166 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE 



grees ; wanting my previous Alpine practice, I should liave 

 felt less confidence in my grip of the cleat. Here and 

 there the long rollers were tossed by interference into 

 heaps of greater height. The wind caught their crests, 

 and scattered them over the sea, the whole surface of 

 which was seething white. The aspect of the clouds was 

 a fit accompaniment to the fury of the ocean. The moon 

 was almost full — at times concealed, at times revealed, as 

 the scud flew wildly over it. These things appealed to 

 the eye, while the ear was filled by the groaning of the 

 screw and the whistle and boom of the storm. 



Nor was the outward agitation the only object of inter- 

 est to me. I was at once subject and object to myself, 

 and watched with intense interest the workings of my 

 own mind. The "Urgent" is an elderly ship. She had 

 been built, I was told, by a contracting firm for some for- 

 eign Government, and had been diverted from her first 

 purpose when converted into a troop-ship. She had been 

 for some time out of work, and I had heard that one of 

 her boilers, at least, needed repair. Our scanty but excel- 

 lent crew, moreover, did not belong to the "Urgent," but 

 had been gathered from other ships. Our three lieutenants 

 were also volunteers. All this passed swiftly through my 

 mind as the steamer shook under the blows of the waves, 

 and I thought that probably no one on board could say 

 how much of this thamping and straining the "Urgent" 

 would be able to bear. This uncertainty caused me to 

 look steadily at the worst, and I tried to strengthen myself 

 in the face of it. 



But at length the helm laid hold of the water, and the 

 ship was got gradually round to face the waves. The roll- 

 ing diminished, a certain amount of pitching taking its 



