A ROUGH NIGHT AT SEA. 289 



violence of the motion, the stamping on deck, 

 thoroughly aroused me from my slumbers. From the 

 even keel that we had been on a few hours before, we 

 now careened so far over that I found it next to 

 impossible to brace myself in my berth ; the wind 

 fairly screeched through the rigging, and the racket 

 caused by chairs, and other movables adrift, banished 

 slumber for the time being. At length I could re- 

 main no longer below, from a desire to see and ascer- 

 tain the nature of affairs. After many ineffectual 

 attempts, and not without assuming all khrl of 

 strange attitudes, I got into my nether garments and 

 boots, and succeeded in gaining the upper regions. 

 The scene was truly terrific ; the sea was wild with 

 agitation ; billow after billow rolled past, crested with 

 foam, while the blast fairly howled its wrath. The 

 captain stood aft, holding on to the weather mainstay, 

 occasionally giving an order to the men at the wheel. 

 From the spread of canvas we had formerly carried, 

 we were now reduced to a close-reefed mainsail, fore- 

 sail, and storm-jib. Sometimes the vessel would 

 appear to jump, as she would leave the top of one 

 roller to reach the next. Nobly the gallant craft bore 

 the ordeal, and splendidly did she behave ; still, the 

 cool self-possession of the captain failed to prevent 

 my thinking how much better I should be satisfied to 

 be again standing on terra firma, and, although pride 

 prevented my making the confession, I internally 

 registered a vow, that if I ever again placed my foot 

 on land, nothing should again tempt me to trust my 

 safety on board a coaster. 



But to my narrative. "With each hour the gale 

 increased, and to such violence that the gallant 



