Storm. 233 



of foam ; we took shelter for a while at some 

 place on the coast and set out again, thinking 

 the storm had blown over, but it was soon worse 

 than ever. We were in no small danger for two 

 hours. The boatmen, terrified, threw themselves 

 on their knees in prayer to the Madonna. Somer- 

 ville seized the helm and lowered the sail and 

 ordered them to rise, saying, the Madonna would 

 help them if they helped themselves, and at last 

 they returned to their duty. For a long time we 

 remained perfectly silent, when one of our daugh- 

 ters said, " I have been thinking what a paragraph 

 it will be in the newspapers, 'Drowned, during a 

 sudden squall on the lake of Como, an English 

 family named Somerville, father, mother and two 

 daughters.' " The silence thus broken . made us 

 laugh, though our situation was serious enough, for 

 when we landed the shore was crowded with people 

 who had fully expected to see the boat go down. 

 Twice after this we were overtaken by these squalls, 

 which are very dangerous. I shall never forget the 

 magnificence of the lightning and the grandeur of 

 the thunder, which was echoed by the mountains 

 during the storms on the Lake of Como. 



We saw the fishermen spear the fish by torch- 

 light, as they did on the Tweed. The fish were 

 plenty and the water so clear that they were seen 



