294 AT SEA. 



does not quite do it. When she enters this obscurity 

 there begins the hoarse bellowing of her great whis- 

 tle. As one dozes in his berth or sits in the cabin 

 reading, there comes a vague impression that we are 

 entering some port or harbor, the sound is so wel- 

 come, and is so suggestive of the proximity of other 

 vessels. But only once did our loud and repeated 

 hallooing awaken any response. Everybody heard 

 the answering whistle out of the thick obscurity 

 ahead, and was on the alert. Our steamer instantly 

 slowed her engines and redoubled her tootings. The 

 two vessels soon got the bearing of each other, and 

 the stranger passed us on the starboard side, the 

 hoarse voice of her whistle alone revealing her course 

 to us. 



Late one afternoon, as we neared the Banks, the 

 word spread on deck that the knobs and pinnacles 

 of a thunder-cloud sunk below the horizon, and that 

 deeply and sharply notched the western rim of the 

 sea, were icebergs. The captain was quoted as author- 

 ity. He probably encouraged the delusion. The jaded 

 passengers wanted a new sensation. Everybody was 

 willing, even anxious, to believe them icebergs, and 

 some persons would have them so, and listened coldly 

 and reluctantly to any proof to the contrary. What 

 we want to believe, what it suits our convenience, or 

 pleasure, or prejudice, to believe, one need not go to 

 sea to learn what slender logic will incline us to be- 

 lieve. To a firm, steady gaze, these icebergs were 

 seen to be momently changing their formr new 



