up" 

 in my stateroom, hibernating, weathering the final 

 rude shock of the Atlantic. Part of this time I 

 was capable of feeling a languid interest in the os 

 cillations of my coat suspended from a hook in 

 the door. Back and forth, back and forth, all day 

 long, vibrated this black pendulum, at long intervals 

 touching the sides of the room, indicating great 

 lateral or diagonal motion of the ship. The great 

 Avaves, I observed, go in packs like wolves. Now 

 one would pounce upon her, then another, then an 

 other, in quick succession, making the ship strain 

 every nerve to shake them off. Then she would 

 glide along quietly for some minutes, and my coat 

 would register but a few degrees in its imaginary 

 arc, when another band of the careering demons 

 would cross our path and harass us as before. Some 

 times they would pound and thump on the sides of 

 the vessel like immense sledge-hammers, beginning 

 away up toward the bows and quickly running down 

 her whole length, jarring, raking, and venting their 

 wrath in a very audible manner; or a wave would 

 rake along the side with a sharp, ringing, metallic 

 sound, like a huge spear-point seeking a vulnerable 

 place ; or some hard- backed monster would rise up 

 from the deep and grate and bump the whole length 



