ht my breath.

"But supposing _He_ were on the watch?"

"_He!_ Who?"

"Don't ask me; I'd rather not mention his name, being a female who
abhors profanity."

All at once the captain's eyes began to sparkle as if he were just
longing for a tussle with the evil one.

"Don't be afraid," says he, "I reckon we shall make the gate without
much trouble. The blasting won't stop us yet awhile."

"Blasting?"

"Yes; they'll have the all-firedest upheave there, before long, that
ever tore a hole in the bottom of the sea."

"Blasting! with fire and brimstone?"

"And nitro-glycerine," says he, as calm as skim milk.

"And you mean to take this big steamboat right through it with me on
board?"

He laughed right there in my frightened and pale face.

"I really don't know any other way to reach New York," says he.

"Let me ashore," says I, a starting up, "me and my hair-trunk; I don't
care for the produce; it may serve to cool their tongues down there. But
put me and my hair trunk on any land. It is all I ask."

"It's impossible," says he.

"But I won't go through that in--that awful gate," says I.

"Why, we are in it now; don't you see the whirl of the waters?"

"In it now. Oh, mercy!"

I fell down upon my seat, and buried my face in my shawl, shaking from
head to foot.

Sisters, that cruel man laughed. O, how hardened he must have got, going
through that sulphurious gate.

"I say, madam, there is no danger, we are almost through now."

"Is _he_ there? Have you seen anything of his blasting hosts?" says I
under my breath. "Do they mean to fire up just yet?"

"No, no, we are all safe. Quite through--New York is in sight."

I let my shawl drop a little, and peeped out. There was no sign of a
gale; the water was a little bubbly and rough, as if it had been rushing
through a race-way, but that was all. That captain of ours must have
been on good terms with the old serpent that keeps the gate, or he never
could have got through so easy. Now that it was over, I almost wished I
had found grit enough to see how it was done. As it was, my eyes were
hid, and I did not even see the awful old gate.

Well, at last I rose up slowly and looked forward. There was New York
City, right before me; just one pile of roofs and walls with cupolas,
pointed fronts, and steeples; looking through the smoky haze acres and
acres of houses, miles and miles--a whole island laid down with stone.
All around it, just as far as I could see,