THE STEERAGE. 



scraggy and bony, that I doubt if our heads would not 

 have \ad the worst of it. At last we all agreed to lie 

 on our sides, and H. squeezed in. Turning round was 

 a thing not to be thought of ; and thus we passed our 

 first night in our long-desired ship. 



Next morning, when my left side awoke (my right 

 lying fast asleep for some time longer), all my limbs 

 seemed bruised and broken; I almost felt homesick. 

 I crept out as weU as I could, and went on deck to get 

 a wash, a bucket serving me for a basin. The wind 

 blew cold and comfortless through the rigging. AU 

 was soon in motion below, and as I looked down 

 the hatchway, I was forcibly reminded of SchiUer's 

 , " Diver," * 



« Wie's von Salamandern, Molchen, land Drachen 

 Sich regt in dera furchtbaren Hullenrachen." * 



Laughter, singing, roaring, cursing, the screams of 

 children, crying, and praying, resounded in a confused 

 din up the hatchway. Presently, one sleepy face after 

 another crept up the ladder, with blinking eyes, accus- 

 tomed to the nether darkness, and looked towards the 

 morning sun just breaking through a bank of thin gray 

 clouds. In about an hour's time, a talismanic word, 

 pronounced in a loud voice in the forepart of the ship, 

 put life into the crew, who had been on board some 

 days: we soon found that this mysterious word meant, 

 « breakfast " — " dinner " — " supper." We received 

 coffee, biscuit, and brown bread, but every one had to 

 find his own can, and to fetch his portion himself. 



* Salamanders, and monsters, and dragons did go 

 Through the fearful jaws of the hell below. 



